The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee

by FlanChan

Chapter 2: Friendship and Happiness, Love and Deceit

The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee
Chapter 2: Friendship and Happiness, Love and Deceit

After lots of calming, muttering, explaining, and negotiating, the meeting ended with the conclusion that they wouldn’t allow Fluttershy to meet with this stallion without supervision, or previous approval. Fluttershy was devastated, but she agreed weakly. They couldn’t take any chances, since one overstepped line could draw an end to all of them.

The next few days carried on as usual, with nothing particularly eventful occurring. The others eyed Fluttershy carefully, making absolutely certain that she wasn’t slipping away from their sight after daily speeches to meet up with the stallion who they still knew nothing about. They hadn’t even seen him, and Fluttershy hadn’t asked yet if she could meet with him, so they found no reason to seek him out and draw any suspicion.

The week lagged on, and finally it was once again time for the group to reassemble in the abandoned warehouse in the backstreets of the city. Rainbow dragged Fluttershy to the meeting straight away, so as to be positive that she wouldn’t be late again, even though she had been very good so far with obeying the rules placed upon her.

“And now the next gathering of the Rebellion Bureau shall be brought to order,” Twilight announced in an official matter, though it came off as a bit pompous. Since she was so scholarly before, she would still on occasion tap into her previous nature of talking with big words. “As you all know, these meetings are typically biweekly, but due to the recent events concerning Fluttershy, this extra meeting is being held. As it has always been, when something of significance occurs, if the week immediately after it is not a week of gathering, a meeting will still be held. Have I made myself clear?” The others nodded in agreement, even though her means of explanation were anything but clear.

“Perfect,” she said, taking her seat and dropping the officiality a bit. “In that case, who would like to begin?” Looks were exchanged, and after a few moments, Rarity stood.

“While I’m not sure just how important such information will be, I have been promoted to not only make dresses, but also to be Emerald’s personal stylist. I’m unsure as to how much I could get out of her, but I know from experience that she is a very talkative pony, and she may just slip one of these days.” There was an excited chatter among the group, and Rarity sat back down. Aquamarine brought her report next.

“I’ve been investigating some of the more out of the way places in the city, and in one of the offices was a file with a return address that belongs to what appears to be a library. I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but as far as I’ve seen, there isn’t any sort of library here, so either it’s hidden somewhere, or it’s outside of the city. In that case, there has to be some sort of way we can contact the outside world, because how else could that letter have been sent?” She paused, the others contemplating her words. “Either way, whatever is in that library must be something we aren’t supposed to know about.”

“While there is a way to get out of the city,” Pinkie interjected, “it’s located in The Committee’s headquarters. I could shoot confetti at Emerald as a distraction, but the guards would catch up eventually.” Twilight rolled her eyes. Even now, almost everything that came out of Pinkie’s mouth was something party related.

“Um, actually,” Fluttershy piped up, “there is a library in the city, it’s just hidden underground.”

“Oh?” Aquamarine inquired, raising an eyebrow. “And how might you know this?”

“Um… lucky guess?” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly, her wings fluttering nervously. Rainbow’s face burned red with anger.

“You have been meeting with that guy, haven’t you?!” she shouted, slamming a hoof on the table. Fluttershy recoiled instinctively, hiding her face behind her long pink hair. Her wings snapped shut on her back, and she quivered a little.

“I—I didn’t mean to, I just—”

“You just what? You went against us, that’s what you did!” Rainbow’s wings flared out, making her appear bigger and more threatening.

“Rainbow, calm down!” Applejack shouted. “There’s no need to make such a fuss about something like this! We got new information, didn’t we?”

“I’m not going to calm down! Do you know what would’ve happened if she got caught? Heck, for all we know, he could be a spy for The Committee who’s trying to seek out anyone who could be trying to stop them! I’ve never heard of him before, and don’t you think we would’ve known if there was anyone else who made it past the brainwashing?” Rainbow was making solid points, and even though they stung, nobody could argue against them. “I don’t trust any potential information he’s giving us, and you shouldn’t trust it either.”

Fluttershy was silently weeping behind her shelter of hair, trying her best to stay away from the conflict even though she was the whole cause of it. She wanted to disappear, so everyone would stop criticizing her, even though she also hated how selfish she was being by going against her word.

Full of despair, Fluttershy jumped out of her seat, knocking it into the corner of the room as she ran out crying. The rest of the group listened to her wallowing outside, stunned at the sudden turn of events.

“I’ll go comfort her,” Rarity said quietly, slowly getting out of her chair and walking toward the exit. She stole a glance at Rainbow, who did nothing but cross her forelegs and scoff. After a few moments Fluttershy’s wailing decreased, and they could hear Rarity’s soft voice comforting the trembling mare outside.

“This meeting of the Rebellion Bureau is adjourned,” Twilight declared, trying her best to keep a neutral expression even though her voice was a bit shaky. The rest nodded and pushed in their seats, leaving with an uncomfortable air among them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the days following that meeting, Fluttershy stayed cooped up in her house, only leaving to go to the speech of the day, and even then she always hurried back when it was over. She was too ashamed to be around her friends, but at least it made it easier for them to confirm that she wasn’t meeting up with him anymore.

On her way back from the speech a few days after the meeting, Twilight noticed Aquamarine heading off in a different direction than usual. Curious, she followed.

“Where are you going?” she asked, using her magic to lightly tug on Aquamarine’s hair.

“Nowhere of your concern,” she stated flatly, pressing onward faster than before to shake off the other unicorn.

“Well in that case, you won’t mind if I follow you,” Twilight added, jogging back up to her side. Aquamarine sighed, and Twilight giggled mischievously. The pair traveled for a few more minutes before the blue haired mare stopped abruptly, sending Twilight crashing into her.

“Ow! What are you doing?” she asked. “You shouldn’t just stop like that! Give me some warning!” Aquamarine rolled her eyes, then bent down to inspect a sewer cover in the middle of the road. She tapped it a few times cautiously. Her horn lit up as she used her magic to unscrew the metal and revealed the sewer underneath. At least, Twilight assumed it was a sewer, considering it was too dark to see to the bottom.

“You coming?” Aquamarine asked, turning to face her partner. Twilight quickly agreed, even though she still had no idea where they were going, and the two unicorns descended into the manhole’s murky depths. They climbed down the cold metal latter for a few minutes, which seemed more like eternities, before they finally hit the bottom. It was dank and musty, but it wasn’t wet like a sewer should be. Aquamarine continued on before Twilight could inspect their location any further.

Twilight lagged behind Aquamarine in the dark tunnel, her only guide as to where she was going being the pony in front of her’s footsteps. She was met with surprise when the tunnel brightened and the room at the end of the passage came into view. Books and scrolls of all kinds were lit with a golden glow, along with a wooden desk with fresh paper atop it. To the side was some quills and ink, and it looked like nobody had been there for a very long time.

Twilight was ecstatic. There weren’t many things that she loved more than books and knowledge, and for the first time in so long she finally had both before her. She wanted to lock herself in this room for forever and read everything in it many times over, but she knew that there was no time for that.

“How did you know about this?” she inquired, still wonderstruck.

“The same way you knew. Fluttershy said so,” Aquamarine replied simply, her azure eyes flicking back and forth across the room.

“But didn’t you hear what Rainbow said about not trusting what that stallion has to say? What if this was some sort of trap?” Aquamarine turned to her.

“Twilight, one of these days you have to learn that it doesn’t matter where you get information. Facts are facts, no matter where they come from. Besides, do you really think we’re going to figure out anything if we don’t take risks? Not everything is going to be handed to you on a silver platter and tied with a nice little bow. If everything was that easy, then we would’ve figured the way to put an end to this a long time ago.” Twilight flinched, and Aquamarine turned back to observing the literature before her. She pulled a book out and started flipping through it. A few minutes passed, and Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what to do.

“You should probably go,” Aquamarine said finally.

“Don’t you need help with this? Before The Committee took over I was very scholarly and even lived in a library,” Twilight explained. Aquamarine walked over and handed the book she was previously inspecting to Twilight. Twilight opened to a random page, and on the paper were symbols beyond her comprehension.

“And before The Committee took over, I was a major in ancient languages. I think I’m going to be fine on my own.” Aquamarine smirked, trying to lighten things a little. Twilight smiled a little and nodded, then turned and exited the room. She somehow managed to find her way back out of the faux-sewer, then cautiously made her way back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hereby call this meeting of the Rebellion Bureau to order,” Twilight announced. “Aquamarine, you have made quite the discovery. Why don’t you start?” The others turned their eyes expectantly towards her. She explained how she and Twilight had gone down in what appeared to be a sewer a few days ago and that she’s been visiting there ever since.

“I’ve gone through most of the documents down there, and there really is a lot of new information at our disposal.”

“Like what? Are there cake recipes there?” Pinkie asked excitedly. Aquamarine lowered her head a little, her gaze set on the table before her.

“Well? What have you found?” Applejack tried to coax her to bring whatever information she had forward. She could tell that something was a bit off.

Aquamarine lifted her head again, her eyes cold and distant and her expression unreadable.

“The Path to Eternal Happiness,” she exclaimed, “I found it.”

Comments

[Albi]

And here I thought Aquamarine was the spy. I was close, she got brainwashed.

[FlanChan]

3435228
My storytelling powers are impeccable!

[Dr_D]

Finally, you have blessed us with another chapter.
Keep up the good work.

[Blaze Spectrum]

2745463

Eh. Makes enough sense.

[Divine Path]

They progress.
It seems a new road have been revealed. Will it lead true to their destination, however?

Awaiting further releases.

[Namara]

My reaction throughout chapter: *insert Akbar meme here*

[ThatClosetBrony]

...Eternity Star was totes right.
[youtube=b1bRPDSSQYQ]

[TheSumirekoFan]

AquaMarine, NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

...She dead.