//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Investigation (Edited) 
// Story: Our Chaotic Melancholy 
// by Edensola 
//------------------------------//



CHAPTER 6: INVESTIGATION


The sky was a pale orange color as the sun had begun its course to set.

"Spike?...." A concerned Twilight Sparkle questioned as she proceeded down the path outside Fluttershy's home alongside Applejack. It'd been far too long since they stayed behind, and Twilight could feel it in her gut that something was terribly off. She had a knack for those sorts of things, like figuring out the Nightmare Moon case, she just had this feeling she couldn't shake. She proceeded to trot on the outskirts of the large tree home with Applejack, calling out every few seconds. "S-Spike! Where are you? Come out already!" 

Applejack was just as flustered by the entire situation, cupping her mouth with her forehooves then standing on her hind legs as she called out in hopes of hearing her little sister. "A-Apple Bloom! Where are ya Sugarcube?" She too was met with no response. And although there was the possibility they had just wandered off, like Twilight, Applejack had a feeling that there was something awry. She wasn't certain of course, and considered her worries were just that, mere worries and perhaps paranoia. But still why would Apple Bloom have disappeared for this long? And besides that, there was the fact they said they'd be talking around this area, so what was the deal?

As the two mares stood there in disarray, overwhelmed with worry, it wasn't long before the others had decided to join them.

Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle, everypony besides Inkie and Blinkie and Discord had come to aid in the search. Personally Inkie and Blinkie were requested to stay in the house by Pinkie herself, although most wouldn't think about it, Pinkie was quite protective of her siblings. Discord however believed they all were worrying too much and wasting their time, either way, the ponies all arrived to lend a hoof.

Fluttershy lead the group as she proceeded to trot up to Applejack and Twilight. She spoke in her soft barely audible voice with concern "O-Oh my...you two still haven't found them yet?"

Rainbow bolted up into the sky, shading her eyes with a hoof then wincing down at the landscape below. "Hey Apple Bloom! Spike!? You guys out there!? If so quit playing games! We're all worried sick here!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo peered at each other with worried eyes, remaining silent. But their expressions spoke a thousand words as they too were deeply worried for their friend as well as Spike. 

Rarity couldn't help but cover her mouth with a hoof somewhat before looking down reflecting on the situation. "Oh this is just awful, I do hope they're alright. Where could they have gone? Perhaps they needed more time alone than we expected?"

Twilight's eyes began shifting left to right, as if playing a scenario through her head and analyzing the situation. "That's certainly a possibility, but still, it seems unlikely. Spike isn't one to just disappear without leaving some sort of notice, and Apple Bloom as well, that's just strange. They said they only needed a little time, if they needed more they could've just told us instead of leaving us here to worry and look for them." Twilight was now on the move once again, making her way through the small patch of forest that surrounded Fluttershy's home. "Either way guys, maybe they left some sort of indication to where they've gone."

The rest of the mane six simply stood there as if awaiting further instructions from Twilight. Just like when she helped organize the winter wrap up, she'd probably already come up with an organized process of sorting this situation out as well, and they all knew it. Applejack however was growing more impatient by the second, worried for the safety of her baby sister and anxious over not knowing what'd happened. 

Twilight glanced around the forest before turning to regard her friends once more. "Alright, Pinkie; you're coming with me."

Pinkie saluted Twilight as she'd immediately put on her Sherlock Holmes getup with a determined expression. "You can count on me Watson!" Pinkie then began focusing on the dirt with her magnifying glass as she slowly moved past Twilight.

Twilight didn't regard the vividly pink mare as her behavior was as expected. Twilight then looked to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, you fly on over to Ponyville and ask around, somepony might have seen them passing through town."

Rainbow nodded with a determined smile. "Heh! Gotcha!" She then bolted off into the sky straight towards the small town.

Twilight regarded Applejack next. "Applejack, you go search the other half of the woods, Pinkie and I got this side covered. I'd like you down in this area with us, three heads are better than two."

Applejack nodded as she didn't hesitate to waste any time. "You got it Twi." Applejack then hurriedly sprinted off into the opposite direction searching around for her little sis and Spike, her voice fading from earshot. "Spike!? Apple Bloom!? Where are you!?"

Twilight of course then looked to Fluttershy and Rarity as well as the two remaining Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Rarity, Fluttershy, I want you guys to take the girls back up to the house, just in case Apple Bloom and Spike decide to come back and we're not there. I also don't want to leave Discord with Inkie and Blinkie, he can be a bit much for two little fillies."

Rarity nodded with approval. "Of course darling. Come on Sweetie Belle, let's go back up to the house."

At that moment Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then gasped as they shook their heads, the two little fillies bolting over to Twilight.

Scootaloo peered up at Twilight angrily. "W-What!? Twilight! Apple Bloom's our friend too, we don't want to sit around! We want to help!"

Sweetie Belle persisted. "Yea! Let us go out and search with Applejack!"

Twilights eyes saddened as she lowered her frame and looked both of them in their eyes. She rubbed the top of their heads. "I'm sorry girls, I understand you want to help, but please, leave this to us okay? We don't want whatever happened to Spike and Apple Bloom to possibly happen to you two, as unlikely as it may be. But you never know, and it’d be better to be safe than sorry.. Just head back up to the house with Rarity and Fluttershy and wait for us to get back, we'll find them, I promise."

The two fillies peered at Twilight in discontent, but their expressions slowly died down as they reluctantly agreed. They didn't wait for Fluttershy and Rarity to guide them back to the house however, they weren't foals, they knew the way. They angrily made their way down the path and towards Fluttershy's house.

Rarity winked at Twilight in approval before following the two fillies in suit.

Fluttershy however approached Twilight with concern. "T-Twilight, are you okay? This all must be very hard on you. I know you must be worried sick about Spike." The pale yellow mare couldn't help but worry for her friend, usually playing the role of the leader she knew it was too often Twilight's feelings went unchecked about running the situation. 

Twilight lowered her head as she'd suddenly lost that confident expression. "Is it that obvious? Yea, I am..." Her eyes saddened somewhat as she kept her gaze focused on the ground. "It's just none of it seems to add up Fluttershy, I know we might just be worrying too much but, I can't shake this bad feeling. I guess it just might be my relationship to Spike clouding my judgement, he's like family you know."

Fluttershy nodded to Twilight. "I understand."

Twilight chuckled some before glancing up at Fluttershy with an amused smile. "Yea; you usually do Fluttershy..."

"GUYS!" Called out an ecstatic Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy and Twilight's eyes widened as they peered at one another. The two mares then didn't hesitate to make their way into the forest towards the spot where Pinkie had just screamed. 

As they trotted hurriedly, Twilight called out to Pinkie. "Pinkie! What is it!? What's wrong!? Did you find them?!"

As they arrived at the scene, what they saw made both Fluttershy and Twilight raise a brow. 

Fluttershy spoke in a soft curious tone. "Uhm...Pinkie? What're you doing?..."

Pinkie was actually sitting on her flank, munching on what appeared to be a giant jawbreaker. She licked it greedily as she smiled happily attempting to shove the oversized delicacy into her mouth. "Look what I found! Jawbreakers!"

Twilight's expression sunk as she suddenly seemed annoyed. "We can see that Pinkie! This isn't the time to be hoarding sweets! Where did you even get those?"

As Pinkie actually managed to get one of the jawbreakers into her mouth, she began to drool as she also attempted to reply to Twilight. "I found them silly! Right here, waiting for me!" 

Twilight raised a brow. "Wait a second, found them?"

Fluttershy then suddenly called out in a panicked voice. "T-Twilight!"

Twilight then looked over to Fluttershy who was looking over the second jawbreaker. Twilight cocked a brow as she slowly trotted on over to Fluttershy with a puzzled expression. 

When Twilight got to her, Fluttershy pointed a hoof at the jawbreaker, her body actually trembling somewhat from what she was seeing. "L-L-Look..."

Twilight blinked a bit as she then looked at the jawbreaker as well, and what she saw made her eyes widen exponentially. She was at a loss for words as she lowered her frame and levitated the jawbreaker with her magic. Stuck to the sticky ball of delight, were a few strands of red hair, or red mane. Twilight looked over the jawbreaker and then dropped it back onto the ground. She then began moving about that particular area, remaining focused on the grass as Pinkie just continued to roll the giant ball in her mouth while Fluttershy stayed close to Twilight. Soon Twilight found just what she'd been looking for, indication that Spike had certainly been here, as well as Applebloom. There were indents from where they'd been standing for awhile in the grass, very unnoticeable indents, one had to know what they were looking for to see them. But even with all these clues, Twilight couldn't make sense of the situation, not one bit. She ran every possible scenario she could think of through her head yet, nothing made sense. Giant jawbreakers, Applebloom's hair? What the hay was going on here? Either way Twilight looked to her two friends before gulping, then a look of fierce determination came over her.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight worriedly. "Twilight? W-What is it?"

Twilight then began trotting back in the direction of the path, but not before taking the second jawbreaker with her. "Come on Fluttershy, we're heading back to the house. Pinkie, you go find Applejack and Rainbow Dash and tell them to meet us back at Fluttershy's place. I think I might have some idea on how to figure this all out."





When they'd all arrived back at Fluttershy's house, Twilight of course had everypony gathered in the living room.

She then began to trot back and forth as all the attention was on her.

Eventually somepony broke the silence, that pony being Applejack. "Twi, what is it? What're ya thinkin?" Applejack was still quite impatient with everything, feeling everything that could've went wrong for this supposedly simple gathering, did.

Twilight then looked to the rest of the group before stating. "We might have to go to Canterlot."

To this nearly everypony gasped as Rainbow cocked a brow, utterly confused. "What!? Canterlot!? We don't have time for that Twilight! We have to go out there and find Apple Bloom and Spike! I asked around town and nopony knows where they are! This is nuts, something bad could've happened, we don't have time for Canterlot!"

Twilight looked to Rainbow, then sighed heavily. "I understand what you're saying Rainbow, but trust me on this. I think I know a way to find Applebloom and Spike. We just need to go talk to Princess Luna. It's the quickest way I can think of besides blindly searching. Either way I believe we might have a short window of time in order for this plan to work."

Scootaloo cut into the conversation. "P-Princess Luna? How come?"

Everypony was curious, but Discord was bored, he looked at Twilight with disinterest. He already knew her plan, to him it was plain as day, in some way he actually found it comedic that they were all still wondering.

Twilight kept silent to this, she merely eyed the jawbreaker, wincing at it, before simply stating. "Dreams."