Scene 05: Breaking Glass
Rarity gave a frustrated huff, peering under her bed for any sign of her wayward cat. Where was she? She had looked in the closet, under the bed, in her studio, in the kitchen… pretty much everywhere the little fur-covered ball of pain could be! On top of that, Sweetie Belle was gone too and hadn’t even had the good mind to lock the shop on the way out! Perhaps the little filly had taken her cat over to Fluttershy’s for some reason and hadn’t left a note. Considering that she wasn’t exactly supposed to be back yet, it seemed like the most likely explanation.
She was about to head out and see if what she had surmised was true when she heard a shout from outside her window.
“Rarity! Hey! Rarity!”
Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack stood down below, in front of their good friend’s carousel styled boutique as the violet haired unicorn appeared in the upper window.
“Girls! How goes it?” she greeted them with a flourish, folding her forelegs on the windowsill as she leaned out to look down to them. “Tell me, have you seen Sweetie Belle? She doesn’t appear to be home and I can’t find Opalescence anywhere! I thought she might have taken her over to Fluttershy’s or something, but…”
“We know, and it seems that you’re not the only one having a problem, either.” Twilight interjected, “Something strange is going on, and we’re not exactly sure what, but it seems like it’s affecting all of Ponyville. Applejack went back to her farm right after we returned, but she can’t find any of her relatives. However, there’s no sign of anything amiss, and no indication that they’ve actually gone anywhere.” Twilight pointed to her disheveled friend who just gave a weak nod, pushing her old Stetson up away from her eyes, “Not only that, but Pinkie Pie says that she doesn’t recognize any of the ponies that she’s seen around Ponyville since we got back. Gummy’s gone too, along with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, but the bakery itself is completely intact. All of the wares are still on the display stands and nothing’s been put up. The doors weren’t even locked. It’s as if they just… left.”
“Something smells fishy around here!” Pinkie appeared from behind Twilight, tilting her hat over one eye with her hoof. “And I don’t like it!” She disappeared back behind Twilight for just a moment, only to pop up right next to Rarity on the second story of the boutique. “Not at all!”
The prim unicorn nearly jumped out of her skin with a brief, frightened shriek, pressing herself against the window frame as Pinkie leaned against the sill a length or so away from her. “Pinkie, don’t do that!” Rarity exclaimed, but Pinkie paid no mind.
The pink mare drew a small brightly colored pipe from her coat and placed it in her mouth, blowing a series of bubbles from it, all the while trying to look thoughtful. “What pony would just get up and leave like that without even leaving a note? That’s not the Mr. and Mrs. Cake I know! What if someone wanted a cupcake? Crêpes don’t fold themselves! And the turnovers! The turnovers! It doesn’t make any sense!”
Reaching over with a hoof, Rarity examined the brim of Pinkie’s hat. It was absolutely atrocious… The poor thing looked like had been lit ablaze and then dropped in the middle of a stampede. And the coat was even worse, such a mangled mess of— Pinkie leapt on to the windowsill, posing with a single hoof out towards the horizon.
“But, I’m going to figure out what’s going on! I’ll solve this mystery, or my name isn’t Pinkie Pie!” And with that she leapt out of the window of the boutique, a thump like a sack of bricks resounding below a moment later as the pink mare belly-flopped onto the grass. She just giggled, face down on Rarity’s lawn.
“Whatever you say, darling,” Rarity laughed in spite of herself, delightfully bemused as always by Pinkie’s behavior. “Alright then, let me just brush my mane back into place and I shall be right down~”
“Now don’t take yer sweet time, fussbudget! Ah’ve got kin to find, an’ we can’t be wasting any time on no frou-frou nonsense!” Applejack gave Rarity a stern look, the unicorn’s expression souring for a moment before it softened a bit. She knew that Applejack was concerned, and a gentle smile returned to her face as she gave a nod to her anxious friend before disappearing back into her boutique. “Ah hope they’re alright,” Applejack said weakly, her eyes heavy with worry for her own.
“I’m sure they’re fine, Applejack. We’ll get to the bottom of this, but first we should round up Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, so that we have hooves in the air just in case.”
A moment later, the prim unicorn appeared at the door, strutting out to her friends as they stood by the tree outside of her boutique.
“Well then, I suppose we’re off,” Rarity spoke, looking rather unconcerned at the moment — there was surely a reasonable explanation for all of this.
Proceeding across town towards the edge of the Everfree Forest, the four passed through the center of Ponyville again, glancing warily at the ponies mulling about in the streets around them. It seemed that Pinkie was indeed on to something. All of the ponies they saw were... indistinct, to say the least. They couldn’t place any of them having ever been in Ponyville, nor could they recall really what one looked like after losing sight of them. Any efforts to approach one simply caused them to walk away sullenly and even shouting after them produced no response. None of the usual vendors were at their stands, and all of the buildings were strangely quiet for the middle of the day. Something was amiss in Ponyville for sure.
As the group approached the house of their timid yellow pegasus friend, they noticed that much of the equipment that Fluttershy kept for tending to her animal friends was scattered about in relative disarray; tools were tossed about the garden, and the hutches and coops that she had for the various animals seemed still and deserted.
Suddenly, a shadow shot across the path in front of them and a moment later, Rainbow Dash descended from the sky in a streak of prismatic color, stopping abruptly in midair a length or so ahead of them. She looked a little bent out of shape, panting heavily as she put her hooves up, beckoning them to stop.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t go in there right now if I were you.”
“What? Why? What’s wrong.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath before explaining the situation, “All of her animals are gone. Just poof, like they were never there in the first place. Her annoying rabbit, Angel. Her chickens, too. Not to mention all the ones she was keeping downstairs for recovery.”
“All of them?” Rarity looked honestly surprised, chewing on her lip as her thoughts went back to her sister and pet.
“All of them. Apparently Lyra and Bon Bon were supposed to stop by every day while she was gone to keep tabs and make sure they were all fed, but I don’t know what happened with that.” Dash shrugged, sinking in the air a bit, “So anyway, she came over to my place to ask for help and I’ve been looking around for clues out here while she searches her house.”
The blue pegasus smiled uneasily, flying up and over the group before landing between Applejack and Twilight, putting a foreleg over each of their shoulders. “But… she’s kind of having a moment right now, so I really wouldn’t go in there.” Rainbow gave a nervous chuckle and shook her head.
“Well, it’s kind of bigger than that, Rainbow… Applejack can’t find any of her relatives. Sweetie Belle and Opalescence are missing, too, not to mention Gummy and the Cakes.” With that, Pinkie Pie popped up behind Rainbow Dash, and set her chin down on the top of Dash’s head.
“It’s spoooooooooooooky~! What we’ve got on our hands, gang, is a mystery! The Mystery of the Pilfered Ponies! …and Pets!” Performing a rather adroit backflip, Pinkie landed in front of the rest of her friends and put a hoof into her coat. “But we’ll get to the bottom of this, see? Nothing’s gonna stop us from figuring this out and getting everything back! First, though, we’ve got to interview Fluttershy and see what she knows! She might be hiding something!”
“Why would Fluttershy be hiding something?” Twilight asked, slightly confused by Pinkie’s typically meandering logic.
“I dunno, just seems like what you’re supposed to do. You’ve got to question ponies to get clues!”
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh, and pushing past Pinkie Pie, made her way up the little hill to Fluttershy’s home, knocking on the door gently with her hoof. There was no response. After a few seconds, Twilight knocked again, a bit more forcefully and called to her friend.
“Fluttershy? Are you in there?” She said, trying to sound as friendly as she could manage, being as concerned as she was. After a few seconds of silence, a crash emanated from somewhere inside the pegasus’ house. Leaning against the door, Twilight tried to gaze in through its window at the interior of the house. Everything was strewn about: cage doors hung open, cushions lay turned over, and various other effects were scattered all over the floor.
Twilight pressed herself against the door to listen, but it hadn’t been closed completely and when she put her weight against it, the door came unstuck. She fell forward, just managing to catch herself right before she faceplanted into Fluttershy’s living room.
She could hear some quiet mumbling coming from the kitchen, just beyond the living room itself. The sound of cabinet doors being opened and slammed shut in quick succession followed a moment later. There was a brief repose as Twilight began to move through the living room, carefully stepping past the toppled bird cages to avoid making any noise.
The soft clatter of dishes being shuffled around emanated from around the corner as she approached it. She had gotten halfway through the ransacked den before she caught a barely audible gasp from the kitchen, and a moment later a single, crisp noise broke the silence – the sound of a single piece of porcelain shattering on the floor. The quiet returned for just a second more before a low, guttural roar welled out of the next room, pitching up to a shrill scream of rage as a chorus of exploding finery rang out upon their impact with the floor. Twilight stopped in place as she heard it, her heart leaping up into her throat. She slowly began to back away from the kitchen door as the screaming continued, a series of dull thumps playing out on the wall next to her.
After a few long moments, the vitriol flowing from the kitchen began to subside and relative peace fell over the household once again. Twilight took a deep breath, steeling herself and creeping up to the doorway so that she might peek around the corner into the kitchen itself.
Fluttershy was leaning against the counter, panting as she stood amidst the debris of what were several dozen very nice plates, cups and saucers. She looked horrible: her pretty pink hair a tangled nest and a dark shadow cast over her expression, a desperate look in her eyes as she tried to take stock momentarily. The pegasus hadn’t caught sight of Twilight yet, and the unicorn decided to take a step back and compose herself before gently calling for her friend.
“Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you in here?” Twilight said as calmly as she could manage, pressing her ear to the wall to see if she elicited an audible response. She was glad that she hadn’t been able to see the little rampage that had just occurred, but simply hearing it had been enough to shake her up regardless.
“T-twilight? Is that you?” She responded, her voice resonating with a hopeful tone. The unicorn slowly peeked out into the kitchen doorway, a timorous smile on her face as she slowly stepped around the corner and through the doorway. The pegasus relaxed visibly, an almost pained expression on her face as she approached Twilight, stumbling through the wreckage of her kitchenware and toppling onto her knees at her friend’s hooves. Reaching up, she put her forelegs around Twilight’s shoulders and drew herself up level.
“Oh, Twilight, it’s awful! Just awful… All of the animals are gone! Mr. and Mrs. Mouse, the Robin twins, Mr. Bandicoot and Miss Woodchuck, not to mention all the chickens! I can’t find any of them! I’ve searched everywhere!” She took a deep breath through her snout, snorting loudly as tears began to well up in her eyes. “Where could they have all gone? What if something happened to them?! And not only that but… Angel’s missing too… oh my poor little…” With that she screwed her eyes shut and began to shake Twilight bodily, much to the poor bookworm’s chagrin.
“You’ve got to help me find them! You’ve just got to! They might be scared or lost or even worse and they’ve got no one out there to protect them or feed them or anything, and if any of them got hurt I just don’t know if I could live with myself!!”
“F-F-F-L-L-L-U-U-U-U-T-T-T-T-E-R-R-S-S-H-H-Y-Y-Y!!!” Twilight persisted, being shaken back and forth repeatedly until she managed to get both hooves around her and pull the panicking pegasus pony promptly into a powerful… hug.
Fluttershy honestly looked like she was about to collapse into a quivering mass at this point, her eyes clouding with tears as Twilight held her. The unicorn looked her friend in the eyes, a stern expression on her face, and without faltering she spoke to her in a calm and collected voice.
“Don’t worry, okay? We’ll find all your little animal friends, and Angel.” Fluttershy bit her lower lip and Twilight just gave her a gentle nuzzle to the cheek, a smile slipping onto her face, “Especially Angel. But what I need you to do, is calm down and get yourself together so that we’re all thinking straight. Your animals aren’t the only ones missing.”
Fluttershy perked up, her expression changing to one of surprise.
“They’re not?” She asked, now looking even more concerned, though the emotion began to channel itself in a completely different direction.
“No. Rarity’s cat and Pinkie’s alligator are missing as well, along with an entire plethora of ponies from the town. Something strange is going on, but if we’re going to figure it out, I need you to be at your best. Okay?”
Fluttershy gave a soft nod in response, Twilight squeezing her softly before letting go and dropping back down onto all four hooves. The unicorn gave a reassuring smile and put a hoof to her heart.
“We’ll find them, don’t worry.”
Fluttershy’s quiet smile began to return in spite of her darkened eyes and she trotted out into the den. Twilight gave a sigh of relief, slowly scanning the remains of what was once a rather pleasant kitchen. Of course, Fluttershy wouldn’t even think of asking her or any of the others to help her clean up. That was just her way...
She wondered about Fluttershy sometimes. So warm and kind, so dedicated to others, but sometimes, if very rarely, all that frustration of grinning and bearing it slipped out from behind her heart and made itself known. And when it did…
It was kind of scary. What was it keeping her hooves on the ground, so to speak?
“Twilight?” Her friend’s soft voice spoke from behind her in the living room, breaking her from her introspection suddenly. She looked back over her shoulder to see Fluttershy smiling sweetly at her, the yellow pegasus dropping eye contact as soon as Twilight made it.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks…” Fluttershy’s smile grew just a little bigger and with a turn, she fluttered over the clutter on the living room floor to the door. Twilight shook the thoughts from her head and with a smile, followed her friend outside.