It was mid-morning over Ponyville. Specifically, over the cottage of a certain yellow Pegasus.
“I keep telling you, the dress looked fine yesterday. You’re really gonna think about another alteration hours before the wedding?”
Twilight Sparkle and Rarity headed up the path to Fluttershy’s door.
“Oh it’s just a minor one. I’m sure I could accentuate the butterflies on the bridal runner...ooh, or maybe add a few gems on the veil. Or maybe...”
Twilight had to grab her before she walked straight into the door while rambling.
“Ahem. Yes, thank you Darling. Fluttershy? Oh, Fluttershy.”
Knocking on the door, they were greeted with silence. Casting a confused look at each other, Rarity knocked again. And were surprised when the door creaked open. Twilight poked her head inside.
“Fluttershy? Are you home?”
The two ponies walked inside the cottage, not seeing hide nor feather of her.
“She’s probably out tending to the animals. Though she’s usually done by now. I wonder what’s keeping her.”
As they scratched around the cottage, Rarity spied something hanging from her mirror.
“Twilight, come see this.”
There was a note taped to her mirror. Floating it off, they read it together. It read:
If you found this note, then you have probably realized I’m gone. I’m sorry, but I can’t go through with this. If
you wouldn’t mind, don’t come looking for me. If that’s okay with you I mean. I’ll be back tomorrow. And don’t
worry about the animals. They’ve been taken care of for the day.
Yours truly,
Fluttershy.
P.S. I’m sorry
Twilight and Rarity looked at each other, nodding.
“We need to get the others.”
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Twilight and Rarity had gathered with the others at Sugarcube Corner, reading over the letter a few more times.
Applejack was the first to speak up.
“I don’t get it. She seemed like she was so excited fer this. She had a ball during her bachelorette party last night too. Why would she up and run on the big day?”
Rainbow Dash, oddly enough, found a positive note about all this.
“Well, at least we don’t have to stand around in 90 degree heat in those frilly bridesmaid dresses. I really wasn’t looking forward to that one.”
She was promptly yanked to the ground by her tail, getting a ‘Keep quiet’ look from Applejack.
“Anyway, do Y’all have any idea where she could’a run off to?”
Rarity and Twilight simply shrugged.
“Not a one. We should work out some kind of plan to look for her. Maybe…”
The doors of the kitchen burst open, Pinkie Pie appearing in a pink flash on the table. Wearing a familiar hat and sporting a bubble blowing pipe in her mouth. Twilight pressed a hoof to her face in exasperation.
“Pinkie, please, not this again…”
She wasn’t listening.
“Inspector Pinkie Pie is on the case! I’ll have her tracked down quick as a whip!”
She proceeded to produce a whip from under her hat, and crack it in the air.
“...Pinkie, where did you get a whip?”
She cracked it again, pointing at Rarity.
“I found it at Rarity’s house while I was playing Extreme Hide and Seek with Gummy. Oh, that reminds me.”
She whipped Applejack’s hat off, her little toothless reptile sitting on her head.
“So that’s where you were hiding! Good game, Gummy. Ooh, I also found this weird mask and…”
Twilight took the whip from her, and Rarity quickly shushed her with a little mouth closing magic. And Applejack looked at her hat in confusion. Chuckling nervously, Rarity got them back on topic.
“Anyhow, we should split up. We can cover more ground, and find her before the wedding. We have a few hours, girls. Let’s catch ourselves a runaway bride!”
Twilight cleared her throat, giving Rarity an annoyed look.
“Oh, sorry Darling. You go ahead.”
She stood up from the table.
“We have a few hours, girls! Let’s catch ourselves a runaway bride!”
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The fivesome had indeed split. Dash had flown off solo to cover the skies. Applejack and Rarity were searching the north side of town. And poor Twilight was stuck with...
“Clear the way, everypony! Inspector Pony coming through!”
Inspector Pinkie. Twilight was mostly there to keep Pinkie from doing something dumb.
“So, ‘Inspector’, what do you think?”
Pinkie popped up behind her, looking through a magnifying glass as big as her head.
“It’s elementary, my Alicorn assistant! She was kidnapped!”
Twilight out a weary grumble.
“Pinkie, if she was kidnapped, then that note would have been for a ransom or something. Not-”
Pinkie held her hoof up to silence her.
“That’s just what the kidnappers would want you to think. I bet...you!”
Pinkie pointed down the road. Standing there was a bewildered Pipsqueak.
“What have you done with Fluttershy!? RAAAH!”
She took a flying leap at the little foreign pony. And was quickly stopped by Twilight’s magic. Giving him enough time to run off in terror, Twilight dropped her on the ground.
“Pinkie. Even if she was kidnapped, I highly doubt she was kidnapped by Pipsqueak. Now, if I was the Inspector, I’d question ponies who may have seen her.”
Pinkie hopped back to her feet, blowing a stream of bubbles from the pipe in the shape of a lightbulb.
“I’ve got it! I’ll question ponies who may have seen her. I’m a genius!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, and followed behind her.
“I hope the others are having better luck than us…”
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Fluttershy’s Cottage
“Alright ya varmint, talk. I know Fluttershy trusts you most out of the animals.”
Applejack and Rarity had returned to Fluttershy’s house to question the most likely critter to know her location. Her sullen bunny friend, Angel.
“What’s it gonna take for you to spill it?”
The rabbit rubbed his paws together, giving her an evil smirk.
“Uh...beg pardon? I didn’t quite get what’cha implied there.”
Realizing that he didn’t have fingers, Angel pointed to an end table in the living room.
“Oh, you want a table? I could get you a table.”
Angel pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He hopped onto the table, and tossed something at Applejack.
“It’s a bit. Wait, you want us to pay you for the info? You’re a dang rabbit. What do you need money for?”
Angel crossed his arms in defiance.
“Oh, that’s how you wanna do this?”
As Angel was about to find out, Applejack wasn’t as tolerant with stubborn fuzzy things. A point made clear when she produced her lasso.
“We’ll play it this way.”
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The skies above Ponyville
“Where could she be?”
Rainbow Dash soared through the clouds, looking every which way for Fluttershy.
“She can’t have gotten far. Hang on...that’s her!”
Indeed, just a ways off, Dash spotted a flying yellow Pegasus with pink hair. Nopony else it could be.
“Fluttershy, wait up!”
The runaway bride glanced back, and took off for the trees.
“Oh, trying to outfly me? Game on!”
Dash bolted after her, following her into the thick forest below.
“You can’t outfly me, Fluttershy!
Fluttershy glanced back for a second, managing to smack into a tree in her distraction. Smack it so hard, a large branch broke off and narrowly missed Dash’s head.
“Not cool, Fluttershy!”
The yellow Pegasus wasn’t exactly being graceful. Smacking into trees and bushes, sending debris flying everywhere. And Dash had had enough.
“Okay, fun time is over!”
Dash poured on the afterburners, catching up to her fleeing friend.
“Gotcha!”
Grabbing on, she tackled her(As gently as she could) onto the ground below.
“Ha, nice try! But you can’t...outfly...me?”
Dash was greeted to a bobbled pair of gold eyes below her.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!”
Dash was now officially lost.
“Derpy? Why are you dressed like Fluttershy?”
The ditzy Pegasus smiled obviously.
“She came to my house yesterday, and promised me a super gourmet muffin if I pretended to be her and fly around for a few hours. She also said to run if Rainbow Dash showed up. I think I did a good job. Don’t you?”
Dash let out a weary groan, and gave the dippy disguisee a mocking pat on the head.
“Yeah, great job.”
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Back in town.
“Where were you at 5:25 PM last Tuesday, 3 years ago? Huh?”
‘Inspector’ Pinkie and Twilight were continuing their questioning of the various townsponies.
“Pinkie, that has nothing to do with this.”
Pinkie blew a few bubbles in her face.
“Poor, unknowing Twilight. Fluttershy was probably planning this escape for years! The quiet ones are always the cunning ones.”
Waving the bubbles away, she was forced to state the obvious.
“Pinkie, she was proposed to 6 months ago. There’s no way she…”
Pinkie hopped onto a fruit cart, looking around with a pair of mysteriously gotten binoculars.
“It’s always the last place you expect to look. Just like my game of Extreme Hide and Seek with Gummy. AH HA! That’s it!”
Pinkie hopped off the cart(Much to the annoyed owners relief) and hugged Twilight.
“I’ve cracked the case, my royal sidekick. Back to Fluttershy’s house!”
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Making their way back to Fluttershy’s cottage, Pinkie and Twilight were greeted to the sounds of crashing and banging from inside. Opening the door, they were greeted to…
“Oh, howdy Twilight. Don’t worry bout a thing, we’ve nearly got him to confess!”
Most of the living room was trashed, Rarity was hanging from the ceiling by Applejack’s lasso, and Applejack herself was chasing after Angel.
“Gotcha!”
Taking a flying leap, she missed him by about five feet. Skidding to a stop at Twilight’s hooves.
“So...how’s it going on your end?”
If one listened close, they could almost hear the throbbing vein in Twilight’s head. With a quick burst of magic, Rarity was released, and the living room was returned to its pre chaos strewn state.
“Can we please just end this already!? And where is Rainbow Dash?”
Right on cue, the blue speedster landed behind Twilight and Pinkie.
“So, any luck finding her yet?”
Pinkie stomped the ground to get their attention.
“Gather round, my little ponies. And Inspector Pinkie shall solve the mystery of the runaway bride.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, simply wanting this craziness to end.
“My first clue to our friends location, was this note!”
She produced the note Twilight and Rarity had found on her mirror.
“Now, we all know Fluttershy is shy. It’s in her name...now that I think about it, isn’t it weird how we’re all given such appropriate names when we’re born?”
Twilight gave a loud “Ahem!” to get Pinkie back on topic.
“Right. Now, why would a pony like her leave a note that would ensure we come looking for her? Then I remembered my game of Extreme Hide and Seek with Gummy.”
Glancing around the room, Applejack checked under her hat to make sure he wasn’t under there again.
“It’s always the closest most obvious place. A meek pony like Fluttershy would feel safest…”
She hopped over to a closet, and flung it open.
“In her own home!”
And to everypony’s surprise, there she was.
“Um...hi everypony.”
Twilight, for the time that day, was actually impressed by Inspector Pinke.
“Wow, Pinkie. I didn’t think you could actually deduce this, but here she is.”
Pinkie let out a childish giggle, throwing her detective hat aside.
“Oh, I didn’t really deduce anything. I came by earlier, and saw her stick the note to the mirror and hide in the closet. I just wanted to play detective for a while!”
And just like that, Twilight’s impressed feeling was gone.
“ANYWAY, Fluttershy, why did you wanna hide on your own wedding day?”
The pink haired Pegasus pawed at the floor, not looking them in the eyes.
“I’ve been nervous about this for months. I’m not unhappy, just the thought of being the center of attention. And all those ponies being there. And having to kiss in front of a crowd, and..and…”
She tried closing the door again, but Applejack stuck her hoof in in before she could.
“Sugarcube, we’re not mad at you. We were worried. If you were so stressed, you should have just told us.”
She finally came out of the closet(Insert immature snickering here).
“I’m sorry.”
She was wrapped up in a hug by all five of her friends.
“So, are you still going through with the wedding? It would be in poor taste to be a pony who leaves somepony at the altar.”
She nodded.
“I’m still going to get married. Maybe just...somewhere quieter. And with less ponies. And of course, with you girls there.”
The other five thought on it for a few minutes.
“Say, Twilight, can you use those royal connection to snag us a chariot?”
Twilight nodded, sporting a huge smile. They were all on the same page. There was only one place to go for a quick wedding, with not a lot of people.
“To Las Pegasus!”
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The end.
Thanks for reading.