"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER DRAG RACERS! YAY!"
The scooter raced down the empty street in Ponyville like a shot, and with a jolt, the wagon it towed quickly followed. Not prepared for the burst of speed, Sweetie Belle slid back in the wagon and into Apple Bloom sitting behind with a startled yelp. Scootaloo barely noticed, the yelp getting lost in the purr of the furious flapping of her wings, straining hard to push herself and the scooter she road as fast as they could. Like a rocket, they continued down the empty street, a small cloud of dust quickly billowing up behind them as they went. Cottage houses blurred together, and the one trash can left on the street tumbled over in their wake as they sped past it. In moments, they had reached Scootaloo's usual top speed, but the filly of course pushed herself to go faster still. The wooden fence that sat at the end of the street surged up towards them like an ominous reminder that the reckless trip would not last.
"Okay, get ready to stop!" Sweetie Belle shouted, the wind whipping her face, gearing up for when Scootaloo would begin to brake while gripping the stopwatch she was using to time their race tightly with her hoof. "Apple Bloom, get ready with the parachute!"
"Got it!" Apple Bloom replied, and reached for the pull string of the parachute strapped to her back the fillies planned to use to slow them down.
However, that was when everything went wrong.
"DUCK!" Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed, flinging one yellow hoof out straight to point ahead of them.
And sure enough, a lone female duck had wandered out into the street in front of them, right in their path.
There was no time to stop, so Scootaloo quickly jerked the handlebars of her scooter, and both it and the wagon veered sharply left. They narrowly missed the startled duck before they shot into an adjoining path that led onto the nearby, and very busy, market street. Suddenly faced with surprised ponies of all ages and types on all sides, Scootaloo did her best to weave around them all without hitting any of them. At the same time, she worked to try and slow down her scooter, but it suddenly did not want to cooperate, and was rapidly turning into a runaway scooter.
"Beep beep!" Scootaloo shouted out at ponies as they all jumped to get out of the way. "Gangway! One side, ponies! Get out of the way!"
"Apple Bloom, use the parachute!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed to her friend, now glad they had brought it after all.
"Ah'm tryin', the thingy's stuck!" Apple Bloom responded, trying to tug on the parachute's pull string, but it didn't want to pull.
"AHHH!" Scootaloo suddenly exclaimed, drawing the attention of the other two fillies to look ahead.
As the closest mass of ponies in their way quickly parted, they revealed Fluttershy standing in their place. The butter yellow pegasus's attention seemed to be on something else, and was not aware that she was in danger of getting run over.
"Fluttershy, get out of the way!" Sweetie Belle quickly bellowed in the mare's direction.
Startled, Fluttershy spun around, but instead of moving out of the way like the three fillies hoped, she merely dropped down to the ground and covered her eyes in fear. Scootaloo yet again had to jerk the scooter onto a different path to avoid collision, veering them to the right this time as they zipped dangerously close to Fluttershy's trembling body. It at first looked like they had managed to avoid her successfully, but then the wagon's rear wheel snagged on Fluttershy's tail. With a massive jolt, the tangled pink hairs brought the speeding wagon to a sudden halt, throwing Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom forward and the scooter out from under Scootaloo, leaving all four ponies in a heap. Then, almost to add insult to injury, the parachute finally, but belatedly, deployed, the fabric bursting promptly upwards and then drifting gently back down to cover the tangled group.
Apple Bloom was the first to emerge, her hooves thrashing about blindly as she knocks the parachute off of her. "Yeah, now ya work, ya pathetic piece of fabric," she grumbled aloud, then looked around in a slight daze. "Is everypony alright?"
With some thrashing of her own, Sweetie Belle was next to extricate herself from the mess, her eyes spinning somewhat, but she otherwise seemed okay. "Yeah, I think I'm fine," she announces, putting both hooves to her temples to get her eyes to stop spinning. Succeeding, she looks around. "Where's Scootaloo?"
"Here!" Scootaloo's voice rang out as she, too, extricated herself from the parachute. "I'm okay, too." She made an embarrassed grimace, looking at the ponies wandering about the market that had returned to their tasks now that the danger had passed. "Only thing I hurt was my pride." She glanced back at her flank, saw it was still blank, and heaved a heavy sigh. "And my faith in drag racing getting our cutie marks."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle glanced back at their own flanks and sighed themselves at the lack of cutie marks.
"Oh well," Sweetie Belle murmured, removing her helmet. "Back to the drawing board again, I guess."
"And Ah guess we oughta be thankful that we didn't hurt anythin' else," Apple Bloom mumbled as she worked to gather up the parachute. "Ah mean, with our track record, we could'ah done--"
"Ohmigosh, Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle suddenly squealed as the parachute was pulled off the pegasi's still form. She hurried over to older mare's side. "Are you all right?"
Fluttershy was still lying flat on the ground with her hooves covering her eyes, trembling. The only response she gave to Sweetie Belle was a frightened whimper.
Apple Bloom quickly gave the mare a look over. "She don't look hurt t' me," she said optimistically. She leaned down towards Fluttershy's ear. "Hey Fluttershy, everythin's okay, ya're safe now."
Fluttershy went still for a moment, then cautiously peeked one eye out from under her hooves. "Are you sure?" she whimpered hesitantly.
Apple Bloom grinned. "Positive."
Slowly, Fluttershy picked herself up, looking around. "Oh my," she said in her soft voice. "What happened exactly, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, we nearly crashed into you, for one thing," Scootaloo said, as she stuffed the parachute into the wagon and straightened it and her scooter.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy said, cowering in shame.
"Aw, don't be Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle assured her. "We were probably going to crash anyway."
"Says you," Scootaloo grumbled.
"Anyway, we're all okay, and that's what's important," Sweetie Belle continued, ignoring Scootaloo's grumbling.
"I'm glad to hear that," Fluttershy said, relieved. "But do you need any help sorting this out? I wasn't going anywhere terribly important..."
"No, Ah think we've got it, but thanks anyway Fluttershy, and sorry for nearly runnin' ya over," Apple Bloom said.
"Oh no, I should have made sure I wasn't in the way," Fluttershy said, turning to go. "But um, if you're sure you don't want my help, I guess I'll, um, just be going then. I'll see you girls another time then, ohhhAH!"
She suddenly tripped and fell on her front when her tail suddenly snapped taunt, like it didn't want to follow. "Oh my," she murmured, picking herself up yet again. "um, I don't want to be a bother, but um, I think I might be a teensy, tiny, bit stuck."
The three fillies dropped what they were doing and went to investigate. They quickly found the problem; the hair of Fluttershy's tail was still tangled up with the wheel of their wagon.
"Uh-oh," Apple Bloom said as she and the other two dropped down to begin work at disentangling the tail from the wheel. "Hold on, Fluttershy, yer tail's gotten tangled up with our wagon's wheel."
"Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured as she laid patiently down on the ground as the fillies worked. "This is starting to become a problem."
"What do you mean, Fluttershy?" Sweetie Belle asked, not understanding.
"Oh, well, you see it's my tail," the pegasus mare explained, watching the three fillies work. "It has a tendency to, well," she blushed a little, as if embarrassed, "snag on things, like this."
"Like what sort of things?" Sweetie Belle asked, not seeing what the big deal was.
Before Fluttershy could answer, Scootaloo suddenly gasped. "Whoa!" she cried before pulling out a moderate sized book from within the confines of Fluttershy's tail. "How did this get in there?"
"Oh good!" Fluttershy cried, recognizing the book. "Twilight's been looking for that! She'll be so happy I found that!"
"But...but...wut's it doin' in yer tail?" Apple Bloom asked, taking the book from Scootaloo as Scootaloo started digging through Fluttershy's tail again.
"Well, you see, with my tail being so long, it sometimes gets tangled up in things without my noticing, and, um, drags them along," Fluttershy explained further, before blushing again. "You, um, might be surprised to hear some of the things I might find in it sometimes."
"Like money?" Scootaloo offered, withdrawing three bits from within Fluttershy's tail. She then proceeded to pull out numerous other surprising things. "Or how about a quill, or a sock? Uh, there's also some kind of notebook, earmuffs, a bag of kitty treats, a muffin..."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged surprised looks, then glanced at Fluttershy who continued to blush.
"So you're saying that all of this stuff just randomly gets caught in your tail, without you knowing or you deliberately putting any of it in your tail?" Sweetie Belle summarized, brow furrowing in puzzlement.
Fluttershy nodded. "It just sort of started one day and I could never get it to stop, nor I could ever figure out where most of it comes from" she explained. "Eventually, it became so common place that I, um, admittedly didn't think much of it. But maybe I should, now that you've brought it up...oh, why do I never think of these things myself? I'm so inconsiderate!"
"Ya ain't inconsiderate, Fluttershy!" Apple Bloom quickly assured the mare. "Yer the most considerate pony Ah know!" She was quiet for a moment, then leaned over to whisper in Sweetie Belle's ear. "Hey Sweetie Belle, wut in tarnation does 'inconsiderate' mean?"
"Inconsiderate: without due regard for the rights or feelings of others; acting without consideration; thoughtless; heedless; overhasty; rash; ill-considered," Sweetie Belle recited from memory.
"See, this is why ya're handy t' have around, Sweetie Belle, 'cuz ya know these sorta things. Yer like a walkin' dictionary, 'cept ya never have t' do the lookin' up of stuff yerself, 'cuz ya do it all for us."
"Thanks...I think."
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was still pulling things out from within the long pink hairs of Fluttershy's tail. "...hoof polish, hoof warmer, a spoon, a fork, another book, some thingy with a bunch of triangles, highlighter pen, box of crayons, a couple of carrots, a postcard from some pony named Bob..."
"So, um, Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle said, a thought coming to her. "How often do you brush your tail? It seems to me a good brushing would prevent this sort of thing."
"You would think it would," Fluttershy agreed, "but I tried it, and it never seemed to help...although lately this issue has been getting worse than usual, so maybe I should try again. It has been awhile since I brushed my tail real good. It's just I get so busy, and my tail usually looks like it doesn't need it, so..."
"Yeah, Ah could never figure out why some ponies waste time bushin' their manes n' tails twenty times or sumthin' when their manes n' tails look fine as is, like wut Sweetie Belle does every night before goin' t' bed," Apple Bloom remarked.
"I only do that because Rarity tells me to," Sweetie Belle grumbled in her defense, and then changed the subject. "What about cutting it all off, Fluttershy? Your tail can't snag on things if it isn't even long enough to reach anything. And Rarity tells me that short tails have been getting trendy again with the all the fashion mares. Something about it being more 'suggestive' or whatever. I'm not sure what that means exactly, that's just what I've heard."
"Oh, but, I never really liked having my tail cut," Fluttershy murmured, looking uncomfortable. She glanced at the other ponies that were wandering about the marketplace, fearing they might be watching, listening, and worse still, judging, but it didn't look like any pony was paying attention to the mare and the three fillies anymore. Not that this reassured Fluttershy much.
Apple Bloom, however, seemed pleased to hear Fluttershy say this. "Ah know wutcha mean!" she agreed immediately. "Ah hate gettin' muh tail cut! It feels so...awkward." She shuddered at the thought, but quickly brightened again. "When Ah was still just a liddle foal, Ah absolutely refused t' let anypony cut muh tail. Wuz just gonna let it grow an' grow 'til, Ah dunno, it got a mile long, Ah guess. But then Granny Smith decided she'd had enough, and chased me through half the house with a pair of scissors, tryin' t' cut it." The yellow filly started to laugh at the memory. "Big Mac eventually had t' sit on me in order t' git me t' stay still long enough for Granny t' cut muh tail. In fact, come t' think of it, they still have t' do that." She shrugged. "Ah dunno why it's such a big deal, though. Granny says proper mares don't grow their tails out so long, but then Granny also says gittin' yer picture taken steals yer soul, so..."
She trailed off and they all fell silent, save for Scootaloo, who was still pulling things out of Fluttershy's tail, and was starting to amass a small pile.
"...a can of spraypaint, a camera, another sock, a purse, more bits, a brush, a half-eaten spinach sandwich--eww, an empty mayonnaise jar, a jar of ink, a magazine with pictures of--whoa! Mom'll kill me if she saw me with this!"
"How can your tail possibly fit all of that stuff in there anyway?" Sweetie Belle asked, watching as Scootaloo continued rooting through Fluttershy's tail. "I mean, it's just a tail. It's only so big." She glanced at Fluttershy. "Right?"
Fluttershy shrugged. "I don't know how it works," she said. "I just know that's what happens."
Apple Bloom tapped the tip of her snout with one hoof as she considered the problem. "Maybe," she began, "it's bigger on the inside or sumthin'! Y'know, like those stories Ditzy Doo keeps tellin' 'bout her stallion friend with the blue box thingy?"
"Oh c'mon, Apple Bloom, this is 'Derpy Hooves' Ditzy Doo we're talking about!" Scootaloo suddenly interjected, overhearing. "She's not exactly the brightest bulb in the store, you know."
"Scootaloo!" Fluttershy reprimanded, shocked. "What mean things to say about a pony! Just because Ditzy is different doesn't mean she's any less of a pony than me or you! And besides, Ditzy is very intelligent, not to mention kind! Every Wednesday she brings me muffins!"
"Sheesh, sorry," Scootaloo stated, rolling her eyes. "I'm just saying that we shouldn't be so quick to believe things like that without proof."
"Well, Ah guess there's only one way t' find out then," Apple Bloom reasoned as she and Sweetie Belle joined Scootaloo at Fluttershy's tail again. Taking in a deep breath like she was about to dive into a lake, Apple Bloom suddenly thrust her head in through the weaves of pink hair that was Fluttershy's tail. She didn't have it in long before she pulled it out again, wide-eyed and amazed.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Girls, ya gotta see this!"
Meanwhile, Fluttershy fidgeted with her hoofs while the three fillies rustled about with her tail. The discussion had suddenly made her very conscious of the peculiar snagging habits her tail had.
"Maybe I should do something about my tail," she said, thinking aloud. "Oh, but what? I don't really want to cut it off, or even really trim it. I like it just like it is. Rarity says it looks graceful, and...I like the idea of looking graceful and pretty. But the snagging...it really is getting to be a bit of a problem, more than I had realized. I had no idea all of that stuff was even in there. How long has some of it been trapped inside my tail without my knowing? Oh my! And what if one of my little animal friends got caught in there? Oh dear, I don't know if I could ever forgive myself if that happened! Maybe I should do something to keep it from snagging on things so much. Maybe I should get it cut off. C'mon Fluttershy, be brave, and do what's right!" She paused, just long enough or her doubt to return. "Oh, but how do I know that would actually be the right thing to do? Oh, I'm so confused and lost...I don't know what I should do. Maybe I should talk to my friends about this. They always seem to have good ideas, and they're so kind and supportive, too. What do you think, girls?"
She turned around to look back at the three fillies, only to discover that they were no longer there. Surprised, she looked around for them quickly, but they were nowhere in sight. Only herself and the other ponies wandering the marketplace were in the area, and none of them seemed to have been paying close enough attention to have seen where the three fillies might have gone. Fluttershy stood up, growing worried. Why would they just leave like that? Did they suddenly remember they had someplace they needed to be? If so, why didn't they tell her?
Maybe they didn't think they needed to. They were young and easily distracted, and didn't always realize when their actions might be considered rude. Not that Fluttershy thought their sudden absence was rude or anything. She assumed they probably had a good reason to suddenly leave like that without at least indicating they were going first. She could have even been boring them with her worrying. Fluttershy knew she could be a bother sometimes, and knew she shouldn't expect everypony to put up with that. Besides, she knew the three well enough to know that it hadn't been the first time they had decided to just get up and go. They seemed to have a tendency to act without thinking sometimes. Plus, Fluttershy noted that they had taken the time to disentangle Fluttershy's tail from the wagon wheel like they said they would, so maybe they decided they had done everything they needed to and didn't need to stick around.
But while the three crusaders had left, their stuff had not. The wagon, scooter, partially gathered parachute, and their helmets were all still here where they had left them. It seemed odd they would just leave without taking them with. Fluttershy wondered if that meant they were planning on coming back, which made her wonder what for. Maybe they planned to help her with her tail? Fluttershy thought that would be awfully sweet of them, and she supposed it could help them in their ongoing quests to find their cutie marks.
That is until she realized how...excessive...the three could be about these sort of things. The image of the three fillies suddenly returning, swinging a massive sword with which to chop off her tail with, sprang into her mind and immediately put the pegasi on edge. The crusaders wouldn't do that...would they?
When Fluttershy thought she heard the sound of somepony stepping her way, she decided not to find out, and quickly fled the scene. She didn't look back, nor did she stop running, until she was halfway home again. It was around then that she remembered why she was out in the marketplace in the first place; Angel had accidentally broken a bowl this morning, and she wanted to buy a new one to replace it. She quickly backtracked to the marketplace to do so, being careful to go around the spot where the crusaders had nearly crashed into her, in case they had returned with their big sword and were looking for her.
If they were, Fluttershy didn't see any sign of them. In fact, she had purchased the new bowl and returned back home to her cottage without any further incident. It wasn't long before she started to relax again, and the thoughts of both her snaggy tail and the Cutie Mark Crusaders running around with a big sharp blade twice their size soon faded from memory. The rest of her day had been very peaceful in fact, and it wasn't until that evening that her attention returned to the three fillies when Rarity turned up at her door not long after dinner.
"Rarity!" Fluttershy exclaimed in surprised when she opened her front door and found the fashionista standing there, in a panic. "Whats wrong?"
"Is Sweetie Belle or any of your friends here, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked hurriedly, prancing in place with apparent worry.
"No, I haven't had any visitors all day!" Fluttershy replied, concerned. "And I haven't seen the girls since this afternoon when they nearly ran into me at the market--"
"Yes, yes, I already know all about that, everypony already knows all about that, I've heard that same story from half a dozen ponies already!" Rarity interrupted quickly. "But nopony can tell me where they went after that!"
"Why, what's wrong Rarity?"
"They've gone missing, Fluttershy! Sweetie Belle never came home for dinner, and neither did Apple Bloom or Scootaloo! And nopony knows where they are!"
"Oh my!" Fluttershy said, feeling her own heart beat faster at the sound of this terrible news, and quickly slipped out of her home. "I'll help you look for them!"
"Oh thank you, Fluttershy!" Rarity said. "I could use all the help I can get! I haven't the foggiest idea where they might be, and when I think about what could have happened to them, Sweetie Belle especially, I..."
"Hey, it'll be all right, Rarity," Fluttershy quickly assured their friend. "Don't worry. We'll find them."
Rarity nodded quickly, forcing herself to agree. "Right, right, of course we will." She turned and started off again. "So we'd better get started."
"Of course," Fluttershy agreed, and quickly followed.
They searched high and low, looking in very conceivable location they could think of that the three wayward fillies might be, and then some. But to their growing worry, they found no trace of the missing fillies. Finally, as the darkness of night started to settle in, and Rarity starting to get herself in a panic, they decided to bring out the big guns, and turned to Twilight Sparkle for help.
Upon hearing the news, the new princess immediately dropped everything she had been doing and took charge of the situation, rallying together the rest of their friends, organized search parties, and called in a few favors with Princess Celestia in Canterlot for further help in finding the three fillies. Once that was all done, the alicorn called a meeting to discuss her plans.
"All right everypony," Twilight began officially, pacing back and forth city hall in front of her five friends and all of the ponies gathered to assist like a drill sergeant. "As you are no doubt aware, we have three fillies missing, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and have been missing since this afternoon. All attempts up until now have proved unsuccessful at finding them, so I am forced to assume that something more is at play here than those three getting up to their usual mischief. That said, I have devised a plan to search for them." Using her magic, Twilight pulled out a large drawing pad on an easel. Her plan was already neatly sketched out onto it. "We'll split up into teams based on whether you are earth, unicorn, or pegasus pony. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and myself will be leading these groups which I will assign shortly. Earth and unicorn ponies will take the ground, pegasus ponies will take the sky. We'll start our search from Ponyville's town hall and then spread out from there in all directions and for as far as we need until we have either located the missing fillies, or have found new clues leading to their possible whereabouts. Team leaders will now give additional specifics on each group's tasks."
She motioned a hoof to her friends. Applejack, being the closest, stepped forward to speak first.
"Earth ponies, we'll be headin' south into the hilly terrain, and even the Everfree Forest if need be," she explained. "We're t' search every nook n' cranny, no matter how insignificant it might seem. Since it's gittin' dark out, all of ya will be given lanterns, flashlights, or other light sources so t' see yer way around, but they'll only go so far, so be sure t' keep yer eyes peeled, an' don't miss anything that could help us find these fillies."
Rarity was next. "Unicorns, we'll be doing much the same, expect we will be heading north, in the direction of Canterlot," she explained. "If you believe it might help, you are encouraged to use your magic to help with the search as you see fit, but please do not overexert yourself, because a tired pony will be of little help to us. And please, search everywhere, even if it doesn't seem likely, and please try your hardest to find something, anything, that could suggest where these three fillies might be."
Rainbow Dash was next. "All right, listen up pegasi, we get the air, and we're fanning out in all directions. Since we're going to be higher up, it could be harder to see things on the ground, so keep your eyes sharp, and fly low if you have to. And no slacking off either, you hear me? These are good fillies we're talking about, and I'd like to find them safe and sound as quickly as ponily possible!"
"And I've been in contact with Princess Celestia, and she has agreed to let us borrow the royal guards to help us search," Twilight added. "They'll mostly be heading in directions we ourselves will not be able to take, but they will also have plenty of ponies to spare to help us out everywhere else too. We will also rotate ponies if need be, so ponies can take breaks as needed, but to also permit the search to continue for as long as needed."
"And if you need added motivation, please keep in mind the families that are worried about these fillies and want to see them returned to us safely as soon as possible," Rarity added. "Myself, my parents, the Apple family, Scootaloo's parents..."
"Wait, Scootaloo has parents?" Applejack interrupted suddenly, turning in Rarity's direction in surprise. "Since when did she have parents?"
"I thought she was an orphan," Twilight admitted sheepishly.
"I thought she lived with Rainbow," Fluttershy confessed timidly.
"Hey!" Rainbow objected, shooting a look in Fluttershy's direction for that assumption.
"And I thought she was a young changeling who was abandoned at birth, and is now trying to live in disguise, peacefully, in Equestria!" Pinkie Pie blurted out. Upon receiving a number of odd looks, she added with a cheery grin. "But that's just a hunch. I've got another theory that I actually kind of like better that's she secretly a chick--"
"Anyway," Twilight interrupted, getting back on subject. "You all know what to do and how to do it. Unless there are any other questions, we'll begin with the assigning and the searching straightaway."
And with that, the ponies began to be organized into their respective groups and headed out to begin searching. They started with their numbers and morale high. Many were confident that they would find Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle before the night was over.
Three days later, they still hadn't found them.
A worn and exhausted Twilight stared at the mass of plans and charts that she had amassed in her library during those three days, now officially run out of ideas. "I don't get it!" the princess of friendship exclaimed in frustration, her mane askew and her wings ruffled from the stress. "We've searched as far as Canterlot and then some, and there's no sign of them! It's like they just evaporated!"
Rarity was even more of a mess than Twilight. "Oh, this is just awful, awful!" she cried, dabbing her eyes full of smudged makeup and tears as Fluttershy put one hoof around her, trying to comfort her. "I can't help but shake the feeling that something terrible has happened! For all we know, they could be lying in some ditch somewhere--"
"NO!" Applejack interrupted determinedly, who had remained optimistic and resolute throughout all of this. "We are NOT assumin' that yet! Ya'll see! They'll turn up safe n' sound in the end, they always do!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed, coming to Applejack's support. "Besides, I've got pegasi searching all the ditches already!"
"Not helping, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped, who had started to pace, wings twitching restlessly as she sought the answer she was missing. "There must be something more to all of this that we've missed. Some key detail that has managed to slip under everypony's radar."
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie agreed. "It's like that one puzzle you have at the back of your closest that is missing that one piece that you can never seem to find, and you can't complete the puzzle without it!"
Twilight nodded halfheartedly. "Yeah, something like that," she conceded. She continued pacing for a few moments, then suddenly stopped and faced the others. "Fluttershy, by all accounts you were the last pony to see them. Is there anything else you can tell us?"
Fluttershy hesitated a moment. "Um, well," she began, removing her hoof from around Rarity so to tap it against her snout in thought. "I'm not sure. What else can I tell you?"
"Did they tell you anything about what they were doing that afternoon?" Rarity asked hopefully. "Where they might be going? Did they tell you they were planning to go anywhere?"
"No, nothing like that," Fluttershy said. "In fact, I don't think any of us discussed anything about what we planned to do later that day."
"What did you four talk about then?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying over to hover above Fluttershy's head.
"Oh, well, um," Fluttershy began, ducking her head a little to hide her face. "First I remember they apologized for nearly crashing into me, and me apologizing for foolishly being in their way. And then, um, we started talking about my tail."
"Yer tail?" Applejack repeated, giving the yellow pegasi a puzzled look.
"Oh, well, yes," Fluttershy admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "You see...it had snagged on the wheel of their wagon. And, um, I started talking about how it, um, has a habit to, well, snag on things."
Twilight and Applejack exchanged looks. "What's that got to do with anything?" Twilight asked, skeptical.
"Well, they took interest," Fluttershy explained with an innocent shrug. "When they discovered all of the sort of things they could possibly find in it..."
"Ooh, like what sort of things?" Pinkie Pie asked, her curiosity sparked. Without waiting for an answer, she immediately went for Fluttershy's tail and started rooting a hoof through it.
"Pinkie!" Twilight objected, moving towards the pink party pony. "Not only do I think it's rude to just go sticking your hoof into a pony's tail without permission, but I fail to see how this could possibly help..."
"Ooh, look at this!" Pinkie suddenly interjected, and withdrew from Fluttershy's pink tail a pair of glasses. While the other ponies looked on, flabbergasted, Pinkie immediately placed the glasses on her snout, and looked around through them. "Hey, everything's so blurry now!" she observed, the lenses magnifying her eyes to make them seem much bigger than they actually were.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing with a pair of glasses in your tail?" Rarity asked with a mystified expression.
"Well, that's what I was telling the fillies," Fluttershy explained, turning her head to look at her unicorn friend. "Most of these things get tangled up in my tail without my knowing. I don't know where they all come from, I just know that's where they end up."
Hearing this, Pinkie removed the glasses and started rooting through her friend's tail again. "I wonder what else I can find in here," she remarked aloud.
"Wait, let me get this straight," Twilight said, her analytical mind starting to kick in. "You're saying that your tail will pick up the darnedest things at any time, without you ever noticing it, and they just stay there until somepony pulls them out?"
"Uh, well...I guess so," Fluttershy said, unsure.
"And you're only telling me this now?" Twilight continued with growing volume, both hooves going to her temples in exasperation.
"Um, yes, was I not supposed to?" Fluttershy asked, who didn't understand.
"Well..." Twilight began hesitantly, at first speaking loudly, but then allowed her voice to quickly drop back to normal levels. "...I don't know. But, seriously, if this all really happens without you noticing it, then there's something wrong, because this strikes me as something a pony should notice."
"Are ya sure, Twi?" Applejack asked skeptically. "It don't seem t' be hurtin' anypony, least of all Fluttershy. Ain't that right, Fluttershy?"
"Um, well..." Fluttershy began.
"Hey, what's this?" Pinkie suddenly said, interrupting, and pulled from Fluttershy's tail a roll of--
"Toilet paper?!" Applejack exclaimed in unrestrained bewilderment.
Rainbow Dash immediately burst out laughing as Fluttershy turned beet-red with embarrassment. "I'll bet that's real useful in an emergency!" the rainbow-maned pegasi chortled.
"Rainbow, that's disgusting!" Twilight reprimanded, appalled by the implied innuendo.
"Um, not to be rude or anything," Fluttershy started to interject, her face still flushed red. "But maybe we should stop now. Besides, I think we have more important things to discuss than what's in my tail."
"Aww, but I wanted to see what else I could find!" Pinkie whined, and resumed digging through the pink hairs of Fluttershy's tail. "Just one more thing, pretty please? Look, I've already found something! It's really big! Just let me get a hold of it and give it a tug, and we'll see that it's..." she yanked the object partially out of Fluttershy's tail and did a double take. "Scootaloo?"
"Pinkie Pie!" Scootaloo exclaimed in notable relief and happiness, with only her head poking impossibly out from Fluttershy's tail, the rest of the filly's body still hidden somewhere within the bundle of pink hairs. She wiggled free of Pinkie's grasp, and turned to call back into the jungle of hair she had been pulled from. "Hey girls, I found the way out!" she called.
Then, to everypony's amazement, Scootaloo extricated herself from Fluttershy's tail, quickly followed Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. The latter of these two were immediately snatched up by their respective elder sisters in tight, relieved, hugs.
"Oh, Sweetie Belle!" Rarity squealed in happiness. "I was so worried about you! I thought you might be lost, and hurt, and..." she trailed off, and looked her little sister in the eye, her expression turning into one of puzzlement. "Where, in the name of Celestia, have you three been?"
"And wut in tarnation are y'all wearin'?" Applejack added, looking the three fillies over with a skeptical eye.
The three no longer wore their usual attires (which, save Apple Bloom's bow, was nothing at all), but rather a seeming mishmash of clothing that bore no consistent or obvious theme between each one. Scootaloo wore pieces of scratched, dented, and worn armor, complete with a helmet, that was reminiscent of the sort of armor pegasi would wear back in less peaceful days of Equestria's history. Sweetie Belle, however, wore a brown cloth vest around her barrel and a green, pyramid-shaped, hat made entirely of similar fabric. What appeared to be the feather of a phoenix was neatly pinned to the hat's band with an ornate, jeweled, brooch. She also wore a bracelet or two above her left forehoof, as well as a quiver of arrows and an accompanying bow on her back. Apple Bloom wore slightly less than her companions, the only major article of clothing being a colored sash that ran around her middle. Tucked through it was an unsheathed dagger of some sort. On her head was some kind of headpiece to which a small penlight and a number of adjustable magnifying glasses of varying sizes was attached. She also wore some kind of bronze pendant attached to a loop of ribbon around her neck, and on one hoof was what appeared to be a wristwatch, except in addition to the watch, a number of small tools and what appeared to be a small compass was attached to the thick band. All three were also somewhat scratched up, dirtied, and worn, like they had been through quite a journey.
"Oh well, it's a long story," Sweetie Belle said somewhat dismissively.
"Then I suggest you start at the beginning," Rarity stated firmly.
"We were in Fluttershy's tail!" Scootaloo explained, pointing a hoof back at the mare's tail.
"In Fluttershy's tail?" Twilight repeated in bewilderment.
"Um, could we maybe rephrase that, please?" Fluttershy requested, blushing in embarrassment again.
"That's where you've been this whole time?" Rarity exclaimed, ignoring Fluttershy's request.
"Yeah, and you won't believe what's in there!" Scootaloo added excitedly.
"Ooh, ooh, don't tell me, I'll get this!" Pinkie said, making exaggerated thinking expressions as she spoke. "Um, um, I'll get it, ooooh, um, oh, I know! Hair!"
"Well, yes, but more than just hair," Scootaloo admitted.
"There's a whole other land in there!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, the magnifying glasses on her headpiece clinking together as she moved her head. "With villagers n' everythin'! They call it Flutterland, 'cuz ya can sometimes hear Fluttershy's voice when she talks, even though it's really muffled by all the hair. But they've got a whole city built in there, made mostly out of things that got caught in Fluttershy's tail, but oh was it a sight t' see! And that's just the tip of it!"
"See, we were just walking through what seemed like a whole forest of pink hair when it suddenly opens up into this whole lush green valley that just goes on and on for miles!" Sweetie Belle added almost poetically. "In the distance you could see hills, and mountains, oh and there was a sun! A sun that moved all on its own! It shone against a sky full of pink hair, and wow did it look amazing!"
"And it's populated by ponies, too!" Scootaloo continued excitedly. "Well, they were sort-of ponies...I suppose they had a few differences, shorter than you gals, but bigger than us...anyway they're even ruled by a princess like here in Equestria! Or at least they are now, they weren't when we got there because this mean ol' queen had taken over and enslaved everypony, and--"
"--and we helped 'em overthrow her and restore their princess t' the throne!" Apple Bloom continued. "It was so cool! We went on a kind of quest, and fought monsters in huge battles, and solved puzzles, and built these neat fightin' contraptions, and had a great ol' adventure, and..."
"...and after all that, we STILL didn't get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo groaned, looking back at her still blank flank.
"But the important part is that we helped ponies in need, made some friends, and all came back safely," Sweetie Belle concluded.
"Yeah, and to think it's all thanks to Fluttershy!" Scootaloo added. She turned and pointed an enthusiastic hoof at the surprised mare. "Your tail is awesome, Fluttershy!"
Rainbow started laughing again at the peculiar statement, but the rest of the mares just stared at the three fillies in a stunned silence, still trying to wrap their minds around the unfathomable story.
"And this all took place inside Fluttershy's tail?" Twilight repeated, shocked.
The three fillies nodded in unison. When Twilight didn't immediately respond to that answer, Applejack turned to look in the direction of the young princess, only to have a mental flag go up when she saw the alicorn's face. The farm pony had seen that look before.
"Twi," Applejack began slowly, "take a deep breath and remain calm before ya do somethin' stupid."
"Stay calm? Stay calm?!" Twilight repeated, looking like her mind had pretty much choked itself trying to process the unlikely story. "How can I possibly stay calm when I'm being told a story that defies all logic, reason and known science in one fell swoop?!" She stormed over to Fluttershy's tail and grabbed it with one hoof. "I mean this is just a tail! A mere bundle of hair that grows from a pony's dock! I have one, you have one, we all have one! And none of them can house just one of these fillies, let alone a whole mythical land!" She suddenly took her other hoof and plunged it into the tail. "My hoof should just go in one side and come right out the other like any other bundle of hair! It shouldn't...even...go..."
Twilight trailed off as she pushed her hoof into Fluttershy's tail all the way up to her elbow, and realized she was still finding hair to push through. Lifting the tail up higher, she looked at the other side of the bundle of hair and, instead of seeing her hoof poking through like she expected, saw nothing at all. Twilight stared at the tail in her hooves for a few moments, then proceeded to poke her hoof in and out of the tail repeatedly, with the same result every time. Finally, she looked up and gazed blankly off into the distance.
"...well, I'll be hornswoggled," she concluded.
"So how do you explain that, Twi?" Rainbow asked with a cocky grin.
Twi rubbing her snout with one hoof for a moment as she let Fluttershy's tail fall back into place, staring at it. "I'd...have to assume it's some sort of dimensionally transcendental effect that has enabled such large objects to fit into such a small space."
"Meaning?" Rainbow prompted, not following.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully.
"Uh...yeah, pretty much," Twilight agreed.
"See, Ah told ya!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, whacking Scootaloo on the shoulder with one hoof.
"Okay, okay, you were right!" Scootaloo replied, rubbing her shoulder and giving Apple Bloom an annoyed glare. "Sheesh!"
"But...how did it get to be bigger on the inside?" Twilight asked, thinking out loud now as she regarded the mystifying tail. "Did it all happen naturally? Has Fluttershy's tail been like that since birth, or did some other event take place later to create it? How did this land even end up in there?" She was quiet for a moment. "Actually...this might be a good research project for me to do...something for me to consider, I suppose..."
"Anyway, sorry we were gone for so long," Sweetie Belle continued, going back to the subject that had brought them all here. "When Apple Bloom realized Fluttershy's tail had a whole lot more in it than it seemed, we were only going to take a quick look and then come back out...but we kind of got lost, and then we found Flutterland, and...well..." she shrugged, having nothing else to say.
"Oh, and you had me and our parents worried to the point of death!" Rarity exclaimed dramatically, but then ended it by giving her sister another loving squeeze. "Still, I'm just glad to see that you're safe, and I suppose I can't blame you, now can I? Although, as...bizarre as it will be to say this, I do have a problem that you three just waltzed into somepony's tail without even being courteous enough to tell the poor mare what you were doing."
"Oh, it's okay, Rarity, I didn't even know I had a whole mystical land hidden in my tail," Fluttershy assured sweetly. "I think I'm the one who should say I'm sorry, for not taking the time to realize this was even possible, and for not telling you all sooner about my tail, seeing it could have helped us find the fillies sooner." She glanced back at her tail for a moment. "In fact, maybe I should just go ahead and cut it off. It seems to be more trouble that it's worth, and I wouldn't want that."
"Well, if ya do that, Fluttershy, ya might want t' do it soon," Apple Bloom advised. "'Cuz while we were in there, Ah...kinda taught the ponies of Flutterland how t' grow apples, and they seemed pretty excited by the idea so...I reckon there's gonna be a whole apple orchard in there pretty soon."
All eyes fell on Fluttershy's unsuspectingly and deceptively small tail for a long moment.
Finally, it was Fluttershy who summed it up best. "Oh my."