The sun princess frowned in an accusing manner as she watched the stormy sky above the glorious structure of Canterlot, perhaps rationalizing the foul mood she acquired from the banters of the Equestria Council. In fact, she hadn’t felt at ease in quite some time due to all that had occurred lately, and the lack of answers had only raised her frustration.
Something was going on…terrible things…
She never spoke of it to her sister or the Council, but she was starting to get worried if she could ever handle the truth. What could be happening that she had missed? Do the ponies of Equestria truly trust her to take care of their problems? Could she trust them?
Celestia shook her head. Such thoughts would only cloud her judgement. Yet, she couldn’t always rely on the Elements of Harmony to solve her problems, but…it wouldn’t hurt to pay Twilight a visit on the matter…
…She’d trust HER more than the Council any day.
The sun princess proceeded to exit her chambers when she was suddenly assaulted by green flames, causing her to panic and let out a high-pitched shriek.
…Which was followed by an entire army of guards barging into her room, weapons in hoof. “Princess Celestia, what is the matter?! Who dares to harm the Princess?!”
Celestia blinked herself out of her shock, surrounded by the Royal Guard. “O-Oh, it’s…fine, sirs. At ease…I was simply...A letter arrived when I did not expect it.” She explained in a calmer voice, glad for her practice in hiding embarrassment from the public.
The guards nodded. “…We will return to our posts, then. Please call for us if you need us, Princess.”
The Princess nodded as she watched the crowd exit from her chambers. As soon as the door was closed shut, her tense body became relaxed, a reddish tint forming in her cheeks.
“…Oh, dear…If only I hadn’t shrieked like I did…” Now wasn’t the time for childish behavior. If a letter was sent to her, it must’ve been from Twilight or another foreign connection.
Unless…
Celestia frowned as she levitated the letter in front of her. It wasn’t from Twilight or anypony foreign.
…Only one pony sent a letter to her in that certain material of paper instead of a scroll.
Dear Princess Celestia,
In all my observations, I have yet to come across the cause for all the sudden disappearances in Ponyville. As much as I enjoy a challenge when it’s thrown at me, this is extremely concerning, and I am ashamed to say that I have nothing to report that actually means anything.
For now, I plan to remain in my current position as I’ve always been, but I’ll be keeping an eye if I catch something worth reporting. Until then, I don’t plan to send any letters if they’ll only waste your valuable time, Princess.
Till next we meet,
Red
P.S. - I’m actually running a little low on bottled dragon fire, if you’d be so kind as to send me some…
The sun princess frowned. Even Red wasn’t able to find anything. Even so…If she had anything to say about it…she would catch whoever had taken those missing ponies.
And they WILL face judgement. --- “Ugh! What the hay is going on here?!”
Pinkamina Diane Pie blew her flat mane out of her face with a puff as she watched ANOTHER newspaper being ripped to shreds by her merciless partner to all things paper; her head slouched over a metal table long since stained with rainbow splotches, yours truly from the Rainbow Factory.
Two weeks ago, she could’ve just killed her best friend and made delicious treats out of her…
…but instead she had chosen to join her in her OWN little project known as the Rainbow Factory, helping to get rid of evidence of little failures so neither of them would get caught in their fun. And this is what they kept doing since then, as part of a partnership. For two weeks!
…So why?
Rainbow ‘Dr. Dashie’ Dash groaned as she slammed her hooves on the metal lab table. “This is the umpteenth pony to go missing in the space of a week! With missing ponies being a red-zone growing POPULAR, this could jeopardize our whole foundation!”
“Oh relax, Dashie, you’ve only been fretting about this for the WHOLE WEEK.” The pink pony’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “Anytime a pony goes missing and it isn’t our fault, you blow into paranoia and act like it’s the end of the world or something.”
“It IS the end of the world! It’s gonna be harder to slip in resources, y’know!” The rainbow-maned Pegasus huffed in her white and multi-colored stained lab-coat, magenta eyes glaring through a pair of safety lab goggles. “…You haven’t been keeping your number system behind my back, have you?”
The pink pony stuck out her tongue in response. “You just HAVE to accuse ME, don’t’cha? I haven’t pulled out a number since we made our partnership two weeks ago!”
She frowned. “You sure about that…?”
“Positive!” Baby blue eyes narrowed in self-defense as the two faced each other, the lab table between them as the tension rose in the room.
“…Alright. I believe you, Pinks.” Pinkamina blinked as her friend’s expression shifted from a dangerous sneer into a softer smile.
Even if she was a murderer like herself…Dashie was still Dashie.
“Aww, thanks Dr. Dashie!” The pink pony threw her hooves around the pegasus, causing her friend to grunt at the sudden weight crushing her ribcage.
“Ugh, okay, okay! I can’t…I can’t breathe, Pinkie!” The pink pony giggled as she released her partner, the latter moving away from her to catch her breath.
“Guh, I need to…check on our current specimens…refill on benzodiazepines…” The rainbow-maned pegasus hastily trotted out of the room, leaving her partner to continue her own work.
Pinkamina sighed in disappointment as she watched her friend leave. It was so much fun crushing her while she squirmed, the loyal dog. Shrugging, she quickly switched her attention to the bloody batter she left half-way mixed on the table.
‘…If Dashie wasn’t fretting about the whole missing ponies thing, she might’ve complained for me to have a cleaner work space…’
With a sheepish grin, the pony began stirring at a fast pace, allowing the gruesome organs and juicy blood to be cloaked by the delicious flour and milky vanilla concoctions, losing herself in her own train of thought.
If it wasn’t the Rainbow Factory…and it wasn’t her….
…Who had been causing the mysterious disappearances?
Blinking out of her thoughts, the pink pony stopped short in her work. It turned out she forgot to put on gloves, and other lab stuff…she didn’t even bother to wear her dress today.
Oops. Big no-no if Dashie returned.
The mare rolled her eyes as she resumed her baking. ‘…Pfft, sanitation can kiss my flank. I’m gonna do it the traditional fun way!’ Speeding up, the batter began to soar in circles around the insides of the bowl, small bits of contents spilling on the cloud-marble floors of the laboratory.
---
Rainbow Dash sighed as she walked through the steam-piped halls of the Rainbow Factory, capsules flowing with all colors of the spectrum, leading down through the building to the basement where the Pegasus Device was kept, each pony at work to condemn the lives of failures who had no purpose in society ahead of them, never to be missed.
It truly was a beautifully bloody system.
“…Maybe I am being way too paranoid.” The rainbow-maned pegasus mused to herself as she continued through the halls, leading towards the confinement hangars where the other resources were being stored for future use. “I kinda HAVE a good reason to be, though…” The mare frowned, recalling her partner’s earlier argument. If ponies went missing in other places, there’d be more awareness if any pony went missing, out-casted or not.
…That was the problem in a country so focused on harmony. Even failures are deemed worthy of chances far beyond what they deserved, all under Celestia’s rule, all filled with love and sap.
If ever she was discovered…then everything would have gone to waste. Commander Hurricane’s efforts would’ve been for naught, and how would she be able to face her dad? The factory had being running in her family-line since the beginning, after all…
Shaking her head, Rainbow gave a small growl as she went through the automatic door towards the hangars.
And then there was the matter with Pinkie…
Even if Pinkie wasn’t killing ponies behind her back, she certainly had something going with how she squeezed her and all. That pony was still trying to eventually kill her, secrets exposed or not. The pegasus’ lips curled into a cruel smile at the thought. It truly was a game to see if one would conquer the other. And while Pinkie out-matched her in brute strength…she had her fleeting speed. Speed that even AJ struggled to compete with, and that pony was really something…
…but if it wasn’t her that took those ponies, and it wasn’t Pinkie…
…Who does she need to drag onto the conveyer belt?
Groaning at the thought, Rainbow clenched her teeth. She needed to clear her head. Somepony was going to suffer.
To a pony living in a town where ponies have gone missing in the past week, the spa seemed extremely inviting. With its luxurious baths and exquisite facial scrubs, it was a place where even the most stressed out pony could find relaxation and a peace of mind.
…If that pony wasn’t Rainbow Dash, at least.
Rarity gave a deep sigh as she sank deeper into the bath set out for her. As always, it was perfect for her complexion. Not too hot, and most certainly not too cold, but just…right. Really, the pristine unicorn couldn’t understand why that prismatic pegasus needed to throw such a big tantrum over her hooves, but she may have finally found some form of relaxation in the spa.
Well, if she wasn’t the one paying for it, Rainbow Dash seemed quite fine with it. At least, that’s what it LOOKED like whenever their friends would bond over gossip or friendship lessons. Nevertheless, Rarity was glad she was able to eventually find some form of enjoyment from it. All the more ways they could possibly bond, in select degrees.
…It always occurred to her just how different she and Rainbow Dash truly were. And yet, like the rest of them, they could socialize with each other, albeit having contrasting tastes in what is a suitable adjective to describe something, or what is a good activity to pass the day, and other pointless things that lead to arguments…
The unicorn looked up towards the ceiling, her wet purple mane trailing along her neck. If it wasn’t for the Elements of Harmony, would they have given each other the light of day? Would she have been willing to handle Pinkie Pie’s antics? Granted, she knew Pinkie Pie longer, and would often end up helping her in her party-arranging, offering ribbons and trimming wherever she could.
…And there was another contrast. Pinkie Pie’s tastes on how a party should be, versus the Grand Galloping Gala, one of the many formal parties that Rarity enjoyed. And yet, perhaps it had to do with the amount of formality between friends that made Rarity love Pinkie Pie’s parties so much. It was the bond they all seemed to have where they could tell each other everything, unlike a formal party like the Gala, where whatever choice you make would affect how you were seen on the social ladder.
It was quite the competitive society. While she herself had the pleasure of the nobles’ company, she also had to spin a web of lies doing so.
…Looking into her reflection, the unicorn frowned at herself. You could tell your friends almost everything, anyway, if the scars on her left eye had anything to do about it.
…It was taking eyesore in a literal definition.
‘…If they knew…what would they say? What would they do?’ Rarity closed her eyes as she allowed herself to be consumed in the steam filling up the room.
‘…You’re already spinning a lie right now. Everypony just hasn’t noticed yet.’
She’d never let her friends see the scars. That’d just raise too many questions, and she most likely wouldn’t be able to answer any of them. But what if they found out? What if-
The door slid open and closed shut after a moment. “…Hi, Rarity.”
The unicorn blinked as wide sapphire eyes met soft teal marbles. “...F-Fluttershy, darling! What a pleasure seeing you today, uh…we never agreed to meet today, so I wasn’t expecting you, darling…!” She stammered.
Fluttershy smiled, her mane bouncing freely as she tilt her head to the side. “Oh, it’s okay…I just wanted to relax for a time, and I heard you were already here from Aloe. You didn’t exactly ask for anypony to leave you alone…right?”
Rarity nodded as her cheeks flushed. “…Of course, darling, just…do…do come sit beside me, dear. You won’t be relaxing just standing in front of the door like that.”
‘…What if she notices my scars? I usually apply make-up on it, but there’s no make-up in the sauna!’ Her eyes darted from side to side, trying to find some sort of solution, anything to keep Fluttershy from noticing-
…Did Fluttershy cut her mane?
“Oh, um…sure.” The yellow pegasus walked over and let out a moan of pleasure as she allowed herself to sink into the water, her wings fluttering into a comfortable position. Rarity observed the pegasus, noting the tense muscles and ruffled feathers all over her body.
‘…Perhaps she has also seen stress recently.’ The pristine unicorn thought as she also sank deeper into the water, trying to find a more pleasing position.
‘…Should I try some small talk? Maybe she’d be willing to talk to me.’
Fluttershy gave a deep sigh as she turned towards her friend, immediately sitting upright as soon as she relaxed. “Rarity, what happened to your eye? That looks like it hurts!” She exclaimed, forgetting for a second that she can, in fact, project loudly in a room.
…Perhaps too loudly.
“…Oh, well…I…” The unicorn stammered for a second. “Opal wasn’t feeling well on a day you were busy, and I tried to get her into a cat carrier…this was the result of that. I took Opal to the vet, but right now she’s being seen by medical attention.” The unicorn explained.
‘…And now another lie is added to the web. You truly value your friends, Rarity.’
The pegasus nodded in understanding, a look of guilt evident on her face. “…I’m sorry I was busy that day. You could’ve gone blind in one eye.”
“Oh, it’s not your fault, darling. I just simply struggle, trying to take care of my own cat. I fear she doesn’t like me very much.”
‘…And she’ll never like you again, after what you’ve done.’
Rarity shook her head. Perhaps it was time for a subject change. “Whenever did you cut your mane short, darling? It looks marvelous!”
Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to grow defensive. “Oh, um…I just, wanted an image change after a while. Do…do you like it? It’s not…too bold?”
“Indeed, it makes you look bold, but there’s a sense of strength being portrayed with it!” Rarity gushed, causing the pegasus to flush up in embarrassment. It was funny how she tried to hide her face with it, since it was now too short to completely cover up her expression. “Why the sudden change, darling?”
“…I just, wanted to try something new. Sometimes…things happen that help to shape you into…who you are.” Fluttershy mumbled, almost inaudible.
Rarity blinked as she held a perplexed expression. “…What happened, darling? Are you alright?”
“…I’m fine. I’m more worried about how Opal must be doing. How long has she been in the vet now?” Rarity grimaced at the question. Now the conversation was about her problems again.
“Err…two…weeks, now? I think so, anyway…” The unicorn mused, just slightly audible enough for the yellow pegasus to hear her.
Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed. “A cat in a vet for two weeks sounds like a serious matter. Are you sure those doctors are taking care of her properly?”
‘Yes. Tell her. Tell her how you sewed your cat shut from the inside out.’
“Oh, I’m certain they’re doing their job correctly, just…you know how frisky Opal can be. She has a habit of creating delays…” She gave a big smile, anything to ensure her story’s validity.
The pegasus frowned as she gave a deep sigh. “…If you believe they have it handled…then, okay.” She was willing to drop the subject for now, luckily.
“Anyways, you deliberately changed the subject, darling. Are you alright?” Perhaps it was time to find some answers herself.
“Oh, um...you mean me? I’m just fine.” It was suffocating how stubborn she could be.
The unicorn’s eyes narrowed. “…Darling, ‘fine’ doesn’t tell me anything. What happened, dear?”
The yellow pegasus just sat there with an empty expression for what felt like an eternity, the tension in the room rising with the steam, causing sweat to add to the many layers of discomfort. Rarity kept her gaze, waiting to see her best friend’s next move. It was clear to her that perhaps they both had something hidden from each other.
Fluttershy finally slowly shook her head and stood up. “…Excuse me.” With that, the pegasus promptly escorted herself to the door with her eyes shadowed out, quickly opening it and slipping through, and shut it with a sound of finality, leaving the unicorn to her own thoughts.
‘…Whatever she has hiding, she wouldn’t speak to me about it. And here I thought I had a daring secret to keep from the rest of my friends...’ The unicorn gave a deep sigh and promptly forced herself out of the bath, droplets of water running down from her mane, seeping into her coat.
‘I’ve soaked in here long enough, anyway.’ --- Another pile of books was levitated to the other side of the library as Twilight continued with her studies, constantly putting quill to paper. She had been actively investigating the case since the evening before, ever since the Princess came by to her library and asked her to help find any clues regarding the matter.
Naturally, she was honored to take the case.
According to the demographic charts of Equestria and copies of Equestria Weekly that covered all of the week before, kindly donated to her from Princess Celestia herself, the majority of missing ponies throughout the week seemed to carry some sort of pattern…
Or so she thought, anyway.
The targets seemed to have one thing in common. Or rather, two classes of ponies. In one category, a fair amount of them seemed to be of a high noble class, ponies with a lot of wealth to back them up. In another, it seemed to be ponies that held no special rank, but had loving families they worked themselves for.
…Two very distinct classes, with no connection between them whatsoever. It was frustrating.
What was the benefit in doing all of this? If it was just nobles, she could’ve possibly concluded that the criminal was trying to get more power socially. It was the other category that was creating complications…It made it harder to find the criminal’s motive.
And without that, she couldn’t possibly predict where the criminal would strike next. A place of nobility, or a small house in Ponyville? Which one? Should she take action to prepare for both scenarios?
…Maybe that’s for the best. The lavender unicorn’s eyes narrowed as she closed her studies. If she set up precautions in both areas, they may have a chance at cracking the case sooner.
…If she could just contact Princess Celestia.
“Spike! Spike!” Twilight yelled, her voice bouncing from the top floor down into the kitchen, barely audible by the time it reached its destination.
Nevertheless, the message was received.
“…Yeah, Twilight?” The purple-green baby dragon walked out of the kitchen, pink apron and spatula in his claw. “What do you need?”
Twilight met him at the end of the stairs. “I need you to take a letter for me, to Princess Celestia.”
Putting the spatula to the side, the dragon nodded. “Okay! Your number one assistant is on the job!” From the shelf, he pulled out a blank scroll with a feathered quill, ink at the ready. “Ready when you are, Twilight!”
---
...Sneaky might as well have been Pinkamina’s middle name. Certainly would’ve fit better than Diane.
The pink earth pony frowned as she gazed upon the fruits of her friend Twilight’s labor from the insides of the library wall, neatly piled on the desk. As much as she REALLY liked Twilight, her smarts were gonna eventually get her killed, be it by the Rainbow Factory or a delicious cupcake.
Scratch that. She’d definitely die Pinkamina’s way. Call it compensation, if you will.
If that information got to Celestia, Dashie would most likely be freaking out and saying that Celestia’s got the advantage, and then nopony gets to have any fun. So, it was up to Pinkamina to make sure that doesn’t happen.
In a swift movement, the pink pony slipped from her hiding spot to underneath the desk full of her friend’s work. Like a wolf, getting ready to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.
‘…If she had nothing to show, than there’d be nothing to report.’ Pinkamina thought to herself as her lips curled into a devilish grin.
Twilight’s voice rang as she turned away from the desk. “Spike! Spike!”
There wasn’t much time. As soon as Twilight started to walk away from the desk, the pink pony slipped the papers into a brown cloth bag without a sound; including the newspapers and the demographic reports Twilight had been given. It wouldn’t stop the lavender pony for good, but she took great pleasure in knowing the frustrations her friend would feel if she knew she had to start over from square one.
…That and maybe Dashie would shut up about possibly being exposed. She always preferred to have the advantage, Pinkamina noticed over the period she worked with her.
Spike came in from the kitchen, wearing his pink apron and a spatula in his claw. “…Yeah, Twilight?”
Pinkamina slipped from the desk back towards her hiding place. Maybe it’d be nice to see her friend’s reaction before she took off first. Dr. Dashie owed her that much.
“What do you need?” Spike continued, waiting for Twilight to respond. That attire must’ve meant he didn’t have much time to waste, or food was gonna burn. Then maybe the house would burn, seeing as it’s a tree. Then they would burn.
Hmm…Crispy Twilight. Not a bad thought, to be honest.
Twilight kept her back to the desk, at the bottom of the stairs. “I need you to take a letter for me, to Princess Celestia.”
‘…Yeowzers, it’s a good thing I took that stuff when I did.’ The pink pony grimaced at the thought and Dashie’s face if that happened. Then she’d never shut up. Then things could’ve gotten dangerous.
“Okay! Your number one assistant is on the job!” Spike reached over and grabbed the quill and scroll, ready to find out just how little he’d be writing. “Ready when you are, Twilight!”
…Time for the comedy gold.
Twilight took a deep breath before walking back upstairs towards the desk. “…Dear Princess Celesti- AHHHHH!!!!!!” Her scream rang throughout the entire library, causing her assistant to wince at the sheer volume.
“What?! What happened, Twilight?!” Spike ran as fast as he could up the stairs to aid his mentor.
“….Gone!!! It’s…what…!?” Twilight stammered as she constantly put her hooves to the desk, hoping that the stolen goods were actually under something else. “Everything…! The demographics, the newspapers, everything…! It’s all gone!”
PinkaDash 1, Twilestia 0. Pinkamina grinned with glee at the outburst.
“Oh my gosh…!” Spike panicked as he tried to calm Twilight down while she was going through a period of hyperventilating. “Twilight, Twilight…!”
“Gone! It’s…it’s…it’s…” The lavender unicorn breathed rapidly, while poor Spike had no idea what to do other than to fan his mentor with the scroll he couldn’t finish writing.
With a nod, Pinkamina slipped from the hiding spot back from the way she came, bag in hoof. With the angle of the window and her stupid hyperventilating, Twilight wouldn’t even know what hit her, because Pinkamina had officially gotten away. With this, they had an advantage, and they could find the criminals before Celestia did.
Green eyes slowly opened to a blurry sight of mixed colors in a distorted container.
What happened? Wasn’t he with his friends in some sort of carriage? Wasn’t he going to be cast out of Equestria? Didn’t he fail his flight test?
…Right, some…something happened…to his friends…a masked figure took his best friend away from him…
‘Deep Breeze…’ The pegasus colt whimpered. Where was she taken? Was this some kind of extra test, or…
…Maybe a second chance?
“Hey! Anypony! Can you hear me?!” The pegasus colt yelled, his voice scratchy from lack of use. How long was he out? Was his friends okay?
Looking over the place didn’t really do much good for the colt. Everywhere was gray and metal, with rainbow liquids flowing through big transparent containers. Not to mention, there was a strange scent in the air that felt nauseating, and he discovered he wasn’t in a position to get away from it anytime soon. Both his hind and forehooves were bound by shackles, keeping him in his place.
…He wasn’t the only small pegasus in that situation.
‘…That masked pony did something to me! To us all…’ The colt grunted, his tiny red wings flittering as fast as they could. Unfortunately, flight wasn’t something he could easily attain with such little breeze in the area. Just like his test, he was going to fail in trying to get away.
“W-Why’s it so stuffy in here…? It smells…” He gasped, finally ceasing his actions. It wouldn’t do any good to waste energy flopping around like a fish out of water. If he wanted answers, he’d have to sit there and wait for something to come.
As if answering his call, the metal doors parted with a hiss as a masked pony figure walked into the room, completely covered with a lab coat and a large pair of safety goggles. No matter how the pegasus colt looked carefully at the pony, he couldn’t identify who it was.
…Just that the syringe by its tray was making him extremely nervous, and he couldn’t budge from his place.
“H-Hi…? D-Do you know where…Deep Breeze…is- Ack!” The colt suddenly felt himself being forced into the pony’s grip, its hold on him strong and intimidating. “O-Okay, okay…! Uh…are you taking me to her?” The colt began to squirm slightly for a bit of comfort, beads of sweat sliding down his face.
The masked pony said nothing as it continued on its way out of the room, the metal doors sliding back shut and returning to security procedures. The colt gulped as he caught a whiff of the pony’s coat. It smelled like something out of a hospital, but…extreme, or something.
He couldn’t tell what it was.
The tray with the scary needles continued to roll beside the two, being guided by the pegasus’ white covered linen wing as they continued their way through the spectrum piped halls.
‘…Who wears a cover over their wings? This pony’s crazy!’ The colt grunted as another set of doors opened to a large metallic area in front of the two, filled to the brim with capsules that held all the colors of the rainbow, each color separated into their own specific containers. If the colt didn’t know any better, he was in a laboratory; the secret mad scientist kind.
In the midst of his squirming, the pegasus’ eyes widened as something caught his attention. Several conveyer belts ran an endless loop as the colt saw another colt ahead of him, with a green coat rather than his own red coat, being placed on top of one of those conveyer belts by another masked pony, unprepared for the trip down to what looked like a really scary device.
As the green colt was forced along on the conveyer belt, the red colt’s face showed one of complete horror. As soon as the green colt met the device, his small shaking body was hooked onto the metal monster, and his coat was suddenly drained of its once lively color. The pony, once green, was now a husk of grey, his eyes lifeless and dull.
…And the worst thing about what he saw is that the red colt came to the conclusion he was going to meet the same fate.
As the masked pony beside him released its grip on the colt and placed him on the conveyer belt, he flinched at the cold heartless metal that suddenly assaulted his back, giving a chill unlike any the colt had experienced as he rode along the conveyer belt down to where the monster was waiting, sweat pouring from his now musty coat as his hooves shook in its binds.
…Looking in front of him, the red colt saw the lifeless doll in the monster’s grasp abruptly fall into an abyss of grinding metal and crushing bones.
‘No…! No, it can’t end like this…! I haven’t even found out if Deep Breeze is okay, yet…!’ Despite his many complaints, none of them could reach the red colt’s mouth as he faced death in the form of a life-sucking machine, his eyes widening to the size of pinpricks as he suddenly felt the ground being torn from him, instead being clenched inside the metal of the machine.
Shaking his head frantically, the colt whimpered inaudibly as a large sharp pointy object approached him without any mercy, its aim directly towards the small one’s neck. As the object slid into his neck with a sickening squish, the colt suddenly felt his every being slowly draining from him, his eye sight becoming blurry as he saw his brilliant red coat being stolen by the machine, instead being replaced by a duller gray. Everything he ever worked for…everything he ever dreamed…anypony who saw he had value…
…Nothing.
As the colt’s body fell limp in the machine’s hold, the masked pony nodded at the progress and then turned towards its partner who stood in front of a large lever, prepared to pull down at the giving of a signal. With a wave of its right forehoof, the lever was pulled and the lifeless pony inside the machine was dropped into the grasp of the Pegasus Device, where the rest of the failures eventually ended up.
After the machine rumbled and finally ceased its activity with a hiss, the masked pony in front gave a muffled sigh through its mask as it stood before the main lab of the glorious Rainbow Factory, the colors in each capsule reflecting onto the dark lenses of the pony’s safety goggles.
…Another failure made useful for the sake of Equestria.
BUZZZZZZ!!!!!
The masked pony’s wings flinched as its attention was quickly drawn to a clock that was built into the factory wall, showing that it was approaching 9:30 in the evening.
…Quitting time.
The masked pony promptly tore off the mask as the goggles was moved from its face to its forehead, revealing an entire head of hair covering every color of the rainbow, the mare’s sky blue wings flittering to ease the stiff feeling in them as the white linen cloth was removed.
Ah, freedom…
“…Alright! Quitting time, everypony! Make sure to clean and sanitize your equipment before putting it away!” Rainbow Dash bellowed out through the room, her voice bouncing through the spacious laboratory as the rest of the crew began to shut down machines and slowly remove their lab safety equipment. As the rainbow-maned pegasus began to sanitize the equipment on her tray, she allowed herself a moment to breathe and sit down for a time.
Overall, progress had been looking good tonight, after all. She didn’t even have to sedate the pony she was carrying, surprisingly. Normally those colts and fillies squirmed if their lives depended on it…which it did.
Her lips curled into a small smile.
…Joking about life, it was awkwardly funny.
“…Superior Supervisor? A moment if you will.” Magenta eyes looked up to see a pegasus pony with a black and red mane, a clipboard in her right hoof’s possession. Rainbow nodded, quickly putting her other job to the side for a moment. Relaxing would have to wait.
“…Report, Superior Secretary.” The rainbow-maned mare’s voice took a tone full of authority as she took a firm stance in front of the other mare.
“Yes, Superior Supervisor.” The mare’s eyes scanned the clipboard. “Today’s results were 78 bodies drained, and we have received from those 78 exactly 135 gallons of spectra. For our facility’s goal, we have managed to meet our quota for this upcoming week of weather preparation.” She finished with a smile as Rainbow took the time to adjust her lab coat.
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly as she listened. “…135 gallons of spectra in a day’s work? …Sounds awesome. Keep the records but make a copy and place them in my office.” The mare nodded as she turned to fly away, but stopped suddenly to turn back towards the rainbow-maned pegasus.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Pinkamina requested that I report for you to meet her in your office.”
The rainbow-maned pegasus frowned as she rose an eyebrow. “…Pinks? …Wonder what she’s got to say. Thanks, I’ll go and check on that when I get done here. Till then, you have a safe trip home, alright?”
The mare nodded. “…Of course, Superior Supervisor. I’ll have those copies for you first thing when I check in tomorrow. I have an earlier shift, so I’ll be here before you arrive.”
Rainbow nodded as she began to pick up her tools once more from the tray. “…Sounds great. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Take care of yourself, Superior Supervisor.” The mare walked towards the door, and entered inside the hallway, letting the doors slide back shut with an echo that rang through the entire factory, leaving the rainbow-maned mare by herself.
Rainbow Dash gave a deep sigh as she meticulously applied sanitizer to the metal tools, rubbing the liquid deep into the metal with a wet cleaning cloth, cleaning each piece with extensive care. It wouldn’t do any good to waste materials, so what tools the Factory had was required to remain in pristine condition. That way ponies could avoid smuggling tools in from the other factories, and there’d be less chance in getting caught red-hoofed.
…Another precaution the rainbow-maned pegasus took in order to protect her long-life family secret. Everything had to be cleaned properly, and put away neatly. This was the side she refused to show to her friends…that she cared about order, that in truth she always understood everything Twilight would babble about like the egghead she was, that…
…That in truth, from the time she was a filly, she was born and raised a scientist through and through.
With everything cleaned, she proceeded to put everything back in its proper place, putting away the tray in a storage compartment underneath a shelf full of medical tools. Stepping back from the shelf, the pegasus took the time to stretch her wings as well as her hooves before she began her journey through the sliding doors and out of the main lab down to where her office was located.
…Whatever Pinkie had for her, it had better be good. She was wasting precious sleep on this!
---
Rainbow Dash’s office was nothing like how she treated her bedroom.
When the pink party pony would bother Dashie in her cloud-house to propose a few pranks, she’d always come in to a few toys on the ground, some bunched up blankets here and there…
…a messy place, but this…
Pinkamina scanned the solid walls and the neat piles of paperwork, baby-blue eyes full of boredom as she lounged in the pegasus’ cushy office chair, the bag of smuggled goods on her large desk as the pink pony swayed the chair from side to side. It really was a comfy place to wait, just…it was so clean, so… She wasn’t kidding about sanitation being a must.
Her friend’s office made Twilight’s study desk look like there wasn’t any organization at all. If the lavender unicorn even saw it, how would she react if she knew Dashie could actually be this neat?
Then again…how would she take the idea that both of her dear friends were mass murderers? Probably not that well, considering she was willing to investigate for Princess Celestia and all.
Oh well, too bad for her.
The pink pony’s eyes were attracted to the door once she saw it open with a click. In front of her was Dr. Dashie, in all her stained lab coat and sciency glory, her rainbow mane resting over her shoulder. The pegasus closed the door behind her slowly, and leaned against it as she faced her partner in crime.
“…About time you got over here. And here I thought you were supposed to be the fastest in all of Equestria!” Pinkamina grinned as she watched her friend’s face turn into a scowl.
“I just got off of work and had to put things away. Cut me some slack!” Rainbow Dash grumbled with a sigh before she eyed the large bag on her office desk. “Anyway, you had something to say? What’s in the bag?”
The pink pony sat up as she began to pull each piece of paper out, one by one. “…Only the entirety of Twilight Sparkle’s precious research for her dear Princess Celestia! It was really fun watching her freak once these were gone!”
“Twilight’s doing research now? What else is new?” The rainbow-maned pegasus’ eyes narrowed as she sat in a chair opposite to her friend, her hooves already deep in stolen scrolls and demographics. “Let me guess, this has to do with the whole ‘missing ponies’ thing again…”
Really, she was starting to get sick of it.
“You’re not gonna freak out again, are you, Dashie?” The pink pony frowned at her friend.
The pegasus simply rolled her eyes. Probably best not to answer that comment. Looking over her studious friend’s notes, the pegasus frowned as she deciphered what each paper entailed for the two criminals in witness of it.
Pinkamina shifted a piece of paper full of writing on top of her right hoof. “…So, according to what I overheard in the library, and what it says here…there’re two different types of targets our mystery bad-guy is going for.”
Rainbow nodded. “…The rich, pompous kind…and then there’s the everyday average work pony…”
…If Twilight gathered this much in the short amount of time she’d been researching…who knows how much she could uncover in the space of another week.
The rainbow-maned pegasus faced her partner with a troubled expression. “She didn’t send this to Princess Celestia yet, did she?”
Pinkamina rolled her eyes. “She was about to, but she lost all her work before she could go into detail about it. While she could easily recover it in the space of a day or two, I figured it’d be better if WE called the shots on finding the criminal first.”
“…Tch, so there’s a chance she could’ve sent something while it was fresh in her mind…but without her research, that idiot’s gonna have to start from scratch with her report, while we can just build off of what’s already here.” Rainbow gave a devilish grin at the thought of the unicorn’s frustrations.
They just needed to start as soon as possible if they were gonna beat her in a game of egghead.
The pink pony frowned. “So, back to this…wanna know what I think?” The pegasus nodded. “It doesn’t make sense. The only way I’d be able to explain it is that there are two different criminals at the SAME time!” The pink pony shrugged as she tossed the paper from her hoof back onto the desk with the rest of the pile, her hind-hooves crossing as she allowed herself to slouch once more in her friend’s chair. “…Anyway, that’s just me.”
A sky-blue pony ear perked at the thought.
Wait, two criminals…? They…might be on to something here…
The rainbow-maned pegasus shook her head. “Wait! Maybe…you might’ve cracked something big, Pinks…”
Pinkamina glanced back towards her friend.
“…Just…there doesn’t seem to be anything in common with the targets EXCEPT their social classes. Even if there are two of them, they might not be working together…it doesn’t seem synchronized enough.” Rainbow pursed her lips as she brought one hoof under her chin in a thoughtful manner, leaning back in her own chair.
They HAD something…
“So…one goes after the common folk…”
Rainbow nodded. “And the other goes for the fancy rich ponies…”
“And neither is working with the other…”
The two criminals grumbled as they sat in their seats. Now what? There wasn’t anything else to work with! Not when Pinkamina was eavesdropping OR when they took to the research themselves…! They didn’t get much farther than Twilight did…
…There just weren’t enough variables…
The rainbow-maned pegasus groaned as she sunk her head deep in the pile of paperwork. “…I have work tomorrow, and if we hang around here ALL night, I won’t get enough sleep before the next morning’s shift…!”
Pinkamina frowned. “…Don’t you usually just nap the day away?”
Her partner looked back at her as if she was insulted. “…Uh, yeah! I NEED the energy to last through the morning, deal with stupid co-workers, AND still manage to work here late into the night! I’m usually the last one out even, because I have to lock everything up!”
“…And if you don’t take naps…”
Rainbow’s eye narrowed. “…Then my work here gets sloppy. I can’t do sloppy, you know that!”
The pink pony groaned in frustration as she also threw her head deep into the paperwork. “You know what, I’m also done here! I just remembered I ALSO have to get up early because I have a party to set up for, first thing next morning for Diamond Tiara’s birthday! And if that party isn’t set up, than Filthy Rich is gonna have my party pony license for SURE, and then I won’t EVER be able to host parties ever again!”
The rainbow-maned pegasus’ lips curled in amusement as she threw her head back in a fit of laughter. “Oh, then we’re BOTH neck deep in prissy kiddy pony demands! Did you know that Diamond Tiara wanted SNOW for her birthday? Snow, when it’s in the middle of the summer!”
Pinkamina snorted as she lifted her head from the stolen papers. “Oh, geez, really…?! That’s a lot of work to do then, isn’t it, Dr. Dashie?!”
“Yeah, it is! And if things aren’t EXACTLY the way she wants it tomorrow, I’ll probably get fired from my Supervisor of Ponyville’s weather team job! It’s a disaster!”
“And do you even WANNA know how many balloons she demanded I set up?!”
“I don’t think I wanna know!” The two criminals continued their fit of laughter; Pinkamina rolled out of the pegasus’ office chair and hit the floor with a thud as she kicked her hind-hooves in a fitful manner, her friend following after with another thud.
It was nice to just laugh like this…
As the pink party pony gave a deep sigh as she began to calm down, Rainbow Dash lifted herself from the ground and held a hoof towards her partner in crime.
“…Seriously, we should both get to bed before Celestia raises the sun on us.”
Pinkamina took the offered hoof as she felt herself being hoisted up, with much assistance from the wall. Otherwise there would’ve been no way Dashie could’ve lifted HER up with the small hooves she had.
“…Okie Dokie Lokie, Dr. Dashie.”
---
The cloud-coated door opened with a poof as Rainbow Dash slipped into her house in the middle of the night, her sky-blue coat rustling with the midnight wind, not a trace of rainbow stains on her hooves. She made sure not to bring any equipment or clothing from work into her home, one of the many precautions she took in order to avoid getting caught.
…She couldn’t have ponies associating her with the Rainbow Factory, after all.
As the pegasus walked through the quiet home, she heard a buzzing sound worthy of a bee approaching her direction, the noise ringing through her ears.
Only, she knew it wasn’t a bee.
“…Tank! How are you, buddy?” Rainbow grinned as she took her beloved pet into her hooves; the moonlight reflecting into her dear friend’s eyes as the loyal tortoise slowly curled his lips into a sweet smile.
He had been patiently waiting for her return.
“…Up top!” The rainbow-maned pegasus rose one of her hooves to meet one of Tank’s legs, and he made a small grin once they made contact. Just like her, it was an important goal of his to act cool for her.
She couldn’t have asked for a greater pet.
Rainbow chuckled as she soared upwards in her glorious home, her wings flittering up to the next level of the cloud layer above the many stairs in the cloudominium, towards her ever-welcoming cloud-layered bed, with her many Daring Do books and Wonderbolts memorabilia.
To be honest, it often made the mare guilty, having such a nice home when her occupation required her to take the lives of many fillies and colts. But, alas, Equestria needed its weather…
…And so killing fillies and colts was a must for the sake of Equestria.
Letting go of the burdens of her occupation for the night, the pegasus gave a deep sigh of pleasure and exhaustion as she allowed herself to sink deep into the soft comforts of her cloud bed, not even bothering to cover herself with the blanket as she snuggled her beloved Tank while he buried his head deep into the mare’s coat.
‘…Today was a long day.’ The rainbow-maned pegasus frowned as she allowed herself to think back on the day’s events while she rested her head deep into the cloud pillows.
…A rough day at work, frustrations from yesterday because of the whole ‘missing ponies’ case, a long night of killing, Pinkie’s goods from Twilight and not finding enough about it…
…A lot happened that day…
The mare slowly closed her tired magenta eyes as she breathed out a tired sigh.
…But tomorrow was most likely going to be even longer.
The orange farm-pony yawned rather disturbingly for a large crowded area as her blonde mane tightened in a red band fell over her shoulder, her faded-brown cowboy hat protecting her muzzle from the direct sunlight.
…It was a mercy, since it wouldn’t be hard for everypony around to see the exhaustion on her face, thank goodness for that.
Despite the amount of work she had on her hooves, she didn’t really sleep good last night thanks to the bucket of paranoia she had whenever she’d put her little sister Applebloom to bed every night. She never felt safe letting that pony wander off on her own lately…and wouldn’t even let her try by walking to school with her each morning. It made the mare feel a little guilty to get on her sister’s bad side by treating her as such, but…
…With ponies going missing without a reason…it wasn’t wrong for her to do so.
Applejack grunted as she shook her head frantically, her half-opened eyelids being forced into a wider position as she refrained from snoring right then and there in front of the apple cart.
‘If ah fell asleep like THAT, I’d be a disgrace to the entire Apple family!’ The farm pony winced as she began trotting in place, hoping that a splash of adrenaline would be enough to wake her up.
Apples needed to be sold, after all!
“…Silly filly, you shouldn’t be sleeping on the job!” A bright and cheerful voice giggled and rang through Applejack’s ears as she stopped in her trotting, an ocean of pink blocking her view of Ponyville’s shopping center.
The mare doubled back. “P-Pinkie…! What a nice surprise to see ya! What’ll it be?” The farm pony gave a grin as she regained her flair and energy at the sight of a customer and a friend. “…Apple cobbler? Apple fritter? Or you wanna a good apple pie? We’ve got a GOOD 25% deal off sale going on for the rest of the week!”
“Hmm…tempting…apple fritters…” The party pony mused as she put a forehoof to her chin in a thoughtful manner before she frantically shook her head and smacked herself in the head three times. “No, no, no! …Actually, I’m here about the order I made for Diamond Tiara’s birthday party?! Is everything hunky dory for the afternoon?!”
Seemed like Pinkie Pie was in quite the wreck that morning…this party’s gonna be a stressful one, the farm pony figured. Applejack blinked and gave a wide smile. “Everythang’s all ready for the party! In fact, Big Mac should already be there at the site, waiting for ya! Ya’ll better hussle along after him!”
“Okie Dokie Lokie! Thanks a bunch, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie gave a huge grin before she zipped away from the apple stand with a speed rivaling Rainbow Dash’s, and through the shopping center of Ponyville in a zig-zag manner, far away from the farm-pony’s eyesight and down to the birthday filly’s mansion.
The mare quickly put a hoof to her hat once the party pony left as the momentum of her speed almost blew the farm pony’s hat away and pretty much the whole stand for just a moment.
“Hoowie, that pony can fly by ya!” Applejack breathed as she watched ponies, slightly disoriented by the commotion, continue with their business as usual, trying to ignore the strange things that occurred that past week or so.
Leaning her upper body against the opened space of table on the stand, the farm pony gave a deep sigh as she sat watching the activities of ponies go on in front of her, she herself being pinned to one spot for the moment.
While she loved selling apples and pleasing customers, the selling rush had already passed that morning and there really wasn’t anything to do at that moment. She was starting to get a little bored…
…Of waiting, she could never be bored of apples.
“Ah wonder if they could use an apple stand at the party…” The farm pony mused as she watched more ponies pass by, she herself beginning to move the apple stand through the crowd as she started to pack up the table and supplies into the apple cart with her goods.
‘Besides, Pinkie sure could use a hoof taking care of thangs.’ Applejack smiled as she pushed the cart along the brick road leading away from the shopping center and towards the other side of Ponyville.
…Good thing apple carts were mobile.
---
Got to bed around midnight, the sky-blue rainbow-maned pegasus was wide awake and setting up around 5:30 in the morning, just as Celestia began to raise the sun.
Perfect.
Rainbow Dash groaned loudly as she put the final cloud in place above Filthy Rich’s mansion, in the exact formation required, meticulously designed. Despite what a lot of ponies and Pinkie thought, weather was a great deal of work, thank you very much, and it required exercising several muscles in the body. She deserved all the naps she took!
…With how things were looking, she might as well have already gotten her flight practice, and it wasn’t even snowing yet!
…Even if she already spent several hours on it and just an order to give a swift kick would get those clouds up and running.
Flying down towards the rose garden, the prismatic pegasus stretched her sore muscles as she allowed her wings to rest for a moment as her eyes began to leer over the many delicious cakes and pastries being set up on the table, her magenta eyes especially catching sight of the purple bejeweled punch bowl, already filled to the brim with some of her friend’s delicious berry concoctions.
“…Would you care for a drink, darling?” Rainbow Dash blinked to see a pristine mare with a finely curled purple mane, a drink filled with the punch in her blue magic hold, with a graceful smile on her face.
The rainbow-maned pegasus grinned, sweat lined in her fur. “H-Hey, Rares…thanks! What’re you doing here so early, the…the party’s not for another two hours…” She breathed.
Rarity cleared her throat. “Well, I was delivering a special order requested by Filthy Rich himself, and he suggested that I…stay for the party. It looks to be a marvelous display, and how generous Mr. Rich was to allow the party to be held at his lavish mansion, of all the venues!” She gave a small grin as her curls bounced, her sapphire eyes fluttering in an enticing manner.
The pegasus took the drink from the unicorn’s hold, and immediately chugged the contents down, the delicious liquid rushing through her throat and forcing her to take a large gasp once the cup was empty. “Gahhh, that was awesome!” She panted as she put the glass down on the table and used a forehoof to cool the sweat from her coat.
The pristine unicorn gaped at the sight. “Goodness, darling, you were simply dying of thirst!”
Rainbow nodded. “Y-yeah, well…Snow takes a lot outta you, especially when you’re the only one doing it, special order…and all.” She took a deep breath before facing her friend once more. “Rest of the weather team felt they didn’t need the extra money if it meant waking up early, so…supervisor’s responsibility, y’know?”
“Oh, well, we’ve all had those days, haven’t we, darling?” Rarity laughed softly, feeling a sense of empathy towards the prismatic pegasus. “Slaving away for the sake of our work…anyways, perhaps you’d like another drink before Gummy invades it, dear?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, probably…anyways, I gotta find Filthy Rich so I know at what point to start the snowfall, so…I’ll have to take that drink later, actually…” The prismatic pegasus began to turn away from her friend, her wings fluttering with renewed energy as Rarity once again watched her take to the skies, soaring in the direction of the mansion’s main entrance further from the table of refreshments.
The unicorn gave a deep sigh as she turned away from the mansion’s entrance, her purple mane whipping in the chilly breeze. “…Really, I do believe Rainbow Dash often overexerts herself, in a similar manner that Pinkie Pie most often does, the poor darlings.”
The unicorn mare continued to walk through the luscious green garden, finely cut, stopping short to admire the beauty of the red, pink, and white roses attracting her with their alluring smell.
…In a way, Rarity felt she could compare with a rose. Beautiful and delicate at first glance, a lovely scent, but…if you got too close…
…She had a rather sharp bite.
The pristine unicorn frowned at the thought. Ever since the spa, she hadn’t really bonded with her dear friends since quite some time ago. Pinkie Pie was always wrapped up in some party or another, Rainbow Dash had her weather…Twilight was wrapped up in her studies for some reason or another, Applejack was involved with her apples…
And Fluttershy…something was certainly wrong with the poor dear…
…And not only was she involved with her dresses, she often feared for her own dear sister Sweetie Belle. Despite what other ponies only dreamed of knowing, Rarity already knew where at least half of the ponies had gone…Shameful as she was to admit to anypony but herself about her new midnight cravings, but…she didn’t know where the rest of the ponies were going…
…and that frightened her.
Looking at her reflection in the garden pond, the unicorn mare nodded with satisfaction as she saw to her makeup and was greeted with nothing but perfection.
Not a trace of a scar.
‘…As a lady should be.’ Her lips curled into a devious smile, quickly replaced with a sweet one as she allowed herself to head back towards the central section of the garden, blending in the crowd of ponies preparing for the event.
Many fabulous ponies were attending this party, according to the guest list she had taken a peek at. Perhaps she should take advantage of that fact, and, well…
…Find a friend?
---
“…So, what do you think?”
Flithy Rich chuckled slightly as he oversaw the preparations. The garden was finely trimmed for the afternoon and the roses watered, everypony was warned to bring a wrap with them to the party and prepare for a soft snowfall, which was already in position from what the stallion could see.
The décor had taken a theme of soft pink trimming with icy blue balloons and chairs, the platter for the refreshments being delicate silver, finely polished and ready to be served at a moment’s notice. The color of the sweet purple punch did not clash with the rest of the table, and the flowers for the birthday cake were decorated with pearly white roses while the cake itself had rich delicious chocolate icing, a large contrast but alluring addition to the lighter colors of the rest of the décor and the matching pink sky, ready for snow.
The present from Miss Rarity, specially ordered with contributions on his daughter’s tastes from yours truly, was already in Diamond Tiara’s room, most likely being fitted to her now as the maids helped her get ready for the day.
The music, while he at first didn’t care to hear a vulgar DJ artist, was rather fascinating with the contributions of a Canterlot favorite, Miss Octavia with her dazzling cello, mixing with the soft but uplifting beats from a highly recommended source from his party planner Pinkie Pie, Miss Vinyl Scratch, creating a most pleasing sound to the gentlecolt and surely his daughter would appreciate it.
It was going to be perfect.
“Big Macintosh also informed me that if you need more food, Applejack is also going to be coming with an apple cart full of delicious treats by the time the party starts.” The party pony gave a soft smile as she faced her customer.
Flithy Rich nodded. “Yes, that would be greatly appreciated…only the best for my precious jewel, to have the best time of her life, no matter what.” He wanted Diamond to be happy to see this.
…As any loving father would.
“Um…Mr. Rich, sir,” The gentlecolt nodded as his eyes took in every color in the visible spectrum as the sky-blue pegasus mare landed in front of him. “I was wondering when you wanted me to start the snowfall…”
Flithy Rich nodded. “Well…I think as soon as she steps out of the mansion…she loves the snow, so, it might make her feel special if the snow was falling for her.” The gentlecolt smiled as he thought of his daughter’s face.
Pinkie grinned as she waved a hoof. “…Oh, hey, Dashie! Glad you got the clouds ready in time! How’re you doing?”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Of course I did, I’m awesome!” The pegasus bragged, but then faced her customer. “…But I think your filly’s gonna feel more awesome when she sees what you’re willing to do for her.” She gave a soft smile to the gentlecolt, her magenta eyes gleaming in the soft sunlight.
“…Thank you both, for providing such great service.” Flithy Rich nodded to the both of them before turning to enter inside the mansion. Everything was almost ready, and he had to make sure his sweetheart was ready.
“Aww, he’s such a big softie when it comes to Diamond!” Pinkie gushed as she faced her friend. “…But seriously, how’re you doing?”
Rainbow blanched as her entire body slumped. “…Exhausted is an understatement.”
“Yeah, he’s been pulling all the shots for her, isn’t he? So much work! And love, right?”
The prismatic pegasus nodded in understanding. “Yeah…ponies will do that for family.” Looking back up towards the clouds as she picked her body up, she readied her wings once more. “Anyways, I got my cue, so I gotta get in position!”
The party pony nodded as she watched her friend fly into the cloud layer. “Good luck, Dashie!” She yelled out, hot air puffing from her muzzle and visible. It was getting colder, but that didn’t mean that any of the fun was lost!
Anyways, they’d probably be talking more about how things went later that night, but right now…they had non-bloody work to do.
---
Hoofsteps clunked and clattered as two figures walked in the distant summer heat, not too far from the upcoming party location.
“…I just don’t understand it, Spike…”
“Twilight…” The small dragon flinched and eventually groaned as they walked along the suddenly cold ground as soon as they got into the vicinity of Filthy Rich’s mansion.
“I mean, who would be willing to…”
“Okay, Twilight…that’s enough…” Claws clenched into a fist as Spike frowned, trying to keep from shouting at his mentor.
“…I mean, how was my research even taken…?”
“Twilight!” The dragon hissed under his breath as his unicorn partner was taken aback. “We’re here now, just…RELAX for a moment!”
The lavender unicorn sat for a while before she eventually nodded. “…Okay, Spike…Let’s…let’s just have fun for now, and we can address this later.” She smiled as she faced the beautiful setup, letting all previous worries be put to the side. “Wow…”
Spike dropped his jaw. “…Pinkie…really outdid herself with this one…it’s so pretty…!”
An orange figure filled Twilight’s vision. “You can say that again! Hoowie, it’s like a tree on Hearth’s Warming’s Eve!”
Twilight’s smile widened. “Applejack, you made it! I haven’t seen you in a little while, how are you?”
Applejack smiled as a large apple cart trailed beside her. “Ah’m doing mighty fine, Twi, how about you? Ah heard you’ve been researching ‘bout missing ponies lately.”
The lavender pony stopped short in her tracks.
…Huh? Wait, what? How did she know that?
…A nervous chuckle. “Wow, I…guess word goes around quite a bit in Ponyville, doesn’t it? I thought asking me to research it…was a secret order from Princess Celestia herself, does…EVERYPONY know this…?”
Applejack stayed silent for a moment. “…Well, we…we apples find a way of knowing things, just…uh…forget I said anything!”
Twilight frowned in confusion. Something wasn’t right…
It couldn’t be…!
“Um…Applejack, do you happen to know what happened to my research, by any chance?” The lavender mare watched her friend’s expression with careful eyes.
…Somehow the pretty display didn’t seem all that important to the mare anymore.
“..Ugh, Twilight! You said!” Spike whined in frustration, tugging roughly on his companion’s forehoof.
Applejack blinked in confusion. “Huh? Something happened to your research? What happened, Twi?”
She didn’t look like she was lying…the lavender mare knew it was wrong, doubting her friend, but…only the thief and Princess Celestia should’ve known she was researching about the case, and she hadn’t mentioned it to any of her friends…
…and yet Applejack knew?
Twilight frowned. “…It was stolen…last night, while I was trying to get Spike’s attention to take a letter for me. I was trying to send a report to Princess Celestia…but I was only able to recover what had been stolen in the time I could’ve found something new had that research not been taken.”
The farm pony nodded with a grim expression. “And…you suspect ah’m that pony, since ah knew about it when nopony else should’ve.” She nodded back. “…I’m sure you understand why, just…I don’t want to believe it was you, Applejack…”
“And I AIN’T no thief, I assure you, just…Ah can’t tell ya why ah know. You gotta believe me, Twilight.” Emerald eyes pooled into uncertain purple eyes as the two mare sat there, the tension rising in the air between them, Spike caught in the middle.
The small dragon frowned. “You know what, I’m going on ahead! I see a game getting set up over there that’s just calling my name!” With that, the lavender mare’s assistant dashed ahead, eager to escape the levels of suspicion just behind him.
…Could Applejack be trusted? Of course she could, she was her dear friend! Not to mention, the Element of Honesty, of all things! She couldn’t tell a lie…
Twilight pursed her lips in uncertainty. “…If you didn’t steal it…why can’t you tell me how you know about it?”
The farm pony gave a deep sigh as she broke eye contact, her emerald green eyes filled with mystery to the lavender unicorn. “…Ah…Ah gotta check something out tomorrow night…but after that…I’ll be willing to tell you, Twilight…just…not right now, ah…ah’m kinda wrapped up in the party planning already. They need a helping hoof ‘round there.”
With that, Twilight felt dust rise up as her friend promptly took the cart and sped ahead towards where she needed to go, without another word to the unicorn.
She avoided her.
Twilight shook her head in, frustration? Confusion…?
Anger…?
Something weird was going on with Applejack…she just couldn’t figure out what…but she intended to find out, some way or another.
…If she could just…-
“Heya, Twilight!” The lavender unicorn screamed as her vision was assaulted with Pinkie Pie’s face, right up against her muzzle until the unicorn promptly backed away.
“…Pinkie! It’s been so long!” Twilight beamed at the sight of her energetic friend. “How are you?”
The pink party pony skipped as the two started back towards the party grounds. “Oh, same old, same old…planning a party, having fun with Dashie, getting creeped out by ponies I knew going missing…” The cheer seemed to dim with the lingering thought. “…But I got to see you when I hadn’t for a while, so this REALLY makes my day, Twilight! We’re gonna have sooo much fun, and you can play pin the tail on the pony, eat some cake, hang with friends…!”
The lavender pony sweat-dropped at the party pony’s burst of energy, still surprised she hadn’t taken a breath yet as they almost reached their destination. “Oh, it sounds like fun, Pinkie…”
“…And dancing, more eating cake, hanging with the birthday filly, and all that fun stuff!” She finished before the pink pony took a deep breath before she gave a soft sigh. “It’ll be fun!”
Twilight grinned. “Yeah, I can’t wait! Where is Rainbow Dash, anyway? And Fluttershy, for that matter…?”
Pinkie gave a smaller smile. “Dashie’s in the clouds waiting for her weather cue, but Fluttershy I haven’t seen in days! Maybe Rarity’s seen her since she’s always doing those spa trips with her!”
The lavender pony nodded. “Maybe…anyway, I should probably make sure Spike isn’t getting himself into any trouble.” The two waved and said their goodbyes, before Pinkie was left once more on her own, watching the other ponies getting ready to greet the birthday girl. It was gonna be soon.
‘Just how is Fluttershy, anyway? Maybe I’ll ask Rarity about her during the party…’ Pinkie Pie thought as she went to her position, ready to greet the birthday filly.
Once everypony was silent, a spotlight turned on in front of the mansion’s front door as a small earth pony filly walked out with her head held high, donned in a beautiful purple dress with a bejeweled tiara on her head, fit perfectly to her size, a soft tuning playing as she graced everypony with her presence.
It felt like for one moment, she was like a real princess. Diamond Tiara, refusing to show any moment of bashfulness, felt wonderful as the soft snowflakes suddenly fell before her, as if her being there alone had summoned them to fall.
And fall they did, all for her, as were the balloons, and the cake, and…the music was unique, unlike anything anypony had for their birthday before, making it extra special and rare. Looking at her father, the pink filly made her way towards Filthy Rich’s hooves, locking the Rich family in a loving embrace.
“…Happy birthday…my diamond…” The gentlecolt gave a soft smile to his daughter.
The filly grinned with a glee beyond measure. No matter who showed up at her party, blank-flank or no, she was just happy to have a father as loving as she had.
“…Thank you, Daddy.” The pink filly whispered; her voice soft as silk in the gentlecolt’s ear. It was just how they both wanted it…
…Perfect.
Rainbow Dash grinned as she watched the events unfold from above, her body spread along the cloud layer as she laid down to rest after a long day of hard work.
…She needed the energy for that night’s work, and truth be told…
…She kinda skipped out on breakfast.
With a sigh, the pegasus slipped from the cloud layer down to the party level, her eyes locked on the refreshments on the table as everypony else was now free to help themselves.
…It took a lot of work and guts…but they managed to pull through it, and they made things awesome. Rarity’s dress was awesome, too.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash, it’s been a while!” The prismatic pony blinked as a lavender pony with a dark mane entered her vision, pink stripes in the mane clearly visible.
“…Twi! How’s it hanging?! You enjoying the party or what?!” Rainbow laughed in delight as she finally landed in the grass beside her good friend.
The lavender pony nodded to the beat of the DJ classical tune. “Yeah, it’s great! I’ve been having a blast after a long time of wasted research!”
‘…Wasted is right!’ The rainbow-maned pegasus began swaying to the tune, temporarily forgetting about the table full of delicious food not even ten feet away from her. “Then let’s dance and get away from the old books!” She cheered as her studious friend joined her in a dance, the two twirling and having a good time.
…There was no way she was getting valuable sleep like this. …Or nutrients.
…And while everypony was having a good time…
…nopony even noticed the lack of a certain pristine purple-maned unicorn, and a rich and handsome stallion from Canterlot, from the party.
Dim candle-lights lit up the ominous dark hallway out of her bedroom as the young unicorn filly inched forward, a cold chill in the air from an opened window of her bedroom only adding to the unsettling feeling in the room as it ran through her curled light-pink and purple mane.
…She could’ve sworn that the Carousel Boutique didn’t seem this creepy at night before…not even when she went to the filly’s room at night! There shouldn’t have been anything wrong…
…But something WAS wrong lately. It was all that talk of missing ponies going around; nopony could get a good night’s sleep with creepy pony-nappers on the loose!
…Maybe that’s why Rarity was always insistent on her staying by her side or with her other crusader friends…but it’s not like they were allowed to DO any crusading lately…
…It just wasn’t fair. She’d NEVER get her cutie mark with this going on…!
Sweetie Belle bit her quivering lip as a wave of nervousness consumed her, pristine white pony ears twitching at the catch of a howling sound as it resounded through the walls, muffled and hidden from view.
It scared her.
“AH!” The unicorn filly squeaked for just a second as she ran further down the hallway and hid herself in the layers of the many mannequins that decorated the front of the boutique, the dark violet drapes only hiding the pale moonlight from view as they were shut for the night and covering the large windows that normally allowed sunshine through.
…As if to say, “There’s no salvation here”…
Sweetie Belle shook her head frantically. She couldn’t run away back to her room now…but that sound she heard was enough to paralyze a filly, and even the mannequins gave little comfort in their fancy dresses, making the filly feel that maybe she intruded on a ghost’s masquerade ball…
…And she’d be the menu if she didn’t get away from there, fast.
Slipping away from the dress mannequins in a hurry, the filly suddenly felt unsafe around them as she flinched and froze into place, another howling sound resounding through the desolate room, dragged out and haunting to the ear as it sent shivers all through the little one’s body.
“G-Ghost…!” She whimpered as she faced where the sounds might’ve been coming through, the walls, the grounds, outside…!
…It was everywhere…!
“Rarity…!” Sweetie Belle cried as her eyes darted around the room. “Rarity, where are you…?!” The small filly slumped in the darkness as she felt a sense of hopelessness consume her, her curly tail wrapping around her small figure as she wrapped her hooves around it for dear comfort.
Normally she’d try to find at least a little fun in getting scared if she was with her other crusader friends…but she was alone.
…This was nothing like the cockatrice in the Everfree…
“Rarity…!” The unicorn filly continued to cry, the howling in the air growing louder and more prolonging, almost as if a voice was begging to be freed from something, and she had no way of doing so…and yet it still kept persisting, breaking, haunting her with its every being…!
She had never felt so alone before…!
“…RARITY!!! SCOOTALOO!!! APPLEBLOOM!!! …MOM!!!” The filly began to shout at the top of her lungs, frantically shaking her head as she starting beating herself constantly with her hooves, tears falling from her frightened face and matting her white coat.
“Darling, whatever is the matter?! Do you not know the time?!” A large rectangular hole in the floor of the Carousel Boutique was forced open suddenly, and the young filly could see a pristine white unicorn with a fine purple mane, her usual curls seeming more rugged than usual as she rushed up the stairs with the most surprising scar across her left eye, and a white petticoat with a purple ribbon at one side wrapped around her. “…Sweetie Belle…?!” The unicorn’s sapphire eyes widened as a reddish glint of anger flared just barely noticeable through all the blue concern she held for the poor filly.
“R-Rarity…?” Sweetie Belle blinked away the tears with a sniffle, a sense of confusion taking over her. “…What…what happened to you…? Where did you get the petticoat from? Why haven’t I seen you wear it until now…?”
…In fact, the white petticoat looked all too familiar to the filly, but…she just couldn’t grasp it…
Rarity bit her lip before she faced her sister with a softer expression, almost full of guilt, even. “…Never mind that now, Sweetie Belle…It’s late, and you should be off to bed. You have school in the morning, and I want you ready to go as soon as I’m ready to take you.”
The unicorn filly frowned. “Y-you’re taking me AGAIN…? I never get to walk on my own anymore…” She muttered; her voice still shaky from moments ago.
“And it’s for good reason, too. Just tonight, a walk through the house frightened you!” Rarity wrapped her warm hooves around the filly, allowing her face to be smothered by the mare’s coat. “With so many ponies disappearing, I can’t possibly let you run off and get hurt!”
“Mmff, Rarity, you’re…!” Sweetie Belle grunted as she struggled to pull her muzzle away from the other mare’s chest, succeeding only after the older unicorn released her grip around the filly. “Ugh, crushing me!”
Something seemed wrong. A stench…it didn’t smell right, but…from what the younger unicorn could tell, it was coming from that mysterious opening in the ground….and it smelled foul, whatever it was.
…Rarity smelled foul, too.
The pristine unicorn mare gave a nervous laughter. “I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, just…you should go to bed now. I have something to finish tonight, and then I will also be heading to bed. It’s dreadfully late, darling, and you have school tomorrow!”
Sweetie Belle nodded slowly as she picked herself back up, with little sound.
“…Okay.”
Without another word, the unicorn filly turned away from her sister and started her journey back towards her bedroom, leaving the older mare in the creepy darkness, where the basement was, apparently.
…When did they even have a basement?
Rarity wasn’t always that weird…nothing was THAT weird before…and where in the world was Opal lately? Not once that day did she trip over that cat, or at all the past week! Shuddering, the filly continued her walk, her muzzle shut tight yet filled with countless questions.
Questions she didn’t know how to get answers to, but…
There was only one thing she knew for certain…
…Something was definitely wrong with her sister.
And she needed to talk to somepony about it.
---
Jokes, flying, stunts, and speed…
…Being awesome…
The orange pegasus giggled excitedly as she followed a bigger winged figure through the wide cloudy skies, her purple mane blowing through the constant winds and flying every direction.
…She always longed for this moment.
Flapping her wings in a graceful movement, the younger pegasus slowly gained on the winged figure, its many colors becoming more distinct and radically awesome as it spread its own two sky-blue wings, the entire visible spectrum flowing through its super cool awesome mane.
…Rainbow Dash.
“You’re getting better, Squirt! Keep on coming!” The rainbow-maned pegasus called to the other orange pegasus as she laughed, the distance between the two pegasi slowly becoming more narrowed and closer than before.
The orange pegasus beamed at the sound of the other mare’s awesomely raspy voice. “I’m coming, Rainbow Dash!” Orange wings danced through the wind as its currents surrounded the younger pegasus, taking her up to new speeds and practically beside the other.
She was beside Rainbow Dash. She…
…Beside Rainbow Dash! The best of the best and most awesome pony in the history of all of Equestria and beyond!
Her awesomeness exceeded that of even Celestia, and…even Time itself!
The orange pegasus gushed silently as she felt her cheeks heat up in excitement, being next to her hero who was sporting the most awesome grin as her mane became one with the wind, her wings one with the sky!
Rainbow gave a small chuckle. “…That’s cool and all, Scoots…but, can you top this?!” Without another word, the orange pegasus was thrown into a twist she couldn’t control as the most awesome pony shot through the sky with momentum beyond that of the world, a huge display of colors splashing all over the sky in the most awesome way as she pulled what no other pegasus could do EVER.
…The Sonic Rainboom...!
The younger pegasus knew when she was defeated. No matter what, she could never top the legendary Sonic Rainboom or its creator.
…Rainbow Dash CREATED awesome.
…And the sound of her alarm clock, apparently. Like, the exact one she used to get up for school, but…how did she even manage to make her alarm clock? Or alarm clocks in general…?
…Wait.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Lavender eyes fluttered open to a poster of Rainbow Dash on the wood-paned of her bedroom, the captions “20% cooler” written on it with red marker writing. It was one of the many posters she created for the Rainbow Dash fan club, where she proudly held the title of president. Each decoration that sat on her shelf, she made with her own hooves, the awesome pony of her dreams always close to her when she wasn’t showing off her sweet moves.
…It was the closest she could ever get to her when she wasn’t tripping over herself all the time.
“Aww man, it was an awesome dream, too…” The orange filly groaned, her wings back to the tiny things they were, incapable to handling her weight in flight. All her life she had longed to fly beside Rainbow Dash…
…And she was constantly teased each time she went to bed.
“Just you wait, Rainbow Dash! I’ll be flying with these babies before you can even SAY awesome!” She yelled, her scratchy voice bouncing all over the place. No matter what, she wanted to fly, and someday…
…She’d like Rainbow Dash to be her honorary big sister.
“You’ll be flying with the reddest flank in Equestria if you don’t get out of that bed!” The orange filly jumped as the door slammed open to reveal a purple-maned mare with a huge wrench clenched to her teeth, her blue eyes glaring at the filly.
Uh oh… Mom…
Scootaloo grunted as she quickly jumped from the bed onto the floor, her hooves straight and planted to the ground. “I’m wide awake!”
The mare gave a laugh and sighed as she put the wrench down and pulled the orange filly into a noogie-hug. “Aww, I’m just messing with you! …But you better get to school as fast as you can, ‘cause that’s the umpteenth time your alarm has gone off!”
The filly’s eyes widened. “…Huh? I-It has?”
…A peek at the clock.
“Oh my gosh, I’m gonna be late!” Scootaloo quickly rushed herself out of the bedroom, her hooves already grabbing hold of her trusty scooter and an apple for the road as she threw herself out the door and into the bustling crowd of Ponyville’s morning sale rush, leaving her mother behind in the suddenly peaceful environment of their house.
To be honest, she didn’t understand why Sweetie Belle’s and Applebloom’s sisters were so paranoid. Her mom really wasn’t… Not much actually happened around Ponyville, and when something did, Rainbow Dash and the gang would just take care of it!
Scootaloo tightened her hold on the scooter, setting it to full throttle as she started to blaze past the other bigger ponies in the market. There really was no need to worry…right? She wouldn’t end up missing or something, would she?
The filly laughed at the thought. Of course not, that’s what Rainbow Dash was there for! She’d have this mess taken care of in 10 seconds flat, no doubt!
Her short purple mane danced with the momentum as she held her muzzle shut, her eyes concentrating on the dusty road ahead, the school house just in the distance not far from where she was. As always, no better way to travel than by scooter or by flight…
The orange filly grinned.
…Yup, nothing to worry about. Rainbow Dash would take care of it, and then they’d be able to go crusading like old times! In the time they’d be apart, her mind had been brewing with new ideas, but they weren’t allowed to try them out with ponies going missing…
…She could share them at least, couldn’t she?
---
The Ponyville schoolhouse was bustling with activity as filly and colts of all shapes and sizes squeezed through the doors, each of them eager (or not) to begin the day’s lesson as they worked their way into their assigned seating. Sounds of murmuring and uncertainty filled the area as there were many guardians who remained for a small time in order to ensure their children made it to their classes, more so than usual.
…It was all thanks to the whole ‘missing ponies’ fiasco. Everypony was scared for their younger ones.
Sweetie Belle felt her muzzle getting scrunched into her sister’s desperate grasp as they sat in front of the school building, surrounded by many other unsettling emotions as each parent released their children to go to school around them.
“…R-Rarity…you’re crushing me…” The unicorn filly gasped as her muzzle was filled with the scent of roses, delicately applied all over the pristine older mare’s body. It was nothing like the scent she caught the night before. It wasn’t as…weird…Rarity had a habit of putting on perfume, sure, but was it usually so strong?
…Was what happened last night just her imagination?
The graceful mare nuzzled her dear sister for a second longer before she released her. “Mmm, do be careful, Sweetie. I don’t know WHAT I’d do if you ever got hurt. And with those missing ponies lately…just take care of yourself!”
Sweetie Belle grunted as she slipped away from her sister forcefully. “…I’ll be fine, Rarity! If you keep nuzzling me like this, I’m gonna be late!” She gave a small smile before running up the stairs into the schoolhouse. “I’ll be fine!” She yelled out into the air before heading in.
“Oh, but Sweetie…!” Rarity’s voice faded into the crowds as the unicorn filly’s ear was filled with laughter and giggles as little ones interacted with each other as friends.
...She didn’t see her sister’s expression as she entered inside the building.
Sweetie Belle let out a deep sigh as she looked ahead towards her seat; where she knew her fellow Crusading friends were gonna be. It seemed like she was the first one there, surprisingly. She thought Rarity’s nuzzling caused her to almost be late. Ignoring the rest of the crowd, the filly silently slipped into her seat, her thoughts going back to the events that haunted her sleep.
Did she really imagine that? Those smells from the basement and on Rarity…that howling sound…she didn’t eat anything funny beforehand, did she? At least, she believed she didn’t, unless Rarity slipped something in. As much as she loved to help, she was starting to grasp from Rarity’s expressions that she couldn’t cook to save her life. She let out a deep sigh.
‘…What am I gonna do? Should I tell somepony about this?’ She pondered to herself as she pressed her front fore-hooves into her cheeks, a feeling of stress making things seem heavier than they should be, or something like that…she wasn’t really sure, to be honest…but talking to the other Crusaders probably would at least do some good for her. Sitting upright in her seat, the small unicorn filly glanced back towards the doorway, waiting for any sign of her other friends.
She didn’t have to wait long before Scootaloo made her way into the classroom, her stance full of determination and a smile on her face. “Hey, Sweetie Belle! How’re you doing?” She grinned as she lifted a hoof to greet her unicorn friend. “It’s getting kinda crazy out there with the parents, right? I mean, Apple Bloom’s getting buried by her sister out there.”
Sweetie Belle let out a small giggle. “I doubt she’s going to be in a good mood during class then. You and I BOTH know just how much she hates being babied, after all! How come your Mom lets you run around Ponyville so freely even with the whole missing ponies thing happening?”
The orange pegasus filly shrugged as she walked over to settle into her seat. “Dunno…but I think she believes in Rainbow Dash – she’s so awesome after all! If there was any kind of trouble, I’m sure Rainbow Dash would be there to help me out! So, that’s why I’m not afraid!” She beamed, her wings flittering in excitement.
The light pink-purple maned filly blinked. “…So, you could tell Rainbow Dash anything…and things would be okay?” Wow, she knew Scootaloo was practically obsessed with her sister’s friend, and she HAD helped them out on multiple occasions as well as saved the world at least a dozen times…
…Maybe she could tell her about what she saw last night. If she told Rainbow Dash about her problems, maybe she could help her understand what’s wrong with Rarity… “…Hey, um…do you think you could help me talk to Rainbow Dash after school today? I kinda have something I wanna talk to her about.”
The purple-maned pegasus frowned as she gazed in the other’s wavering eyes. “…Sweetie Belle, are you okay? You’re not troubled or anything, are you? I can totally arrange for you to talk to Rainbow Dash, but I’m also kinda curious. What’s going on that you need help from Rainbow Dash so badly? Is it something I could help you with?”
Sweetie Belle parted her lips as the sounds of multiple hoof steps could be heard bouncing along the halls. The other students were going to be here soon, and this wasn’t really something she could share in public…talking about her sister acting weird was considered mean if she told the whole school about it…
Along with the crowd of young fillies and colts, a young yellow-coated earth pony filly with a red mane and pink bow stepped into the classroom with a sigh. “…Guh…mornin’, everypony.” She gave a smile, but the exhaustion could be heard in her voice and her shaky posture. “…Ah never thought she was gonna let me go…”
Scootaloo laughed at the earth pony’s state. “…Sheesh, your sister was extra clingy today, wasn’t she? How’re you doing, Apple Bloom? Anything new happen lately?”
Apple Bloom shook her head as she slumped in her seat. “…Only the most dumb safety measures ever created! Mah sister’s got me on a harness if I play in the yard, and Ah always gotta be where she and Big Mac can see me! Ah ain’t got no life!” She whined into her desk, causing the other two to drop their shoulders.
Sweetie Belle gulped. “Geez…that’s actually pretty rough. Rarity’s constantly hanging on me extra harder than usual, but she hasn’t put me through anything like that yet…” And honestly, she’d be fine if she didn’t ever put her through those measures. It wasn’t fun to have your life controlled for the sake of your well being – there were too many things ponies got away with using that reason with their children. “…Anything you can do to loosen your family’s paranoia?”
The red-maned filly groaned, her voice muffled by her desk. “…Ah just wish this whole ‘missing ponies’ thing will stop and we can go back to our crusadin’ again….Ah hate bein’ babied like this all day…it’s worser than ever before in mah life now!”
The classroom door slowly shut as soon as the teacher, Miss Cheerilee, entered the classroom. “…Alright, everypony. Now, before we start class today, we’re going to go over some safety measures, understand? I’m sure you all know how unsafe it is to wander on your own in the streets of Ponyville now, and we don’t want anypony to get hurt. So, for starters, we’re going to be assigning buddies for all of you. No pony, especially during recess, should be alone during this troubling time.” Her voice was kind but stern with a sense of foreboding – a symbol of just how disrupted their peace had become in such a short time.
Sweetie Belle frowned at the sight. Just what they all needed…more safety rules and regulations. If things continued like this, then all of the fillies and colts would eventually become like Apple Bloom, or even worse…no pony would be able to have privacy.
…Somepony had to stop this.
---
A drawn out yawn filled the skies just above the Ponyville Weather Team’s current work zone as a prismatic pegasus shoved a fluffy cumulus cloud back into place. As fun as yesterday’s birthday was, it was a pain to put all the snow clouds together…but now it was time to deal with putting everything back and resetting the area for summer like the rest of Ponyville.
…Personally, such a feat could be WAY easier if she was able to get some proper sleep without skipping out on meals. Ever since Pinkie brought forth that research Twilight had, her free time was sacrificed on seeking for clues and working the Rainbow Factory. It really was awesome but horrible at the same time to be the supervisor at both jobs. Rainbow Dash shook the drowsiness from her eyes in a swift motion as she hovered in mid-air, the formation of clouds before her seeming pretty satisfying.
Good, maybe that meant she could slip in a much needed nap. Not wanting to waste any more time, the prismatic-maned pegasus let her body sink into one of the fluffy clouds, dubbing it as of now her ‘napping cloud’, and she was determined to get in a good nap after all that work!
…Absolutely nothing was going to bother her!
“…Hey, Rainbow Dash! Are you currently busy at the moment? Sweetie Belle wants to talk to you about something!”
…Except when it had to do with Scootaloo. Letting out a tired groan and shaking the sleep from her eyes, the sky-blue pegasus peeked down from her napping cloud toward the two fillies. “…Mnn, hey, Scoots. You said that Sweetie Belle wanted to talk to me about something?” Of course, it was kinda strange that Sweetie Belle was going to talk to her as opposed to Scootaloo herself…what was going on? “…Anything I can help with?”
Scootaloo grinned and waved a hoof. “…Alright, Sweetie Belle, let me know when you both get done or if you come up with a solution! Don’t be down in the dumps all day, okay?” She faced up towards the prismatic pegasus. “Rainbow Dash, I’ll be leaving the rest to you, okay? Mom’s not following me everywhere or anything, but I kinda have a curfew, so…” Rainbow lifted a hoof with a grin. “It’s cool, Scoots. The Rainbow Dash has got this handled. You best head on back to your Mom.”
Sweetie Belle gave a small smile as she watched her friend leave the area, her scooter’s engine rumbling and letting out a loud hum that rang in her ears until it eventually faded into the horizon. It wasn’t until the two were left in silence that the unicorn filly glanced back up at the sky-blue pegasus. “…Um, hi, Rainbow Dash. Do you mind coming down? I’m not sure about speaking to the clouds like this.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Um, sure thing.” So, it was something personal – she didn’t want others catching wind of their conversation. With a quick movement, she lifted her body from the napping cloud and gently glided down to the ground, her light hooves sinking into the dirt. “…Okay, how’s this? You need anything else?”
The young unicorn bit her lips as her eyes grew downcast – was it really okay to tell her sister’s friend like this? “…Um…what I’m about to say…you can’t tell Rarity anything, okay? You can’t.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened a bit before raising an eyebrow. Clearly this was something she didn’t want her sister knowing about…but what could she gather from listening to Rarity’s sister? “…Alright, I won’t tell Rarity anything. Is everything okay?” Her voice grew more firm as her eyes softened.
…Maybe it would’ve been better to go to Twilight…but if Scootaloo truly believed that Rainbow Dash could fix her problems, then…she’d trust in her friend’s judgement. “….Well…it’s…something’s…” She started, her mouth starting to go dry. “…I think…something’s wrong with Rarity…”
“…Something wrong with…Rarity?” The sky-blue pegasus repeated, trying to process the information. What was wrong with Rarity? Last she saw her was at the party, and she seemed just fine then, didn’t she?
“…Mmhmm.” Sweetie Belle nodded slowly. “…Last night…I saw something…I smelled something strange about her. Something different than she usually is…” Her eyes wavered as she closed in on herself. “…What I saw last night…I’m not sure if Rarity was Rarity back then…”
Letting out a sigh, Rainbow Dash kept her composure as she knelt down. “…Sweetie Belle, I need you to listen to me. Tell me in full detail what you saw last night. It’s going to be okay.”
With a sniffle, the young unicorn moved a little closer to create more security. “...I wasn’t able to sleep last night…so then I…I decided to go to the filly’s room…but it was so scary in the boutique at night. I kept…I kept hearing this howling sound, like something was trying to get out, or…maybe in pain? I don’t know…but I got scared…so then I started to scream for help.”
‘…Howling sound? Something in pain? Somehow, this is seeming more and more suspicious…’ The prismatic pegasus pondered as she listened to the young filly’s story, trying to pay as much attention to detail as she could.
Sweetie Belle gulped as she thought back to the previous night’s events. “…I screamed…and then a hole in the floor opened up. It smelled really awful and sickening in there…and then Rarity came out of there, with her mane all messy, and she had a fluffy petticoat with a purple ribbon draped over her…and her left eye had a scar. I…I didn’t know what was going on, but Rarity said she had business to take care of, and then she’d be heading to bed…but she acted really weird and hugged me really tightly…and the next day she had a lot of perfume and hugged me tightly.” The young unicorn lowered her head. “…I was wondering…if you’d help Rarity come back to the sister I knew.”
Rainbow Dash kept silent for a bit before letting out an inward sigh. “…I’ll look into it for you. Probably nothing big, but y’know…I can’t exactly leave you hanging. Just…don’t worry about it from here, alright? Leave everything to me.” She gave a confident grin as she placed a hoof on the other’s shoulder. The warmth from her hoof alone caused the younger to feel more relived.
…With this…everything was going to be okay? Rainbow Dash was going to help Rarity? Letting out a sigh of relief, Sweetie Belle gave a smile. “…Okay. You should probably look into it tonight, since I’m going to be with my parents for the rest of the week starting tonight. Rarity will be the only one in the house, and you can talk to her about it.”
…Scootaloo was right. Rainbow Dash really WAS a hero.
The prismatic pegasus nodded. “…Got it. You should head to your parents about now, then. It’s starting to get pretty late.”
With a beaming smile, the unicorn filly turned away and started a dash towards the horizon, where she knew that Rarity was going to be helped. Rainbow Dash was going to take care of things, and when she came back, everything will be all better!
…It just has to be.
Once Sweetie Belle left the area, Rainbow Dash let out a long sigh before taking a glance towards a tree just nearby. “…You can come out now, Pinks. We got the information we needed.”
A mane full of pink peeked from behind the tree, a mischievous grin on her face. “…Wow, so…Rarity’s been doing fun things behind our backs, without inviting me? That’s really not cool.” Pinkamina approached her partner slowly, her eyes filled with devious thoughts. “...So? What’s the plan? Obviously we’re going to investigate her tonight, right? We don’t exactly wanna fall behind Twilight, after all.”
The Superior Supervisor nodded. “…Obviously. And in order to do that, we’ve gotta figure out who her next target is. Thinking about Rarity’s general tastes, she’s probably the one going after all the noble ponies. In that case, we’ve found a suspect murderer for at least half of the disappearances. But that doesn’t relate to who the other one is.”
The pink menace gave a wide smile. “…Well, at least we can start by checking out what Rarity’s got to hide. I think I have a way to find out who her next target is.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “…Alright. Let’s head somewhere more private to continue this conversation – I don’t like standing in the open like this, even if it’s starting to get pretty late.”
The earth pony rolled her eyes. “…Oh, you. For somepony who lives in the fast lane, you sure are cautious when it comes to your occupation, huh?”
Her partner’s eyes narrowed. “…Absolutely. Come on – we’ve got an invasion to plan for.”
The fluttering of pages filled the air of the wood-filled library as Twilight Sparkle bit the bottom of her lip, her purple eyes narrowed in determination. Yesterday’s birthday party proved to be a good distraction from her studies…she was thankful for Spike constantly looking out for her well-being – thinking of her number one assistant brought a small smile to the lavender unicorn’s muzzle. She danced with her friends on a number of occasions, but the unique style of music chosen truly made it an experience worth remembering for a long time to come.
…Diamond Tiara looked so happy to receive such a wonderful day, too. But that was yesterday. She couldn’t be wasting any more time for here on out. She had her investigations to continue regarding the ‘missing ponies’ case.
Running a hoof through her dark and pink-striped mane, the studious unicorn let out a groan as she looked down at her desk. Thanks to her research suddenly disappearing without a trace, she had to waste an entire day working to retrieve all the demographic and newspaper resources she received from Princess Celestia…and now that she had it all in front of her once more, it still made as little sense as the last time she looked things over. There were still the two different groups of ponies being targeted, and she had no hint as to what the ponynapper’s motives were at this point.
…Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s prized pupil and student of the Magic of Friendship, had hit a dead end.
“…Argh, no!” She slammed her head into the desk. “No, no, no, no! There’s gotta be something else here! Maybe I could run some calculations, or create a hypothesis…? I can’t be hitting a dead end now!” She gritted her teeth in frustration. She hoped to find at least a little bit more before she resorted to contacting Princess Celestia for her opinion…that’d be proving that she wasn’t having any progress!
…What if she couldn’t solve this? Oh, no, would Princess Celestia send her to Magic Kindergarten?! She couldn’t have that! She had to find a way!
The door creaked open as a smaller dragon-scaled figure walked in, his green eyes narrowed into a deadpanned expression. “…Oh, boy…” Today was going to be one of those days… “…Twilight, maybe you should take a small break. Get some rest, it’s approaching midnight.” He advised his mentor.
“…There’s gotta be something…” The lavender unicorn mumbled under her breath. “…Something out of the ordinary…”
…Wait a minute. Applejack – her behavior just before Diamond Tiara’s birthday party…was extremely out of the ordinary. She avoided explaining to her just how she knew Princess Celestia assigned her to secretly research the cause behind the missing ponies…but she knew her friend was being honest when she said she didn’t take her research. If it wasn’t Applejack, then who did? Who else knows about her private research? Could she label Applejack to be a suspect behind the cases?
…But, to suspect one of her best friends…? The thought felt like she was about to inhale poison. Her friends would never be like that – how could she ever even think of suspecting Applejack like that?
…But something Applejack said before was starting to bother her. Yesterday before the party, she said she was going to investigate something tomorrow night…or as of now, tonight. Only after this…investigation, did she say she would tell Twilight why she knew about her research. She didn’t say what she was going to check out…or where she was going to be…but maybe she could go out and find her? They could try to investigate together.
Without another thought, her eyes turned towards her window, the vast blackness of midnight hiding what could be the mystery of the century. “…Spike, I’m going to head out for a bit. Can you watch the library for me?”
Spike frowned as he raised a claw. “…Twilight, I don’t know about this. It’s close to midnight, and you’ve been working hard all this time – you gotta get some rest!”
“…Somewhere out there, Applejack is looking into something, and I have to know what it is. Please, Spike. I’ll take the time to rest as soon as I get back – I promise.” She kept her gaze towards the window before turning to walk towards the door.
The young dragon kept silent as he watched his companion leave into the night.
‘…I highly doubt it, especially if you DO find something big. Twilight…just don’t kill yourself over your research.’
---
“…You’re sure about this, Pinks? Do you really think Rarity’s gonna fall for THAT?” A raspy voice whispered as the murderous duo stood in the misty alleyways of Canterlot. “She’s the type to pay serious attention to detail, y’know.”
Pinkamina rolled her eyes as she slipped into a masterful disguise – the party pony was now covered by a finely muscled white coat, and polished curly blue mane with a mustache and spectacles. Covering the white coat was a black tuxedo donned with a red rose, a similar fashion to the pony lying further inside the alleyway, fast asleep. “…Relax, Dr. Dashie. I can handle this.” She grinned, her high-pitched voice seeming rather outstanding considering the attire she was wearing.
Rainbow Dash gave a small snicker. “…I highly doubt Fancy Pants sounds THAT feminine. Are you sure you can pull this off? He’s kinda got a fancy accent and sounds all smooth usually, and Rarity’s gonna be here any minute.”
The pink earth pony cleared her throat as she lowered her tone to sound more suave, adding an accent to go with it. “Ahem,” She glanced towards the blue pegasus. “…How is this, Miss Rainbow Dash? Do I sound refined enough?” She raised a white hoof, her fake unicorn horn remaining still on her head.
“Pfft! Okay, okay, you could win an award with that kind of acting.” She put a hoof to her muzzle to silence herself before releasing a sharp breath. “…Alright – we stick to the plan. You’re going to be Fancy Pants while I follow you both down to her ‘hole in the floor’.” She lifted a black bodysuit out of a bag and started to slip into it, hiding her blue coat with a flexible material, inspired by her factory equipment.
Pinkamina nodded. “…Of course, Miss Rainbow Dash. Now, I must head for the Canterlot Square to be ponynapped. This surrounding mist is just perfect for the job, isn’t it?”
The Superior Supervisor rolled her eyes before stopping short, noticing a figure slowly approaching in the distance. “…It’s time – get into position, ‘Fancy Pants’.”
Once they knew to look into Rarity, it didn’t take them long to find out who her next victim was going to be. Since they knew she was targeting the fancy ponies, it was Pinkamina’s idea to eavesdrop on her phone conversations after Sweetie Belle left to stay with her parents – the best time to arrange for a ‘date’ was certainly after the young ones were no longer present, after all.
Rainbow Dash took the job – she hung just above her friend’s window, right beside the phone she used for business calls. While there were some dress orders, one call stood out from the rest.
A call for Fancy Pants including if he would like to secretly meet with her that very night precisely at midnight in Canterlot Square. It was the perfect set-up in order to bring a pony home – probably the first thing people would think it would be was a love affair if it ever got out.
And now here they were, posing as Fancy Pants after putting the real Fancy Pants to sleep.
Rainbow Dash kept a still breath as she slipped into the shadows, her eyes focused on the approaching pony with beautiful purple curls and a pristine white coat. As promised, Rarity had come to meet with Fancy Pants at midnight – and now they had a chance to see exactly what she was up to. Hopefully, Pinkamina’s acting skills could fool the fashionista.
Pinkamina kept a gentle smile as she watched her friend drawing closer and emerging from the mist. “…Ah, Miss Rarity. You’re right on time, my dear.” She spoke in a gentle yet classy tone. To be honest, she didn’t know too much about Fancy Pants except what she saw at the Grand Galloping Gala and Twilight’s birthday party in Canterlot, but hopefully she could pull this off.
Dashie would never let her get away with failure, after all.
Rarity parted her lips as she stood in front of the gentlecolt, her sapphire eyes gleaming in the misty evening. “…Hello, Fancy Pants – it’s a pleasure to see you again, darling. Please, let us be going. I wish to show you some new developments I have been working on as of late.” Her voice was melodic and charming as she batted her eyelashes. Clearly she didn’t know who was under the white coat.
The disguised earth pony gave a light chuckle. “…A rather interesting meeting place and time to just be talking about business. Will we be heading to your home then, Miss Rarity? If so, please – lead the way.” She raised a hoof in what she figured was gentlecolt manners, or something akin to it.
The fashionista let out a small chuckle of her own as she stood by ‘Fancy Pants’, her eyes glittering. “…Of course, darling,” She started back into the mist. “Shall we take the midnight train to Ponyville, then?”
The prismatic pegasus narrowed her eyes as she frowned. Great, they’d be taking the train. It was probably best she remain outside of the train during the whole ride back, although she’d feel a little sore in the morning due to work beforehand and the amount she was flying tonight. But, it wasn’t like she hadn’t pushed herself like this before, so…no biggie.
Despite the other’s expectations, Rarity had chosen something rather simple to wear for the night – maybe it was to avoid drawing attention to herself and her companion for the night? The fashionista had insisted on engaging in more conversation regarding upcoming fashion shows in Manehatten, and the latest gossip she heard regarding Canterlot society. One of the things Pinkamina knew about Rarity was that her friend had a lot of charisma – she could keep on talking even if the other is just smiling and nodding. After all, how much would the earth pony who came from a rock farm know about Canterlot high society and nobility? Well, other than what she learned from being in different ceremonies and parties due to being an Element of Harmony, but still.
Luckily, Rarity hadn’t realized that Fancy Pants was actually her yet. As Pinkamina felt like she was going to fall asleep from all the rumbling of the train and Rarity’s melodic voice, a voice could be heard from the top of their private compartment. “…Attention all passengers, we will be arriving for Ponyville shortly. Please gather all of your children and belongings before disembarking the train. This is the last train for today. Please, gather all children and belongings before you get off the train. Thank you.”
Rarity glanced up for a bit before looking back at her partner. “…Well, the time just seemed to fly by, darling! Shall we be going?” She batted her eyelashes for a moment as the train slowly came to a stop – the mist covering the whole of Ponyville like a blanket of mystery. As the fashionista got up from her seat, Pinkamina nodded “Of course, my dear,” and started to follow her friend out of the train. She figured Dashie was already right behind her, hiding in the shadows.
The Superior Supervisor moved swiftly as she watched the two leave the Ponyville train station, her eyes sharp and focused. They were close – they just needed her to lead them to her ‘hole in the ground’ that Sweetie Belle was talking about, and then they could figure out exactly what’s been endangering her factory. ‘…Any minute now – I gotta be prepared to slip in when they open the door.’
---
The lavender unicorn gave a small shiver as she exposed herself to the misty night. It hadn’t been long since she stepped out, but she still had miniscule clues to work with. For one thing, she needed to find Applejack. “…If I was Applejack…where would I find something strange?” She mused to herself as she looked down a cobblestone path leading towards Sugar Cube Corner, which was currently closed for the night. It was strange how something so friendly and appealing could look almost foreboding in the middle of the night.
“Hmm…” She frowned, her shoulders slumping. Applejack was going to investigate…something. She didn’t know if this something was out of the ordinary itself or not, but Applejack’s behavior alone warranted some form of suspicion. Something was going on in Ponyville…but she didn’t know what that something was. It was actually really, really frustrating; Nauseating, almost.
Although, maybe it was time to take this a different direction. Instead of focusing on if something’s ordinary or not, just…it was time to make a hypothesis. If Applejack is investigating something in the middle of the night…then that something can be found…in the Everfree Forest! It was bad form to take action on assumptions alone, but previous experiences showed her that strange things happen in the Everfree Forest, and that was certainly enough for her to start her search over there! Besides, at this point it was better than nothing, and she was willing to go through anything to get out of her slump! If this proved to be successful, she should be ready to report her findings to Princess Celestia by morning! Keeping that thought in mind, Twilight turned to run towards the direction of Fluttershy’s house, where she knew the entrance to the Everfree Forest was nearby. If Applejack really was there…then it was her duty as a friend to help her in any way she could!
She didn’t care about the train whistle that was slowly approaching Ponyville.
While Fluttershy’s house was usually surrounded by adorable animals and pretty flowers, everything looked a little more menacing in the evening – or was that just the mist simulating how her mind portrays things? The lavender pony bit her lip as her hooves clopped along the cobblestone path through the sleeping town, keeping her thoughts at bay as much as she could. Of all things, she couldn’t be afraid of the dark, after all. Things were just…it…
…Ugh. The ‘missing ponies’ case was messing with everything – parents always had to look after their young ones before sending them to school and picking them up right after, and everypony was paranoid about every little thing, some more than others. Ponies were scared, and it was her job to ease them from their pain, as the Element of Magic.
But still…why didn’t Applejack ask for her help to begin with? Why didn’t she talk to any of the others? If she came to her in the first place, she would’ve gladly helped with this night investigation! But nope, all of her friends seemed to be telling her absolutely NOTHING right now, except when she passed by them on occasion. True, everypony has been busy as of late, but they could’ve at least involved her a little…
…Then again, she was also excluding them from her own research, despite Applejack already knowing for some mysterious reason. Maybe it was about time that she DID involve them all, instead of complaining about why they didn’t include her.
Some friend she was turning out to be.
“…GAH!!!” Her eyes perked up at the sound. That voice…! That was…!
Without a second thought, Twilight sped up into a gallop down to the Everfree – she was right! Applejack DID go to the Everfree Forest, and now she needs help! “…Applejack!” She cried out as she passed by Fluttershy’s cottage. “…Applejack!”
When she reached the forest entrance, she stopped short. “…Oh no…”
Lying just in front of the forest’s edge was an orange coated earth pony, her brown Stetson lying in the grass just nearby, all ripped up in a couple of spots. As the lavender unicorn slowly approached the scene, her stance grew stiff as she saw what looked like red sticky liquid spilling from her friend’s leg, as well as a lot more of it surrounding…a…a…
…There was a dead pony, limbs ripped apart and surrounding it, right in front of the forest.
Fighting the sensation to throw up right then and there, Twilight rushed towards her farm pony friend. “…Applejack! Applejack, are you okay?! What happened here?! Who hurt you like this?!”
Letting out a strained cough, Applejack winced as she looked up at her friend. “…Hi, Twilight… How’d ya know where Ah was gonna be…?” She breathed out, her breath haggard and strained. Now that the lavender unicorn had gotten a closer look, her friend looked like she had been in a battle.
“…N-Never mind how I found you right now! We need to get you some medical attention, quick!” Twilight shook her head rapidly. “Your hind leg is badly injured…was this done by an animal?!”
The orange-coated pony shook her head. “…Ah ain’t sure – but it sure wasn’t no timberwolf. It was small, like a pony…but it was dressed in all black, Ah couldn’t get a good look at it. This ain’t the first time a pony’s been found dead right in the Everfree, just…” She winced as she shifted her body a bit. “…First time Ah actually caught them in the act. These wounds weren’t caused by a claw or nothin’…but by a big flat knife…”
Twilight frowned as her horn started to glow, the magic flowing through her and forming around Applejack as she was levitated into the air. “…We’re going to get you to the Ponyville Hospital – and then you have got some explaining to do. You told me back at the party that you would tell me why you know about my research, and why you went to investigate the Everfree Forest tonight.” She kept her voice as calm as she could, but honestly…she was panicking inside. Somehow, one of her friends managed to get hurt because of this case.
The earth pony chuckled as she felt her body leaving the ground. “…Sure. Ah’ll come clean with ya. You’ve certainly deserved it, in mah opinion.” She pointed a bloody hoof towards the grass. “…Do me a favor, can ya grab mah hat, too?”
She nodded, a pink glow surrounding the battered Stetson and raising it into the air until it merged with Applejack’s own surrounding glow. “…We can’t waste any more time – I don’t know how much blood you’ve lost.” She started off into a gallop, her mind focused only on getting her friend to safety. It wasn’t fair – why did something like this have to happen?
As the lavender pony ran towards the direction of Ponyville, she didn’t notice a shadow watching from the security of the Everfree trees.
“…I didn’t mean to hurt you…but I have to do this.” The shadow collected the dead pony’s remains in a black bag before it sped back into the Everfree, creating greater distance between it and the town just beside the deadly forest. As it passed by several trees, a lonely stone with flowers on top was ignored as it disappeared into the misty forest night.
---
Staying as Fancy Pants was starting to get pretty stuffy – Pinkamina kept an empty smile as the two ponies reached the front of Rarity’s boutique, the mist making it look a bit more like a haunted theater than a clothing store. To be honest, she rather liked the effect – it was perfect for somepony who was supposedly going to die by the fashionista’s hooves tonight, or whatever she did with the fancy ponies. As she unlocked the door and opened it, the earth pony raised a hoof. “…After you, my dear.” It was a pain keeping up the suave voice, but they were just about in, so it was no use complaining from here.
Rarity grinned. “Of course,” She made her way inside and trotted towards the living room. “Please, come right in, darling.” A touch of colors slipped her vision, and she shook her head to blink a bit. Strange, it was no longer there. As she turned to face her companion, she gave a sweet smile as her melodic voice filled the room. “…Would you care for a beverage to drink, before we busy ourselves with business?”
‘Fancy Pants’ took a bit of time before she settled down on the couch. “…I am rather parched – this ghastly mist is not pleasant for my throat.” Actually, having to alter her voice like this was the real challenge. Mist had nothing to do with it. “Some tea would be lovely.”
Rarity blinked. Fancy Pants preferred a touch of wine over tea, didn’t he? Perhaps he was in the mood, just like he was in the mood to wear contacts that gave him blue eyes instead of the gorgeous teal eyes he usually had. Blue and teal were quite the difference, after all. It puzzled her why he would do such a thing – it wasn’t like the gentlecolt to change his image like that. “…I do also have some wine available, if you wish to have that instead?” If he truly was in the mood for tea, he would stay with tea. However, if he changed his mind, then…this pony wasn’t really Fancy Pants. He was the type of gentlecolt who stayed true to his decisions.
‘…Wine?! Nuh-uh, I don’t wanna get drunk!’ Pinkamina mused over the thought outwardly for a bit before giving a gentle smile. “...Perhaps it’d be wise to stick with tea for tonight, if ever I am to get home eventually.” She joked. Of course, is Fancy Pants the type to joke like that? How was SHE supposed to know?
Rarity smiled. Wise choice, Fancy Pants – although it doesn’t explain why you decided to change your eye color to blue instead of teal. “…Of course, darling, I’ll be right with you in a moment.” She nodded before heading into the kitchen and out of Pinkamina’s view.
As soon as Rarity left the roof, the earth pony lifted a hoof to her forehead. ‘Phew…that was a close one. I feel like I may have picked the wrong beverage at first…but I don’t wanna get drunk…’ Blue eyes glanced up towards the ceiling in the shadows where she saw a dark figure staying in position. ‘…After I get out of this stuffy thing, I’m going to kill her. You don’t have a problem with that, right Dr. Dashie?’ She gave a un-gentlecoltly smirk at the shadows, causing the other to roll her eyes underneath the dark flexible suit she wore.
Rarity frowned as she levitated a package filled with tea bags of the finest quality. That eye color difference was still bothering her, since Fancy wasn’t usually the type to change his eyes like that…
…But he also chose the tea over the wine…
So, perhaps it was time to experiment a little. She’d give him both – and if he wasn’t acting like himself…Fancy could easily hold his liquor just fine, so if this pony couldn’t…
…Then it wasn’t him. Either way, a drunken pony wouldn’t be able to fight back.
Putting the kettle on, she walked over towards a door that lead to the cellar, where she levitated one of her finest wines available, aged and ripe for drinking. It also had a scent of apples, but it was different from the alcohol-free cider the Apple Family always served during cider season. Surely Fancy Pants would enjoy the taste.
…But what tea to put with it? What would go well with apple-flavored wine? The combination had to be perfect, or Fancy Pants wouldn’t enjoy it. Taste was key – she didn’t want the gentlecolt to catch on to her plans, after all.
Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked towards the kitchen entrance. At this point, they were both flying blind, and personally, that wasn’t cool with her. Slipping from the ceiling down to the carpeted floor, she stood in front of her disguised partner. “…It’s probably best you don’t drink whatever she gives you. Considering your own tactics, it’s probably laced with something to hinder you in some way.” She whispered softly to the earth pony.
Pinkamina frowned as she leaned closer to the pegasus. “…Yeah, probably is right. Still, we’re inside the place now. Shouldn’t we take the time to look around? Find that ‘hole in the ground’?” She whispered back in a small voice, slipping out of her Fancy Pants accent and tone. The Superior Supervisor shook her head. “…We shouldn’t risk her coming in to us snooping around. Stick to the plan for the time being, “Fancy Pants”.” She gave a grin before slipping back into the shadows near the ceiling, her eyes glimmering softly before she covered them with a pair of thin goggles.
The earth pony nodded silently before letting out a small yawn. Great – and she probably was going to be busy with parties in the morning, so she needed as much sleep as she could get. Hopefully, they’d get done with this business soon.
It wasn’t a long while later before Rarity came out of the kitchen with a tray holding two cups and a small tea kettle, her sweet smile as charming as when she went in. “…I apologize for the wait, darling. The kettle took a bit of time to heat up.” She placed the items on top of a table in front of the couch, in between the two and allowing them to face each other. “As per your request, I prepared an apple-pomegranate tea blend, so I hope it’s to your liking, darling.”
Pinkamina stared at the items for a bit as she processed the ingredients. ‘…Hmm, apple and pomegranate sound pretty good together. They’re both kind of powerful flavors…’ The fashionista levitated the porcelain cups and the tea kettle as the earth pony saw the magenta liquid slide into the tea cup before it was presented to her. “…Here you are, darling.”
To Rarity’s suspicion, the gentlecolt took the tea cup by his hooves. “…Are you alright, Fancy Pants?”
‘Darn not actually being able to do magic!’ The earth pony cursed inwardly while presenting a calm smile. “Actually, I feel a little exhausted. I did quite a bit of levitating with my work today, so at least for tonight, I figured I could use a small break from it. It gives me a chance to feel the warmth of your tea wholeheartedly.” She narrowed her eyes in a flirtatious manner.
The fashionista gave a chuckle. “You’re really too kind, darling.” She took a sip of her tea, before glancing towards her companion. “…So you say, darling, but you’ve yet to try it.” She teased.
‘Fancy Pants’ nodded, raising the tea to her lips and raising her head a bit. “…Quite. I suppose I shall assess how well the two flavors blend, then.” Personally, the smell was really good to the earth pony, but she wasn’t sure if it would put her to sleep, or if it would poison her. Either way, taking an actual sip was rather risky. “…Mmm, your taste is once again extraordinary, Miss Rarity.”
She beamed at the compliment. “…I thought you would like it, darling.” Now, all she had to do was wait until the pony started to slip up. Then again, she didn’t have all evening, and it was already approaching two in the morning. Placing her cup down on the table, she shifted her body a little. “…Now, shall we talk about business, darling? I know personally how much you don’t like to waste time, after all.”
Pinkamina nodded, placing her cup of mysterious origins on the table alongside Rarity’s. “I quite agree with you, Miss Rarity. Please, lead the way.” It was close – she could feel it. “…Will we be heading upstairs?”
The fashionista shook her head as she walked into the living room, and moved a rug to the side showing a wooden door. “…Actually darling, I keep my best projects in the basement. Shall we be going?” She linked her hoof with Pinkamina’s, and levitated the basement door open, pulling the earth pony in with greater force than she expected to pull on the gentlecolt. “…Please, do come in!”
A flash of colors suddenly passed her vision before it went further into the basement, causing Rarity to shake her head again. “…W-What?! What just went in here!?” Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, nopony should’ve known about her basement until now!
‘Fancy Pants’ frowned. “I say, this place is rather cramped!” She slipped past Rarity down the stairs, and stopped short at the bottom.
Rainbow Dash grinned as she threw the hood of her black suit back. “…Well, well, well, Rarity. Look at what you’ve got here!” She turned to face the fashionista at the top of the stairs. “That’s a lot of knives on display.”
The fashionista slowly walked down the stairs. “…R-Rainbow Dash…?! But, I…W-where’d you even come from…!?” Wait, the splash of colors, of course! How could she have missed such a detail?
Pinkamina looked over the place. In the center of the room was a large metal table covered in blood stains. The walls were dressed with what looked like several different strips of fur coats…but it wasn’t a common bunny fur…she had pony coats dressing the wall in many complimenting colors, a table display of many, many sharp tools, a surgical kit, and a mannequin wearing a crimson red dress with a white petticoat with a purple ribbon at the end of it. Hey…she knew that fur…! “…You took the fur of your own cat?” She blurted out in her high pitched voice.
The purple maned pony gasped. “I know that tone anywhere! Pinkie Pie, YOU were pretending to be Fancy Pants?! I should’ve KNOWN when I saw your baby blue eyes! Fancy Pants normally has TEAL eyes!” She pointed a hoof at the gentlecolt accusingly.
Without another word, the pink earth pony ripped out of the disguise, a large grin on her face. “Whoohoo, you figured out the game! It was REALLY stuffy in there, by the way!” She kicked the remains away.
“A-ah…b-but…How…?” Rarity gaped, her eyes growing wider. “…Y-you’re…you’re not going to…turn me in, are you?” She could feel her blood starting to freeze. How could this have happened? What gave her away? How did they know?! “…Take me…to the…authorities?
The duo looked to each other in silence before turning back towards the troubled fashionista. “…Pffft – Baaaaahahahahahaha!!!!” Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, her hooves clenching her sides.
…Huh?
The pink earth pony started giggling as well. “Pfft, we’re not turning you in, silly filly! That’d be crazy!”
Rarity blinked. “…But…what…huh…?” She cocked her head to the side. “What? S-stop laughing already! That’s incredibly insulting!” Why were they acting like this? Shouldn’t they be backing in fear? Disgusted at what she had become?
This WAS Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, wasn’t it?
The prismatic pegasus eventually stopped rolling around and slowly got up. “Phew…just, I’m sorry, that…” She let out a sigh. “That was funny.”
The purple maned pony frowned. “I don’t think having one’s secrets being exposed is funny. Just whatever spurred all this laughter?” She clenched her teeth. “I DON’T appreciate being laughed at, DARLING.”
Pinkie Pie gave a smile. “What was funny is what you said: Us turning you in to the authorities. You see, we don’t wanna do that to you because WE’RE not too friendly with the law, either.” She spread her hooves apart.
Rarity blinked. “Buh…whatever do you mean by THAT, darling?” She looked at the two friends in front of her. They were breaking the law, too? What?
Rainbow Dash grinned, a different kind of glint in her eyes. This was different from the determined pegasus who represented the Element of Loyalty. “…Well, you see…I guess to start with, we’ve got a proposition for you, Rares. Looking at this room here…you kill ponies and take their fur, right? All the pony coats here are from the fancy set of missing ponies.”
She nodded, feeling a bit tenser than before. Didn’t she know her friends? “…Yes.”
The pink earth pony leaned forward. This wasn't part of the plan, but she wasn't really hating it. “Well, you can keep on doing that – taking their coats, I mean.” After all, it was so similar to her own kind of fun!
“…But, how? What kind of proposition are you offering here?” She gulped silently. They…were encouraging her sinful practice?
The prismatic pegasus smirked. “Well, maybe it’d be best just to SHOW you. If you wanna know more, follow me.” She took to the air before flying back to the living room. “But you might wanna clean up all this before Twilight catches wind of it!”
Pinkie Pie followed after the pegasus, a new look in her eyes as well. “…Right behind you, Dashie!” She ran up the stairs before peeking back towards the basement. “Rarity, are you coming?”
“Ugh…” The fashionista blanched. “…I’m starting to think I don’t have a choice in the matter.” Closing up her equipment and packing things up, she wrapped her white petticoat around herself and followed the two upstairs – wherever Rainbow Dash planned to take them.
Obviously Pinkie Pie was completely in on this, and she seemed fine…but both of them weren’t horrified by the things she had done. In fact, they pushed her to keep going, almost.
The distinct scraping of gears turning in a constant motion rang through the air as Rarity felt her heart pounding rapidly. Glancing in front of her, her sapphire eyes gazed at the two other ponies in her company and their casual approach to what should’ve been considered disgusting and horrifying. They seemed to be holding a separate conversation without her, as if she was sitting in judgement.
…Well, she was disgusting enough to turn her darling Opal into a petticoat of all things.
Honestly, that noise was starting to give her a headache. It was bad enough she had to be carried all the way up wherever Rainbow Dash had taken them all to, but now they were going through metal doors with pegasi on late shifts speaking weather jargon. Ever since she was tricked into having her secret exposed, they hadn’t even waited until the next day before they brought her to…well, to what looked like a metal door that required a card in order to get in. What were they doing in the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, anyway? Or was this even the right building?
Rainbow Dash held a grin as she pulled out a smoothly polished key card from her black flexible suit. “…Watch this, Rarity. It’s gonna be awesome.” She assured the pristine unicorn as she held the card between her feathers and slid it through a slot, a slight humming filling the air and ringing through their ears. As the unicorn cocked her head to the side in confusion, a green light lit up just above with a small high-pitched chime, the doors proceeding to pull apart in a smooth motion.
Rarity let out a gasp as she started to take in the sights before her – the hallway just ahead was lit by the strange glow of blue and green liquids, some red going through what looked like several different pipes? And yet it was easy to see how they traveled, the colors slushing with each corner they ran through. “…W-what…just what is all of this…?” She breathed out, the two ponies in her company already starting to cross into the hallway in front. “Different colored liquids, filtered from each other?”
Pinkamina beamed as she followed beside the prismatic pegasus. “...Just watch!” She sang in a giddy tone as she turned her head to look behind her. “It’s gonna be great!”
The rainbow-maned pony chuckled. “Not to toot my own horn, but…yeah, it’s pretty impressive.” She teased, a sign of pride in her face and tone. “You’ll just have to see.”
“…Quite.” The pristine unicorn followed the two, her eyes always watching and attentive as they started to enter what looked like more tunnels of colorful liquid and metal corridors. It almost seemed endless, and all the time the sound of gears groaning and something slicing filled the air – just what is that? It sounds so fierce, so brutal...
Was she even going to come out of this place alive?
Wait, why would she even think of such a thing? Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are two of her very best friends! And yet…the glint of both of their eyes started to seem dangerous to her. As if she unwillingly called upon Ponydora’s Box…
As they stopped short just outside of a large double door made of metal, Rainbow Dash turned around to face the group. “So, the moment of truth, or whatever you wanna call it.” She shrugged. “Either way, behind this door…is my little secret. The reason yours doesn’t faze us at all. So…before I open the door, you’ve gotta give me some form of commitment, because trust me…” A chuckle filled the air. “I’m pretty particular about what goes on behind these doors.”
The pink earth pony giggled. “….Oooh, spooky! Laying it hard, huh?”
The fashionista frowned in confusion, and perhaps quite a bit of caution. Yes, caution was most certainly the right word. “…Commitment…how exactly do you want me to…commit to your secret, before you’d even dare to show it to me?” It was strange how she needed to avoid stepping on hooves around her friends…
The pegasus shrugged again. “Well, for starters, whatever you see behind these doors…you don’t even mutter or whisper or even think it to any creature living or dead besides to those already involved and sworn to secrecy.” Her rose eyes narrowed dangerously. “If you violate this…well…you’ll kinda wish you hadn’t.”
Pinkamina grinned. “…So, do you swear never to tell a soul? It’s a doozie!”
With a gulp, Rarity evaluated the pros and cons. The con was the fact that she already knew something was different about her friends, and she had already seen this much – she practically didn’t have much of a choice at this point. Another con was that they already knew about her, and could abuse this fact in any way they wanted. They knew she was a murderer.
So, where exactly was there a pro in this situation? Perhaps a chance of understanding of each other’s sins, and maybe a sign of truce of some kind…? At this point, it wasn’t clear if she would even survive the night, and what foul deeds she had already done apparently paled in comparison to whatever went on behind those doors.
She sighed with a shake of her head. “…At this point, I really have no choice. I’ve already seen this much, and you’ve shown me where your secret is located, though I haven’t for the life of me figured out where in the clouds it is compared to Ponyville in terms of distance, darling. I accept – I will speak none of what I see behind these doors to any creature, living or dead, except to those who already have sworn and are currently involved.”
The prismatic pegasus grinned. “…I’ll hold you to that for the rest of your life, you know.” Lifting both of her hooves in the air, she beamed with a flap of her wings. “Well, welcome aboard! We need another set of hooves here!”
The party pony flipped. “Yippee, we get to play with Rarity! Come on, come on! Don’t take all night about it!” Her grin widened.
Rarity blinked as Rainbow Dash smirked at the two before her. “…True, true.” The rainbow-maned pegasus rose a hoof and placed it against the doors.
Pause for dramatic effect…
“…Rarity…” She breathed out, before putting force into her push, the doors parting and allowing light to pour through as the group was exposed to the large expanse of space inside. As the pristine unicorn’s eyes widened as she started to take in a large mass of machine with flowing tubes of color, and seven different conveyer belts, she gaped.
“…Welcome to my family’s work – The Rainbow Factory.”
Sapphire eyes glanced from one side of the room to the other as the trio started to walk forwards, the feeling of cold harsh metal against her hooves. Really, how was all of this even supported? …By a large mass of cloud? “…Goodness…this machine looks like it could eat me up, if it was currently activated. Whatever do you use such a thing for, darling?”
Rainbow Dash led the three closer to the conveyer belts as the metal doors shut behind them. “...Well, Rarity…do you know where rainbows come from?” The atmosphere seemed to suddenly darken around the fashionista, and she let out an inaudible gulp. Glancing at Pinkie Pie, the party pony had a sense of knowing in her eyes.
“…While rainbows are truly lovely…I never did question their origins. I’m afraid I don’t know.” She spoke, her body shifting from side to side. “…Do you know where they come from?” Should she even be asking?
Pinkamina grinned as she gestured a hoof towards the sky-blue pegasus.
She understood the cue. “…You see, Rarity...rainbows come from a substance known as spectra. It’s pretty well known in this very building, but it makes sense why the name wouldn’t ring a bell for you. Spectra, since our ancestors, has always been handled by the pegasi.”
The pristine unicorn raised a brow. “…Spectra makes the rainbows? Well then, whatever makes the spectra, darling?”
Rainbow Dash smirked. “…Good question. Where exactly does spectra come from?” She rose into the air in a small hover with a few flaps of her wings. “It’s not something you find in sugar and spice…and you can’t find it on any mountain, either. If anything, spectra’s available almost anywhere, but the freshest batch comes from the youth.”
What? The…youth? Why did it feel like her friend was speaking in riddles? “...What do you mean that, darling? Where does spectra come from? Answer me!”
The sky-blue pegasus landed back on the ground. “…Alright. If you want the direct approach, I’ll give you the direct approach. Spectra is laced in the life-blood of ponies. It’s strongest in pegasi.”
“…The…life-blood of…ponies? The…the youth, you said. You’re making rainbows out of the youthful pegasi?” The fashionista felt her blood grow cold. “…You’ve turned mass murder into a production line…” However could she grasp it? Rainbow Dash, the most loyal pegasus she met was a murderer of the youth.
The prismatic pegasus sighed. “…Don’t get me wrong – the concept existed way before I was even born. I just redesigned things when it was my turn to inherit the factory. Equestria can’t function without rainbows. I’m providing a service to Equestria through my work.”
Justified mass murder…it was sickening, and yet fascinating at the same time. That strange sense of sadism seemed to overtake her once more as she stared at her two dearest friends. “…And how exactly does Pinkie Pie of all ponies fit into this equation?” With how sweet she always acted, it seemed like Pinkie Pie would never hurt a soul.
…But it was always an act, wasn’t it? Everypony had something to hide.
The pink earth pony giggled. “…Oh, me? Well, it’s a funny story. Before I was recruited by Dr. Dashie here, I was running a business of my own in the basement of Sugarcube Corner, drawing numbers for each pony, and having a personal party with them!”
Huh? “Oh, that doesn’t sound so bad, darling.” The fashionista smiled.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “…Except that the personal parties always ended up with them being cut up, cooked up, and shared with everypony who wants to buy a new flavor of cupcake.” Her eyes narrowed into a deadpan expression as Rarity dropped her jaw. “…Yeah, surprised me at first, too. The only reason I found out was her drawing my number.”
“And that’s how our partnership was born!” Pinkamina chirped before lifting a hoof near her muzzle. “Seriously, if you wanna see how it all went down, just click on Rainbow Cupcakes Factory in the ‘this is a sequel to’ button! It’s a doozie!” The pink party pony winked, causing the other two to stare at her with blank expressions.
…Because Pinkamina was acting really strange at that moment.
“…However…did you manage to survive then, darling?” Rarity spoke up after a period of awkward silence. The prismatic pegasus let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.
“…Well, it’s like she said. I recruited her to help out in my factory in exchange for support and security. When she was doing all that in her basement, things were so…” She fought a shudder. “…Messy. Yours was pretty messy, too, but at least it was better organized.”
The pristine unicorn couldn’t believe her eyes. “…Rainbow Dash, are you of all ponies making comments about organization of all things? Of things being orderly and CLEAN?”
“Hey, when it comes to my factory – sanitation is a must. You need to make sure all materials are cleaned properly and put away in their proper places. This way things stay easier to find, and easier to hide. I haven’t been caught yet and I don’t plan to be at any time in the future!” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “…And you guys won’t get caught either. Because that would jeopardize ME.”
The fashionista nodded. “…Understood.” But what was left? “You said before that you had a proposition for me. What exactly does this entail?”
The sky-blue pegasus gave a smile. “Well, let’s look at our options. From what we could see in your basement, you kept fashionable things from the rich ponies, like their coats. Since we target young pegasi, I can only offer you a chance to pillage their feathers before they get drained and baked into cupcakes. Do you have an issue with this?”
“…Wait, darling. You love your wings so much – however could you bear me taking feathers from the youth?” Didn’t Rainbow Dash care if they were devastated?
The rainbow-maned pony frowned a bit. “…What you seem to have too much of at this point is compassion. Open compassion, anyway, and it makes you easier to read. The reason I have no issue with letting the spectra supply lose their feathers is because we use a coming of age flight test. Those who succeed get to live on, and find their destiny. But, those who fail…lose their identity as an equine. They become failures, and failures don’t need their feathers because they’re going to die anyway.”
The pristine unicorn let out a heavy sigh. “…I understand, darling. Very well, then…I shall collect feathers and coats before they are…drained and baked. Goodness, this is a twisted operation, isn’t it?”
Pinkamina blinked. “…Yeah, what of it? Obviously we should work together to protect our secrets, so Princess Celestia and Twilight won’t get wind of anything. This also decreases the number of victims being reported, so the investigation should also die down soon enough. Either way, it solves the problem.”
Rarity pondered the thought. “…Well, it just so happens that feathers ARE in style this season…” She mused, her lips curling into a pleased smile. Once again she felt that sense of pleasure fill her very essence, till it once more grew into a cold chill. “…However, if ever I am to work with you two, I have some conditions of my own you need to understand.” Sapphire eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare as the other two ponies gave her attention. “…No matter what happens from here…Sweetie Belle is never to be harmed. No matter what she may find. Is that clear? I can accept the sins of participating in the mass killing of fillies and colts, but my SISTER remains untouched.”
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes for a bit before facing her unicorn friend. “…Alright. If she ends up finding anything, which I doubt she will, I’ll let you decide what happens to her. Just…as long as she doesn’t report to Celestia. Otherwise, we may have to keep her in a closed space.”
…Keeping her darling Sweetie Belle locked up? …A prisoner of her sister’s and her friends’ crimes? It sounded like such a horrid concept, but Rainbow Dash was so focused on the security of her factory, it was a blessing that they’d be willing to do this much for her and Sweetie Belle. “…Alright. I accept your conditions.” She said with a quick nod.
The two murderers stood before her with smirks on their faces, the rainbow-maned pegasus holding out a hoof. “…Welcome to the team, Rarity.”
The fashionista gave an un-ladylike smirk back as she took the hoof. “…It’s a pleasure, darlings.”
Pinkamina beamed as she joined the two. “…Now we can all have fun hiding things from Twilight and the Princess together! Murderous trio!”
“…Perhaps a more creative name, darling. I mean, really!”
“…Eh, I try.”
With Rarity on their team, the Superior Supervisor took the time to think of what was left. With Rarity, the fancy ponies weren’t being targeted anymore, but…this only left the other group of common ponies – ponies she’d see around Ponyville on a daily basis.
…Who was the other culprit? And what was their motive?
---
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Green eyes fluttered open as Applejack let out a raspy groan – her throat felt parched. Anyways…where the heck was she, the lights…the lights were so bright…the orange earth pony shifted her body a bit, before a sharp pain forced her to stop with a breathy gasp, her muscles starting to tense. “…Wha…where am ah…?” She muttered.
“…You shouldn’t push yourself.” A feminine voice rang through the orange pony’s ears before her eyes glanced in the voice’s direction just at the side of the bed. “...Are you okay?” The lavender unicorn beside the bed spoke, the tone of her voice filled with concern.
Applejack gulped, a lump forming in her throat. “…T-Twilight…hey there…” She greeted her friend with a weak grin – her darn leg was burning up a storm or something-
Wait. Her leg. The Everfree. That dark figure with the large flat blade….
The orange earth pony frowned. “…That dark figure got away again.” Right, she was following through with investigating the darn thing, and she managed to catch it in the act, but it fought hard… “…You…you brought me here, right?”
Twilight nodded, her eyes growing softer. “…I informed Spike already that I’m watching over you. Of course, visiting hours don’t start yet until later this morning, but they allowed me to stay the night – they figured you’d want a familiar friendly face the first thing you woke up.”
“…Mmgh…that was…mighty kind of them to do that for us.” Applejack chuckled softly. “…Still…this darn situation’s seriously starting to get out of hoof...we still don’t know a darn thing, other than that dark figure…” She sank her head into the pillows, wincing silently as the pain shot up from her hind leg. “…It sure was up to no good.”
The lavender unicorn let out a sigh as she felt her eyes start to water. “…Why is this happening? Ponyville is a wonderful place, with so many wonderful ponies, and…all of our friends are here and they love us. How could ponies start disappearing and…end up in such a state like the one we saw last night? One of my friends…you ended up getting hurt because of all of this…” She choked a sob.
“Shh…it’s alright, Twilight. Ah ain’t dead or anything like that.” Applejack attempted to soothe her studious friend. “Just…things ain’t right in Ponyville right now. Sometimes Equestria…gets filled with some really twisted ponies.” She breathed out. “…That’s when we really gotta hang on to the good times, ya know? It can be like that again – we just gotta stick together as friends and family.”
Twilight nodded slowly with a sniffle before getting out another sigh. “…Y-you’re right. Thank you, Applejack…” She bit her lip as the two fell to silence, the only sounds coming through the hospital equipment. “…Still…you promised me that you’d tell me why you knew about my research. I don’t believe you to be a horrible pony…but I’m…I’m also tired of all these mysteries. Can you help me?”
The orange earth pony breathed out a sigh. “…Mah family…we’re a community, pretty set in our ways. We work hard from dawn until dusk, and we’ve got a lot of give. But…we ain’t just farmers…we’re…uh…how do ah say this…” She closed her eyes for a bit, running her tongue along the edges of her lips. “…We’re a family of secret agents, loyal to Princess Celestia. We’ve been for generations deep.”
Wait, what? Twilight’s eyes widened to pinpricks. “Wait…secret agents? You…report to Princess Celestia?”
“…It’s mah job to report the truth – no matter how dirty or harsh it gets. Ah was actually researching the exact same case you were, and Princess Celestia informed me of your actions and all. Ah didn’t mean to seem like a bad pony – Ah made a mistake of even referring to it.” Her green eyes grew downcast. “…We each have a codename we go by when we send her messages – the Apple Family is one of the most established groups in Equestria, and we’ve always kept in touch for family reunions and to collect information. Ah ain’t supposed to report to anypony mah codename…but you’ve more than earned it, Twi.”
The lavender unicorn gaped. “…W-Wow…I can actually understand the benefits of using your family for that purpose. Your family is spread all over Equestria, is often in touch, and you practically hold the market for where gossip can be gathered while providing food for the public. It’s…it’s the perfect cover.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “So…what is your codename?”
Applejack took in a breath and let it out in a drawn out sigh. “…It’s Red. Mah codename is Red. Ah’ve been reporting to the Princess through bottled dragon fire…although Ah haven’t had much to say lately. Ah was hoping Ah’d find out more last night…but in the end Ah ended up being bedridden.” She lowered her head in shame. “…Ah’m mighty sorry you had to see me like that, Twilight.”
Twilight shook her head. “…No, Applejack. I only wish I could’ve gotten there sooner. The last thing I want is for my friends to get hurt. Last night was one of the most frightening moments in my life. Next time, we should probably be more honest with each other. All these secrets are causing confusion, when we should be working together to find the killer.” Purple eyes narrowed. “…It’s for the best.”
The orange earth pony slowly nodded as the two fell into a solemn silence. “…Alright. No more secrets. From now on, we should team up. Why should we keep on continuing two separate investigations when we’ve got the same goal ‘n all?”
The lavender unicorn felt herself grow stronger. She wasn’t alone in this. “…Since you’re currently in the hospital, I’ll be your eyes and ears. If you’ve got any kind of information…anything out of the ordinary…” She bit her lip.
“…Let you know about it, right?” Applejack gave a knowing wink. “Ah get it, sugarcube.” She closed her eyes for a bit, before her smile turned into a frown. “…Ah wouldn’t really call it suspicious or anything, but Ah haven’t seen Fluttershy for a long time now. She may hole up with them critters every now and then, but…it wouldn’t hurt for you to talk to her. Ah’ve been worried since she lives nearby that darn Everfree Forest.”
Twilight blinked. Come to think of it, she didn’t see Fluttershy at Diamond Tiara’s Birthday Party, either. “…Alright. I’ll go talk to Fluttershy. Hopefully she’s alright.” The thought that another one of her friends could be hurt was unbearable…but she had to stay strong. Panicking at this point wouldn’t solve anything. “In the meantime, you should rest and take it easy, alright? It probably won’t be long before Pinkie Pie shows up when she hears the news.”
The earth pony let out a weak chuckle. “…Ah’ll look forward to it, then. Has RD heard anything yet?”
The lavender unicorn shrugged. “…I haven’t left the hospital yet this morning, but I’m sure you’ll also be hearing from her soon enough. I’ll go ahead and head over to Fluttershy’s now.” She nodded her head before getting up to head for the door. “…Be careful, okay?”
Applejack frowned. “…Ah ain’t one to take it easy…but Ah’ll do what Ah can to recover as soon as possible. Don’t leave me in the dark ‘bout this, alright?”
Twilight just gave another nod before closing the door behind her, leaving the orange earth pony in the hospital patient room by herself. As she was surrounded by the silent corridor and Celestia’s rising sun peering through the window, she let out a deep sigh. Who would’ve thought that Applejack was a secret agent? That all of the Apple Family were Princess Celestia’s allies? Granted it made perfect sense, but…she just couldn’t believe it. Did her other friends have something to hide? Should she try and interrogate Fluttershy next?!
She rapidly shook her head. “No, no, no!” She whispered to herself. Just because Applejack turned out to be more, it didn’t give her the right to start spying on her other friends. Although, Pinkie Sense was wholly justified, it was out of the ordinary. Just like Fluttershy’s absence…
…Right. She had to visit Fluttershy. Make sure she was alright. Without another word, Twilight started in a brisk trot down the hallway towards the hospital main entrance. As she passed through the sliding doors, she glanced over the horizon, where the Everfree Forest was located. To think…those horrible events happened just nearby her friend’s cottage – she must be so frightened! As she started to gallop in growing concern, she completely passed by the prismatic yawning figure as she rushed through the Ponyville Market.
She needed to hurry!
---
By the time Rainbow Dash was able to get some proper sleep after the midnight meeting, it was past 3 in the morning. It was awesome how they were able to recruit Rarity onto their team, but…getting back to her cloud house so late wasn’t cool. She was thankful for the fact that she had an afternoon shift later that day, so she could easily slip in some more Zs. Being Supervisor really was a lot of work. As she yawned, her rose eyes caught what looked like Twilight…and she looked like she was in a hurry with how fast she was galloping. “…Mmm?” She frowned, her curiosity keeping her interested.
Of course, this wasn’t getting any more sleep…but she’d probably miss something important if she ignored Twilight’s activities. After all, she was the center of the investigation. If she managed to find something they didn’t…that wasn’t good. Without a word, the rainbow-maned pegasus sank flat into her cloud as she pushed it gently to follow her friend’s path, her eyes narrowed and attentive like a hawk.
Where was she going…?
Twilight continued at full speed down the road that was leading towards the Everfree Forest, where Fluttershy’s house was nearby. Come to think of it, Fluttershy wasn’t at the party. Where the hay was she? She probably had animals to take care of…but it wasn’t like her to ignore one of Pinkie Pie’s parties unless something bad happened! And she didn’t need to sneak to check on her filly-hood friend!
Throwing the cloud to the side, Twilight looked up as she suddenly saw her cyan-blue pegasus friend soar past her with additional powered flaps from her wings, putting her in front. “…Rainbow Dash! Did you come to check on Fluttershy, too?” Her voice carried through the air, causing the other’s ear to twitch. However, answering Twilight’s question wasn’t important right now. She increased her speed, the sight of the cottage getting closer and closer.
“…Rainbow Dash, wait up! We’ll go together!” The lavender unicorn panted as she struggled to keep up with her pegasus friend. Why wasn’t she talking to her? Was she that concerned? Maybe something bad DID happen to Fluttershy…
…Pieces of a pony’s body spread across the grass…
…The blood spilled from Applejack…
Twilight rapidly shook the thoughts from her head. The last thing she wanted was for one of her friends to get hurt like Applejack did! Not again! As the two reached the door of Fluttershy’s cottage, Rainbow Dash slammed into the door, bursting it open and causing the hinges on the door to break. As Twilight dropped her jaw, the whole thing toppled over in front of them.
The inside of the cottage looked exactly the same, and nothing looked neglected, but the animals around suddenly started hiding in their dens and little holes they called houses at the rude presence of the door falling over. Rainbow Dash glanced around at the mess she made. “…Oops…” She cringed. “…My bad…”
“…Um…?” A soft voice filled the air as the two ponies looked up to see the buttermilk-yellow pegasus, her mane soft and pink as it…touched her shoulders? The prismatic pegasus blinked as she shook her head for a bit. “…H-Hey, Shy! S-sorry for…uh, you know….breaking down your door and all. I haven’t seen you in a while; we were starting to get worried. We didn’t see you at the party Pinkie hosted. You alright?” Twilight nodded. “…Everypony’s been worried about you because we haven’t seen you outside for a while now. If there’s anything you need…”
Fluttershy sat in silence before slowly shaking her head. “Oh, um…I’m sorry I haven’t been out lately, just…my animals have been getting so sick lately, and I just needed to take care of them, so…A-and I can fix the door, it’s no problem…” She walked over to pick up the door with her hooves as she proceeded to try and fix it. “It’d probably be easier if I had some tools to work with…” She mumbled to herself.
The lavender unicorn smiled as she walked over to the door. “…I can help you with my magic, if that would get things done faster. Once again, I’m so sorry for the sudden intrusion.” She gave a glare back at Rainbow Dash, hinting that it was actually her problem.
Rainbow Dash sighed and flew up to hold the door in place against the door frame for her filly-hood friend. “…So, Fluttershy…what’s up with the mane cut? You haven’t cut your mane since ever.”
The timid pegasus blinked before looking at her mane. “Oh, um…I supposed it was…time for an image change. I’ve been staying with the same mane-style for years and…I guess it’s a way to try and be…more assertive? I’m not sure.” She shrugged slowly. “…Rarity liked it. I met her for our Tuesday spa day.” She said with a soft smile.
Twilight blinked. “…So somepony HAS seen you this week.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness…With what’s been going on lately…I was scared you might’ve gone missing.”
The prismatic pegasus tilted her head to the side. Rarity had seen Fluttershy, and it never came up between them during their midnight meeting. Thinking about it, why the hay would it? Still, something seemed different about her friend. What was it…?
…Her eyes. They didn’t have that sense of sweet innocence. Something happened to Fluttershy without any of them knowing. She knew those eyes. “...Hey, Fluttershy. Mind if I ask you a question later?” Rainbow Dash gave a sheepish grin. “…It’s…kind of personal…”
The lavender unicorn looked towards her. “…If you’re having any kind of problem, Rainbow Dash, you could always let me know. We’ll all support you.” She gave a comforting grin.
The rainbow-maned pegasus shook her head. “…Nah, it’d be…kinda hard for non-pegasi ponies to understand, you know? Personal stuff.” The last thing she needed was for Twilight to catch on that something strange was going on. It’d ultimately lead to her factory being exposed! She kept a poker face as her friend gave a sigh.
“…Alright. I get it. Anyways, I actually have some important business to get to, but…I’m not sure if you girls heard yet or not, but there was another incident regarding missing ponies last night. Applejack ended getting hurt with a leg injury and is in the Ponyville Hospital.” She frowned, taking in her friends’ shocked expressions.
“WHAT?!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide as her wings flared out. “…What happened? Did she get attacked?! Is she okay?!” Why didn’t I hear anything about this till now?! “Did she see who the culprit was?!”
Fluttershy’s lips trembled. “…Oh, no…is…is she alright!? I hope she’ll be okay…”
Twilight shook her head, her bangs swishing. “…She only saw a silhouette. The culprit has a weapon, so it makes things even more dangerous…I was afraid you’d be hurt Fluttershy, since it happened right on the edge of the Everfree…Anyways, Applejack’s doing alright now. She’ll need to stay in bed a little, but you guys could go visit her anytime. She’s probably bored right now.” She let out a chuckle before turning away from the two, heading back to Ponyville. “…I’ll see you two later! No matter what, keep an eye out for each other, and stay safe!” She warned as she slowly became smaller, moving farther away.
Rainbow gulped. “Sheesh, the culprit was right by your house?! That’s crazy, Shy! Maybe you wanna try staying somewhere else for the time being? Twi said they even had a weapon.” She frowned as she faced her yellow-coated friend. “…Are you sure you’re okay?” She needed to know. What changed her fillyhood friend?
The timid pegasus turned her friend, refusing to meet her friend in the eye as her cropped mane swished. “…I think I’ll be okay. Besides, I can’t leave the animals all alone if a…maniac is on the loose…” She lowered her head, glancing back at her friend from the corner of her eye. She was just concerned for her…but she couldn’t tell her. It hurt…but she just couldn’t…
“…Something’s changed about you, Fluttershy.” Teal eyes blinked as Fluttershy glanced back towards her friend, a shocked expression on her face. “…W-What…? Why would you assume that? I mean, I guess I’ve become more…assertive as of late, but…”
Rainbow Dash’s deep sigh filled the air, rendering everything else around them to silence. “…I can see it in your eyes, Shy. You’re burdened by something…you don’t have that sweet innocence you used to have.”
Rose eyes hardened as they pierced deep, making the timid pegasus’ lips tremble.
“…Wha…what…?” Fluttershy sat still as her eyes grew wide, as if she had been slapped. The atmosphere grew heavy as she felt herself stepping backwards away from the rainbow-maned pegasus. “…Dashie, I’m…I’m just fine. Nothing…nothing happened.” She swallowed a lump in her throat.
Rainbow Dash frowned as she stepped forward. She wasn’t giving up so easily. “…You really expect me to believe that, Shy? You’re clearly hurting from something! You can put on a sweet smile for the others maybe, but you can’t fool me! I know you, Fluttershy!” Why was she avoiding this so much? Why did Fluttershy always have to be so…so stubborn?!
“…You…” The timid pegasus lowered her head, her face mostly hidden by her shoulder-length pink mane. “…You can’t…understand…N-nopony can…”
The cyan pegasus grit her teeth. “...Well, how can I understand you if you won’t open up!? We’ve been over this a hundred times, Shy!” Why couldn’t she reach her? They were filly-hood friends!
“…Please, Shy…” Teal eyes blinked as Fluttershy’s lips slowly parted, a breath escaping her mouth as she looked back up to face her prismatic friend. “…Dashie…” She breathed out, before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. There was nowhere to run. “…I…I don’t want…You may be hurt by what you hear.”
Rose eyes narrowed as Rainbow Dash gave a short nod. “…I don’t care. If it hurt you, Fluttershy…I gotta know.”
What was it? What hurt Fluttershy?
“…I don’t leave my friends hanging.”
The timid pegasus bit her lip as she lowered her head again, her eyes wavering as she thought deeply about her situation. What would Rainbow think of her…if she knew? “…About…two and a half weeks ago…there was a butterfly migration. As usual, you were busy or weren’t interested in going, and everypony else was busy, so…I…I went alone.”
Rainbow sat still as Fluttershy started to shake her head. “W-well, I…I didn’t go alone…A-Angel…” She swallowed a lump in her throat, her voice hesitant. “Angel Bunny…went with me. It required me having to leave the cottage for several days, so I…asked Discord to watch over the animals for me, and…Well…I left the house for several days, with…Angel Bunny by my side. We…we went to go see the butterfly migration. These butterflies were ones that appeared on a dark moonlit night usually, and the patterns on their wings would shimmer as the light would touch like some of the brightest stars in the sky…all different shades of blue.” Her eyes lit up in brief fascination, images of their glittering wings occupying her mind.
The cyan pegasus nodded slowly. “…So…you went to the butterfly migration with Angel Bunny. What happened there? Why have you been avoiding this?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as if she’d been stabbed in the heart, her eyes shaking for a moment, before she closed them. “…I…I wasn’t the only pony out that night…” Her posture grew tighter as she pulled her hooves closer to herself. “…It’s…it’s actually very dangerous to…be out at night by yourself with only a bunny for company. I…I didn’t realize somepony had been creeping ever so closer behind me while I was watching the…butterflies.”
Rose eyes widened. “What…what happened…?! Did that pony hurt you, Shy…?!” If anything happened to her filly-hood friend, how could she forgive herself?! Why couldn’t she have been there with her that night?!
A broken voice filled the air. “…Angel Bunny…noticed for me. As…as he jumped out, the pony…the stallion…he had a knife and he…” Her body shook as her teeth clenched, a sense of anger and frustration filling in her gut. “Angel Bunny tried to protect me and that monster killed him. Angel…he was able to bite the stallion and alert me to the situation, but just as I turned around, the monster stabbed him in the stomach. Whatever Angel tried to do to defend me was all in vain! He wasn’t strong enough! That monster showed him no mercy at all!” Her voice grew as she tore at her throat, her meek voice a raging inferno. “After Angel was gone the monster turned towards me next, and I…I didn’t know what to do! I couldn’t think straight! All I saw was Angel’s dead body, lain across the dirt with his blood spelt across the grass blades! And I…I screamed, Dashie. I screamed so much, and I felt so bitter and hurt, I didn’t even notice when I charged at the stallion, and wrestled with him.”
She choked a sob. “He tried to slash at me several times, and while he gave me some minor cuts in a few spots, the biggest damage he did was slicing my mane short. It…it was uneven, but I didn’t even think about it at the time. Next thing I knew, he had pinned me down, but I had also grabbed his knife that was in the grass at the same time, and…”
Rainbow Dash sat still as she stared at her friend, shocked she went through such an ordeal. If…if she just was willing to suck it up for one day and go with her to the migration…
Fluttershy faced her friend, her eyes filled with pain. “…I’m…I’m a murderer, Dashie. I slashed his throat open. I stabbed him over and over, feeling nothing but bitterness. And when he was gone, I…All that was left was Angel Bunny’s dead body…and the knife I had, stained with a bunny’s and a pony’s blood…I…I was scared…I was hurt…I…I was lost. All my life…I’ve tried to see the good in everypony, and Discord can be wonderful as a friend…” She shook her head. “But…that level of cruelty…I can’t believe in that…but I did something horrible. You…you must be disillusioned with me right now.” She refused to look her in the eye. She knew now, and seeing how her friend would react…she couldn’t bear to face that. It would hurt too much.
The prismatic-maned pegasus sat still as she faced her friend. “…You did the right thing, Flutters.” Fluttershy faced her friend with a sharp gasp, her eyes wavering. “…Wha…what? Why…why would you say that? I…I murdered a pony…”
How could she accept it just like that?
Rainbow remained focused. “…You defended yourself against just what that pony was – a monster. If you didn’t fight back, who knows what that stallion might’ve done to you! This way Angel’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. You lived through it, and you gave that monster what he deserved.” Why couldn’t I have been there? I could’ve protected her…maybe then she wouldn’t be feeling so down… “…I guess that whole incident is why…I’ve yet to see Angel Bunny around your cottage.” She gave a dry chuckle.
The timid pegasus nodded slowly. “…I…I buried Angel Bunny in the Everfree Forest, where we…first met. It seemed fitting…and he liked wandering into the Everfree at times when I wasn’t paying attention…” She sniffled, her body shaking. “…I miss him so much…I…I always thought he’d pass away from old age like most of my animals, but…for such a cruel thing to happen…I…I can’t stand seeing any more cruel actions. I get angry just from noticing it in ponies around me…” It was best to move on from this. Dwelling on it would cause saying unnecessary things. “…But…but…that’s what’s…bothering me. I’ve…I’ve told you all I can, Dashie, I just…” She choked another sob. “…Please let me be alone for right now…”
Rose eyes closed for a bit as Rainbow let out a soft drawn out sigh, filled with regret. It seemed like Fluttershy was spending a lot of time alone lately, but what could she do to help? Her friend was mourning…and she already missed her chance to save her from her suffering. Because of her stubbornness, her filly-hood friend had blood on her hooves…and that could never be undone. “…Okay.” She whispered softly. “…I’ll go. But you gotta promise me…you’ll at least try to pick yourself up from this…okay?” A small smile graced her lips before she turned away, her eyes wavering as she slipped through the recently repaired door, closing it behind her.
As Rainbow Dash faced the wide open skies just outside of Fluttershy’s cottage, she felt her legs grow weak for a moment as she gently leaned against the cottage door, a sigh filled with pain escaping her lips.
Fluttershy…She couldn’t stand cruelty…if only she knew just how cruel she could be, too. If she knew about what all she has done…to innocent fillies and colts…could she even see her as a friend anymore?
…No. Doubt was bad for the business. She knocked out all of her doubt years ago. Now was the time to investigate, not sitting around and getting all worked up! She needed to keep track of Twilight and Princess Celestia’s progress…and apparently Applejack was somehow involved, too? R-Right, she still needed to drop by the hospital to check up on her. Twilight said she got hurt by the other criminal…and that criminal had a weapon. But…what type of weapon? Maybe asking Applejack could give a few clues?
With a sigh as she closed her eyes for a moment, she slowly lifted herself from Fluttershy’s door onto her hooves, and gave a powerful flap of her wings to lift her gently off the ground, hovering above the dirt by a few inches. Nothing was gonna get solved by hanging around here.
---
Teal eyes wavered as the yellow pegasus wrapped her hooves around herself, glancing just outside of her round wood-framed window, watching her long-time filly-hood friend take off in the skies. The fact that she lingered so long proved that she was burdened by what she had to say. Her dear friend…knew she murdered a pony.
It was more than enough to take in and rattle her. Did she mean what she said just moments ago? That it was FINE she killed that monster? Or was it a way to try and cheer her up, but she was truly sickened by her inside? She wasn’t sure.
Still, she hoped Applejack was okay. That wound she suffered must’ve felt awful…and to think that it happened to one of her dear friends. Applejack never did anything wrong. She was innocent…
…Angel was innocent, too. And that monster killed him. Kindness…kindness couldn’t bring back cherished loved ones. Kindness couldn’t get rid of the monsters. With so much suffering under the façade of a happy bright day, there was no more ROOM for kindness. Words were NEVER enough.
Gritting her teeth, she narrowed her eyes and turned away from the window, her hooves carrying her towards the kitchen as her shoulder-length pink mane swayed, her eyes set on a 20 pound bag of bird feed sitting on the ground. Beneath this bag of bird feed, the faint indents of a cellar door could be seen as she moved the bag to the side, revealing a metal ring before pulling the door open.
No one was scheduled to visit today. Then again, Rainbow and Twilight didn’t say they were visiting today, either. But things should stay quiet now. There was plenty of time for what she needed to do. As the door lifted up and revealed a wood staircase, she reached for a lamp that was hanging on the wall nearby and took a few steps down before lighting it, illuminating the narrow space with a golden glimmer as she closed the door behind her. If she had any visitors, they’d consider it rude to check her kitchen.
Stepping down the stairs gently, she reached for a black cloak that hung on a hook and wrapped it around her body, covering her cutie-mark and yellow pegasus wings from view as she placed the lamp on a wooden table, the light showing several gardening tools and a dull green garden hose hanging on the walls. She treated this place as a little shed – an extra storage space beyond where her animals rested and played.
Lately though, it was serving another purpose, different from what it was designed for, but it worked for her. As she walked through the small yet functional space, her teal eyes focused on a figure, a pegasus stallion, who was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. His head, covered by a red mane, was drooped down and his eyes were shut. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at the figure as she took in the firm rope wrapped around his abdomen as his hooves were tied against his sides, as well as his wings.
Her moves were quiet and deliberate in order not to wake her guest. She had first spotted him during one of her midnight flights to survey any dangerous situations. The stallion had a carriage filled with what seemed like little fillies and colts, and he was actively transporting them somewhere. That alone warranted suspicious activity. What would he do with fillies and colts in the middle of the night? He took them somewhere unknown.
She needed answers.
“…Wake up.” Her voice filled the air with an icy tone, her fore-hoof reaching for the lamp and shoving it in the stallion’s face. As the light was pressed against his muzzle, the stallion parted his lips in an exhausted moan. “…Guh…” As he tried to open his eyes slowly, “Agh…!” He winced, closing his eyes and squinting as his eyes were assaulted by the sudden over-exposure to the bright light. What happened? Where was he?! “…Who…who are you?! Where am I…?!” He felt his breath quicken as he panted, his muzzle trying to move away from the lamp while his eyes took in his surroundings. “…Why am I here?!”
He remembered something about flying after a long day of work…and then something hard slammed into him…? Was that how he got here?! Did somepony ponynap him?!
She lifted a hood gently to cover her mane as the stallion tried to recover, putting the lamp in between them on the wooden table nearby. “…Good day, Mr. Swift Breeze. I have brought you here in order for you to answer a few questions for me.” Her tone stayed calm as her cold gaze bore down on the stallion, unwavering as he squirmed in his binds. “…Please don’t try to escape, and this will be easier for the both of us.”
Swift Breeze grit his teeth, glancing down at the rope-work keeping him to the chair. “…Oh yeah? What the hay do you wanna know?” His eyes narrowed as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, a sense of anxiety kicking in. From the sounds of the voice, it was a mare…and probably a very pretty one at that…
Fluttershy frowned for a bit before turning away from her guest, instead focusing her attention on a saddlebag propped on a chair on the other side of the room. As she approached the saddlebag and pulled out a small card, she placed it on the wooden table for the stallion to see. “…Please. What is this?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow. The card itself was black, but it had engravings of multiple colors, along with the stallion’s name and another engraving, written in old pegasi, from the tribal days. She wasn’t all that versed in old pegasi, but she was sure it had something to do with…rainbows?
The stallion’s red eyes widened for just a moment before he suddenly closed his eyes, and looked back at her with a calm but wavering gaze. “…It’s a security key for the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. I help to mix the rainbows there, and you need that in order to get into the lab. Why are you looking through my belongings? How long do you plan to keep me here?”
She wasn’t convinced. “…Where were you taking those young pegasi fillies and colts? The ones in the carriage you were transporting, at such a late hour?” Teal eyes focused on Swift Breeze as his calm demeanor crumbled a bit more, a bead of sweat slipping down his cheek as his breath increased in pace. “…Wha…What, were you spying on me?! I was…I…I was…giving the cute kids a…joy ride! Yeah, that!”
...That one was obvious. The pink-maned pegasus remained silent as she continued to look at the stallion, a straightforward expression on her face. “…Please, Swift Breeze. Don’t try to avoid the subject, because you’ll just make it harder for the both of us.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared deep into the other’s eyes. “…I can tell you’ve been lying to me. Speak the truth or suffer the consequences. Where did you take those fillies and colts?”
The fierce intensity of her stare caused the stallion to tremble as he couldn’t look away. Those eyes…they were staring right into his blood-stained soul…! They were sucking him in…! “…I…I…I won’t…I…” He stuttered, his calm and composed state long gone from him. “…I…I took them to where I work…” He tried to glance away, but his eyes shook in their place, the teal eyes piercing deep into him.
“…And where do you work exactly?” The teal eyes narrowed, a growl rising in the air from the bottom of the yellow pegasus’ throat. It was close. He was almost ready. She needed to push just a little bit more… “…Where does this card key lead to? What’s your secret?” She leaned into his red eyes more as her muzzle drew closer and closer, the teal eyes becoming bigger and intimidating.
“Keheh…AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” The stallion threw his head up as he laughed, his eyes bloodshot. Fluttershy winced as she stepped back, moving her muzzle as she blinked, the effects of The Stare fading. The stallion…why was he laughing so hard?! It had no happiness of any kind…it sounded twisted and awful…like a monster. She frowned as she glared at him. “…Answer the question, monster. Where did you take those fillies and colts?! …Where do you work!?” Her voice rose as she growled in frustration, focusing on the insanity deep within those bloodshot eyes as she focused her Stare once more. “Don’t avoid the question!”
“Hehehehehe…” His voice rose to a high-pitched whine as he hiccupped. “…Where no filly and colt ever return…” He gave a giggle, his head dropping forward, his eyes covered by his red mane. “…The stuff of nightmares…The horror story told to every young pegasus…Hehehe…” He looked back at the yellow pegasus, his eyes shaky as he growled at her. “…You better watch out, little missy…because the Rainbow Factory is NOT to be reckoned with. The Superior Supervisor will send you to your GRAVE. Consider that your ONLY warning.”
“The…The Rainbow Factory…!?” Fluttershy felt her lip start to tremble. The Rainbow Factory, from all the scary stories fillies and colts were taught long ago…it was REAL?! “The Superior Supervisor…if I use that card, I can get in to the factory, right?” Of all the monsters out there…the Rainbow Factory was real. It was true that fillies and colts were drained and turned into rainbows…And she had a key to get inside. If she knew where to find it…she could end it all.
Swift Breeze gave a cackle. “Sure, sure, if you wanna risk becoming rainbows…The Rainbow Factory will turn you into mincemeat just like…that.” He giggled. “I wouldn’t go if I were you…but then again, you seem to be an idiot anyway.”
There was no other option. She had the opportunity to stop it. She wouldn’t get another one so easily.
“Tell me…Where can I FIND the Rainbow Factory?”
---
The doorbell jingled as Twilight pushed the door to Sugar Cube Corner open before she slowly walked into the building, taking in the sweet aroma of freshly baked pastries and the whirring sounds of the blender brewing up confectioneries of many flavors, letting out a soft but pleasant sigh from the safe and friendly environment.
Maybe Spike was right…she needed a break. Still, if she was sitting around on the job, nothing would get done. It was only her and Applejack investigating the case after all…unless any other Apples were keeping an eye out and she wasn’t aware of it. As she glanced forward towards the counter, her lips curled into a smile as she saw her bright pink bubbly friend, balancing a plate of freshly baked cupcakes before setting them on the counter along with a sign saying ‘free samples – each day a new flavor!’ on the front of it.
“Good morning, Pinkie Pie.” Twilight gave a small grin as she greeted her friend. “…A new flavor of cupcakes every day? How do you manage it?” A pink aura surrounded one of the cupcakes as she levitated it to her muzzle, taking a bite as the combination of fluffy frosting, cake, and something maddeningly delicious filled her mouth with a guilty pleasure. “It’s really good.”
Pinkie giggled as she lifted her head and watched her friend’s smile. “…Hey, Twilight! I’m so glad you like them! I’d eat them myself, but then there wouldn’t be enough for everypony else to try it.” She gave a light chuckle. “Anyways, this morning’s been,” her mouth was forced open as she gave a small yawn. “…pretty busy actually, with the Cakes so busy with the Twins, and I had to wake up early in order to take over the breakfast rush.” She reached a hoof over to turn off the blender, pouring the pitcher’s chocolatey contents into a clear cup with an indented flower design decorating the rim of the cup, finishing it up with a straw before leaving the counter and heading towards a table by the picture window.
“Heeeere’s your milkshake!” The pink pony sang as Twilight watched her give the cup to a white pristine unicorn with a curled purple mane, her eyes lighting up as she let out a gasp. “…Good morning, Rarity! It’s not every day you come for a milkshake at Sugar Cube Corner so early in the morning.” The lavender-coated unicorn slowly approached the table.
“Thank you, Pinkie darling.” Rarity addressed Pinkie for a moment before the pink earth pony sped back to the counter in order to take care of other customers, until her sapphire eyes met her friend’s purple orbs. “…Twilight darling! It’s a pleasure to see you this morning.” She gave a sweet smile. “…Yes, it’s quite unusual, but after walking Sweetie Belle to school, I figured a little morning indulgence would satisfy my exhaustion. Last night was simply…stressful, darling. I had far too many orders!” She gave a melodic chuckle, her velvet voice filling the air.
Twilight chuckled as she slipped into a seat beside the unicorn, a nod of the head from her granting permission. “It sounds like everypony is stressed. I actually had a pretty stressful night too, with the missing ponies increasing and setting everypony on edge.” She glanced to the side, recalling memories of the slaughtered pony just in front of the Everfree.
…Come to think of it, where did that pony even go?! It wasn’t there after she took Applejack to the Ponyville Hospital…Shoot, the criminal must’ve gone back for it and left no trace. Either way, their target hung around the Everfree Forest…it really wasn’t safe for Fluttershy to stay around there…but she insisted for her animals.
Rarity gave a tired sigh. “…Quite. I’ve been keeping an eye on Sweetie Belle for that reason. Nopony wants their loved ones to disappear, after all.” She frowned, her eyes distant. “…So much has been going on lately…it’s hard to keep track of it all, to be honest.” She glanced back at her friend. “…So have you seen Applejack today? I didn’t see her at the market selling apples this morning.”
Twilight frowned. “Actually…Applejack is currently in the hospital for an injured hind-hoof.” The gasps from both Rarity and Pinkie from back at the counter with her keen hearing caused the lavender pony to swallow a lump. The cheerful atmosphere was replaced by a sense of anxiety, having to be the bearers of bad news. “…I’ll tell you girls in more detail when we’re not surrounded by other ponies wanting their food, but I’ll let you know that she’s alright, she’s gonna be fine.”
Rarity parted her lips. “W-Well, whatever caused such a thing?” And when? When did it happen? How did one of her dear friends end up getting hurt? It could’ve been a farming accident, but Applejack wasn’t the type to end up in the hospital so easily. “…I heard a growing rumor something happened in front of the Everfree…but I’ve yet to get details, darling!”
The lavender unicorn shook her head. “Like I said, I’ll give more details when we’re not surrounded by other ponies.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper before letting out a sigh. “Still, it seems like everypony’s been having a stressful time lately. I went to talk to Fluttershy this morning, and apparently she’s been all occupied with her animals lately, so that’s why we’ve rarely seen her.” She gave a small smile. “…She came for your Tuesday Spa trip, though, or so I heard.”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, and she had quite a new style! Whatever gave her the idea to cut her mane?” She said before…something about when things happen…oh, dear, she simply couldn’t remember it for the life of her! Still, she behaved so strangely then…but she wasn’t any better. For one thing…she saw the scar on her left eye. “Assertive or no, she must’ve gotten the idea from something, darling.”
The pink earth pony leaned over the two from behind their chairs, joining into the conversation. “Fluttershy cut her mane? Wowie, that’s a huge change! I gotta see it sometime!” She shook her head. “A-Anyways, the breakfast rush is just about over, so why don’t you two come with me into the kitchen and we can talk for a little bit? I wanna know what happened to Applejack!”
Twilight cringed for a bit before letting out a sigh. “…Alright, girls….I’m sure you’re all concerned with what’s happened lately…and it’s high time I stopped keeping things to myself.” She stood up on her hooves as she slipped out of her chair, her fashionista friend following just shortly after.
The three ponies passed through the kitchen doorway as ponies helped themselves to their food with light laughs, letting the pink party pony enjoy her brief time with her friends before getting back to work. However for the three friends, the atmosphere was anything BUT cheery. Pinkie Pie’s lips curled into a small frown as she turned to face the unicorns, her baby-blue eyes filled with concern. “…Alright, Twilight…tell us everything. What happened to Applejack?”
Twilight gulped as she felt another sense of pressure surrounding her as she had to recall the events of just last night. “…W-Well…you understand that ponies have been going missing in Ponyville…right? Rarity, you walk Sweetie Belle to school every morning now.” Her purple eyes met her friend’s sapphire orbs before they both broke contact, a sense of unease in both their hearts.
Rarity faced the group as she parted her lips. “But what does that have to do with Applejack? Whatever happened near the Everfree, darling? There are rumors going everywhere, and nopony has a straight answer!”
The lavender pony closed her eyes, images of Applejack’s injuries filling her mind and causing a cold chill to go down her spine. “…The truth is…Applejack had a run in with the one who’s been causing all the ponies to go missing.” Purple eyes opened into a narrowed expression as she heard the gasps of her two friends. “…It was actually in a struggle with the culprit…she was cut in the hind-hoof by a flat blade from the criminal. I don’t know the full details of everything that was said or done that night…but I had to rush Applejack to the Ponyville Hospital last night, and I even spent the night there.”
Pinkie Pie’s eyes grew wide. “She was attacked by a flat blade?! We should totally go visit her as soon as the Cakes come back and take over!” A flat blade…? But…isn’t that a butcher knife? For like…cutting up meat? I’ve got a few of those in my stock…Rarity may have some too…but who else would have one? “Oh, I should go get a “Get Well” card, and you all need to sign it!”
The fashionista nodded gravely. “…Yes, we really should, darling. Even if we’re sure she’s alright, if we could get some more details…we could get closer to finding the dastardly villain threatening Ponyville! As soon as you can get off, we’re heading right for Applejack’s room!”
“…Right! But I’ve gotta get back to the front counter now, so wait up for me! And we can’t forget the “Get Well” card, too!” The party pony zipped out the kitchen back to the front counter, her chipper voice already resuming pleasing the hearts and stomachs of other ponies. The sight of her ability to twist her smiles in an instant was a skill Rarity really didn’t envy. She was suddenly more aware of the darker nature of her friend, and it resulted in her refusal to try one of the many sample cupcakes on display. She knew exactly what went in those confectioneries…and Twilight didn’t even have a clue.
“…A-Anyways…” Sapphire eyes blinked as the lavender unicorn spoke up. “…I should actually check on Spike. I told him I was taking care of Applejack, and he’s probably still worried over the whole thing…but I’ll tell him I ran into you girls in Sugarcube Corner today. Take care, Rarity.” Twilight closed her eyes as she gave a pleasant smile, heading out of the kitchen and leaving the pristine white unicorn with a single warning. “….The both of you, stay on your guard. You never know what might be lurking in the shadows…”
“Yes, do…do take care, darling.” The fashionista gave an empty smile before it dissipated as the silence grew, the only noise being the blender whirring as ice cream was mixed with milk, the two meshing together into one blend, neither the same form it was before. It very much reminded her of the Rainbow Factory, actually. The sacrifice of foals who failed into an unforgiving machine…and it all came out as a beautiful rainbow, with vibrant colors.
“…A flat blade…” She breathed out. There was nothing more gratifying then when she swung her own finely sharpened knife into flesh, with a sickening squish, yet it was done so cleanly, so frightening. As guilty as she felt, she…loved that sensation. Ever since she was younger she had a fascination for horror stories…and the passion only grew stronger as the years went by.
Pinkie Pie trotted into the kitchen, her eyes focused on getting more flour. “…Better watch out, Rarity…your Mistress is showing.” She giggled, relishing in the surprised expression she got out of her friend and comrade in crime.
“Oh, Pinkie Pie, darling! You startled me!” She frowned, sending a glare towards the pink earth pony. “…Really, couldn’t you have a little more tact?”
The pink pony shrugged. “…Maybe. But while we’re alone, I’ve got a question for you…who do you think would own a butcher knife in Ponyville? Except well, maybe…” She let out another giggle. “You know. But that’s all hidden. But who’d be the most likely one to have one publicly?”
Rarity blinked. “…Publicly, as in…ponies know they have it? That they understand what they use it for?” She put a hoof to her chin. “…Perhaps a griffon? Do they not eat meat?”
“True…but there are no griffons in Ponyville.” Baby blue eyes narrowed. “…I made personally sure of that fact. Even that meany pants Gilda couldn’t be the culprit. I had a party with her in the basement the night she took off.” The bag of flour made a huge thump as she plopped it down on the counter. “….So who’s the one most likely to handle meat?”
The fashionista let out a tired sigh. All the mystery was starting to give her a headache. “…Perhaps it’s best we save this discussion for later, darling. Do you think Rainbow Dash might have a few ideas? She doesn’t know about Applejack yet, does she?”
Pinkie Pie gave another shrug. “…Beats me. Still, it might help to talk with her later. Anyways, I’ve gotta get back to the counter, and you can’t be in the kitchen for long, so…I’ll see you later, Rarity!” She gave a nod to her friend before getting back to work, her smiles once again bright and full of happiness.
How much of that was forced in a day? Rarity let out another long sigh as she complied, walking out of the kitchen as she refused to meet the eyes of the oblivious masses of Ponyville. Someday she’d find the answer. Eventually Ponyville would be at peace again, not knowing the horrors of what happens in the skies in the dead of night. It was laughable how everypony continued on with their daily lives, each one flashing her bright smiles as she walked by.
She could flash a bright smile, too, and they’d just go on like nothing was wrong.
…Ponyville was truly blind.
---
The artificial light surrounding the Ponyville Hospital did nothing to lift Rainbow Dash’s mood as she walked in the main entrance, her eyes focused on the pony at the front desk. What time did that event even happen last night? Was it when they were checking on Rarity? When they went to the Rainbow Factory? When? How could she let Fluttershy get hurt like that? What the hay was she doing?!
“…Excuse me, may I help you?” The sound of the pony at the front desk caused the prismatic-maned pegasus to look up. “O-Oh, y-yeah, um…” She took in a deep breath and let it out softly. “…I’m here to visit my friend Applejack. According to my friend Twilight, she was hospitalized here just last night? I was wondering what her room number was.”
The mare nodded as her hooves were busy looking through a stack of papers. “…Oh, yes, let’s see…Applejack from the Apple Family, correct?”
Rainbow gave a quick nod. “…Yeah.”
“Alright, let’s have a look here…Ah, yes! It says here she’s currently resting in room B205, on the second floor, hallway B. Do you need me to write it down for you?” She offered, giving a professional smile. Most likely she was currently waiting to go on break or something.
The pegasus gave another nod. “…Yeah, that’d be really awesome, thanks.” She never really got hospital navigation systems, despite how often she ended up here due to some flight accident or another. Still, she supposed it worked for them, at least. Nopony complained about it yet. As the mare reached for a small slip of paper and started to scribble the information on it, the rainbow-maned pegasus reached a hoof over to receive it. “…Looks good. Thanks.” She gave another nod to the pony before starting a brisk trot towards the stairs.
The stairs were located just around the corner, so finding them wasn’t hard at all. In fact, the trip to Applejack’s room was pretty mundane, passing by ponies being assisted by nurses, ponies carrying gifts for loved ones…something like that.
She hated hospitals. They usually felt too closed in for her taste, and the smell of antibacterial sanitizer was everywhere. She felt her body shudder. A little TOO much like her work. Eventually she found hallway B, marked by the sign on the wall as she passed through it. The number was B205, on the second floor…so the room Applejack was in had to be the fifth room in the hall. At least, that’s what she figured it meant. As she went on, her eyes focused on the room numbers. “…B201…B202…B203…and…just past this one is…B205!” She grinned. “…Here it is.”
Emerald eyes blinked open lazily as a knock resonated from the door. “…Applejack, you awake?” She let out a soft chuckle as she sat up in the hospital bed, recognizing the raspy voice of her best friend. “…Come on in, sugarcube.”
Rainbow took that as her invitation to open the door, entering the patient’s room as she took in the sight of her usually active and competitive rival in a hospital bed, everything under her torso covered by a green-colored blanket. With a light laugh, she shook her head. “…You look…pretty miserable. Now you know how I felt!”
The orange farm pony stifled another chuckle. “…Ah, shut up already, RD. Twilight figured Pinkie would be the first to visit outta all you girls. What, you come to laugh at mah situation? Already you’re grinning.”
The rainbow-maned pegasus gave a light-hearted laugh before averting her eyes, glancing at where Applejack’s hind-hooves were hidden under the blanket, her voice dying down. “…How’s your leg? I heard from Twilight you got attacked yesterday by a pony with a weapon?”
Applejack frowned a bit before letting out a deep sigh, pulling the blanket high enough to expose her hind-hoof, covered in bandages. “…Doc says give it several weeks before Ah can buck the apple trees…but Ah should be able to walk on it given three days or so. Personally, Ah think Ah could recover sooner…but mah family dropped by just before you came and told me to take it easy.” She dropped her head. “…That ain’t easy to do. Ah’m usually more active than this…but Ah gotta do what Ah can to get better, you know?”
“Oh, don’t I know it.” Rainbow tilted her head up, letting out a soft sigh before facing the other again. “What the hay happened anyway? What kinda weapon did THAT to your hind-hoof?” Hopefully she’d be able to get answers...as long as Applejack would be willing to speak up…
The farm pony dropped her body slowly into the pillows, her lips parting with another sigh. “…The culprit…Ah’m pretty sure it was the same one that’s been causing all the rest of those ponies to go missin’…Ah caught ‘em in the act when Ah decided to investigate the Everfree. You be careful…the culprit wasn’t a griffon or something like that…Ah only saw a silhouette…but the weapon was…a flat blade. Ah ain’t too familiar with flat blades myself…but it could be a clue to finding out the culprit.” Her eyes narrowed.
Rose eyes blinked. “…A flat blade?” Think! Think! What would a flat blade be used for?! Gah, she wasn’t as knowledgeable with hoof-held blades as the other two with their crazy antics! “…What else, just…the blade was flat? Or was there something else to it?”
“…It was flat, and…Ah remember the blade portion of the weapon was really big and wide, but only on one side. It wasn’t like your usual kitchen knife…” She closed her eyes. Maybe she could ask Twilight to research about flat blades more? They certainly weren’t common in Equestria, she was sure of that. “You got an idea what it was?”
Rainbow shook her head, her lips curled into a frown. “…Not off the top of my head…” She turned to face the door, looking back at her friend. “I’m gonna go check things out! See who all knows about something like that!” She rushed out of the room, her eyes narrowing as she left the orange farm pony in the room.
Applejack reached out a hoof. “R-RD, wait!” As the door shut closed, she let out a frustrated sigh. “…What’s gotten into ‘er? She came in, asked questions, and just left! Ah hope she stays discreet about searchin’ around…”
…The last thing they all needed was a town in full panic.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
She let out another deep sigh. “…It sure gets borin’ in ‘ere.”