Shyfrost and his group had decided to spend one night at the castle before leaving in the early morning. Shyfrost and Spike led the group in the front with the three fillies to their right. Rover held a respectable distance from the rest, while Shadow Mirror was constantly flying above them. The prince was walking alongside, with Garret in the back.
"I still say we could have earned Minotaur Kingdom sight seeing cutie marks..." Scootaloo muttered, earning a curious start from her two fellow crusaders. "What?!" she asked.
Apple Bloom spoke first. "Scootaloo, sometimes Ah worry about you."
"About what?"
"For your safety," she replied in her southern drawl.
"Yeah, I could see that," Scootaloo replied smugly.
Spike rolled his eyes, but was determined to keep his conversation between Shyfrost and him.
"So, who do you think this D is? Kind of sounds like Discord, but I'm pretty sure Celestia would have known if he was out again."
"I have no idea. I wasn't exactly prepared to find out that our group is going to be protecting kingdoms. I have no idea where to start," Shyfrost admitted.
"I guess I could send a letter to the princess. She might know something, but I'm pretty sure the response is just gonna be come home immediately."
"Maybe,” Shyfrost agreed. He cast a glance back. “Should we say anything about... all of them?" he asked.
Spike looked back at the group and considered this. "I think it would be alright, but maybe just say that Shadow Mirror is a pegasus instead of lying about his name, oh! And no mentioning those three." He pointed to the fillies.
"Good call."
"Let's see..." Spike muttered as he brought out another quill and scroll.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Shyfrost and I are traveling with a rather large group towards the Griffon Kingdom. Now don't worry, we are traveling with the same griffon who made Shyfrost's tail end! Isn't that amazing? His name is Garret, and he's very protective of us and friendly. Along our way to reach the dragon migration we also ran into some other fellows. The first we met is named Shadow Mirror, who is a pegasus pony. The second is named Rover who was once the leader of an important Diamond Dog pack, again he is also very friendly. We are also traveling with Prince Steel Valor, I'm sure you remember him.
You may be wondering why we are traveling. Well, for a few reasons. First, it's about these artifacts that each of our group members have. From Shyfrost's amulet to Rover's dagger, each one has made a strong magical connection when we come into contact with each other (that is to say when we all first met and the artifacts became closer to one another). That was our first reason to travel, to try and find out the reason for these magical disturbances.
The second reason is a threat, a possible threat to other kingdoms. A confirmed threat was placed on The Minotaur Realm. The reason you may not have heard of this is because the king had shut out all trade for a while before his son talked him out of it. A note was sent from someone named simply 'D' and it stated their kingdom would fall. All signs point to Discord, so please check on his statue. It came with a box with a mysterious item that randomly changes shape. This 'D' also destroyed some of their priceless possessions.
If it's not Discord, than all signs maybe point to another one like him. Is that even possible? No clue here, but I really hope not. Please tell Twilight and Fluttershy that we miss them very much and that we're sorry for not coming back, but we have to see this through.
Love, Spike
PS. Have you ever heard of Changelings before?
"Think this will do?" Spike asked, but before his dragon friend could respond, a green glow enveloped the letter and it was whisked away from his hands.
"Let me see that... let 's see here..." The changeling muttered to himself as Spike just now noticed it was him of the group to take the letter. "Have you heard of Changelings before? I'm pretty sure she could crack that code there."
"Don't care,” Spike said. “I hate lying to her, so at least this way we can see how much she knows about your race. I trust you, but I'm just curious if she really-"
"Hates our guts? Spike, I'm pretty sure she does..."
"Why?"
Shadow Mirror paused before responding. "Many of our race aren't as... well... they don't all show restraint when it comes to other ponies. For example," Shadow Mirror paused and flew up into the air to hover above the three fillies,"had I been any other changeling, I would have tricked the slow one down there into giving me love." He then flew down to the ground without any further indication of who 'the slow one' was.
The three fillies shared a few looks before speaking up. "But why do they have to do that? Sounds kind of mean..." Apple Bloom muttered, ignoring the slow comment.
"It's just how we are, we need love to survive. I, however, have found that earned love instead of the stolen form is much easier to come by, and a lot less mean for the process..."
"What's the process?" Scootaloo asked.
"Simple, when one of you are asleep I simply open my mouth and some of your emotions flow in. It only works two ways, however. If I'm forcefully taking it through the spell like others do, or if you three trust me for it to work. Clearly, you trust me on some level, so I don't have to force anything."
"Now hold on a minute," Sweetie Belle interjected. "I don't want my emotions stolen! Give them back!"
"Uh, it doesn't work that way. But I can assure you that it does not harm your health or affect you in anyway."
Spike decided to speak up at this point. "Then why hasn't your race revealed themselves to ponykind? Sounds like your harmless in the long run."
Shadow Mirror rolled his eyes. "Would you trust someone that looks like me at first glance? The answer to that riddle is a resounding 'no'. I don't find our species ugly, but you ponies do. I've seen how they react, run first and talk later."
"Well, I know the princess and I know Twilight, and they would never judge you that quickly unless you did something wrong! Now give me my letter."
"Fine, fine. But don't blame me if your princess comes after our little group and does something stupid..."
Their conversation ended there. Spike blew flames over the letter to send it off to the princess. After a while the group stopped walking in such a large pair while the trail got narrower. The two dragons were leading up ahead once more.
"So, what do you think this griffon place is like?" Shyfrost questioned Spike with a slight amount of nervousness in his voice.
"Lots of mountain terrain where most of the griffon 'homes' reside. I kind of forgot what they called their homes, but Twilight taught me a lot about that place. Griffons, of course, can be hostile to our kind; but I don't think it will be a problem, uh..." Spike looked over and saw Shyfrost with his head tilted down and one of his claws twitching. "Are you okay?"
Shyfrost looked over and did his best to fake a smile. "Yeah... as long as Garret sticks with us I think I'll be good..."
"Yeah he's pretty neat, I guess. You know I never asked before, and sorry if this is rude, but why did he have to make you a new tail?"
The orange dragon looked into his eyes. He didn't see any hint of deceit or humor or anger, just concern and curiosity. Shyfrost then sighed. "The end of my tail got, um, cut off by griffons a long time ago... Twilight knows and you and Fluttershy and that's about it, oh and the princess..." Shyfrost whispered this as quietly as possible.
Spike nodded once and kept the steady pace that the dragon duo were going at. The purple dragon could never imagine losing a piece of his body. "I'm sorry man, that- that's not right..."
"...It's okay..."
"How could that possible be okay? Shyfrost you're a good friend, but that couldn't possibly be ever okay."
"Uh... I mean I'm happy, now, with you."
"Oh, I see." Spike smiled and hesitantly brought his left hand over to drape on his shoulder. Shyfrost felt awkward for a moment but kept it there, the dragon's walking side by side. The orange dragon had never felt happier.
Rainbow Dash was bored. She had came home from their little adventure with the expectations of having to catch up on her lost work and maybe start a storm or two. But as it turned out, she had very little work for the coming months. There was some, but taking extra time off would not have killed her job or much of her pay. As fast as she was, however, she was not quick enough to keep up with her friends who were probably a million miles away by now.
She was still technically on the job, but with no work to be done she was resting on a bed of clouds out in the open over Ponyville, practically falling asleep. She would rather be doing a million other things right now, like practicing her tricks, but most of all following her friends to figure out the mystery plaguing the Elements. And find those dragons, but mostly the Elements.
"Hey Dashie!" A pink mare screamed from out of nowhere, causing Rainbow Dash to flinch and fall off of her cloud. It took her two seconds to get into a flying position and land again.
"Pinkie? What was that for?" Rainbow demanded, thoroughly annoyed.
Pinkie tilted her head to the side, she was sitting on some grass just underneath the clouds. "What was what for?"
"You just... I mean, never mind." Rainbow sighed and flew down to greet her friend. "So, what's up? Don't you need to be at work or something?"
"Nah, I guess it's kind of an off season. The bakery is still doing fine, but the Cakes said I could have the week off!"
"Uh, that's great. You sure they're doing fine though? Kind of sounds suspicious..."
"Oh sure, it happens every once in a while. They have plenty of bits rolling in still, and they figured I could use a break." Pinkie then smiled and laid down on the grass with an audible sigh.
"Oh cool... something on your mind?" Dash asked, throwing herself down and laying next to her. She noticed her friend had an almost serious expression on her face, which was quite unusual for Pinkie Pie.
"Well, how come you didn't stay with Twi?"
"What do you mean? I have work, you know that..."
"Sure doesn't look like it, Dashie..." Pinkie replied in a playful tone.
"I know, but they're probably a million miles away at this point... if I had known-"
"But that's another thing that's bugging me. Isn't your sister out there? I mean, if it was my sister, I would be super, duper scared for her and I would be worried about monsters and-"
"Pinkie! What are you talking about? I don't have a sister."
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She tried a few more times before finally choosing to gasp audibly. "But, but, why- I don't- isn't Scootaloo your sister?!"
"Uh, no... do you mean that little orange filly? Always trying to bug me?"
"Yeah, that's the one! But she told me once that you were her big sister!"
"I don't know why she would say something like that..." Rainbow scratched her head a few times. "When did she say this?"
"Hmm, about a month ago, I think. I noticed that she kept coming into the bakery alone, a lot and one night just before closing she had purchased a loaf of bread. And this was like REALLY late for a filly so I offered to walk her home, she said 'no thanks, my sister Rainbow Dash will' and then she dashed out of the store and forgot her bread and yeah."
Rainbow blinked. "And that didn't seem suspicious to you at all?"
"Well, now it does...” Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you don't have a sister?"
"Eeyup! I actually don't really have a huge family. My dad split when I was young and my mom just kind of did the same after she enrolled me in flight camp. Not really sure why... but it's never really bothered me- oof, Pinkie!" Her story had been interrupted by a flying tackle from Pinkie Pie.
"I'm sorry Dashie but that's just so sad!" Pinkie began to cry and was hugging her friend for all she was worth; meanwhile, Dash had a less than amused look on her face.
"I'm fine, Pinkie, really. I'm happy and I have all of you guys, like Fluttershy was always there."
Pinkie sniffled. “Are you sure?" she asked tearfully.
"Eeyup!" Dash grinned and carefully pushed the pink mare off.
"Okie, doki, lokie!"
They sat in silence for a long while after that before a small realization dawned on Pinkie. "Hey Dashie?"
"Yeah?"
"So if Scootaloo is not your sister..."
"Yeah..."
"And she is still out there with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders..."
"Yeah?"
"Shouldn't there be like a family or something freaking out and looking for her, if she lives in Ponyville? Just seems kind of odd..."
"Heh, heh, yeah you would, uh- oh man..." Before Pinkie could respond to the odd comment, she was then thrown into the air and thrown onto the Rainbow maned one's back, as Dash set a course for the Ponyville police station.
Silence reigned supreme among Twilight and her friends until Applejack broke it with a question. "So Twi, you sure they would be headin' to the Minotaur Realm?"
Big Mac was doing his best to remain as invisible as possible, but was failing dramatically. Twilight rolled her eyes at him before answering her friend. "Absolutely. For one, I did notice a slight tingling sensation from my Element when we changed directions from that last town. Now if my theory is correct about what is disrupting The Elements, then that would mean it has something to do with Spike and Shyfrost... I don't really have any evidence, but for now let's assume they do..."
"You- you're saying that Spike and my Shyfrost are-"
"I'm not saying anything against them, Fluttershy, I've just had this nagging feeling that they are up to something ever since you pointed out that bit about them still traveling for no reason, which would explain why they haven't returned home." Twilight assured the pegasus who then nodded once. "Now there are many paths that led away from that town, but logic dictates if they do wish to keep traveling, they would find the nearest town or city which happens to be the Minotaur Kingdom."
"Twilight, what could our dragons possibly be up to-"
"I don't really know, Fluttershy, but I'm not ruling out the possibility. Our main priority needs to be fixing the Elements or our country is open to attack, but as a secondary priority we really should be looking for the fillies and our dragons. Once we have them, we can rule out their hoof in this, but it's still possible." Twilight finished this sentence in another cold and calculated voice, and it sent a slight shiver up Fluttershy's spine.
Fluttershy nodded and hated to admit it, but she made sense. "And do you really think the missing fillies are with them?"
"I hope so, at least then we'll know that they aren't alone. But if they are and they've kept this from us, then-"
"My Spikey-Wikey better hope there is a hospital nearby when I'm done with him!" Rarity finished while contemplating the notion of her favorite dragon lying.
Fluttershy looked at Rarity in horror. "But-"
"And if they are lying, Ah'm never letting that Shyfrost near my sister again! No offense, Fluttershy."
"Applejack... First off, he is enrolled in school-"
"Then Ah'll home school!"
"Second off, they're friends; it's kind of the reason they left in the first place."
"Well-"
"Thirdly, that sounds just a bit cruel to be separated from her friend for life." Fluttershy finished in a confident tone.
"Yeah, well... Fine, it might be just a bit cruel." Applejack admitted with a approval from Fluttershy. "So maybe Ah'll just go with Rarity's plan on both of em."
"...Touch my dragon, and I'll use my Stare on you to make you think you're a blasted dog, or worse." Fluttershy shot back in what she hoped was a quiet tone but they all stopped and stared. She saw the shocked stares and, with a legitimate smile, trotted off ahead.
There was a long silence while four mares and a stallion continued on the path with their heads looking in every which direction but ahead towards Fluttershy. Rarity spoke up in a nervous tone.
"You can't really use your stare to do things like that, can you?"
But Rarity's question went ignored as a new development took priority
Twilight bounced in place. "Look! The kingdom's up ahead!" she announced.
Rainbow Dash had spend, along with Pinkie, the remainder of her afternoon down at the police station waiting for any answers regarding the strange filly. She had sent quick word to her job that she was taking emergency leave for the day, not that they cared. Dash was close to falling asleep as she waited along with Pinkie (who actually had fallen asleep) in their waiting room.
"Miss Dash?" A stallion called out. He was a simple, nondescript earth pony.
"Yes?"
"Come with me. And sorry to keep you waiting." He then walked off and waited for her to follow. Dash glanced back at Pinkie and sighed, figuring it was pointless to wake her now.
Inside the stallion's office, or what she presumed was his office, she took a seat and the stallion wasted no time in talking.
"I'm officer Locks, and you wanted us to file a missing ponies report on this Scootaloo?"
"Yeah, did you-"
"Well, here is where it gets a bit complicated. The odd thing is even though she is enrolled in the school system, she is not part of the Equestrian government, as far as I can gather."
Of the many things Rainbow had expected, this was not one of them. "...What?"
"Yeah, it took me a while to narrow it down. She had somepony sign her up for school with that part blacked out for public viewing, meaning somepony from Canterlot must have helped her. I think. The funny thing is, she is not and has never been part of any government system. No Scootaloo has ever existed in any city, including Cloudsdale and Ponyville. It's quite a unique name, so normally this might make sense, but no birth certificate is just puzzling. She must know somepony really high up on the chain to gain permission to enroll in school."
"But shouldn't there be somepony looking for her?! A family freaking out or something?" Dash insisted, her voice raising in pitch as she spoke.
"That would make sense, yes. But other than you, nopony has filed a missing report on any filly fitting your description. The best I can do is file a missing ponies report for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, which do exist, and then the other cities might be able to spot them and by extension, her."
"Ok, do that, I guess. But man this is weird. Where the hay did she come from?! Who does she live with?!"
"It's admirable how much you care about this filly-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I wouldn't go that far..." Dash replied with followed by a nervous laughter.
The officer then deadpanned, "Sure. But this is as much as I can do. If you have any spare free time, then you can go out and look for this Scootaloo on your own."
"I have free time, sure, but Twilight and my friends are already looking for those fillies. I'm sure they're a million miles away by now. It would be a waste of time!"
The officer considered this and tilted his head to the side. "I take it this group is traveling together, as one?"
"Uh, yeah, why?"
"Then going out is not a waste of time if you really want to find these fillies and this Scootaloo. You could cover more ground by traveling to odd places, maybe settlements that this Twilight hasn't gotten to yet? Just a suggestion."
"But I don't know where they were going to."
He shrugged one last time. "Sorry again, I can't help ya there, but maybe you can guess? It couldn't hurt to look if you do have the free time." He then turned around and left.
Rainbow walked back, slowly, to the waiting room. Thoughts continued to swirl around in her head, thoughts regarding the young filly. She wasn't exactly sure why she cared so much. She tried to argue with herself that what she was about to do was for Shyfrost mostly, she had more of a connection with the odd dragon than Scootaloo, after all. She figured heading out might be a neat idea to find Shyfrost instead of boring weather duty, but in reality she was curious about Scootaloo.
Returning to the lobby, she prodded the sleeping earth pony. "Pinkie, wake up!"
"What? How long was I out?" Pinkie asked in a groggy tone that was quickly washed away with her bouncing out while following Dash.
"Most of the day... so listen, I'm going to take some time off weather duty. As it turns out, I'm not really needed lately, and I figured I would-"
"Say no more!" Pinkie dashed away and left Rainbow Dash to stare at where she once was. After a couple minutes she sighed and prepared to fly away when Pinkie stopped her.
"Back! My Pinkie Sense told me we were about go on another adventure for some reason so I figured I'd let the Cakes know. Are you ready?"
Rainbow blinked once. "Your Pinkie sense can do that?"
"Sure, silly! So, where we heading to?"
"Don't you want to know why we are going out?"
"Sure!"
"Well, I... oh just wait here Pinkie. I'll be back in thirty minutes. I need to sign off work for a while and get some things."
Pinkie then saluted. "Okie dokie lokie! I'll wait right here!"
"Yeah..."
As Rainbow Dash signed off and began to gather her things, which had not been unpacked from before, she couldn't help but try and remember everything she knew about Scootaloo. Which, as she quickly realized, was next to nothing. She did know that she had a weird fascination with Rainbow Dash herself; which, when she really got down to it, was not that odd. Scootaloo clearly idolized her and wanted to be like her, even if a fan club might be a bit much.
Ponyville was a pretty small town, especially when compared to Cloudsdale, so Rainbow Dash found it odd that she could not recall Scootaloo's family. She even knew the families' names of colts such as Snips or Snails, but why not Scootaloo? She sighed and flew back, hoping that Pinkie was still waiting and hoping more that what she was doing made sense.
When she came back, she saw no Pinkie and no bags like before. She looked around.
"Pinkie?" she called out.
"Up here!" Pinkie's voice called out. Dash looked up and spotted the pink mare waving with a silly smile, inside a hot air balloon.
"Wow..." Dash muttered and flew up to the join her. "There's enough room for all of our stuff! How'd you get this?"
"I borrowed it from Twilight!" Pinkie replied cheerfully, and set course for no where in particular. "So, where we headin'?"
"Are you sure that Twilight is okay with this?"
"Hmmm, probably? So, where to? Oh, this is so exciting! This is our second adventure and just the two of us!"
Dash noticed that the balloon was traveling at a relaxed pace so she had plenty of time to think. Let's see... I could pick at random? Maybe Pinkie's Pinkie Sense could help? Well, those are the only two options, I guess.
"Pinkie? Can you use your Pinkie Sense to locate somepony instead of just waiting for it to go off?" Rainbow questioned slowly.
Pinkie opened her mouth to respond but then quickly closed it once more. Then she grinned. "Oh my gosh! That's a great idea! I've never tried it! But how do we do it?"
Rainbow didn't even understand Pinkie Sense normally. "Uh, its your sense, not mine."
"Hmmm...." Pinkie concentrated but nothing happened, they both sighed. The balloon continued to travel as Ponyville slowly shrank in the distance.
"Wow!" Pinkie's entire body shook, causing the balloon to become unsteady. Her ears flopped a few times and her eyelids fluttered. After two minutes of this, she stopped and turned to Rainbow. "We were looking for those fillies, right?"
"...Yes?"
Pinkie grinned sheepishly. "Heh, heh... you're not going to like where they're heading."
"Home is where the heart is, eh?" Garret questioned after a long drawn out silence.
The group had stopped and stared at the unique nature of the Griffon Territory. The sun bathed the entirety of the mountains and homes. It was peaceful yet the tiny dragons and part of the group still felt unnerved. Garret looked up and spotted several dome-like structures perched on flat elevated terrain. There was were very few plants or trees, but there were still a few. Spike took note that the entire place was not unlike Appleloosa; to a degree, anyway.
"Let's see, up there are some local civilian homes... nothing out of the ordinary here. I take it you all wish to see the griffon king?"
"Yeah, can you take us to him, Garret?" Shyfrost asked from his position around his neck. Spike wondered how his friend was so quick, and why he was even up there in the first place.
Garret grunted. "Well, I've never met the king before. I'm just a blacksmith. From time to time I've been asked to make armor and pieces for weapons for our army. I know where he is, though, so yes I can."
Spike wondered how the griffon could even tolerate the weight of the frost dragon around his neck, but shrugged it off.
"Hey, Garret? Why did you stick with us and even go in the first place? You could've just ignored your artifact..." Shyfrost questioned while trailing off in the end.
"Hmm, you're right. I could have. But for one I've been kind of... out of it. Maybe a little... bored, if I have to be truthful with myself and this just sort of seemed like an-"
"Adventure?" Shyfrost finished.
"Yeah, yeah, that. When I knew it was you that caused my hammer to act up, well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious to know what had happened to you."
"But you know now, and you don't have to do this just out of boredom so why stay?"
"Maybe I appreciate your spirit..." he replied cryptically.
Shyfrost nodded and figured it was a compliment. "Hey, um... are they going to get mad at us and our group? I don't know anything about the griffon king, and-"
"Probably not, though they might be annoyed." Garret admitted while he continued to walk ahead.
Shyfrost shifted on his neck uncomfortably. "A-annoyed?" He stammered.
"Eh don't worry, that group of griffons that did that to you is long gone. I investigated a little after you left and they were part of some delinquent group... very few of those are left. Griffons might not have the best relationship with dragon's but nobody is gonna hurt you here."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."