It's Not Mine

by Drax


Chapter 1

It’s Not Mine

Rainbow Dash was panicking. She had turned her cloud house upside down, and she still couldn’t find “It”. She’d spent most of the afternoon searching, and still nothing. “Where is it?” She yelled, as she burrowed through her closet. “I could’ve sworn that I put it right here when I woke up this morning.”

Tank was hovering nearby, slowly shaking his head at his owner. Rainbow whipped around, “Don’t give me that look, Tank. You know I sleep better when I have it with me.” Tank rolled his eyes, causing Rainbow to scoff, “No, I am not 'too old' to have something like that with me.” She said, once again resuming her search.

“Besides, it’s not a doll,” she pointed out, “It’s an action figure you snuggle with.” Rainbow resumed her search through her house. It wasn’t that she really needed the do—action figure to sleep; she could do that anywhere. It just so happened that she slept better when the little ball of fluff was tucked under her wings, or tucked inside a cloud below her, or tied to a branch hanging over her in Sweet Apple Acres. It got to the point where Rainbow wouldn’t go to sleep without it.

Now that it was missing, she had to find it, or else her naps would never be the same again, let alone her reputation, “And not necessarily because it’s a doll,” she grumbled.

Rainbow was just about to search underneath her bed for the third time when she heard a familiar voice call for her. “Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow groaned, "Why now, at the worst possible time," she thought. For a second, she was tempted to just ignore her and keep searching, but being the loyal pony she was, she ducked her head through the cloud floor and took a look at her unwanted guest.

It was Rarity. Rainbow didn’t know what she was here for, and frankly, she didn’t care at the moment. What really got her attention was what Rarity was holding in her hoof.

Rainbow arced toward the ground, dropping right in front of the purple maned fashionista. “Hey Rarity,” she grinned creepily, “What ya’ got there?”

“Oh, this? This is just something I found under your house, Darling. It’s strange though; I haven’t seen anything like this.” Rarity held up the stuffed toy for closer inspection. It was quite old and battered. There was a grease stain on one of the hooves and a small hole under the left wing, but still shining through was the form of Ponyville’s resident princess, Twilight Sparkle.

“It’s not that strange,” Rainbow grit her teeth, resisting the temptation to just snatch back her belongings and fly away. “Didn’t they make a bunch of them when Twilight first arrived in Ponyville?"

“Yes,” Rarity nodded, “But whoever lost this obviously treasured it, considering they made the effort to attach wings for Twilight’s coronation.” Rarity said, pointing out the stitches on each side.

Rainbow's jaw clenched. She remembered how painstaking it had been to make and attach those wings. She’d repeated the process over and over again until she was sure; she’d gotten it just right.

“I must say, though. Whoever made these attachments did a phenomenal job. I mean, just looking at the stitching right here, and the way it . . .

Okay, there’s only one way this can go down. I pull a Pinkie, pull a shovel out of nowhere and hit Rarity over the head with it. Hopefully, she won’t have brain damage and will just forget about it. Heck, I can just say Tank knocked something out of my house and it landed on her, if she wants an explanation.

“Rainbow!”

“Huh. . .Wha.”

“I was saying we should find the child this belongs to.”

“Woah, woah, Rarity. Don’t you have work to do? Plus, if this kid really just left it out here, right underneath my cloud house, then they obviously don’t care about it as much as you think. Heck, they were probably embarrassed about the fact they still have the thing around, understatement of the year. So why don’t I just take it and throw it in a dumpster somewhere?” Rainbow made a desperate grab for the doll, but Rarity yanked it away from her.

She scoffed, “Rainbow, how can you even think of something like that? Even if it isn’t valuable to the child, per say, this is some incredible craftsmanship, and I won’t allow it to be destroyed.” The shovel plan was starting to look pretty good right about now. "As for work, I just finished a major order and had to order some new material from Canterlot."

“That’s why I was coming to see you. I wanted to know if you would pick it up for me, but this is much more important.”

Rainbow’s eye twitched, “She’s not going to give up on this, is she? Alright, Rarity,” She said, trying to sound confident. “But if we can’t find the owner, I get to keep it and throw it into the nearest volcano.” Rarity grumbled but eventually agreed, and the two shook hooves.

So, for most of the day, the two went around asking every foal in town if the toy belonged to them. Rainbow almost had a nervous breakdown when Dinky Doo said the doll was hers, and Rarity just handed it over. "What the buck, Rarity," she'd thought, "Can’t you tell she’s faking it?" Thankfully, Ditzy returned it later, apologizing for her daughter’s behavior.

“Come on, Rarity,” Rainbow said as they took a break in the park, “Just admit defeat, and give me the stupid thing. If it makes you feel better, I won’t destroy it. We can just dump it somewhere in my house, or something, specifically, my bedroom.”

For a moment, Rarity considered Rainbow’s idea, but after a while, she shook her head. “No, Rainbow. We must find the owner of this doll. I don’t know why; I just know it’s important to the person who lost it.” You have no idea. “So, it is for that reason, I believe we should ask the girls for help.”

Rainbow’s eye started to twitch again. Okay, I have three choices here. One, fess up and become a laughing stock. Two, go along with this plan and hope I can snatch the doll later. Three, Kill Rarity. Rainbow tapped her chin. Now, where should I hide the body
“Rainbow?!”

“What?”

“You were zoning out again. Just where, exactly, does your mind go when you do that?”

Rainbow shrugged, “Wherever Pinkie pulls all her stuff from; someplace dark and mysterious.” Rarity dropped the subject, but still gave her friend a strange look as they left the park.

A good thirty minutes later, they were all sitting around table with the doll in question in the middle. Rainbow was nervously sipping on a milkshake, while Rarity explained the situation.

“I just don’t know what to do with it, girls. We’ve asked every child in Ponyville, but none of them said it was theirs. I just can’t imagine where it came from.”

“Oh, oh I know,” said Pinkie, waving her hoof. “Maybe it belongs to an adult.”

“Pinkie, that’s ridiculous. What kind of grown pony sleeps with such a thing?”

Fluttershy spoke up, “Uhmm, Twilight and Big Mac.”

“Oh yeah,” said AppleJack, “I’d nearly forgotten ‘bout Smartie Pants.”

Twilight cringed, “I thought we all agreed to never ever speak about that again.”

“Actually, Egghead, you asked us to never talk about it, and I had my hooves crossed.”

“Same here.”

“I'm sorry, but guilty.”

“Eeyup.”

“I made no Pinkie promises.”

Twilight deflated, “Wow, thanks girls, but either way, if this does belong to an adult, it’s still creepy. That means there’s some pervert whose been sleeping with a miniature version of me.” Twilight shuddered.

Rainbow felt every word stabbing into her like a knife. “Hey, Mini-Twi is in no way creepy. She’s adorkable.”

Twilight levitated the miniature version of her and placed it onto her back. Rainbow Dash panicked, looking to Rarity. Hadn’t the deal been that she would get the doll when this was all over?

“I’m going to place this near the front of the library. Practically everypony comes by there at one point or another during the day. If the owner truly wants it back, they can come by and grab it. It’ll be in plain view for the rest of the day.” At this point, Twilight gave a discreet wink in Dash’s direction before hopping down from her seat and walking away.

Rainbow stared at her friend leaving, one of her most prized possessions bouncing along on her back, "Buck me," she thought.