//------------------------------// // Marching Forward // Story: Fair Exchange is No Robbery // by ElementOfFlutterSwag //------------------------------// Rarity used her magic to open the door, and gasped when she saw three of her friends standing right outside the door. “Good heavens, you three scared me nearly to death.” Rarity laid a hoof against her chest and let out a breath. When she met Pinkie Pie’s eyes, her own narrowed in suspicion. Perhaps soon she would be getting some answers as to what really has been going on. The three mares walked into the library, and Twilight shut the door behind them. “Alright, now I’m sure we all have some sort of story to share that happened today, so let’s head upstairs and start discussing things. Spike, could you get some tea going for us?” Twilight asked as she led her friends upstairs. The dragon gave her a salute. “Yes ma’am, right away!” he said as he hurried off to the kitchen. Twilight motioned for Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy to all take a seat. “Alright, now let’s get any clues we might have onto the table, I’ll start first. Earlier today Rarity came to me to be consoled about her missing sister, which I did not have prior knowledge of. I did my best to comfort her and told her I would head out into town and search for clues. I spent a decent amount of time searching through Ponyville for anything that may have been important, but didn’t really find anything. Eventually I came to Sugarcube Corner, and I wanted to see if Pinkie Pie knew anything. No one answered, not even the Cakes, so I decided to head around back instead,” Rarity again glanced suspiciously at Pinkie Pie. She knew where Pinkie was at the time. The pink pony was focusing more on Twilight, as she continued, “The back door, as I had already assumed, was locked, so I figured if I couldn’t do anything else I’d search around the vicinity of the store. At first I found nothing, and thought my trip there would end up being a bust. Then, I noticed something, something really out of place. I saw footprints being diluted in the mud. By diluted I mean that they must have been made before the rain hit, not recently. Keep in mind that I said footprints, not hoofprints. These were not made by anypony I know,” Now this really confused Rarity, and also disturbed her. Her initial suspicions pointed to Pinkie Pie, but now it would seem she had nothing to do with it. She would have to find out for sure, but she wanted to let Twilight finish her story first. “I examined them closely, but could not determine what could have made the footprints. I noticed more going into the distance, heading out of town. I began to follow them, see if they would lead me to anymore clues. Eventually they took me out to the edge of the Everfree Forest, where Pinkie found me unconscious, and then the footprints seemed to stop there. Right at the edge of the forest. I wanted to go into the forest to search, but as you would expect, going in there alone is extremely dangerous if you don’t know where you were going, and I wasn’t going to Zecora’s. I thought for a few moments on what I should do, and decided it would be best to go back to the library to tell Rarity what I had found. right as I began to do that, I thought I had heard something moving behind me. I looked back, but saw nothing near the forest. I kept moving, and eventually the sounds behind me continued, and I began to panic a little. Defensively, I turned around and demanded to know who or what was following me. I didn’t even get a chance to finish saying anything before I was knocked out cold, and that’s when you found me Pinkie. Any questions?” Rarity took this moment to find out the truth. “Yes Twilight, I have a question for Pinkie. What exactly were those footprints leading from Sugarcube Corner, hmm? Would you like to explain to all of us what exactly happened last night?” Pinkie understood where this was going. Rarity was obviously very suspicious of her, and for good reason. It was her responsibility to watch over Sweetie Belle and the other two young crusaders. This was inevitable, and she could only hope that Rarity would trust her words. “Well you see I... I really, honestly don’t know what happened. And Rarity, I know you might think I’m lying, but I hope you’ll trust me that I’m telling you the truth. Everything was going super duper awesome last night, the four of us were having so much fun together. Eventually we all got tired and went to sleep, and as for what happened after that, I... I don’t know..” Pinkie Pie stopped and looked down sadly, she could almost feel Rarity’s angry gaze burning into her. “When... When I woke up the next morning, Sweetie Belle was...gone. Applebloom and Scootaloo, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and myself all searched frantically for her. We checked everywhere we could, but there was no sign of her. Eventually Applejack and Rainbow Dash came by and picked up the other two fillies, and then the Cakes left on a delivery to Canterlot. I was left there to watch the store and keep looking. That’s when you showed up Rarity. I couldn’t face you... I was too afraid to. I knew it was my fault for what happened, and I knew you would be suspicious of me. I panicked, and ended up slamming the door in your face. I understand if you don’t believe me, but I’m telling you the honest truth. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen... I’m sorry.” Finished with her side of the story, she turned away slowly. Fluttershy did her best to comfort the pink pony, but it wasn’t working too well. Then, Rarity spoke up. “Pinkie I... I’m sorry, terribly, terribly sorry. I should not have been so suspicious of one of my best friends. I should have been more patient with you and let you explain things to me then, rather than snapping at you. Although at the time I was panicking over Sweetie Belle’s disappearance. I have not been a very good friend at all, and I hope you can accept my apology.” Pinkie looked up at this, and Rarity stood and wrapped a hoof around her, hugging the usually cheerful party pony. She eagerly returned the gesture, and smiled. The two released their grip, and sat back down. “Twilight, this has been a wonderful idea so far, it’s nice to finally have some answers. Fluttershy, do you have anything to add to our discussion?” Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably, she knew the others would not like what she had to tell. “I... I definitely found something, something...very unsettling. I know you’ll all want to hear this, but none of you will like it.” Fluttershy took a breath, and began her tale. “Pinkie had came to my house earlier today to confess what happened the night before, and expressed her fears of telling Rarity,” Rarity froze in that moment. That is why she was at Fluttershy’s cottage? Rarity felt so much better at hearing this, as Fluttershy continued, “After she calmed down a bit, I suggested that we go over to Rarity’s boutique immediately, to tell her what happened. When we got there, there was no answer. I asked Pinkie to stay outside while I went in to see if she was there. I skimmed the downstairs for a minute, then went upstairs to Rarity’s bedroom. I searched there for a while, but I still didn’t find anything that may help. Later, when I went back downstairs, I glanced toward her dress closet. For some reason I felt like I should search in there. What I found was...really mysterious. Not to mention scary. There was nothing in the closet itself, but I noticed the door that led into the crawlspace of the boutique. As you can imagine, it was quite a scary thought, going down in there all alone...” Fluttershy trailed off, while everypony listening did a facehoof. They should have expected the timid pegasus would be afraid of something. At any rate, Fluttershy continued, “So, after I worked up the courage to open the door and crawl in, that’s when I found something. At the other end of the crawlspace, there was a decent sized hole in the wall. About the size of an average pony at least, if not slightly bigger. Normally, none of us would think it much of a problem, but recent events would say otherwise. I thought, what if somepony, or something, was spying on Rarity and her sister? Waiting for the right moment to swoop in and kidnap one of them? The very thought was terrifying... So I got out quickly and left the boutique to find that Pinkie was nowhere in sight. One thing led to another, and here we are now...” Her story finished, she allowed herself to trail off again. Twilight held a hoof to her chin as she sifted through all of the new information they had put together. It wasn’t much to go on, but they definitely had more knowledge than they did a few hours ago. The most disturbing piece of info, is the hole in Rarity’s crawlspace... What if somepony or something was spying on her and her sister? Maybe this whole ordeal with Sweetie Belle was a plan being developed for a long time? They could lose a lot of time if that were the case. Whoever, or whatever did this could already have her out of their reach. They had to act quickly, but what could they do? Is this enough clues to go on to start the search? At any rate, it was getting quite late. Perhaps it was time to call it a night and send everypony home to get some shut eye. Twilight addressed everypony present, “Alright girls, I know we all want to solve this mystery as fast as possible, but it’s getting late and we should all get some sleep. No sense in trying to find her if we can barely keep our eyes open. Let’s meet here again tomorrow morning, and we’ll discuss where to go from there.” At this, the three mares nodded in agreement, and stood up, stretching a little. “Yes Twilight, I do suppose you have a point there,” Rarity said, “I truly can’t thank you enough for helping me get through this, I think I’ll be okay to sleep at home tonight... After I seal up that hole of course..” The white unicorn shuddered at the thought. Pinkie Pie nodded. “And as soon as I get back to Sugarcube Corner, I’ll look around for a bit longer to see if there could be any clues to be found.” The pink pony stood up, heading for the door. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, good night!” For once today, she almost sounded like her usual cheery self. Almost. She walked out the door of the library into the Equestrian evening. Rarity was also on her way to the door as she spoke, “Truly Twilight, I honestly can never repay you for helping me. Who knows what would have happened if I never came here to ask for your help. Thank you so much. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” She was halfway through the doorway when a certain yellow pegasus spoke up, “Um, Rarity? Would you like me to walk with you home? I can help you repair the hole in your crawl space too, if you want.” Rarity smiled softly. “Why, yes Fluttershy. Yes, I would like that.” She stepped outside and waited as Fluttershy joined her. Twilight followed was standing in the doorway. “You two be careful out there, alright? Whoever kidnapped Sweetie Belle knows we’re looking for her. Stay safe out there.” The two mares nodded, and waved. Twilight closed the door, and they turned to walk down the street. “Twilight is right, we need to be more careful than we would ever need to be usually. Somehow I just know they’re watching us, making sure to stay one step ahead of us.” Rarity said as she looked down, seemingly deep in thought. “Yes I agree, we’ll need to keep a sharp eye out from now on. I hope Pinkie will be alright alone, the Cakes should be home by now.” Fluttershy replied. “Yes, I certainly hope so as well.” Rarity felt a cold chill down her spine. “Let’s get moving, I don’t feel safe being out here.” Those words sounded sad as she spoke them. To feel unsafe in her own hometown. She wished things could just go back to normal. The two mares continued in silence for the rest of the walk to the boutique.