The shadow heir

by Void Streak

Searching

After the story they were each sorted into three groups of two. Pinkie Pie went with Fluttershy to search the south side of the city, Rarity and Applejack went to go and search the West and Twilight and Rainbow Dash went of to search the north. First they decided to head to the library no surprise there thought Rainbow Dash.

When they entered the library they were greeted by a friendly, greyish earth pony mare. "hello there, I remember you from when you saved us from King Sombra" the librarian shuddered after saying that last part, she then added "what can I do for you today?" she asked in a friendly manner.

"Yes, we was hoping to look for a book about King sombra's daughter" after Twilight asked this the librarian's smile fell.

She quivered "yes, unfortunately there aren't any books on her. The king kept her well hidden from the public eye. but from my own personal experience, I can tell you that she was often seen practicing her flying skills on the outer fields, always out of sight from her fathers eye. she was a good flyer I might add, rumour has it that she could even do a, whats it called, ah yes a sonic rainboom although her father would never let her prove that theory. To tell you the truth, she was a rebellious young filly. apparently she even tried to start an uprising" this revelation made Twilight gasp. maybe someponies will still think i'm good Rainbow dash thought, grasping at straws.

With an astonished look she shouted "she tried to cause a rebellion" which earned her a glare from the librarian.

"Hush, don't forget your still in a library, according to rumour anyway, if you was caught talking about the king or his family in general, you usually end up six feet under"

"So do you think that she's a good pony" Rainbow asked hoping that she will say yes.

"Nope, you get born from an evil pony, then your an evil pony yourself" she replied in a matter of fact manner.

Dash thought horsefeathers her hopes diminishing Twilight gave her a weird look but decided not to proceed any further.

Meanwhile in the west

Rarity and Applejack were searching the main retail body of the city, well mainly Applejack was searching; Rarity was admiring the dresses in the store fronts. Applejack grumbled "Rarity get over here we're supposed to be searching, not going shopping"

"I know that dear but just look at all the dresses, they're so magnificent" Rarity exclaimed joyfully hardly containing the glee on her face.

"Yeah sooooo magnificent" Applejack replied sarcastically rolling her eyes "just stay focused, we've got a job ta do"

Rarity pouted "hmph fine" reluctantly leaving the dresses to go walk with AJ "so what shall we do"

"lets just look around" they started walking then Applejack asked with worry etched on her face "don't ya think Dash has been acting weird lately?"

"A little why? she's been very jumpy lately, like she's scared"

"She's hiding something" Applejack said unexpectedly " Ah dunno what but she's hiding something, and I intend to find out"

"What makes you say that"

"I'm the element of honesty for celestia's sake, I know when i'm being lied to"

"Okay so you're going to confront her about it"

"Too right I am. I hate being lied to"

"Are you sure that's a good idea. Won't she try and hide it"

"Ah don't care, we don't hide things from her so she shouldn't hide things from so she shouldn't hide things from us. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this even if its the last thing I do"

"If you say so" Rarity said rolling her own eyes knowing the Applejack was Equestria's most stubborn pony.

Meanwhile down south

Pinkie pie and Fluttershy was going door to door however when they brought up the subject of the kings daughter most crystal ponies told them to go away and thusly slammed the door in their faces.
"oh for crying out loud, my muzzle is starting to get sore from all this door slamming" Pinkie shouted after having another door slammed in their faces.

"Now, now Pinkie, we must be patient. Everypony must still be terrified, i'm sure that once we've knocked on the right house them somepony might give us some information" Fluttershy said in a motherly tone.

"Aww but why can I not just climb down somepony's chimney like Santa Whooves, that'll get us information"

"No Pinkie, its illegal to break into other pony's houses. You could get into trouble" Fluttershy replied glaringly.

"But Santa does it"

"That's different, everypony knows Santa"

After walking down the road they eventually stumbled across a house that looked a bit like a witch's hat. "lets ask here" Fluttershy said quietly while knocking which was might as well have been tapping.

"Here let me try" Pinkie said loudly but before she could knock the door opened by itself revealing a dark, circular room. In the centre was a large, black cauldron. They could hear the sound of bubbling emanating from the inside. When they entered the door slammed shut behind them startling Fluttershy, then they heard a voice that sounded mystical and mysterious "Hello and welcome to my humble abode. I believe I know what you seek". Out of the shadows stepped a zebra that reminded the group of Zecora, a zebra that lived in the Everfree Forest. Unlike Zecora however this zebra's coat was shimmering like the rest of the crystal ponies.

"My name is Zee Zee and your name is Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie" Zee

"Woah your psychic" Pinkie gasped her jaw dropping like an anvil.

"No just very intuitive"

"Could you tell us where spectrem shadow is then, only if you want us of course" Fluttershy asked shyly hiding behind her long pink mane.

"The pony you seek is more closer than you may think" Zee exclaimed mysteriously.

"Oooh is this a riddle. is it Gummy" Pinkie then whipped Gummy out of no where "No you're not Spectrem Shadow your an alligator not a pony"

"Not a riddle but a clue"

"Could you give us another clue If you don't mind" Flutttershy asked politely.

"The pony is in plain sight" she then added "I am afraid our conversation must come to an end for I have urgent business to attend" with that she then pushed the two pony's out the shop before slamming the door. They then left without another word thinking about what Zee Zee told them. They then headed in the direction back towards the castle.

Back at the castle the group sat around the same meeting room where they discussed the crystal fair back when the Crystal Empire first returned. After mane 6 told the princesses and prince about what they found out. Shining armour pointed to the mane 6 and said "So you, Rainbow Dash and Twilight found out about some background info about our mysterious princess; Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie spoke to some weird zebra who gave you a bunch of clues that doesn't make much sense but while you were all out doing your jobs you two" he then pointed towards Applejack and Rarity "went shopping, please tell me you are joking"

"Well don't look at me, ah tried telling Rarity to look for information but she kept going back to the stores" Applejack defended while glaring at Rarity.

Rarity sheepishly replied "I did find something out, I found that Crystal Empirean fabric is simple the best" after this everypony groaned.

Princess Cadance finally spoke "its starting to get late. I think its time we all went to bed, even you Twilight I know how you get when you are confronted with a mystery"

After being shown to her room Rainbow Dash waited until everypony else went to bed she then creeped out of bed I need to find this zebra and try and persuade her to shut her gob Rainbow thought while sneaking to the window. Her face fell when she noticed that the window was locked. shoot, I really was hoping to not use magic, ill just have to risk it she thought before teleporting.