> The Butterfly Effect
>  by eurofighter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Awaken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy woke in a cold sweat.

Immediately she flew out of bed, both figuratively and literally, straight to her writing desk.
It was the dream again, that same damn dream. The details were blurring as she entered the waking world.
She remembered the butterflies, pink and yellow, just like the ones on her backside. They would swarm her,
cover her, but never in reach. Then there was the forest. The tall oak woods had surrounded her. these trees
weren't like, say, the Everfree however. They were gaunt and frail looking. They seemed to twist and bend around
in impossible ways, though how this was done was now lost to her.

Her notes were done for now, the memory had now faded to the point where no new information could be gathered. Soon the dream itself would fade, leaving her only with her scattered notes.

Fluttershy heaved a weary sigh, reading over the notes. There was nothing in this dream then. She flipped back through what was once her diary, now the site for her mad "dream journal". It was the same dream each page. There were little differences of course. But in every dream there was always the swarm of butterflies and the impossible forest. 

Fluttershy's mind began to wander as she read over the dreams. Why was she having these dreams? Was it the elements trying to tell her something? Twilight had told her that the elements will try to contact you if something is awry. But if that's the case, what was wrong? Fluttershy turned a glimpse toward the window. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was preparing for it's expedition across the sky, bathing the fields in a warm golden glow. With a smile, Fluttershy saw some of her critters waking, ready for whatever the day had to throw at them. Fluttershy's gaze held there for a while, it was an easy escape for her little problem. Eventually however she did return to her book, and with that her problem. No, whatever these dreams are they aren't the elements, everything is fine. But what else could they mean. Fluttershy wasn't sure. 

With that thought Fluttershy's alarm clock decided to make itself known, the blaring tone of the device forcing Fluttershy out of her stupor. With a bemused smile Fluttershy gently trotted over to the clock and ended the alarm. She was awake now and it was time for the day to start. As she was heading down the stairs however she glanced back at the journal. She stopped. The book remained there, unmoving, yet despite this Fluttershy knew that the book was taunting her. the mysteries inside scratched at the back of her conscious, begging to be unraveled. Fluttershy considered this for a time. It would be so easy to return to that book and brood over its meaning for who knows how long. However, Fluttershy had responsibilities to consider, those critters wouldn't wait for her forever after all. So with reluctance, Fluttershy kept moving down. After all, it was just a dream.

Having made her way down Fluttershy began breakfast. A simple affair, two slices of toast with a small cup of tea. The preparation, long since becoming muscle memory for Fluttershy allowed her mind to wander. It didn't take long for her thoughts to return to the dream. There was something about it, something so... off about it. Why were the butterflies, the same as her cutie-mark? why did the trees seem so impossible, despite being unable to justify a reason why? Fluttershy was being suffocated by these thoughts. Instinctively she put a hoof to her head. As if she could physically block the dream from her mind. This action attracted the attention of a certain white rabbit. Who prodded Fluttershy to get her attention. A vain attempt however, Fluttershy was far too occupied to acknowledge her physical surroundings. The prodding continued which then formed into fully fledged kicking. This was more effective, forcing Fluttershy into the fold.

"Huh, what was- oh! it's just you Angel" Fluttershy was dazed. peering down she saw Angel bunny looking up at her, a deep frown creasing his face. Fluttershy didn't have to guess what was worrying him. 

"Oh, i'm sorry Angel I-, uh, I don't know what came over me" This was a lie. Obviously. Angel bunny wasn't buying it either. He shook his head and pointed frantically at Fluttershy, demanding a real answer. Fluttershy didn't want to tell him. But, she reasoned, it wasn't as if Angel was going to tell anybody. With a sigh and a smile, she gently reached down to Angel to nuzzle him.

"You're right Angel, I shouldn't lie." Angel, arms crossed, backed out of Fluttershy's nuzzle. Get to the point.

"Oh, sorry Angel. It's just... I've been having these strange dreams lately." Angel made a beckoning motion, more information. Fluttershy sighed.

"Well, they always seem to involve these butterflies." Fluttershy found sharing this very uncomfortable, like talking about your bowel movements. "And the butterflies always to seem to flock around and- Oh! they look exactly like the ones on my cutie-mark." Angel inspected Fluttershy's cutie-mark, as if the secrets of the dreams would burst out. After a time Angel looked back to Fluttershy, wanting more information. Fluttershy didn't like talking this much.

"There was also a strange forest where the trees did..." Fluttershy strained to remember. "they did... Oh, i'm sorry Angel I just can't remember, but they did something" This seemed to satisfy Angel, who's expression softened. Fluttershy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The interrogation was over. Angel looked pensive for a time. Then with a snapping motion Angel hopped into the lounge.

"Angel?" Fluttershy trotted after, maybe the rabbit had something planned. Walking into the lounge Fluttershy found Angel stomping all over some magazines she left, on the coffee table. Upon seeing Fluttershy, Angel promptly picked up a magazine at random, opened it and began waving at her face. Despite Fluttershy's affinity with animals, Fluttershy can't actually speak with them. Rather she simply interpretes what they are trying to say, which she was failing at in this case. So the game of Charades began. 

"You want me to... model again?" Angel shook his head. Ditching the magazine. Angel tried again.

"You, er, want to renovate?" Angel facepalmed. He began to search the living room, hunting for something. He seemed to have found it when he began jumping over a different book. This one being one of Rarity's 'interesting' novels. Fluttershy blushed briefly. 

"You want me to read something?" Angel made another beckoning motion.

"Well I don't see how reading THAT will help" Fluttershy wondered why she even had that book in the first place. Angel
again face palmed, and began to gesture to the whole pile of books in a sweeping motion.

Fluttershy took a moment, to consider it. Books, why books in general? Then it hit her. Of course. "Oh, you want me to read about the dream... right?" Angel nodded his head furiously. The game was over. 

Thinking about it why hadn't she thought of that? it wasn't as if this was the first time these dreams had bothered her. Sighing she looked down at Angel. "Well, I'll go see if Twilight has something that can help." Angel simply gave a final nod. "Oh... and thank you Angel" Angel paid this comment no heed however, hopping away. Oh well.

With the promise of knowledge fresh on the mind Fluttershy headed for the door, at least until a familiar rumbling in the gut pulled her back. Fluttershy simply blushed to herself and went back to finish her morning, uninterrupted. Her dreams could wait ten minuets couldn't they? It was a tougher decision than it ought to be.
> Chapter 2: Knowledge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy gazed up at the building before her. The familiar sight of the Ponyville Library stood before her. With its rich oaks and verdant greens. The building had always been a safe place for her. It was always the meet-up, the place where even if eternal night threatened its reign or chaos devoured the world you could come here and sort it out. Plus it housed Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's personal student. With her at the helm Fluttershy never felt the mortal danger she would feel without her. These qualities however turned on Fluttershy today. The feeling of safety had turned to trepidation. The once inviting entry way now screamed danger. Fluttershy considered turning back. It would be so simple. But then she would never know would she? Maybe it was that. Maybe she feared knowing. What if these dreams were repressed memories? Or what if they were a harbinger of a great evil? What if she was just going crazy? With time, she knew she had to keep going. One way or another she was going to find out, so best do it on her terms. So with great anxiety Fluttershy tapped the door for entry.

No answer. Maybe, a little stronger. Fluttershy gave the door a dainty knock.

This worked better. Where there was once nothing, now the tell-tale tapping of Spike's claws could be heard from within. The door opened inward to reveal a small drake.

This was a mistake. As soon as Spike opened the door Fluttershy's fears redoubled. This wasn't just her anxiety playing up either. She had to tell Spike, and probably Twilight about her dream. Which seemed so... wrong. She couldn't tell them yet, every fiber of her being shriveled from the thought of it. No, she won't tell them, not yet. If something really bad came up, then she would tell them. Yes this seemed good.

"Uh, Fluttershy? Earth to Flutters!" Oh right, she should probably acknowledge the drake.

"Oh, uh s- sorry Spike, I was... distracted" Thankfully Fluttershy's usual demeanor hid her nervousness.

"You, ah, alright there Flutters. You're acting weirder than usual." Or not.

A third voice broke the awkward silence "Spike! That's no way to talk to others!" Twilight made her way to the door, no doubt to scold Spike on his behavior. This made things only feel more awkward for Fluttershy. Maybe she shouldn't have come here after all.

Fluttershy didn't pay attention for the next minute or so. Twilight was lecturing Spike about something. Giving Fluttershy precious time to breathe and reflect on this shockingly gripping experience. Why didn't she want to tell anybody about her dream? There was that feeling, at her core, telling her to keep the dreams contents secret. But why did she feel this feeling in the first place. It didn't feel... natural. Maybe she should tell them. Go against-

"So, Fluttershy, what can I do for you?" Fluttershy's internal rebellion withered under Twilight's friendly yet questioning gaze. How could she possibly tell them? they would think she's crazy!

"Oh, well... I was hoping that, uh, maybe I c-could- c-come in and-" Fluttershy's next words never came out. Twilight's unwavering attention plus her already frayed nerves meant that any hope of conversation was gone.

Twilight was exasperated. "Look, just come in Fluttershy, we'll talk about it there." Fluttershy was greatful for this break. She did notice however, Spike giving Twilight a rather pointed look. Obviously not happy with Twilight's brevity. Fluttershy wasn't going to complain however. She walked inside without a word. Not giving Spike a chance to retort.

Now inside the library Fluttershy took a brief moment to calm down. The combination of social anxiety and her trepidation from this dream had become to much to bear. She closed her eyes and breathed. Only for a second. But enough for Twilight to notice.

"You alright Fluttershy, you seem nervous." Fluttershy heard the words from behind her, Twilight taking a sympathetic tone. Fluttershy gathered her mettle and responded.

"I'm f-fine, thank you." It wasn't technically a lie, compared to earlier she did feels leagues better. Still Twilight wasn't satisfied.

"Do you wan't me to make some tea?" That did sound quite nice.

"Yes, please" Fluttershy heard Twilight trot off behind her, into the kitchen no doubt. Leaving Fluttershy alone in the main reading room. The room was as she remembered. Massive, for a building like this. With books lining every wall, crack and crevice. There was a central table, with a bust of some unicorn of another in the center. It is here, Fluttershy reasoned, that she may find her answers. This stirred her anxieties again. Fluttershy's head drooped. Why did this have to be so difficult. It should be just a dream. She hoped at any rate. 

It was then she noticed Spike looking at her with intent. "Hey, uh, Flutters, sorry I called you weird earlier" The drake had an arm behind his head. A symbol of bashfulness.

Fluttershy realized that her body language might have conveyed the wrong message. "Don't worry Spike, i'm not upset with you" Fluttershy forced a small smile.

It seemed to work. Spike smiled back. "So, we cool?" Spike offered a claw for a hoof shake. A more genuine smile creased Fluttershy's lips.

"Yes, we're... cool" Fluttershy returned the hoof shake causing both to giggle slightly. Fluttershy was glad she had this conversation, at least until she remembered why she was here in the first place. Fluttershy waited for spike to leave sight before allowing her head to droop again with a sigh. She really didn't like this, hopefully the dreams mean nothing and she can go on with her life. Wishful thinking she suspected.

"I assume Spike has apologized?" Twilight's voice cut through Fluttershy's brooding. Fluttershy looked up to find Twilight trotting towards her. Two cups of tea trailed lazily behind her.

Fluttershy breathed in "Y-yes he has" Fluttershy's anxieties seemed to worsen around Twilight in particular. Something that Twilight herself noticed.

Twilight sighed inwardly and floated a tea cup to Fluttershy, who gracefully accepted "Well I'm glad to hear that. That Drake has got to learn some manners."

Fluttershy merely nodded in response as her attention was fully drawn to her tea. The aromatic fluid beckoned to her, and she gladly accepted it. It wasn't the best tea she had ever had, but at that moment it was perfect. The tea soothed her nerves and put her worries to rest. They were still there pf course, bubbling under the surface, however she needed this respite. Fluttershy addressed Twilight, feeling the best she had all day.

"Sorry I was acting so nervous earlier." Fluttershy figured getting to the point was the best course of action. She took another sip from her tea as Twilight responded.

"Oh it's fine Fluttershy, really." Fluttershy did feel a bit silly now, really why did she allow herself to get so wound up?

"But..." Fluttershy looked up at Twilight. "I am curious why were you so nervous in the first place?" The question that Fluttershy was dreading. It was a strange paradox. Fluttershy was nervous because she was afraid of Twilight asking why. Fluttershy needed an excuse. Quickly. Think.

"Well... I, uh, was nervous because there was... someone in the town." Fluttershy had done it now, Fluttershy prepared to elaborate.

Twilight put her cup down. "Someone in town?" She pondered for a moment. "Who? Why would they make you nervous?" She leaned in. "Are you scared of them?" That gave Fluttershy something to work with. She made a small nod. Squeezing her eyes for added effect.

It worked. Twilight's tone rose. "Well, whoever they are i'll give them a piece of my mind!" Oh good, now Fluttershy would have to give a name.

Or did she? Fluttershy acted scared, not something hard for her. "No!... uh, please don't. Just don't let them know i'm here." There, hopefully that would deter Twilight seeking vengeance in her stead. 

"But Fluttershy! You can't just live in fear like this!" Twilight rose to her hooves, wanting to make a stand. "I say you should go out there and show them who's boss yourself!" A cheer could be heard from upstairs, no doubt Spike eavesdropping on the conversation Fluttershy reasoned.

Fluttershy's acting skills were being put to the test here. Fluttershy tenderly grabbed Twilight's hoof. Who had it raised in no doubt indignant rage. With infinite grace Fluttershy lowered the hoof down and put it to her chest. Fluttershy looked Twilight deep in the eyes. "Please Twilight just... leave it be." Fluttershy let the silence reign. "For me.". This was Fluttershy's ace in the hole. Twilight let her body soften for a moment, then looked back to Fluttershy.

Twilight sucked in a breath. Then, barely above a whisper. "Alright." Fluttershy was relieved. Hopefully she would leave the issue.

"But! This won't be the last of this conversation." Well, there went Fluttershy's hope that this mess could be sorted out nice and easy. Maybe she could get to reading now? That tea wasn't finished either.

"One last thing." Fluttershy gulped, hopefully Twilight didn't notice. "Why did you come here in the first place?" Fluttershy smiled a rare genuine smile.

"Well, I wanted to read." Didn't even have to lie this time. 

Twilight gently laughed at this. "Of course" She said off offhandedly. "Well, if you need anything, or if you wanna talk about anything" Twilight gave Fluttershy a  pointed look. "you know where to find me." With that Twilight retreated down stairs, tea in tow, to her secret laboratory to do Celestia knows. 

Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. The talking was over, and with that Fluttershy realized her stupidity. Why in Tartarus did she lie to Twilight like that? She could have come up with literally any other excuse and it would have been fine. But no, now Twilight was going to be hounding her about her stupid story. Fluttershy gave the center table a light kick in rage, a rare sight from the pony. It was worse than that though, Fluttershy thought. she had lied to Twilight, her friend.
Was this really who she was? someone who would lie and manipulate others just to get their way? She wasn't even sure why she felt the need to lie in the first place. Fluttershy breathed a weary sigh. Honestly she should have stayed home today. Oh well. With her internal conflict resolutely not solved, she made her way to the bookshelves. Thinking about the books reminded Fluttershy of her mission, and with that the dread that came with it. Fluttershy took another sip of her tea. It kept the dread at bay. at least, a little bit. Enough at the very least to let her do her work. Fluttershy took a deep breath and began browsing Twilight's selection.

It swiftly dawned on Fluttershy that she didn't have a clue what she was actually looking for. She had been following the advice of a rabbit after all. Fluttershy gave it some thought. It was a strange dream, so logically dreams seemed like the best place to start looking. Unfortunately Fluttershy hadn't the foggiest on Twilight's organization system. It wasn't a nice and simple A through Z affair. No, it had numbers and decimals and all sorts. Fluttershy's blind searching was getting nowhere, and fast. A quick look around the room solved this problem. On the center table sat a book, huge and arcane looking in origin. It bared no title, but Fluttershy had suspicions about its contents. A quick leaf through proved her right. It was the table of contents, as it were. This book should make the rest of this place more understandable. It was even nice and alphabetical, which Fluttershy found to be a relief. Now then D section. Dreams, dreams dreams. There were three books that seemed to be noteworthy. 'Dr. Shack's Easy Guide to Dreams and Their Meaning', 'A Systematic Review On The Origin of Dreams' and lastly 'The Darkest Dream'. Without any recourse, Fluttershy got stuck in. 

It started off with Dr. Shack's book. What with it being the most direct. First impressions showed a thick, well-worn green book with a fanciful depiction of a pony resting easy on the front cover. First impressions were good, however this good will quickly faded. First of all it didn't talk much about nightmares specifically and what it did have wasn't exactly breaking new ground. Running in the dream means that you're running from problems in your life. Useful. The elementary book was discarded, daintily, for the next. 

While the first book left Fluttershy underwhelmed, this one was completely impenetrable. It was a thin thing, With a simple brown cover, bearing no image. Once inside the book went on about hypothesizes, validity, p-values and other things Fluttershy didn't know about and didn't care to know about. With it being so illegible she put it with 'Dr. Shack'. Hopefully the darkest dream was better.

It wasn't of course. Honestly Fluttershy was surprised this was in Twilight's library. It was a surprisingly pristine book, thin, with a dark purple cover. An image on the front showed Luna's cutie-mark. This book seemed to house conspiracy theories. They were pretty absurd. Apparently Luna is still Nightmare Moon, but just in disguise. Oh and she's brainwashed Celestia and the Element Bearers into becoming her unwitting pawns. While Fluttershy was sure that the book was good for a laugh, really not what she was looking for right now. Off it went with the others.

Fluttershy looked to her small stack of books. How did Twilight do this all day? it had only been three books and already she was feeling tired. Fluttershy glanced up to the Bookshelf. It's size was so much more intimidating now, now that she had to actually use it all. What if she never found the right book? What if she did find the right book but missed the important part. What if she did find out the truth. Her nerves were playing up again. Another swig from her tea dulled the feelings for now. Her cup was empty. A good enough excuse as any to stop. However this excuse didn't last. She found herself back at her spot with her cup unfortunately filled. Maybe she could try nightmare this time. Fluttershy sighed, this was going to take a while. 

---0---

The hours flew by. Not because the work was fun, far from it. But because of strong determination to learn from this damn dream. It was funny really. When Fluttershy had started out she was scared to know, the dream could mean anything after all. But now that she was actively pursuing it, that dread gave way to curiosity. A desperate curiosity. Whatever this dream meant, even if it was evil, she had to know. She had skimmed many different sources now. From textbooks to grimoires to novels. None of them were useful. There seemed to be no information at all on her dream. Maybe that was why she was so desperate to know. There was an air of mystique around this dream now. While she had suspected it for a while this all but confirmed it. This reoccurring dream of hers, this was no ordinary dream. This was something special. Honestly who wouldn't be desperate to know?

Due to the depth of her research Fluttershy failed to notice Twilight making a return from the lab. Her face quizzical as she approached Fluttershy. Gently, Twilight tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder. 

In a very uncharacteristic move Fluttershy proceeded to jump three feet in the air. Screaming the whole time. Fluttershy looked around, readjusting to where she was. Fluttershy's face began to redden in direct proportion to her understanding of what happened. Which Twilight, based off of what Fluttershy understood, saw as hilarious. Twilight rolled around the floor, there were tears. Fluttershy didn't know how to respond. So she didn't.

After a time Twilight did compose herself, mainly once Spike came down to see what the whole deal was. Didn't want to seem too childish after. Twilight then addressed Fluttershy. "I might have spent too much time with Rainbow, I think." Fluttershy, too embarrassed to respond, agreed silently. 

Twilight then a sheepish look to Spike. Which gave him a very smug grin, as he returned to his duties. With the moment over Fluttershy got nervous, Twilight seemed to be interested in the pile of books she discarded. She didn't like Twilight knowing what she was up to. For reasons still unknown to her.

Twilight spoke first. "So what have you been reading anyways?" Damn, Fluttershy didn't want to lie to Twilight anymore than she already had, however it seemed she had few choices. Saying that however, there didn't seem an easy way out of this one. Those titles were quite succinct. 

"Oh, just some stuff about a dream" A beat. "Nothing important". Fluttershy suspected that wasn't terribly convincing. Looking at Twilight seemed to further that theory. 

"Not important enough to spend hours reading on it?" Fluttershy hadn't been keeping track of the time. A look out the window revealed she had been here far longer than she thought. Judging from the sun it seemed to be mid-afternoon. Definitely longer than she thought. 

Fluttershy laughed nervously. "I, uh, lost track of time." Fluttershy really wished she had thought of something cleverer. Fluttershy could tell that Twilight wasn't buying that. 

Thankfully though Twilight didn't push the issue either. Her expression softened. "Don't forget Fluttershy, if you want to talk about it I'll be here." Did she get the wrong idea? Hopefully, it would make things much easier. Fluttershy looked down, conveying to Twilight that she didn't want to talk about it.

At that time, Fluttershy's digestive system made itself known. Fluttershy blushed. Maybe she should take a break, she had been here for quite literally hours after all. Fluttershy addressed Twilight who had turned to leave. "Um, you wouldn't mind some lunch... maybe?" Twilight turned and smiled.

"I'd love that."

---0---

Lunch was surprising uneventful. Fluttershy had expected to have been pushed into talking about her research or her lie or anything really. But it seemed that Twilight left the issue. Fluttershy respected Twilight for that. While her 'scary pony' was fabricated, she was glad that Twilight had learned the tact to leave the issue. She suspected that it wouldn't last however. Twilight was curious by nature, she wouldn't just leave the problem forever. Maybe she could say the pony had left Ponyville and avoid the problem entirely, but that seemed to convenient. Plus, Twilight was probably wondering about her dream research also. She could tie that in with the scary pony, but how. Fluttershy returned to her reading spot absorbed by these questions.

The books had piled high now. What started at three books had ballooned to approximately twenty maybe thirty. Yet still, none were any help. Nothing came close even. The whole thing was turning out to be a huge bust, she reasoned. Maybe she should just give up now, that ravenous appetite for knowing still burned within her, but this was hopeless. She could just come back tomorrow anyways, the books weren't going anywhere. It was a very tough decision, she really did want to know after all. Yet she knew she couldn't stay. She wasn't Twilight, she needed rest from reading. She felt a noticeable headache now that she wasn't focused on anything. Plus critters needed feeding.

Path set Fluttershy got back up from her spot. She neatly placed all of the books back in the respective places, to the best of her ability. She still wished she could have learned sooner. As Fluttershy headed for the exit, she saw a book plop on the floor through the mail hole. It was intriguing, mail usually doesn't run at this time of day. Curious Fluttershy picked on the book she saw the royal seal on the top of a bow encasing the book. There appeared to be a card placed between the bow and the book. This clearly wasn't her business. Fluttershy went to go put it on Twilight's reading table. While doing so Fluttershy idly flipped the book over. This made her stop dead.

The cover depicted an old gnarled tree. Same as the ones she saw in her dreams. It was crazy, she didn't even remember her dreams outside the premise and yet she knew with full confidence this was the same tree. Fluttershy frantically looked around the room, no one was here. Spike was upstairs, probably reading and Twilight was downstairs, probably researching. It would be so simple to take. This sparked a raging internal debate. She had already lied to Twilight and now she was going to steal from her!? Yet, she knew, at her core, that her answers would lie here. Lying was one thing, but theft! that's an offense. She would lose her friends and go to prison, probably forever! Fluttershy sucked in a deep breath, placed the book on the bench and went for the door. 

But stopped. She would never know. If she didn't do this right now she would never, ever know what these dreams meant. What if they tormented her forever? What if she went crazy. She turned around. Was she really going to do this. Cheat her friend Twilight, who she had known for so long now? Just for a damn book. But she knew, it was no ordinary book. If she didn't do this now she would never get another chance. Twilight likely doesn't even know that it has arrived, she would probably think it lost in shipping. Fluttershy took a step toward the book. There was a royal seal on that book. And stopped. If she took it, she could be banished! or worse. Then again, that added to the tension. If the only booked with anything related to her dream had the royal seal, it must be important, huge even. Another step forward. She was standing over it now. A voice cut through the air.

"Hey, Flutters!" Spike yelled, from the other room.

Fluttershy jumped again. She didn't blush this time. "Y-yes?"

"Can ya, check if anythings come through the mail at all?" Fluttershy looked down to the book. "Twilight said a book was supposed to come through today." 

There was a prolonged pause. This was it, was Fluttershy about to risk it all, fail her friend and even the princesses for her own sake. She thought back to her dream, it was terrifying each time. Nothing made sense. She would wake up in a sweat each time. She thought about today. How desperately she wanted to know. The feeling hadn't subsided she realized, it had intensified. Fluttershy gulped out a response.

"N-no, no, I d-don't see anything." Fluttershy hoped she chose right.

Spike shortly responded. "Alright, keep your eyes peeled if anything else comes through, hey Flutters."

There was no response.
> Chapter 3: Endurance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was but a short trip back to Fluttershy's home. And yet it seemed to stretch on and on. The book weighed heavily on her. Physically and mentally, but mostly mentally. Fluttershy's mind was in flux. In only one short day she had managed to both lie, and steal from Twilight. A heinous crime that weighed heavily on her normally pristine conscience. But, yet she didn't regret it. Not entirely. Fluttershy felt for the book. It was tucked safely under her wing, none would see it. Fluttershy knew intrinsically, that the book held the answers she so desperately craved. Plus, if the royal seal encapsulating the tomb was to go by, these secrets would be revelatory. It made her feel giddy inside. Her excitement fought with her consciousness.

Fluttershy took in her surroundings. She had since cleared Ponyville town proper and was on a small dirt path to her home. Fluttershy felt a great unease here. She had of course felt paranoia immediately after leaving the library. She was at great risk there after all. Here though, it felt worse, insidious. The fur on the back of her neck raised up. She looked behind her quickly and as casually as she could manage. Nothing. Of course. Fluttershy picked up the pace to a casual trot. Why was she feeling this now? If you're suddenly feeling paranoid, doesn't it mean your not paranoid? Was it Twilight following her? Fluttershy froze when she saw a blur zoom past her then stop. This quickly gave way to relief. It was a rainbow blur.

"Hey Flutters." No response. 

"Hellooooo? Earth to Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash flew into Fluttershy's face and waved her hooves wildly. Fluttershy blinked.

"Oh, um, sorry Rainbow, you scared me..." Fluttershy trailed off as she said this. Fluttershy's mental turmoil kicking up old habits.

"Yeah! no kidding hey, looked like you saw a ghost there." Fluttershy wished Rainbow Dash would get to the point. She was carrying valuable cargo after all. 

The silence forced Rainbow Dash into her main point. She brushed her hair aside. "Yeah, anyways Rarity says that she wants to have a picnic later." Fluttershy was frustrated. She panicked all that much for a picnic invitation? Of course, Fluttershy didn't show her feelings.

Rainbow continued. "Annnnd, we got all the others on board, except Applejack." Rainbow gave Fluttershy a pointed look. "You in?"

Now this was an issue. Since Fluttershy really didn't want to go to this picnic. She was already feeling frazzled enough after today's excitement already. She didn't want to add more to the pile. Plus the more time she spent out the less time she spent uncovering these secrets burning a hole in her wing. But on the other hand, what good reason did she have not to attend? if she didn't Rainbow would want to know why she couldn't come. Fluttershy really didn't want to potentially sour more relationships today. It would also make Twilight wonder why she couldn't come. Something Fluttershy really didn't want to happen. No, she would have to attend. Fluttershy gave her next move some thought, before she got it. Some compromise would be in order.

Fluttershy smiled. "I'll come Rainbow" Rainbow grinned at this. "But first, let me go home and prepare first" Fluttershy knew Rainbow Dash's propensity for speed, Rainbow wouldn't like this.

Rainbow groaned at this, loudly. "Fiiiiine" Fluttershy continued her trot. She could make it home, drop the book off and go to the picnic, Fun as it sounded right now. As Fluttershy began her walk home, Rainbow Dash floated behind closely. The walk was held in silence for a time. This wouldn't hold however, Rainbow hated silent. 

It started with Rainbow fidgeting, just little bits here and there. Fluttershy didn't notice of course. Her turbulent thoughts long since returned after the conversations end. Then Rainbow attempted to shoot the breeze. However, she must have forgot who she was talking to. The reigning queen of the silent game. One word answers and distracted 'hmm's' didn't exactly make stellar conversation. It went on like this for a short while. However Rainbow had enough. There was only so much slow she could take in one day and Fluttershy had it in spades. With a sudden burst of movement Rainbow shot forward, coming face to face with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy not expecting this, reacted as she normally did. She shrunk back with an 'eep'. Her weight shifted. "Can we move this along a little faster please?" Fluttershy should have known it wouldn't have been that easy. 

Ever diplomatic Fluttershy thought up a response. "Why don't you go on ahead, I'll catch up to you." Rainbow huffed.

"Well your the last one we're waiting on." She puffed her chest. "It wasn't like we were going to start without you." Funnily enough that is exactly what Fluttershy would have liked. Rainbow wasn't done however.

"Tell yah what, how about we fly to yours instead." A hoof was offered to Fluttershy. "Deal?"

Crap. Of course Rainbow Dash wanted to fly, it's what Rainbow Dash does. Fluttershy didn't see a way out of this that didn't involve lying. Something she was trying desperately to avoid. Fluttershy placed her hoof over Rainbow's and brought them both down. Signaling her rejection.

"Oh, Rainbow just go ahead. I'll catch up, quick as I can." Fluttershy attempted a smile to drive home her point. 

Rainbow wouldn't allow that however. "No, I'll never leave a friend hanging!" Fluttershy desperately wished that Rainbow would leave her hanging. But it was not to be. "Look I don't see why this is a problem, It'll be sooo much quicker." Fluttershy really didn't have any recourse here. She wasn't going to lie to Rainbow, no more lies. But if she told her then she could get into big trouble. The silence dragged on as Fluttershy desperately tried to think herself out of this.

Fluttershy began to wilt under Rainbow Dash's gaze, which had intensified as time had passed. Rainbow Dash had begun to circle Fluttershy, who was despairing increasingly. It was all over now. Rainbow would find the book and she would tell Twilight that she found it and then she would get banished from Equestria by the Princesses. Rainbow hummed to herself as she circled. 

Suddenly Fluttershy felt Rainbow grab for the book. It was all over for her now, at least, in her mind. Fortunately for her Rainbow fumbled the grab, giving Fluttershy enough time to face away and protect the prized tome. Fluttershy really hoped that Rainbow didn't see the book. If she didn't maybe she could worm her way out of this mess. 

She didn't get much time to dwell on the matter. Rainbow Dash gave her a smug look.

"Ah ha! I knew you were hiding something Flutters" Rainbow Dash closed in for another peek, Fluttershy faced the tome away from Rainbow, she had to stall for as long as possible.

Rainbow looked Fluttershy dead in the eyes. "So what is it huh? Top secret letters from the mayor? From Celestia?." Rainbow whispered into Fluttershy's ear. "From a stallion?". If only.

Fluttershy blushed and pulled away from Rainbow. To which Rainbow found very entertaining judging from her reaction. Fluttershy still didn't know where to go from here. While the cat wasn't out of the bag yet, it wouldn't last and she still really didn't want to lie. However it seemed that she had no other choice. All she could really do at this point was lie or just straight up not tell Rainbow Dash and hope everything magically turned out okay. The choice was simple.

When Rainbow dash finished with her little laughing fit, Fluttershy reluctantly prepared a response. Her eyes hidden with her mane. "I-I can't tell you". She was done lying today.

Rainbow burst into motion. "Oh come on! you can't be all mysterious on me like this Flutters." Rainbow prepared her best pout. "Please?" Wow, clearly Rainbow really wanted to know.

Unfortunately for her Fluttershy dealt with squirrels and bunnies performing the same trick. Rainbow's attempts were poultry in comparison. She put conviction in her voice. "No Rainbow". 

Rainbow was undeterred. "Pleeeeease?" Better, but still not good enough.

"No Rainbow"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No Rainbow" Anxiety gave way to annoyance. 

Rainbow changed tactic. "C'mon, just a little." A beat. "Just give me a clue." Fluttershy was tempted, but the stakes were too high. 

"Sorry Rainbow, but the answer is still no." Fluttershy made it clear that she wasn't going to budge.

Rainbow noticed. "Ugh, fine." Rainbow prepared to fly. "But don't think this is the last of this." Fluttershy felt the same words echo from Twilight earlier in the day. Oh goodie.

With that Rainbow Dash took off, heading into town, no doubt to the picnic. This left Fluttershy perplexed however. Wasn't Rainbow going on earlier about never leaving a friend hanging? Why did she just take off like that? Fluttershy was concerned now. She hoped she hadn't upset her. She sighed a weary sigh to herself. Look at all the damage she had one in just one day, and it wasn't even over yet. She pulled out the book, staring at it intently. Was it really worth the damage it was causing? It was just the first day after all, who knows what the future held. She looked to the tree on its cover. The one from her dream. Truthfully, Fluttershy didn't know if it was worth it at this point but it was too late. The damage was done,  so she may as well follow through with it now. Fluttershy returned the book to her side. With Rainbow Dash gone at least the rest of the trip will be less stressful.

Hopefully.

---0---

Surprisingly the rest of her trip home was uneventful after all. No Rainbow, no Twilight, no surprises. However, that wasn't too say it wasn't stressful however. She didn't like where her mind was wondering as of late. As a consequence of this when Fluttershy returned home she was stressed and tired. Some rest and relaxation was well overdue, maybe even a spa trip. The book could wait, despite the hunger for its secrets not subsiding. 

Her spirits were lifted to a degree when she saw Angel hop toward her. She dumped the book on her coffee table and scooped the rabbit into a hug. "Oh, Angel you would not believe the day I've had today." The rabbit initially resisted the embrace. However upon seeing Fluttershy's condition Angel allowed the hug to run its course. Angel wasn't entire;y heartless after all.

Fluttershy let the rabbit down after a time, and breathed deep. Home, after what felt like eternity. Fluttershy let the feeling of contentedness wash over her, before a tapping brought her out of her stupor. Angel was shrugging his shoulders. Fluttershy was confused for a moment. Oh that's right, Angel was the one who sent her to the library in the first place. He probably wanted to see some results.

Fortunately for him, she had them. She presented the book to the rabbit. "Look what I've found Angel" Angel scrutinized the tome. Fluttershy wasn't sure why really, it wasn't as if he could read. "This book should have everything I need." Angel tugged at the royal seal fronting the book, He gave her a confused look.

Fluttershy instantly felt a wave of guilt wash over her. The seal reminding her of just how she acquired that book. She quickly tore the bow and seal of the book, quickly kicking them under the coffee table. "I, uh... don't worry about that." How did Angel know about the royal seal anyways? Maybe it was a fluke? If Angel had any further concerns, he didn't voice them. Angel gave Fluttershy a curt nod of approval and hopped off. Leaving her alone, free for now.

Fluttershy quickly sunk back onto the couch. All of the mental anguish of today had left her exhausted and she was all too happy to let it be over. So she rested for a moment. However her mind didn't allow her to sleep easy and she quickly became restless. She peeped open her left eye, looking at the book on the coffee table. She was really beginning to hate that book. It never was going to let her rest easy was it? She groaned and faced the other way, toward the couch back. Slowly, but surely she allowed herself to relax, she could read it later, probably tomorrow in fact. It was a nice moment. But it would only be a moment. Fluttershy came to a horrific realization. One that forced her off the couch and out the door.

She had somewhere to be. 

---0---

Fluttershy mentally cursed to herself as she flew back to Ponyville town. Initially she had disliked the idea of attending this picnic, but now she outright loathed it. After having such a wonderful taster of peace when she had returned home, coming back was downright painful. She was feeling it as well, as she closed in on the town. This was mainly due to Twilight. She had stolen her book. Not only did Fluttershy felt like a terrible friend because of this it also meant that she would have to be careful around her. She had to attempt to hide her guilt from her. Which was not something she was looking forward too. Plus, Twilight might also know already and call her out on the spot. Fluttershy's stomach twisted itself into knots as she approached the town. Fluttershy controlled her breathing. The picnic was in sight now.

Fluttershy landed smoothly, taking up an empty corner of the blanket. All eyes were on her so she prepared to speak.

"Hello." Fluttershy didn't feel like speaking much right now. 

A range of generic greetings returned Fluttershy's bland introduction. Fluttershy was happy with this. Left her much more alone. Fluttershy quickly laid down, front hooves crossed. Hopefully she could just blend in for now. 

It quickly became apparent that it wouldn't be that simple. While she wasn't getting any comments yet, she could tell that the girls were noticing her. She kept receiving sidelong glances and Twilight looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Fluttershy hoped Twilight would stay quiet, though she knew she wouldn't. It went on like this for a time. While Fluttershy was glad originally that she was out of the conversation, it was quickly becoming unbearable. She was getting paranoid. Why were they looking at her like that? Did they know what she did? For better or worse Rarity addressed the elephant in the room.

"Now then Fluttershy how have you been? We haven't heard a peep from you since you got here" Rarities question seemed superficial enough but Fluttershy knew that it hid deeper meaning.

The others kept talking but seemed to hush their tone. Whatever Fluttershy said was being listened too. She sucked in a breath. 

"Oh, I've been pretty busy" Not a lie.

Rarity smirked. "Oh I can tell darling." And what was that supposed to mean?

"Well, what do you mean?" Maybe her exhaustion showed itself more than she thought.

Rarity looked through a small purse she had brought along. Soon enough a mirror was floated toward Fluttershy.

Yep. Definitely showed through more that she thought. The evidence on the mirror was damning really. Immediately her eyes were brought to her hair. The once smooth flow now jagged and creased in unpredictable ways . It also was very asymmetrical, no doubt due to the couch from earlier. This was very upsetting to Fluttershy. She spent more time on her hair than she would ever admit. There were other noticeable problems as well. There were creases forming under her eyes. More time like this and they would develop into fully fledged bags. Fluttershy noted that she seemed paler than when she woke this morning. Was it from being in the library all day? she wasn't sure.

With a sigh Fluttershy returned the mirror to Rarity, who accepted silently. "I guess I didn't realize how tired I was." Half lie. Fluttershy knew exactly how tired she was. She just didn't realize that it would show so well.

Rarity flashed Fluttershy a sympathetic smile. "A feeling I'm familiar with darling." Rarity and Fluttershy chuckled between themselves. 

With this comfortable conversation returned. Rainbow continued her story to Pinkie. While Fluttershy had no idea what she was on about it was no doubt exciting, given Rainbow. Twilight sat silently, looking away from the group. Fluttershy liked that. 

Rarity brought up an earlier point. "So darling, I do wonder. What have you been doing to cause this... well, exhaustion." Fluttershy appreciated that Rarity was trying to be polite. She figured she didn't need to lie about where she's been today.

She wouldn't have the chance either. Twilight interjected, answering for Fluttershy. "She spent the day at the library, with me." Fluttershy felt a pang of nerves now that Twilight was in the conversation.

Rarity blinked. "Really? I hadn't taken Fluttershy for a scholar." Neither did Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash entered the conversation. "Egghead!" And just as quickly left it. 

Rarity's brow creased at this. "At any rate, what were you doing at the library dear?" Fluttershy couldn't think of a way to answer this question without it seeming weird.

"Well, uh, I was... studying" Not an elegant answer by any stretch of the imagination, but not wrong either.

Rarity smiled at this. "Well, you are just full of surprises today." Rarity thought for a moment. "What were you studying?" Damn. Fluttershy didn't want to answer this question. She tried to think of a way to be vague about it.

Didn't matter. Twilight answered for her, again. "Well, from what I saw dreams." When did Twilight know what she was studying? It made sense though, she didn't exactly hide what she was reading but that didn't mean much to her nerves. Which were getting increasingly uncomfortable.

Rarity leaned into Fluttershy. "Ooooh, exotic dreams, how positively enthralling! What were they? A dashing stallion that took you off your hooves, A dream of a long lost love-". 

Twilight interjected, loudly. "I'm sure it wasn't anything like that Rarity!" There was a faint blush on her face. It faded quickly. Twilight talked under her breath, which Fluttershy caught. "I think I've got a better idea than that Rarity." Fluttershy's nerves ratcheted up again. How could Twilight know what dreams she was having? Was the secret out?

This line of reasoning wasn't helped when Twilight put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder."Do you mind if I have a talk Fluttershy?" Rarity's ears perked up. "Privately?" Twilight said this loud enough for all to hear. Fluttershy could practically hear Rarities pout. Not that she felt it was funny right now. She was too busy panicking. There was no way, Twilight had to know she had stolen the book, why else would she want to talk to her right now? She probably had the chariot waiting. Fluttershy gave Twilight a small, dejected nod. She followed Twilight. 

Twilight led the both of them down the hill, only over the crest really. Just so the others couldn't hear their conversation. Fluttershy was at least glad for Twilight's discretion, It would be so much worse to be outed in front of all of her friends. Twilight took the lead with a question.

"Fluttershy, why were you reading about dreams?". Fluttershy both really did and didn't want to lie here. Fortunately, this was a rhetorical question. Twilight lowered her voice. "Was it about the pony?" Fluttershy realized, with shock she had, in the moment, completely forgot about that lie. With this in mind she reassessed the situation. Twilight wasn't outing her about the book, yet. She was probably just concerned for her. Fluttershy was deeply relieved, yet still guarded. She still did lie and steal from Twilight, she didn't want that to get out. Fluttershy hid her relief to the best of her ability. She still had to act out the role.

With this Fluttershy gently nodded her head. She hid her face behind her frazzled hair. This of course was very effective for generating sympathy. "Oh, Fluttershy..." Twilight came in for a hug. Which made Fluttershy feel terrible. Look at what she was doing to Twilight, she didn't even mean to lie to Twilight, she should have found something better to say. Yet she hadn't, and looked what it caused. 

Twilight broke off the hug and held Fluttershy's hooves. "Fluttershy, you've got to deal with this pony. You can't hide from it!" Twilight was trying to force the issue then. Exactly what Fluttershy didn't want to happen. This meant that Fluttershy would have to act again, fantastic. 

Fluttershy pulled away from Twilight and squeezed her eyes shut. Not difficult as it was something she had wanted to do anyways. "I... I can't Twilight, I'm sorry." This was going very similar to earlier. Fluttershy decided to give some more information to Twilight, maybe it would sate her. "It's just..." What was it just, why would she be scared of this pony? "They were a friend of my fathers." Fluttershy was very uncomfortable now. She didn't want to elaborate any further, just for this dumb lie.

Twilight latched onto what she said. She squeezed Fluttershy's hoof. "What did they do? You can trust me Fluttershy. Oh god, this was getting too serious for Fluttershy's liking. Fluttershy desperately looked for a way out. "I'm sorry Twilight, I can't say." Fluttershy didn't give Twilight a chance to respond, she quickly trotted the crest of the hill, back to the others. Hopefully, Twilight wouldn't bring it up in front of the others.

Fluttershy was greeted by Rainbow and Pinkie still chatting away. They held some strange contraption that Fluttershy dared not think about. Rarity looked at Fluttershy with a quizzical expression. "Heavens dear, what was all that about?" Drat. That was supposed to be a private conversation. Clearly Rarity thought otherwise. Just how much had she been listening too?

Fluttershy mustered her best stern look, a rare expression from the yellow pony. "How much did you hear?" Fluttershy didn't fumble her words here. She wanted to show how serious this was to her. 

Clearly it worked, Rarity blinked and gave Fluttershy a sheepish smile. "Not much, darling, really. I just, ah, saw how intense Twilight looked and got concerned is all." That was fine. Rarity hadn't heard anything, which meant that Fluttershy didn't need to lie to another friend today. Fluttershy thought it prudent to hammer this point home.

She put on a sigh and looked down. "Just... don't worry about it. Please." Barely had to act there.

Rarity said nothing. She simply preformed a zipping motion instead. The point was made.

Right at this point Twilight had returned. Fluttershy briefly wondered what had taken her so long. She dispelled these concerns quickly however, she didn't want to fall into another panic spiral after all. Twilight flashed Fluttershy a sad smile. Causing more guilt for Fluttershy. She sat down quietly, Throwing glimpses toward Fluttershy.

With Fluttershy and Twilight not in the mood for talking, it fell to Rarity to make conversation. Who appeared to be at a loss for words. Fluttershy worried she had been too harsh with Rarity. However she did eventually find something to say.

"So, Twilight." Twilight perked up. "Did anything exciting happen while Fluttershy was over?" A simple question. It had clearly been said as too break the ice.

Twilight was all too happy to respond it seemed. "Not really actually, I spent most of my time in the lab." It never ceased to amaze Fluttershy that Twilight had her own personal laboratory. Fluttershy was genuinely curious what she did there. So she asked.

"What are you studying?" The question provoked an interesting reaction from Twilight. She seemed to be thinking deeply for a moment. Before sighing.

"Hey Rainbow!" She perked an ear. "Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie followed suit. "Can you girls come here for a moment?"  Fluttershy was very nervous, maybe she should have just left it alone? Hopefully it had nothing to do with her.

Rainbow and Pinkie before giving there affirmatives, joining the conversation.

"What can I do for ye, Twileroonie?" 

"Yeah, what's up?"

Twilight looked behind her. Left, then right, before addressing the group. She held a serious expression. Fluttershy held a lump in her throat. "Okay this might need some explanation." All was silent. "So a few days ago I got a letter from the princess." This immediately prompted a reaction from Rainbow.

She rubbed her hooves together. "Oooh, who is it this time!" Twilight opened her mouth. "Wait, don't answer that. Lemme guess evil doppelgangers of ourselves that we have to fight through our awesome friendship!" Pinkie Pie nodded her head solemnly.

This completely baffling answer took the wind out of Twilight's sails for a moment. She didn't take long to readjust however. "No... what? look Rainbow this is serious!" Rainbow stopped talking, but she didn't look particularly concerned. Fluttershy did. Twilight sucked in a breath.

"So anyways, A few days ago I got a letter from the princess saying that some of her archeologists found a temple. All the way out in Saddle Arabia." This earned a low whistle from Rainbow, Twilight let it hang.

Pinkie piped up. "So what's so cool about an old temple anyways? Aren't they, y'know, dusty and boring?" Fluttershy would have liked to know also.

Fortunately, she would. "Well here's the thing." Everyone leaned in. "Apparently the princess didn't know what any of it was." Really that was it? Fluttershy felt it anticlimactic.

So did Rarity who spoke up. "Is that it? If you don't mind my asking why is that so important in the first place?" Twilight seemed to expect this answer however as she smoothly responded.

"Don't you understand?" A sea of head shakes. "The princess doesn't know what it is. The Princess, she who has lived for thousands of years! doesn't know what this is."

"Yeah, just because she's old doesn't mean she's seen everything" Rainbow still wasn't convinced. Fluttershy was on the fence.

"Rainbow, I'm pretty sure she's lived as long as ponies as a species have lived." She took a moment to think. "Think about it, we only know about how Equestria was formed from her and she doesn't know what this temple is." This example was much more convincing. Fluttershy looked on to the others. Rainbow Dash looked excited, Rarity looked intrigued. That is too say excited, but too formal to admit it. Pinkie Pie was definitely excited, started bouncing around.

Fluttershy herself wasn't sure how to respond. On the one hoof this sounded exciting for another adventure with the girls, but on the other hoof... There was something that sounded deeply wrong about this situation. It sounded too convenient. How did it line up that she was having these unnatural dreams right as Twilight's discovering something else strange? Fluttershy bit her lip. Hopefully it was all just a coincidence. 

Twilight had given time for the information influx to set in, but Pinkie was too excited too hold it in. "Ooh! Ooh! When can we go see it huh, who knows whats there?" The excitement in Pinkie's voice was contagious.

Rainbow piped up. "Hell yeah! It'll be just like in Daring Doo!" Rainbow and Pinkie grinned at each other. Clearly they had plans for how this would go down.

However, Twilight intervened, which brought them back to reality. "Woah, woah, calm down there girls. We haven't got that far yet." 

Rainbow quickly retorted. "Oh come on! Big mysterious temple and the princesses are involved? You know we're going to go there eventually right?" It was a good point, Fluttershy realized. She and her friends had a knack for getting into trouble. Fluttershy hoped that it wouldn't be too scary. 

Twilight just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, probably. But look, it's only been a few days and it's not like the temple is going anywhere. I'll do some research and if anything comes up I'll let you girls know." Fluttershy hoped that meant it's not a problem. If she was extra lucky she could have this whole strange dream thing solved before this excitement. Hopefully.

Fluttershy noticed Rarity's raised eyebrow and was confused. What, did she think Twilight wouldn't tell them? Fortunately for Fluttershy she wouldn't wonder long.

Rarity spoke evenly. "I'm curious Twilight. If you said that this supposed temple is so archaic, how could you possibly study it?" Fluttershy realized she had a good point, how would she study it? Wait.

"Well the princess said that she found a book inside that she's gonna send me." Fluttershy's stomach dropped out. Of course, now it all made sense. It would have just been too easy if the problems were unrelated, no far too easy. Instead her dreams are from some old ancient temple... thing. 

Twilight continued. "It's strange though, she said that it should arrive at some point today." Oh yes, how could she forget that she had also stolen that book. A book from an ancient temple that nopony has ever found before and vital for Twilight's understanding of it. Yes that book. Fluttershy felt really fantastic right now. 

Rainbow Dash, clueless to Fluttershy's despair, continued the conversation. "Yeah, it's probably late or something. Look, just tell me when we get to do some adventuring!" Pinkie cheered to this.

Twilight rolled her eyes again. "Will do. Now how about we talk about something a bit lighter then?" 

Pinkie was quick on the draw. Pulling cupcakes from one of her many hidden stashes. "Who's hungry?!"

Fluttershy despite not eating since breakfast, wasn't.

---0---

By the time that Fluttershy returned home, properly this time, she was beyond exhausted. The rest of the picnic was nice enough, not that she was in the mood to enjoy it. After Twilight dropped that bombshell Fluttershy went right back to despairing. her dreams definitely meant something big now, and the pressure behind that was not something the shy Pegasus was equipped to deal with. However that wasn't the biggest issue. It was the fact that the book that she had stolen was important. With her having it, it meant that Twilight didn't, so she couldn't do her important research. It felt so selfish.

Fluttershy was far too tired to feel sorry for herself for long however. She dragged herself into the kitchen. The picnic had gone longer than expected once Applejack arrived with cider in tow. Fluttershy shook her head. She didn't like drinking at the best of times so definitively, she was out of her element. She shook her head and focused on the task at hand, a simple three bean salad, something to stave off the hunger. It was prepared effortlessly.

As Fluttershy listlessly ate she looked back at the book. She was in no state to read it, but she did think. She had stolen this from Twilight, taking away precious research and betraying her trust. But she could just give it back when she was done. Fluttershy only felt a compulsion to read the thing, not hoard it. This did put a small smile on her face, maybe she didn't have to be such a terrible friend after all. Her salad was done. 

With that done Fluttershy quickly found her bed. The dream journal lay open on her nightstand, would she go back to that place tonight? Fluttershy hoped not. It was not a comfortable experience. But that's why she was studying it. So she could stop the dreams. Right? Fluttershy had a feeling in her gut, why didn't that feel right? 

Fluttershy didn't think too much on it. After such an eventful day the embrace of sleep came easy.
> Chapter 4: Dive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy awoke with a gasp. It happened again.

Fluttershy hurriedly made her way to her dream journal, a quill at the ready. When she got there however, she paused. The contents of the dream were still fresh in her mind, yet she couldn't bring herself to put them to paper. Fluttershy pulled away from the journal. Rather than attempt to document all that had happened she sat and let it wash over her. Fluttershy felt overwhelmingly... comfortable. It was a very jarring sensation. Just a second ago she had felt awash with panic, anxiety and fear, but thinking about it. Really submersing herself in the feeling, made it come full circle in some strange way. 

She remembered back. The trees and the butterflies, both of which distinctly uncomfortable, yet not. She remembered the gaunt forest. There were more details now, in this briefest moment before the day came after her. It was snowing, this much she was sure of. Yet the ground bore no snow, and no flakes graced her fur. The butterflies, they weren't just inhabiting the forest, they were controlling it. They swarmed it. Yet, swarm wasn't the right word. A swarm implies chaos, destruction. The butterflies were graceful. They moved as one. Dancing and swaying in the still air. They were thousands, maybe millions strong. Yet not a single one fell, from the pack. Not a single one moved even a fraction of a millimeter from where it's place was. It was beautiful. Fluttershy blinked.

And just like that the moment was gone. Fluttershy was confused and upset. She couldn't remember what she dreamed of but she remembered the feeling. A wonderful comforting feeling. And Fluttershy was barred from feeling it, at least for now. Why had it gone in an instant anyways? Aren't dreams supposed to fade? Fluttershy dispelled this line of reasoning. This was no ordinary dream after all. 

All Fluttershy had to go on now was the written accounts and the feelings in her gut. Maybe she should have written it down? Fluttershy quickly removed herself from the writing desk. Her rapid exodus from her bed had left quite the mess, which was promptly ignored. It would be dealt with later.

As Fluttershy made her way down the stairs she remembered the situation. The book, that's right! Now that Fluttershy was rested with no other plans, she was ready to get stuck in to that book. To unlock it's secrets. Unfortunately for her life isn't that simple and her mortal needs required attending to before she could begin. It is why Fluttershy reluctantly started breakfast. 

Breakfast was to be done as rapidly as possible. As such two slices of toast. There would be no distractions today. The toast was popped in cooking begun. As the toast cooked Fluttershy looked around her home. It looked off. Yet Fluttershy couldn't place it. What was she missing? Or rather, what was her house missing?

This question would not remain unanswered for long. Angel bunny made his presence known. Hopping over to Fluttershy rapidly he immediately delivered a kick to Fluttershy. Who turned, getting a glimpse at his facial expression. Whatever it was, he wasn't happy.

"Oh, I'm sorry Angel, what's wrong?" While Fluttershy knew that Angel was at best uncaring, he wasn't usually immediately physical with her. So he must be very upset. Did she mix up his food? 

Angel hopped to the front door, making a gesturing motion. Follow me, it said. Fluttershy looked to the toaster, then to the book then to Angel then repeated the process. She reluctantly followed Angel out the front. She idly wondered what would be distracting her today. Hopefully nothing stressful.

When Fluttershy arrived she saw Angel attempting to fight a bag of bird seed. Clearly this was time for another game of charades. "Angel, what are you doing?" Maybe this would clue her in?

Angel simply pulled on the bag. Fortunately for the rabbit it wasn't a massive bag so it came down after a fight. The top portion of the bag split open, revealing its contents for all too see. The effect was immediate. 

As soon as the bag opened birds, previously hidden from view jumped into the fray. Hunting for something to eat. They were mostly Fluttershy's birds. At least, the ones that lived near her or that she was caring for. Still though, Fluttershy wasn't seeing the point. It should be clear that Angel wanted to feed the birds. Unless he just wanted to make a mess. But why? It wasn't as if the birds needed feeding, she had fed them yesterday. Hadn't she?

Fluttershy with a panic realized that no, no she hadn't fed the birds. Or the bunnies or the bears. Or any of the other creatures under her care. Angel wasn't upset that she mixed up his food, she hadn't given his his food.This added weight to her guilty conscious, this isn't something you do. You don't just forget to feed those who are dependent on you. Fluttershy pictured herself in a hospital, wasting away because the nurses forgot to bring her food. Not something she wanted to happen, and now she had caused it. She addressed Angel.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so so sorry Angel, I forgot!" Fluttershy picked up the rabbit. "It's just that I've been so busy and that I really needed to read that book and Twilight's been stressing me out and-" Angel, who had migrated to Fluttershy's hair put a paw over her mouth. The reasoning was obvious. Shut up and calm down. Fluttershy needed that. 

Fluttershy took a deep breath and squinted her eyes. "I'm really very sorry, Angel I'll make it up to you, I promise." Angel had a devilish grin on his face and nodded his head. Fluttershy would come to eat those words. She knew it, but she wasn't going to dispute it. She had left him and all of her other creatures hungry, because she was too caught up in her mess of a dream. 

Fluttershy heard the ping of the toaster, from inside the house. She still needed to eat of course, but as soon as she was done with that she would feed the animals. Fluttershy walked inside. She did feel guilty about eating first and then letting the animals eat, especially after she had starved them. But the toast was ready now, would be no good to let it waste.

The toast was prepared quickly and automatically. As Fluttershy sat down to eat her meager breakfast she looked to the book. It was with disappointment Fluttershy realized that this would put off her research by a few hours. her compulsion to learn hadn't gone away. In fact in the time since waking it had gotten all the more intense. Yet Fluttershy knew there was no way around it. she had to feed her animals. She had done too many bad things already and such a selfish act would break her. Yet it didn't get rid of the desire. No, need to read that book. She would just have to live with it for now. It should only take her an hour or so to feed the animals properly, so it wasn't as if this was cutting into her day. Yet unconscious desires like this are not so easily swayed.

Fluttershy's breakfast was finished with no fanfare. Dishes were ignored, of course. It was time to get to work. The tome mocked her from it's perch.

---0---

"And there you go Mr. Squirrel, again, I'm so very sorry." Mr. Squirrel simply took the peanuts he had been fed and raced up the tree. Fluttershy looked on with a small smile. 

That was it, that was the last of them. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. It had taken Fluttershy far longer to feed them all than expected. The struggle was finding them. With the animals all missing a meal, many had gone out to find their own food. Meaning that Fluttershy had to track them down and assure them that yes, She will keep feeding them, that was a fluke. What should have taken her an hour had stretched into two and a bit because of that. 

This also meant that Fluttershy was just about bursting to go read that book now. The need had scratched at the back of her mind. Consuming all thought until only thought about it remained.Meaning that Fluttershy was quite frankly desperate to read it now. She spent no time waiting, heading straight inside. She knew what the problem was now, also. All the animals had left. Many had returned now. This calmed Fluttershy to an extent. Not enough to stop her from reading the book right then and there. She grabbed it from where she had left it on the coffee table and headed for her room. Many of the animals watched her as she went. She didn't stop once.

Fluttershy threw the book onto her bed, following after it. She considered studying it proper, using her dream journal as a place to take notes, but thought better of it. She wasn't Twilight, she likely wouldn't get much out of the deal. So instead she opted to read it casually.

Fluttershy got herself comfortable. She got good and snug, closed the door and fluffed the pillows. It was all distraction really. As now that she had the book in-front of her, with no other responsibilities requiring her attention she felt great trepidation. This book had so much backed behind it now. It had the strange dream from her dream, her gut feeling telling her to read it, the royal seal and the fact that it was uncovered from some ancient temple from somewhere. What if she read it and it was nothing important? What if it's in another language? What if reading it causes her to unleash an ancient evil beyond her comprehension? Fluttershy knew that she was going to read it, there was no way around that. But she did delay it now that she was here. Like going last in public speaking. 

Fluttershy started with the royal seal. It was the real deal as far as Fluttershy could tell. Which wasn't much admittedly. It also served as a reminder that this book should not belong to her, causing a pang of familiar guilt. Despite being a bearer of an element, Fluttershy never got anything royal shipped to her. Fluttershy eventually cut through the trepidation and cut the royal seal, causing the bow to fall undone. The card came loose. It gave Fluttershy another excuse to hold off on reading the real deal. 

The card was clearly new. Added on as extra information to give context to the book itself. Fluttershy certainly wasn't going to ignore it. Flipping the card over it too bore the royal seal. It covered the opening of the envelope. Fluttershy's guilt deepened when she saw written on this side 'For Twilight Sparkle'. This card clearly wasn't meant for her either. This was worse though. While the book itself was a gift for Twilight, which she had taken out of necessity. This card was meant for Twilight only, it's contents specifically created for Twilight to view. Not her. Fluttershy thought about not opening it. It was the polite thing to do. However, she had gone this far and it wasn't like she could just give the card back with no book.

Despite her moral compass telling her not too, Fluttershy gently broke the royal seal. Fluttershy split open the envelope and held it upside down, the card came spilling out. Which was swiftly collected. 

Fluttershy looked the card over. She was surprised how... tacky it looked. This card came within a royal seal yet was clearly bought at some post office. It had all the trappings of a tourists post card. The front cover had a tasteful rendition of a small traditional Saddle Arabian town. The picture showed the sun setting over the town, creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of colour. This lovely photograph was ruined however. Some pony with no sense of art had slammed huge block letters over a large portion of the photograph. It simple said 'Greetings from Saddle Arabia!'. It wasn't even original. The back cover held all the important information. Mail source, mailing address, post code, to and from. Fluttershy saw the 'To: Twilight Sparkle'. It had a lessened effect the second time. Fluttershy saw that it was also from a Dr. Bones, the name itself seemed strange to Fluttershy but was even more strange was that it wasn't from the princesses? Yet it had the royal seal? Fluttershy didn't know much about how it worked however, so she didn't give it much mind. No more interesting information showed itself from the outside, meaning that she'd have to read somepony else's mail. Fluttershy really hoped that it would be worth it.

Looking inside Fluttershy was struck by the impressive calligraphy, whoever wrote this knew what they were doing. There were no images or diagrams of any-kind.  After a short internal debate, Fluttershy got reading. 

Dear Mrs. Twilight Sparkle.

Greetings! Assuming that all has gone well you should be expecting this letter. My name is Dry Bones though I would prefer Dr. Bones. I am the head researcher behind the ongoing research of this archeological site. As I understand it you are something of a mare of science yourself so allow me to elaborate. My role is too oversee the excavation and exploration of this site. The site itself is truly something to behold but I won't spoil it for you. Something tells me that I'll see you here soon enough. But I get ahead of myself. You are probably more Interested in the book bundled with this message.

The book was discovered approximately a week ago. An excavation team was exploring a tunnel when it ended in piled sand. It was discovered that the sand had been stuck there for thousands of years and hardened. This happened when one of the team members leaned too hard on it and fell into an atrium of some sorts. The book before you was found in that atrium. Whatever it contains must be of vital importance, There has been no other book at all located within the site and furthermore the level of preservation indicates that it was greatly cared for. I implore you to examine it closely, one wonders why it was so cared for. I should also give fair warning that the book is written in old Equestrian. Do know that while Equestrian hasn't changed much over the centuries, this will make detailed study more difficult. Something I understand you have a fondness for.

That should be everything you will have to worry about now. If new developments arise I will keep you and our princess informed. I also ask that you show me the same courtesy. Any new information you are able to find from the book will help me dearly. 

Best of Luck! Dr. Bones.

P.S - The Book has a magic dampening spell around it. We don't know where it originates from but be wary of using magic around it. Results so far have been unpredictable. 

Checking for consistencies sake Fluttershy reread over the letter, just in case she had missed anything. She hadn't. Fluttershy was disappointed with this. The letter felt so insubstantial. The only really important information she could glean from the document was that it may not be written in the Equestrian that she knew. Though to be fair that was a pretty major piece of information. She was going to be quite upset if she went to all this trouble for this book just to find out that she can't read the thing. But aside from that the letter held nothing else of value to her. Dr. Bones spent far too much time rambling about himself rather than giving any useful information. Say, a guide of the books contents. Plus, for obvious reasons there wasn't going to be any more correspondents so it wasn't like she could ask Dr. Bones for more information. There was the information on the dampening spell, but what did she know about spells? Fluttershy couldn't exactly cast on the thing. 

Fluttershy spent a few minutes analyzing the letter. Maybe she had missed something, at least, that was her hope. However as much as she checked and rechecked and rechecked no new information presented itself. She tried everything. Reading it backwards, reading the first letter of each line, reading the last letter, none of it worked. Fluttershy soon was defeated, placing the letter along with the discarded bow. Which left her with one final source.

The reason that Fluttershy analyzed the letter so intently was so that it would give her a clue. An insight for what was in that book. For while she did feel the desperate need to read it, rise the feelings of anxiety rose with them. She had good reason behind her anxiety as well. This book was supposedly ancient, discovered from a lost temple some thousands of years old. Yet it didn't have a scratch on it. With the modern looking binding it looked like it was printed a week ago. Didn't ancient civilizations use scrolls? There was more than that however. Fluttershy focused on her desire to read it. Why did she feel it so badly? She definitely did want to read this book, but she did more than that. She stole from one of her best friends for this book. She had kept it hidden from Rainbow, even when she knew she was hiding something. Why? It didn't feel right. 

However, Fluttershy wasn't going to get to the bottom of this by thinking at it. Action was needed. Fluttershy sucked in a breath. Rather than open the book just yet she would look it over. Yes that's the right course of action.

Fluttershy scrutinized the front cover. A soft light purple greeted her. It covered the whole book, top to bottom. The cover was minimalist at best. There was no title, no author, no publisher. No text at all. It wasn't needed. The only draw on the cover was that tree. It was barely a drawing really. Rather than being drawn on with any marker or anything, the tree was just indentation of the front cover. You could only really make out the tree if the light hit it just right. Fluttershy had the right light however, so the tree was obvious to her. It was strange, the trees from her dreams were supposed to be gigantic. Supposedly they twisted in unnatural ways. Yet this was bound to the confines of a book. Bound to the laws of the mortal world. It looked just like a tree. Yet Fluttershy knew that it wasn't the case. How did she know that? It added to her anxieties. 

Fluttershy flipped the book around, maybe more information could be gleaned here. It was not to be however. There was absolutely nothing on the back of the book. Just that same monotonous purple colour. Typical. This meant that there was no where to hide now, Fluttershy would have to get stuck into the book itself. All of her anxieties came to a head as she slowly opened the book to the first page.

Fluttershy let out a bated breath. Contrary to what her psyche showed her, Fluttershy survived opening the book. Furthermore she didn't even go mad from immortal knowledge. Not yet anyway. In fact the page revealed to her looked like the beginning of any book really. Well. Not really. To Fluttershy's knowledge most books opened with a table of contents or maybe a note to thank family members for sticking it through. This book however... just sort of begun. Right here on the very first page of the book was information. No credentials.

Fluttershy noted that there was one exception to this. The author. Printed on the back of the cover in a simple black font read "Written by Vigenère, the First". How strange. It was certainly the strangest name that Fluttershy had ever heard for a pony. But it didn't have to be a pony did it? Who knew what creature wrote this. The book being so old that literally anything could have written it. Fluttershy shook her head. She was getting distracted, she aimed for her prize.

And immediately hit a wall .Fluttershy really wanted to give Dr. Bones a piece of her mind right about now. The letter simply said that the old Equestrian made 'detailed study more difficult'.  But it wasn't just that. It was completely and utterly incomprehensible. Fluttershy was pretty sure some of this stuff wasn't even Equestrian characters. The letter said that Equestrian hadn't changed that much as time moved on. Did this guy know what language he was speaking? Maybe it was an academia thing. Fluttershy then bitterly realized that Twilight probably had a translation for this somewhere in her study. If she couldn't just translate it instantly with magic. 

Fluttershy's despair was mitigated somewhat when she saw that the next page had pictures. Maybe she could get a clue out of this after all. Fluttershy desperately hoped that was the case. If she didn't then who know what would happen? She might be stuck with restless nights for the rest of her life. Fluttershy shuddered. Take your mind off of it, You have the pictures. Fluttershy studied the first picture she saw closely.

It was a small picture. Jammed between two paragraphs of doubtlessly crucial, but unknowable information. Fluttershy marveled at its quality. For while it was clearly drawn with simple markers and maybe a bit of crayon, their application was flawless. The picture oozed detailing. Fluttershy knew that this was drawn by a professional artist. Which was why its content was so jarring. The picture showed tentacles. Many of them. The depiction showed them all flowing upward, seemingly pointing them at one central point. What, if anything, they were pointing at was not shown. Disappointing. A splash of pink seemed to indicate that there was something amongst the feelers. Whatever it was could not be made out. Again, disappointing. The picture made Fluttershy's skin crawl. It was the combination of the high quality artistry with the vaguely esoteric imagery that did it for Fluttershy. Content this strange should not be done this well.

Fluttershy just as she was about to move on, noticed something strange. A flap of paper, no larger than an ant had folded itself up. Pulling the fold all the way revealed that the page wasn't broken. There was still paper underneath. Then what was the fold then? Pressing her hoof against the page, Fluttershy felt a tiny bump. So small it could barely be felt at all, yet it told her all she needed to know. This was a separate piece of paper! Somepony had glued this picture over something else in the book. It made Fluttershy immediately curious. what were they trying to hide? Fluttershy applied more pressure to the picture. Maybe she could pull it off. Yet the adhesive proved stalwart in its defense. Fluttershy soon gave up pulling the image off. Anymore pressure and she was likely to tear the whole page out. She didn't want to damage the book that wasn't technically hers.

Fluttershy spent the next few minutes flipping through the book. Aside from the curiosity from the source of the pictures, this whole book was turning out to be a bust. Which was very frustrating to Fluttershy considering the lengths she went to acquire it. She done those bad things, and for what gain? Each page revealed more unusable information and creepy imagery, all superbly done and none being originally from the book. How strange. Fluttershy was tempted to just throw the book away at this point. So far she had gained nothing out of it aside from unrest and stress. Consciously Fluttershy knew that she couldn't throw it away. Even if there was only a one percent chance of the book giving her anything useful, she wouldn't live with herself if she didn't try. Eventually, Fluttershy's perseverance would pay off.

It was about two thirds of the way through the book. Fluttershy had all but zoned out at this point. Thinking about her life stuck with the dreams. How she would apologize to Twilight so she could handle this and she could go back to tending to her animals. She took notice of something as she automatically flipped the page. Focused fully on the book now, she threw the page back. There! The picture was larger than the average. Still beautifully created, yet not upsetting like the other pictures, at least, not in the same way. This picture was somepony's cutie-mark. Yet it wasn't just somepony's. It was hers.

Fluttershy quickly darted her head around the room. To Fluttershy's immense surprise and relief there was nopony there. Fluttershy's gaze lingered on the door for a moment before returning back to the book. Right there, in front of her in that book was her cutie-mark. The same three yellow and pink butterflies, arranged in the exact same locations. Fluttershy nursed a deep unease. How? How could that possibly be there? This book was ancient, how did it know what her cutie-mark looked like? Better question, why was her cutie-mark in there? Fluttershy felt ready to vomit. This- this made no sense. At all. It was all just a massive coincidence, it had to be. Fluttershy knew her reasoning was paper thin. 

Fluttershy took a moment to recenter herself, as questions swirled in her mind. Fluttershy thought back to one of Iron Will's techniques. It was quite simple. Fluttershy closed her eyes and breathed. deep.

Fluttershy counted to three, she let out the gathered air.

One, two, three. Another breathe.

One, two, three. And there it went.

A breathe in.

A breathe out.

Fluttershy repeated this process for several minutes. Allowing the dangerous thoughts to flow from her mind slowly, like from a tap, just barely turned. Fluttershy was soon at peace with herself. Few thoughts caressed her mind. Slowly and surely she allowed her eyes to open again. 

The book still lay in front of her. Her cutie-mark still was still impossibly presented to her in this ancient text. Fluttershy's controlled breathing hiccuped for a moment. Some more gentle breathing exercises calmed her down enough to the point that Fluttershy could rationally deal with this terrifying information.

Despite her best however, Fluttershy still could not make heads or tails of the image. The two big how and why questions tormented her with questions that could not be answered. This picture was attached with all the other images after the printing of the book. But that didn't really answer how nor why. This whole book was turning out to be one giant mystery. Fluttershy laughed silently to herself. Why did she expect any different?

With nothing else that could be done Fluttershy reluctantly moved on. Flipping the book over to the next page. Instantly Fluttershy recognized the next image. It was her dream again, artfully brought into the real world. Specifically those grand yet gaunt trees. The picture was much like the one on the page previous. Taking up the majority of the room on the page single hoofed.  

This image raised a few questions of its own. Though nothing compared to the one found the page previous. Fluttershy felt that she would get the answers from this book, but never realized how the book would provide those answers. How did her dreams correlate to the information in this book? If only she could read it. Then she wouldn't be in this problem.

Yet the sad truth was that Fluttershy couldn't read it, no matter how much she desperately wanted too. Fluttershy wasn't about to abandon what she had found either. This so far is the only find of any significance she has found. Fluttershy very quickly flipped through the rest of the book, a hoof tracking her page. She had a feeling that this would be the only thing of interest for her. Her quick search revealing little of interest. Though she didn't exactly scrutinize the continuing pages. But she didn't care, she had what she wanted.

Fluttershy flipped back and fourth between the relevant images as she thought. What was it about these two images in particular that shouted out to her. She stopped and stared into the depiction of her cutie mark. Any hidden symbols? She picked up the book and held it against her window. Maybe a messaged revealed with light? No such luck. Fluttershy flipped back to the trees. Performing the same process. No help there either.

Fluttershy flipped back to her cutie-mark. She knew she was missing something.

Back to the trees. But what? there wasn't anything left to scrutinize.

Back to the cutie-mark. It wasn't a coincidence that these two images were next to each other, this much she was sure of.

Back to the trees. Maybe it had something to do with that fact?

Fluttershy stopped. Slowly she turned to the next page. More unusable text and uncomfortable images. But that wasn't why she was here. Fluttershy slowly turned the page back. Bringing her to the trees. Then back again. Back and forth, back and forth she went. A small smile graced her lips.

These two pages were different. Somewhere in her subconscious she knew exactly how these pages were different, it just hadn't reached her conscious mind yet. Fluttershy performed more testing on the two pages. Involving much flipping of them. Trying something different, Fluttershy moved the book to her side. She unfurled a wing and performed the same action with her wings. The far more sensitive flight muscles were easily able to discern the weakness. Her smile grew larger. 

These pages weighed differently! But how? Actually no, not how, why? Fluttershy very carefully flipped the page between the trees and her cutie mark. This was the heavier page, this much she was sure of. Fluttershy thought carefully, why would this page be heavier? She thought to other oddities she found within this book. Her first thought went straight to the images. Rather the fact they're glued on. Whoever the author of this book was had made some seriously last minute changes. They could have done the same here. 

The book was not Equestrian. Despite what Dr. Bones assured her, however the same did not hold true for the page numbers. They were all in the Equestrian she knew. Looking to the page with her cutie-mark showed a number '212', Fluttershy checked back a page to ensure that this was the page numbering. '211'. She skimmed all the way back. The numbering checked out. The book got stranger when she got back to the first page. '9'. Fluttershy was baffled, where had the first eight pages gone? Did they even exist? Fluttershy didn't dwell on this, she quickly returned to page two hundred and twelve. 

She flipped the page over, her hunch was correct. There on the next page. '215'. These two pages had, for some reason been glued together. That's why they were heavier! 

Fluttershy looked at the page. Now that she knew what she was looking for, it was much easier to spot. The job had been immaculately done. With nary a crease to be found. But it wasn't perfect. Squinting her eyes as best she could Fluttershy could see the line where the two pages intersected, proving her theory rigorously and finally

This left her with another question. Why was this page glued together anyways? It was almost certainly hiding something. That much she was sure of. But, if they didn't want to let her see something, why include it in the first place? Just tear out the segment that she wasn't meant to see and she would never be able to see it. Very strange.

Fluttershy with no other leads to go on attempted to separate the pages. For all she knew all she needed could be right on that page. This drove her to try harder. Fluttershy started by simply attempting to peel the pages apart. This gave Fluttershy more headway than she anticipated. that is to say she made any at all rather than nothing. The pages parted at the edge just a tiny amount. No more than a few millimeters, yet it was the confidence boost needed to bolster her efforts. Fluttershy continued to peel, small amounts at a time. It was slow work. But it worked none the less. Assumedly the larger the piece of paper the less effective the glue was. Clearly whoever had done this hadn't thought of that. It made Fluttershy feel clever. Briefly overtaking the other emotions bubbling underneath. 

Due to the speed of her efforts Fluttershy began to zone out . Fluttershy was snapped back to reality when she saw something fall out of the crevasse. Fluttershy stopped peeling. It was a small piece of paper, no bigger than a library card. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. The trail didn't end here. Her efforts weren't for nought.

On first inspection the page was completely blank. At least, on the front. Turning the page over revealed text. Fluttershy hungrily read it.

jz rhy nndf ui dgsn rzpf fblxvs njpmx zs kt qmvlmxie htpsol uslqptblw tx vclaufr mie ysgsnr iq fs eff mxoieys mg mxixvrmcs bbwi ptfp jxxgxzyj yox xgwlwp rium rsl fcc oim yscqzufx

rhy rwp amilx

"I... what?" Fluttershy had been so excited, so sure that this would hold her answer. Instead she got this. Fluttershy didn't even have it in her to be angry. Fluttershy simply deflated, falling flat on her bed. She wanted to cry. This whole book had been nothing but a slog, but she accepted that. After opening it and seeing its contents, Fluttershy knew that this was going to be tough. And tough through it she did. But she was supposed to be done here. She did it. She found the secret that would lead her to her enlightenment. And she was denied it. At the last moment. Fluttershy flopped to her side. Away from the book.

Fluttershy remained like this, unmoving. The emotional toil that the book itself had put on her, let alone recent events left her emotionally exhausted. So she laid there and brooded. 

Sixty seconds passed. No movement.

Two minutes passed. No movement.

Five minutes passed. A hoof twitched. 

Eight minutes passed. An ear swiveled.

Twelve minutes passed. Fluttershy flipped over, facing the book.

Fifteen minutes passed. Fluttershy sighed. 

Fluttershy raised herself from her bed. She sat up now looking back into the book. As much as she wanted too Fluttershy couldn't quit, not yet. The need to know gnawed at her, what with her being so close to the source of information. She tried and failed to ignore it. So she sat, looking at the book and the note. 

But what could she do? She had already read through the majority of the book, and she had a feeling the remainder wont be much different. She already read the letter that came with the book, it was all but useless to her. The note was in complete gibberish. Fluttershy realized she had yet to finish prying the pages apart.

Fluttershy quickly opened the book, flying to the page or rather pages that were stuck together, Fluttershy continued the prying process. In her excitement to get another clue Fluttershy performed the action with far more gusto than previously. This was a poor idea. Fluttershy normally knew that excess speed would tear the paper. However with current state her wisdom was discarded. She was punished for it with an agonizing ripping sound.

Fluttershy immediately cringed at the sound. Squinting her eyes shut. Over a moment, Fluttershy slowly reopened them, dreading the damage. It was heavy. A clean tear cut straight from the edges of the paper to the middle. Only a small section of paper in the center was undamaged. Fluttershy berated herself, this wasn't her book. 

Fortunately for her, the tear, while all but catastrophic for the integrity of the page, did little to prevent reading from it. Extra bonus, the rapid splitting had damaged the page but still had still done the job quickly. The pages were fully separated at this point. Fluttershy looked in and saw... nothing.

There was absolutely nothing between the two pages. No text, nor images, completely blank. Fluttershy meekly whimpered at this. She should know better than to get her hopes up. This book loved to disappoint.

This brought Fluttershy back to her original problem. Namely, where to go from here? Fluttershy breathed deeply. She needed to be clever about this, consider all her options. Make a logical decision. Her head already hurt from thinking about it. Fluttershy was not used to this much planning.

After much deliberation on how she would do it, Fluttershy got to work. She first brought together all the things that she had amassed thus far. Putting them in a neat line. Once this was done, Fluttershy looked over the assorted mysteries. There was the book itself, obviously, the little note that she had found from within the pages, the letter that had come with the book, and even the bow that the book came in. It was a small selection. What next? Then she would eliminate the irrelevant pieces. The bow was the first to go. Unless there was a secret inside the royal seal itself, the bow would be useless. Fluttershy doubted that, so it was discarded. Next to go was the letter. This had nothing to do with the book, just something the archeologist sent through separately. This left her with the book and the note. She didn't discard either. 

So now she had the valuable pieces but why were they valuable? The answer was obvious. They held secrets that she desired. So what are the secrets then? Fluttershy felt a headache coming on. She pushed through it and started with the book. There were three things that were mysterious about the book. The illegible text, the strange images and her cutie-mark. Fluttershy went through them one by one. 

The text was definitely the most frustrating thing about the book. All she needed was technically in-front of her yet she had no way of obtaining it. So what could she do about it? Well the obvious answer was translate it. But that meant a visit to Twilight, something she hoped to avoid. Plus, this was a whole books worth of information. Fluttershy's head already hurt from just this. Translating it was way out of her league. 

Okay so what about the images? Well they were creepy that much she knew, but what information could they hold. Fluttershy flipped though the book, browsing them as they went. She noticed that the images weren't really related to each other. In fact very few had anything to do with anything at all. Only a hoof-full of them were related to her dreams at all. Fluttershy took this as a sign to ignore them. Well not all of them.

There was still the image of her cutie mark. It's implications haunting her. What could she get from this picture? This book was ancient, but maybe someone tampered with it? Is that why all the images are glued on? That would make sense for how her cutie-mark got on it. It would also mean that it would have to be somepony she knew. But of anypony she knew, who would want to put her cutie-mark and a whole bunch of weird images in an old book in an old temple. It didn't add up. There was only the note left. She would return here if nothing else came up. 

Fluttershy looked the note up and down. What was it trying to tell her. Well the simple answer was that she didn't know. It was nonsensical. But then why would they make the note in the first place, and go to all that trouble to hide it? It had to mean something. 

Fluttershy's head was truly throbbing by this point, but she pressed on. She looked closer at the message. There was an order to the chaos, for despite the gibberish that the text itself was, there was still spaces between them like normal Equestrian. Now that she had lead, she looked closer. Some words were longer than others, with two letter ones between the bigger ones. 

She was reminded of her days at Flight Academy. Bullying policy was enforced well at that school so her tormentors would get creative once the old tricks stopped working. They would whisper to her as she trotted by and 'accidentally' knock into her when she held things. They would even disguise notes with other words so they could write her all sorts of atrocious things. Then it clicked.

This wasn't gibberish, it was a cipher.

Now that she knew, Fluttershy felt like an idiot. Of course it was a cipher! Any other pony would take one look at that and know without hesitation. As much as she berated herself she still needed to think. As much as she didn't want too. If it was a cipher then she needed to crack it. But how would she do that? She treated animals, not crack codes. She knew nothing about them. It was with a sinking feeling Fluttershy realized she did know a pony who would have an idea. 

She would have to visit Twilight, again.

Fluttershy put her head in her hooves. Sighing deeply.
> Chapter 5: Guard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy despite the need to understand still clawing at her, did not visit Twilight immediately. This was of two minds. Firstly Fluttershy was frazzled after reading the book. It was an emotional roller coaster. All ups and downs, but mostly downs, leaving a toll on her psyche. Secondly Fluttershy really didn't want to talk to Twilight anytime soon. She still harbored  feelings of guilt toward her. That wasn't all though.Twilight could still call her out for stealing the book at anytime. She couldn't forget the mystery pony either. Fluttershy was supposed to be scared of somepony for that old lie she cobbled together. Meaning that she had to act the part as well. It was no surprise that she held off the arrival for as long as she could.

Yet the need was not sated, and it came back soon enough. Forcing her toward her goal. Leaving Fluttershy meandering toward Twilight's place. It was mid day by this point. A wonderful day really. Ponies were milling about, not having to worry about building intrigue. The sun was out, with nary a cloud insight. Yet Fluttershy did not feel the majesty of the day. It was a familiar anxiety telling her to shy away from her problems, them today being Twilight. Fluttershy looked around again. In her eyes the sun and the ponies under it were mocking her. Look at this fine day, they seemed to say. No problems, no stress, just fantastic day for relishing under Celestia's sun. Fluttershy had a small scowl, hidden behind her hair.

Fluttershy was in town center now. The ponies were everywhere now. Filling every crack and crevice. Social anxiety bubbled quietly. Not a comfortable place, she moved a bit quicker. At least until she remembered where she was going. It was an uncomfortable dilemma. Unavoidable dread no matter what.

Fluttershy just kept her head down as she moved. This would be her downfall, literally. Fluttershy unceremoniously collided with somepony, tumbling to the floor with a meaty thunk.

There was a courteous laugh. "You really should be more careful where you are careful where you move darling." Fluttershy didn't have to guess who she had hit.

A white hoof presented itself. Fluttershy easily accepted it. Removing herself from the earth she had occupied. "It's quite unlady like." Wow, thanks Rarity.

Fluttershy didn't mention this slight. "Oh, sorry, I uh... wasn't watching where I was going." Fluttershy hid behind her hair. Rarity was right, it was unlady like. How embarrassing.

Rarity smiled a simple smile. "Ah, ah, ah, don't fret my dear. As far as I'm concerned that never happened." Rarity added a wink to accentuate the point. Fluttershy was grateful for Rarities discretion. 

There were no words between them for a moment. Fluttershy acted before it got awkward. "Well, whats happening Rarity?" Fluttershy had noted that Rarity had looked extra chipper this morning. It was a good topic as any.

Rarity laughed to herself. Clearly she had been expecting that question. "Well. I'm glad you asked, see I've just got invited to a fashion show." Rarity was grinning as she said it. Must be a big one then.

Fluttershy probed that. She brushed her hair to her side. "What fashion show?"

Rarity's grin got wider. "Why, the fashion show of course! The biennial Design Toccata! Oooh, isn't it exciting!" Rarity had grabbed Fluttershy and pulled her closer for added effect.

Fluttershy gently pushed the infused Rarity off of her. "Wow, that sounds very exciting Rarity, congratulations." Fluttershy wore a genuine smile.

Rarity barely noticed her speak. "It's held by Hoity Toity every two years to find the best fashion designers in all of Equestria! The fact that I've even been invited is just..." Rarity did an excited little dance. Hilarious.

Fluttershy gave Rarity a lopsided look. It brought her back down. "Yes, um, that didn't happen." Silence for a moment. "Well I've been given some tickets if you would come along?" Ah, so that's why she brought it up.

Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. "When would this be?" She did want to go but...

Rarity was quizzical. "Hm, well, if memory serves correctly, it should be from the fifth of September to the ninth of September." Pause. "I might have to recheck however." Fluttershy hoped she would.

That would place the event around a week and a half from now. Quickly running the math that was exactly twelve days from now. Fluttershy didn't like this, not at all. It purely came down to her dreams. They had happened again this morning. While they weren't as vivid as the worst of her dreams she had written down. These ones she still remember. Normally they would fade within minutes, but today they stuck. Making them all the worse. It was just so off. She had to know as soon as possible and she didn't want any distractions like this fashion show pulling her off of her course. 

Fluttershy considered lying to Rarity but crushed it quickly. She didn't like how easily that thought came to her. "Oh, sorry Rarity, not this time." Fluttershy chose her words carefully so Rarity wouldn't jump to conclusions. 

Rarity pouted at that answer. "Oh poo, why not darling? It'll be fun." Great, now she had to explain herself to Rarity.

Again the thought to lie came up. She wanted to get rid of the thought but how? She certainly wasn't going to tell the truth and she couldn't just be vague about it. Rarity wanted a real answer. With limited time Fluttershy lied for the second time. "Sorry Rarity, some of the animals need intense care." The words came out smoothly. To Fluttershy's distaste.

Rarity simply sighed at this. "Oh, well if you've got a good reason." That stung. "It's a shame though, maybe some of the other girls would be interested?" The problem was especially frustrating for Fluttershy because she genuinely would like to go. She had been in fashion briefly herself and, outside the runway, was actually quite fun. But this was a big problem. One that completely consumed her time and attention. If she were to go to the fashion show, she knew that she would only by distracted. Restless. It would have to wait.

Fluttershy realized that Rarity was still expecting a response. "I'm, um not sure Rarity. Maybe uh..." Fluttershy really didn't know who to recommend. This was not something most of the girls are usually interested in. Rainbow would hate it on principle, Pinkie would get bored, Applejack probably wouldn't care and Twilight would... Come to think of it maybe Twilight might like it? It would mean Twilight would be out of town for a few days. Which would be a plus. "Maybe Twilight?"

Rarity was all too happy with that answer. "Hm, you may be onto something there dear. I thank you for the suggestion." Yes that would leave Fluttershy with just a little less to worry about.

Fluttershy threw on a smile. "Glad to help Rarity. Good luck." Rarity uttered a generic thank you before trotting off, to where Fluttershy didn't know but that wasn't her priority.

The conversation had briefly distracted Fluttershy from her goal. But the distraction was gone now and her stomach twisted in on itself in response. There was nothing else to distract her now so Fluttershy continued on to her goal, one hoof at a time. Fluttershy hated every minute of it.

---0---

Before Fluttershy knew it, or felt comfortable about it, she arrived at Twilight's home. This second arrival felt far worse than her first. She was undergoing the same problem, but now there were stakes in it. She had lied and stolen from Twilight after all, so who knew what would happen? Twilight might find out on this visit in particular and then she would be done for. Despite all of this Fluttershy felt more composed. Ironically however in order to work into the scary pony narrative, Fluttershy would have to act scared. It was a strange concoction of emotions.

Fluttershy simply stood at the door for a time. Letting the feelings abate as she allowed herself to calm down. She was still delaying the inevitable, she knew that. But the comfort of inaction was intoxicating. For a second at least. Eventually Fluttershy did feel confident enough to knock. So she did exactly that. It could even be heard this time.

The tapping of claws was surprisingly immediate. Her anxiety flared for a moment. Not in a huge way, but definitely enough to hitch a breath. She readied herself for the reveal. In the moment she remembered. The act! Fluttershy did what she could in the short seconds she had. She lowered her head to the ground, drooped her tail a bit and hid behind the hair. That should be pretty convincing. 

Within the next moment the door swung open unceremoniously, Spike was shown within, ready for anything. "Oh hey Flutters, what's up?"

Fluttershy wondered if she should act scared around Spike. Fluttershy reasoned that she had already started now. "Hello Spike, do you mind if I come in." Fluttershy threw a look behind her for authenticity's sake. "Quickly?"

The effect worked as Spike made a gesture with his claw, granting entry. He had an eyebrow raised. "Yeah sure. You, ah, got something on your mind there pal?" Fluttershy shuffled in quickly. Closing the door behind her for good measure. You have to be consistent to be convincing.

Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hair. "Could you get Twilight please? Thank you." Fluttershy didn't really want Spike to be apart of this. He was too young and she didn't want to lie anymore than she had too.

Spike's eyebrow merely continued to raise. He didn't audibly object though. Spike simply turned around and yelled upstairs. "Hey Twilight!"

A muffled voice was heard from above, no doubt Twilight's. "What Spike, you know I'm busy here!"

Spike turned and gave Fluttershy a look. Making her stifle a giggle. "Fluttershy's here, and shes acting weird!" Fluttershy held another giggle back. Spike was ever so sensitive.

A brisk trot was heard, before Twilight popped her head around the doorway. "Spike! you can't just say things about ponies like that!" Fluttershy who had reverted to her normal posture, quickly put up the disguise again. She was in the dragon's den now.

Spike kicked the floor around him. "Yeah your right, sorry Fluttershy." Fluttershy knew that Spike wasn't really sorry. The immediate, clean response told her that he had since rehearsed this. But Fluttershy wasn't going to call him out on it. Not now anyways.

A fake smile. "Your excused Spike." Twilight nodded in approval at this. Clearly she didn't have the understanding that Fluttershy did here. She smiled inwardly, keeping her vulnerability showing.

Twilight wasn't done however. "Now then Spike, as punishment I want you to make me and Fluttershy here some tea." It wasn't a real punishment obviously. Spike liked cooking. He probably would have made some tea anyways. Fluttershy spotted the smile he conspicuously hid from Twilight as he went to the Kitchen. He was still a baby dragon after all.

With Spike's exodus, the room was left with only Twilight and Fluttershy. She felt the anxiety again, now that she was alone with Twilight, but she didn't let it rule her. It was becoming a familiar feeling at this point. 

Twilight opened. "Sorry about that, now, what can I do for you Fluttershy?" Now that was the golden question wasn't it? Fluttershy needed help with a cipher of all things. How would she explain that to Twilight without it seeming weird or suspicious. She was certainly not the kind of pony who would deal with this sort of thing regularly.

Time was running against her, she needed to say something. "Oh, I've uh, I need help with... something." It was by no means a smooth sentence and Fluttershy's nervousness showed. But it wasn't all bad. It was very convincing for her little lie. 

Twilight went back to being overly-sympathetic. Which Fluttershy naturally found unbearable. "Oh." Twilight softened her facial features. "Why don't you follow me and we can talk about it?" Fluttershy had little choice. She was going to get to the bottom of this today, so she might as well endure another uncomfortable conversation.

Fluttershy reluctantly followed Twilight upstairs. She idly wondered how Twilight would approach this 'problem'. She wouldn't wait long, as soon as Fluttershy was in Twilight's bedroom she closed the door.

"It's the pony again isn't it?" Twilight looked pained as she said it. Fluttershy felt pained as she received it. She hated making others feel like this.

Fluttershy deliberately lowered her voice, as to be ashamed to admit it. She was ashamed, just for the wrong reasons. "Y-yes it is." 

Twilight surprisingly came in for a hug. Fluttershy felt it pretty early for her to do this. "Oh, Fluttershy I don't know what this pony did to you, but I swear I'm going to do everything in my power to help you through this." Fluttershy felt Twilight was being a bit forward. But she was moved none the less and acted the part as well.

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes, pretending to be at the edge of crying. "Th-thank you, Twilight really." She pulled away from the hug and looked Twilight in the eyes. "But this is something I need to deal with myself." Fluttershy hoped that this whole pony ordeal would blow over, and to do that she needed to distance Twilight from it.

Twilight looked frustrated. Surprisingly. "But why Fluttershy? You have me, you have all of your friends who can help you! Think back to Applejack's harvest." Fluttershy knew where she was going with this. "She tried to do it all by herself and look where it got her." Twilight broke off her tangent for a moment. As Fluttershy went to speak she was cut off. "I'm your friend Fluttershy, let me help you." Twilight was looking with intent again. 

Fluttershy didn't know what to say here. What Twilight said had clearly been a long time coming. If she said no here she worried she might hurt her friendship with Twilight. Not that she wasn't already risking it of course. But she needed to appease her somewhat, so what could she say.

Fluttershy realized that she could buy some more time here. "Let- let me think about it, please?" Fluttershy was hopeful that she could think her way out if this before long.

Twilight was happy with that. She smiled and brought herself down to Fluttershy's level. "Tell you what, I'll go help Spike fix up lunch and when I can come back you can tell me then, alright?" Fluttershy simply nodded in response. Hoping that would be enough time. Twilight made a casual exit, looking back to Fluttershy before moving down stairs. Fluttershy was alone now. 

Fluttershy felt a calm return to her, she didn't realize how much that conversation stressed her until now. She looked around the room casually. Now what? She had to think of something, and quickly. Who knew how long it would take to make lunch, it could be ten minutes or ten seconds for all she knew. Fluttershy racked her brain. She needed to concede ground on the pony without actually revealing anything. She couldn't back out now, If Twilight came back and she didn't give her anything she would be so disappointed. Fluttershy really didn't want to do that.

So she thought and thought. What could she say about the mystery pony? Maybe she could say a name, but that was way too risky. If she gave a name, even a fake one, then Twilight would no doubt look it up and the whole thing would fall to pieces. She could say why she was scared of the pony. It would satisfy Twilight without giving anything away, but the idea made her skin crawl. She didn't want to lie about being abused or something equally horrid.Fluttershy decided that, it would be a last measure only. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Fluttershy had to think outside of the box, and she knew it. What else did she have to work with? She thought on it. Well, she had the ciphered message. She had brought it here to be decoded after all. Maybe she could say it was a message from the pony? But what would that achieve. Fluttershy smiled to herself. It was perfect. She could say that the message was from the pony and that she came to Twilight to get it deciphered so she could learn more. That way she could get Twilight off her back with the pony and she could get the message deciphered without it being suspicious. Bam! Two birds with one stone. Fluttershy wished she'd stop saying that.

With a course of action plotted Fluttershy was left in silence in Twilight's room. It had to have been a good couple of minutes now. What was taking so long. Tea did not take this long to make, Fluttershy had extensive experience in this. So what were they making. Maybe Twilight was making a big lunch to butter her up into talking about the pony. Fluttershy didn't mind though. Lunch sounded good.

The minutes ticked on and there was still no sign of Twilight. Fluttershy was getting bored at this point. She re-examined the room. Books, books and wow, books. Aside from the books it was an incredibly dull bedroom. Leaving her little to see and do. Fluttershy then noticed a small study table, nestled into one of the bookshelves. Fluttershy berated herself for not spotting it sooner. The table was currently strewn with various papers and works, strewn in the Twilight sense of extremely organized chaos. All of the loose paper gave Fluttershy an idea.

A large reason for Fluttershy's anxiety coming hear was fear of being caught lying or being the one who stole the book. She really had no idea how much Twilight knew. She glanced to the table. But maybe something there could let her know? 

Fluttershy initially dismissed the idea without a second thought. She had already done some not nice things to Twilight, she didn't want to snoop around in her business. But the allure of knowing was very tempting. It wasn't as if Fluttershy had nothing to gain here either. What she read could be the difference between being caught or not. Between sustaining her and Twilight's friendship and losing it. For all she knew Twilight might have the answers here. Very tempting indeed. Fluttershy sighed, she worried she was becoming too comfortable doing things like this. But she also felt that she had no option. Thinking about it, it was too risky not to look through Twilight's things.

Fluttershy glided over to the small workstation, it's contents now clearer to the pegasus. It was immediately apparent to Fluttershy that she had interrupted Twilight's work by coming in. Judging by the strewn quills and fresh ink. She would feel bad but she had done worse already so it had little effect. Closer inspection revealed it to be a letter to the Princess. This is definitely something she needed to see. She began reading without delay.

Dear Princess Celestia

Sorry for replying so soon, I know you requested silence but this is important. The book has not arrived yet. You said that I should have gotten it a few days ago, however nothing had turned up. Considering how important this is you can understand my anxiousness to get started. I wonder, has their been a delay in the mail service? And why have you sent it by mail anyways? Has something else come up? I've received a follow up letter from the 'Dr. Bones' yet I haven't got the book yet. It's strange fo-  

That was all that was written down. Fluttershy reasoned that Twilight must have been writing it as she came in, hence why it was incomplete. The effort wasn't for nought however, the writing did have one interesting tidbit. The follow up correspondence could give her a big clue here. Maybe it would tell her how to read the text of the book, or give clues for what the pictures mean. Fluttershy had to know.

Fluttershy looked over the table. There were many different pieces of parchment strewn around. How would she know which ones the follow up?  Short answer, she didn't. Long answer, much to Fluttershy's chagrin, she would have to find out the long way. Trial and error. Fluttershy performed one more quick check, maybe there was an index, Twilight did love to organize after all. Her search turned up nothing. With no better option Fluttershy picked a paper at random and got reading.

It was almost entirely irrelevant. This trend followed for all the other papers in this stack. This stack seemed to be entirely dedicated to Twilight's friendship letters to the Princess. A note at the top of each page showed that Celestia sent them back to Twilight after she had read them. Maybe she wanted to make a book out of them? Fluttershy realized she was getting side tracked reading through these. None the less she sloughed through the pile. If what she was looking for was here all along she'd never forgive herself.

The strategy bared fruit when she came upon one of the papers near the bottom. One thing separated this page from the others, it was creased. Fluttershy wondered why that was. She read on to find out.

Dear my most faithful student.

Apologies if this letter comes across as random. A situation has come up that requires my and now your attention. Now, allow me to explain. A few days prior Shining Armour sent a squadron of pegasi guards to scout out a griffon encampment in the San Palomino desert, believing it to be military in nature. The griffons turned out to be a gang of know bandits, laying low from the law. However that is another story. On the way to the encampment the Scouts reported an anomalous temple. Reports say that the temple was an onyx black all over, following a Manueline architecture style. The report stated that the Temple, quote: "looked brand new". This was intriguing for me as nothing had ever lived in that region in my time. Naturally upon discovering this I sent a team of explorers to map out the structure.

Now while this is all very interesting, I assume you are no doubt anxious to where this is heading. So I'll cut to the chase, as it were. So yes the explorers located the temple and well, explored it. The details are lost on me but at some point a book was uncovered. This was reported to me quickly. From what I understand this is the only book that was found in the temple. So I would wager that it holds significance. This is why I want you to study the book Twilight.

Now I understand that you may be somewhat daunted by this task, but know that I have full faith in you. You are a smart pony Twilight and out of all the ponies I could have picked for this task, know that you are best suited for it. With this said I do expect some urgency for this task. The contents of this book are completely foreign to me, if they unveil anything dangerous I want to be prepared. Understand this well.

I wish you good luck with your studies Twilight. However I will have to ask that you do not reply to me for now. Matters of state require my utmost attention for the close future. I will not be able to reply to your letters. I have informed the chief archeologist of the site a 'Dr. Bones' of your involvement. If you have any questions, please send them to him. I hoof picked him as expedition lead so be rest assured that he will be responsive and competent.

You should expect the book in three days from now, Dr. Bones will explain in further detail.

Good Luck Twilight!

Princess Caelum Celestia, Solar Diarch 

Now this was not what Fluttershy was looking for. It wasn't a waste of time either though. For starters it gave Celestia's personal account on the whole mystery, which admittedly, wasn't much different to Twilight's account but it was still useful to be sure. Secondly it eased Fluttershy's nervousness somewhat. This and the previous letter pointed towards Twilight being completely ignorant of Fluttershy's involvement, just the way she wanted it. Fluttershy didn't feel out of the woods yet however. She still needed to read Dr. Bones correspondence. If nothing in there gave her away then she would theoretically be cleared. Fluttershy wouldn't feel comfortable until that was the case.

Fluttershy continued to read through the friendship letters. Very sweet, but ultimately just wasting her time. Fluttershy was getting paranoid now, Twilight could burst through that door at any second. On the search went. Nope, friendship letter. Nope, friendship letter with grocery list on the back. Nope, letter from Rainbow Dash about her fanfiction. Fluttershy resorted to just skimming the titles, hopefully she wouldn't miss what she was looking for.

Thankfully she didn't. The very last page in the stack bore a 'Dear Twilight Sparkle' instead of 'Dear Princess Celestia', which caught her eye. The bottom of the page confirmed it too be from Dr. Bones. Fluttershy didn't waste time, focusing on the paper.

Dear Ms Twilight Sparkle

Hello! It's me again, how are you finding the book? It is certainly mysterious is it not? I hope you've had a better time parsing it's meaning than I had! Though I have made a few discoveries about it's contents since I've handed it over to you. See we've had a few linguists join our party as of late and they've helped decipher the text on the walls. See they actually gi- 

The door burst open. "Fluttershy, I'm so so sorry for taking so long I-" Twilight looked at Fluttershy. "What are you doing?"

Fluttershy had since moved by that point. She had quickly slipped the letter on the pile and faced Twilight. Her biggest, fakest smile on her face. "Oh, I er... nothing!" Fluttershy's stomach dropped out. She had almost certainly been caught this time.

Twilight was still by the doorway, an eyebrow raised. "You weren't looking through my stuff were you?" Fluttershy didn't know what to say.

Fluttershy grinned a sheepish grin that she couldn't control. "No!" A few moments passed. Fluttershy wilted under Twilight's gaze. "maybe?" Fluttershy felt a heat on her face.

Twilight began walking to Fluttershy. Then, once she was close, she facehoofed. "Fluttershy... just ah, don't do that." It seemed Twilight had no idea how to respond. It was small comfort for Fluttershy.

Fluttershy, who had shrunk back by this point, simply nodded a small nod. She had hadn't felt this embarrased in a long time. Thankfully Twilight didn't seem overly bothered by her crime.

Twilight's expression hardened. "I'm serious Fluttershy, you can't go through other ponies things like that. It's a breach of privacy." Never-mind. It seemed she was getting a lecture of her own now. Fluttershy felt that she got off light here.

Twilight's expression returned to neutral for a moment. No words were uttered. Twilight looked to the contents of her writing desk. Then, slowly, Twilight's expression returned to Fluttershy with a smile. " Y'know Fluttershy if you wanted to know more about the temple you could have just asked." This made Fluttershy feel even more ashamed. Of course she could have just asked! Why would Twilight deny her, she was her friend after all. Yet she had been treating her like an adversary. The whole thing made Fluttershy feel silly more than anything else.

Silence suffocated the room, with Fluttershy feeling far to awkward to speak and Twilight having already said her piece. Eventually however something would have to be said. Fluttershy opened her mouth. "Sorry Twilight." It was a simple phrase, but it was all that was needed.

Twilight smiled a small smile. "It's alright Fluttershy, who knows maybe this could be a good friendship lesson?" Fluttershy laughed internally at this. As if she'd ever let this get out. 

"Maybe." A beat. "Probably not." At this, a chuckle was shared between Twilight and Fluttershy, washing the tension from the room. Fluttershy went to speak.

But Twilight beat her to the chase. "Anyways, so sorry for taking so long there Fluttershy. The Crusaders wanted to try their hand at tea making." Fluttershy gave Twilight a serious nod in reply, that would explain a great deal. "So you will have to excuse the delay." Fluttershy then spotted the tea tray, which had been left on the floor near the doorway.

"Do you mind if I...?" Fluttershy pointed to the tea tray, Twilight nodded silently. Fluttershy quickly prepared herself some tea as Twilight kept talking. "So yes, now that you've had some time to think about it, can you tell me anything about this pony?" Her tone was less dire than before, but Fluttershy knew that the same implications hid behind that conversationalist tone. She chose her next words carefully. 

Fluttershy poured herself a cup. "Well... sorry but I can't tell you about the pony themselves." Twilight frowned at this. "But, there is something I need your help with." It was hard to tell how Twilight felt about this response. She seemed more intrigued more than anything. Fluttershy swallowed her anxiety. 

"I think it was yesterday when it happened." 

Twilight immediately cut Fluttershy off. "What? what happened?" Clearly she was anxious to know.

Fluttershy shook her head in response to this. A clear message to cut it out. "I got a message through the mail and its... from the the pony." Twilight was clearly at the edge of her proverbial seat. Fluttershy took a sip. 

"Well? What did it say?" She gasped. "Was it a threat?" The tea helped keep Fluttershy calm in this pivotal moment. 

Fluttershy pretended to be quizzical for a moment. "Well... I'm not really sure." 

Twilight was taken aback "What do you mean? can't you read it?" Fluttershy smiled internally.

She took out the note, which had been hidden under her wing. "Well no." She offered it to Twilight, who snatched it with her magic.

Fluttershy waited with baited breath as Twilight looked over the document. Her reaction was, strange, to say the least. Her expression was one of... suspicion? She looked like she wanted to burn the thing. 

Twilight slowly looked over to Fluttershy, her expression hadn't changed and it was making Fluttershy nervous, did she mess up? "So this is the message from the pony." Fluttershy nodded, trying to keep up her act. "This one? right here." She pointed at it for emphasis. Fluttershy felt very unnerved at this point but nodded along anyways. She hoped she hadn't made a big mistake here. 

Eventually Twilight sighed with a look of resignation that made Fluttershy want to hide. Something was wrong, she knew it in her heart, but what? Her musings were cut short. "Well I can understand why you can't read it, it's all in a cipher." Very helpful Twilight.

Fluttershy, worrying for the integrity for her story, played the fool. "W-what's a cipher?" Maybe if she looked more innocent then she was Twilight would back off in her suspicion of the message. Fluttershy desperately tried to think, what had she done to give herself away? Fluttershy racked her brain as Twilight answered the question.

Twilight when posed the question, went straight into lecturer mode. "Well, a cipher is a common method of disguising text so that unwelcome viewers won't be able to understand the message. They have been used in various pivotal moments in history such as..." At this point Fluttershy stopped listening. She focused her efforts on understanding what she had done to arouse Twilight's suspicion. Nothing came up, in her eyes her plan was flawless, unless she did something stupid at any rate. Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe Twilight was just having a bad memory. Bullies had used similar methods on her as a foal, did Twilight have any bullies at the same age?

"Fluttershy were you even listening?" Oh yeah, Twilight had been talking. Fluttershy once again felt embarrassed, though this time it was a far less severe feeling.

Fluttershy tried to come up with a coy or clever response, but found nothing. "I- no, sorry Twilight." She looked away slightly. 

Twilight had been sighing a lot lately. "No, your fine Fluttershy, I was trailing off again." Fluttershy looked back to Twilight, majority of the embarrassment gone. "Now, let's see what we can do about this message." Fluttershy noticed that as Twilight spoke she seemed more and more introspective. By the end of the sentence she was all but mumbling to herself. Fluttershy was on high guard. 

Despite this Fluttershy needed to say something. "So, um, where do we start? I don't know much about these cipher things." Fluttershy tried to add to the effect. "Or anything at all." She had to really sell it here.

Twilight's face flickered for a moment. She clearly wanted to start lecturing again, but held herself back. "Well, the thing with a cipher is that there is supposed to be a key. In most uses, whoever the recipient is will have the key so that they can decode it themselves. I don't suppose you'd have the key for this would you?"

Fluttershy didn't like this. Wouldn't it be suspicious if she didn't have the key for a message that, theoretically was to be intended for her?  Fluttershy sunk a little bit. Her story was flimsier than she thought. But it was too late, she had started now so she would have to follow it through. "Well... I, um... no, no I don't" Fluttershy butchered that sentence, hopefully it wouldn't be too strange. 

If Twilight thought anything of it, she didn't show it. Her expression carefully neutral. It was unnerving. "Well if you don't have any idea how to crack the cipher then we will have to do so ourselves." Fluttershy didn't like what that entailed.

None the less, she had to know. "And how would we do that?" 

Twilight's mood dropped a little bit. "With great difficulty." Nothing was ever easy for her was it? "First we will need to figure out what cipher it is, which could take hours all by itself. Then we'd need to crack the cipher ourselves. Which, depending on the cipher could take anything from minutes to years." Fluttershy sincerely hoped it was the first option. 

Fluttershy took a moment to gestate. While she did know about ciphers, how they actually worked was pretty much foreign to her. So this information was welcome to her. it was also deeply terrifying. It could take years to decode some of the ciphers? She wanted, no, needed to know now. She would go crazy if she could never figure it out! Fluttershy's troubles were shown externally. Her eyes dilated and she started to cold sweat. It wasn't unnoticed.

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. "You okay there Fluttershy? You can talk to me if you need to." The statement reminded Fluttershy about her issues as a whole. The dream. Fluttershy honestly wished she could talk about it. Yet she also wished anything but that. She did appreciate help, but the thought of telling Twilight or anypony really made her sick to her stomach. With the idea shaking her to her core. She hated it with a passion. 

Fluttershy left the daydream. She answered hastily. "Oh, I'm fine." A nothing statement to give time for her to readjust.

Twilight frowned. "Fluttershy you need to stop lying." Ouch, straight through the heart. "What's wrong?" The directness of Twilight's statement forced a response out of her. "Sorry, it's just... I really need to know what this says." Fluttershy felt proud of that answer, a double meaning.

Twilight took her hoof of Fluttershy's shoulder. Whatever compassion had possessed Twilight there faded. "Yes we do don't we?" This raised an uncomfortable realization in Fluttershy. She needed to get Twilight to decipher the message, without her actually reading it. It would almost certainly give her away. Fluttershy was beginning to regret coming here. It was already far too risky. 

Fluttershy decided to push it. "We?"

Twilight looked at Fluttershy for moment, then blinked. "Well uh... I would like to read it also?" Twilight's voice held a deadpan snark in it. Twilight clearly thought it was obvious that she would get to read the note also. This was troubling, surely it would make it more suspicious if she denied her. Try as she might though, Fluttershy couldn't find a way around it.

She bit the bullet. "Well, um... I'd rather keep it, private." A beat, during which Twilight focused of Fluttershy. "If you don't mind." She'd had better not mind.

Twilight gave Fluttershy a very unbecoming look. "Really?! Oh come on Fluttershy, how are we going to deal with the pony if you can't give me anything! I still don't know their name for Celestia's sake." Fluttershy expected a lot, but she didn't expect Twilight to explode like that. Clearly she was more invested in the lie than Fluttershy originally thought. 

Fluttershy found an excuse. "Sorry Twilight, but this is very private matter." Fluttershy then added something, it was risky but it would be far more convincing. "I promised I wouldn't tell anypony." It made sense didn't it?

Twilight changed gears. Going from anger to sympathy alarmingly quickly. "Look Fluttershy I understand that but..." Did she have something she wanted to say?

Fluttershy decided to find out. "But what?"

Twilight looked very uncomfortable here. For a moment she said nothing, simply fidgeting to herself. The moment passed. "I, um... Oh never mind." Twilight looked at Fluttershy with... reluctance? "Look, Fluttershy you can keep the note to yourself if you really want to. Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically at this. "But! you have to tell me about this pony." Fluttershy sighed inwardly. She was getting nowhere fast here. They were supposed to be deciphering the note, not bickering. 

Fluttershy went to speak, but it seemed Twilight knew what she was going to say. "Not now." Oh?. "You don't have to tell me now, but at some point you will tell me everything." That didn't seem like such a bad deal. "Everything." This gave Fluttershy pause, who stopped to think about the proposal.

So the deal was that she could get Twilight to not read the note, but in exchange would have to tell Twilight about the lie. Much like everything else today, risky. While she did have time to come up with a good story, she didn't know if she was capable of producing one. It wasn't if Fluttershy thought lowly of herself, but rather that she thought highly of Twilight. She was Princess Celestia's personal student, master of magic and defeater of various monsters and evil-doers. If there was anypony who could see through a simple story, it would be her. But on the other hoof, what else could she do to stop Twilight from reading the note. She obviously was curious, though she wasn't admitting it. Fluttershy wasn't going to forcibly hide it from her, mainly because Twilight could overpower her in a heartbeat. She might be able to come up with some other lie. But moral quandary aside, Fluttershy was feeling antsy. she just wanted to get the note decoded and learn more. She didn't want to waste anymore time. 

Fluttershy looked away from Twilight. "Okay." Twilight smiled at this. Seemed awfully smug from Fluttershy's perspective. "But... I need time, please." Fluttershy spoke softly. "This isn't easy." Another wonderful double meaning. 

Twilight offered her hoof. Fluttershy felt like she was signing a blood contract. Bone the less she shook Twilight's hoof with wet noodle strength. Twilight didn't seem to care though.

Twilight then spoke, with a small smile. "Pinkie promise?" Well that would all but seal the deal in stone. Fluttershy followed through the motions, paranoid the pink one would burst out at any moment.

"Stick a cup-cake in my eye." She never showed up. The silly phrases and gestures helped Fluttershy calm down, only a little bit. Every bit counted.

Twilight, who now wore a small smile took the lead. "Well then, where were we?"

"Starting with the cipher." Didn't Twilight say this would take hours? Fluttershy tried to get comfortable.

"Yes right! So first we need to figure out which cipher it is." Fluttershy let Twilight do most of the talking, she had no idea what she would be doing.

None the less she acted as something to bounce off of. "How do we do that?"

This sprung Twilight into action. "Well! each cipher has their own unique method of coding text. For example the Caesar cipher will just shift the letters of the words back a few times. Therefore if we move the letters back on the first word between one and ten times and nothing comes up we can safely rule that one out." Hadn't Twilight gone massively off course in the middle of that explanation?

"Well what about the others?" How many ciphers are there anyways? Fluttershy felt exhausted thinking about it.

Twilight didn't look away from the work she had been doing, scribbling down words of nonsense. "It depends basically. Since every cipher is different, how you break them is different also. It's a lot of work." Fluttershy pulled up a cushion next to Twilight.

Fluttershy watched her work for a time. Fluttershy didn't understand most of it. Or any of it really. She seemed to be trying all sorts of stuff, yet none of it stuck. She was still curious however. "How many ciphers are there?"

Twilight again didn't look away from the page. She spoke distracted. "Well there are quite a few. You've got your simple substitution, which is just word replacement." More writing. "Then you've got more complex stuff like Block ciphers or Affine ciphers, those are the ones that I said could take years to decode." Fluttershy sunk back on her cushion. "Yeah, let's hope it's not one of those." Fluttershy wasn't happy with this answer. She wanted to know how many ciphers there are period. Not just 'a lot'.

She spoke softly. "Do you think you could name some?"

Twilight still didn't look away from the page. It's contents were quickly filling now. "Hm, there's Morse, substitution like I said, R. O. T. Thirteen, Affine, Caesar, Atbash, Vigenere, Enigma, Block, Hash and... oh what was it called?" Fluttershy wasn't listening anymore.

Something about those ciphers jumped out at her. She could feel it in her gut. But what was it exactly? Examining the feeling told her that it was something familiar. Like an old textbook half remembered. But again, what? Most of those names sounded like complete nonsense to her. She tried to reason them out. First was Morse. Wasn't that used in telegrams? No that wasn't it. R. O. T. Thirteen was certainly intriguing, but it sounded utterly alien to Fluttershy. Not it either. Affine just had nothing going for it. And Caesar was the one that Twilight was working on right now. Fluttershy skipped past it, if that cipher had anything to do with anything, she would find out. Atbash? Again no interesting information presented itself. It was promptly skipped. Vigenere? Now that felt familiar. It danced at the tip of her tongue. She knew she had heard it from somewhere, but where? A few seconds passed before it hit her.

"That was the author!" Fluttershy exclaimed, in the heat of the moment.

Twilight yelled is surprises, falling off her cushion. She soon re-orientated herself. "Fluttershy! what was that all about?" Twilight was clearly annoyed to have been ripped from her chair. Fluttershy was beet red.

Fluttershy felt both embarrassed and caught. She sincerely hoped that Twilight hadn't actually listened to what she said. That could be catastrophic. "Oh it's just um..." She gave herself and Twilight a moment to calm down.  "I think I know what cipher the note might be." As time ticked on Fluttershy's anxieties grew, she really really really hoped that Twilight didn't actually listen to what she had yelled.

If Twilight did hear her, she said nothing. "Oh really? what is it?" Her annoyance gave way to intrigue. Fluttershy could only assume that Twilight was excited to not go through each cipher manually. 

Fluttershy peered to the page. Twilight had written down all possibilities as a list. She pointed to Vigenere. "I think it might be that one."

Twilight's reaction was unexpected. She looked at Fluttershy like she had grown two heads. "Vigenere? Are you sure." Fluttershy felt like she was making a mistake again. None the less she nodded. Twilight narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, Fluttershy noticed. "Alright we can try that one..." Why was Twilight so suspicious of this cipher in particular? Fluttershy considered back tracking. But ultimately stood her ground.

Twilight then rounded on Fluttershy. "But why that one in particular? You yelled something out so what did you realize?" Fluttershy felt very on the spot. Those were some piercing questions. She needed to think and fast.

"Oh well um... I... don't know?" Fluttershy wanted to bang her head on a wall. She had all but confirmed her suspicion now. Thankfully for her Twilight didn't push it. She simply looked back to the page and got to work, using the Vigenere cipher. Fluttershy heard Twilight whisper under her breath. "Funny that..." Fluttershy obviously didn't know something here and it was ruining her. 

As Fluttershy stewed, Twilight talked. "So in order for the Vigenere cipher to work there needs to be key." Fluttershy was surprised. Twilight was grilling her just a moment ago. Why was she suddenly acting like nothing was wrong. If Twilight pushed it she could uncover everything right here and now. Yet she held back? Fluttershy wasn't going to complain.

Fluttershy quickly realized she still needed to respond. "Oh.. okay so um, how d-do you find the key?" Fluttershy was shaken. Still just at the mercy of Twilight. It unnerved her to no end. 

Twilight seemed a bit more deadpan than before. "It's something that you need to know Fluttershy. The key could be literally any string of letters, so try to think of something relevant to you Fluttershy." Something relevant to her? "Since you seem to know about this." the statement kept Fluttershy on edge, she couldn't let out anymore slip ups.

Fluttershy gave herself a moment to think. So if the key could be anything what would it be. She thought back to the book, it wouldn't be something random she had to know that. Clearly this was meant to be another puzzle for her. Well for Twilight, but she was doing it now. The cipher used was planted in the book as the author so maybe the key would be as well? She sincerely wished she could use the book right now, she would have to do it from memory.

She then tried to remember, what was it in the book that was strange. Well there were many things that were strange in that book, but what stood out? There was the glued on images, the uncomfortable nature of said images, her cutie mark and the terrifyingly familiar tress. Fluttershy supposed she could try all of them.

There was one small problem with this. Fluttershy, not knowing how Vigenere worked herself, would have to run these through Twilight. She really didn't want Twilight to see what would be on that note for obvious reasons. She would have to get Twilight to teach her.

But first figure out the key, Twilight had been waiting all this time after all. Fluttershy picked a word out that had at least something to do with the book. "Um, try glue?" Fluttershy felt very silly doing this.

Twilight gave her a look of not suspicion, but genuine confusion for a moment. She then shrugged to herself and did the work, it took no longer than thirty seconds for her to complete. When she did Twilight turned her head and shook it at Fluttershy. "No good." Fluttershy would not be so easily deterred.

She tried another vaguely related word. "Maybe scary?" It was the best word she could think of too describe the various pictures.

Twilight clearly shifted at this, but her exact reaction was unknown. She didn't show her face. More timed passed. "Not it either." Surely there had to be a better way to do this.

To be fair, Twilight did say it could take years. This was the better way. "Forest?" She had a feeling that it would have something to do with her dreams. Everything else did at this point.

"Nope." Maybe she needed a synonym?

"Trees?"

"Keep trying." She did.

"Woods?"

Twilight did her work. "Nup"

"Uh..." Whats another word for a forest? "Woodlands?"

Pause. "Maybe try something else?" She was probably right, there weren't any more ways you could say forest.

What else was there? "Snow?" The picture after the note did show snow after all. The only other option past that was her cutie-mark and she really didn't want to even reference it. The less spoken about that being in the book, the better.

Yet her options were becoming more and more limited. "Afraid not." Unless the key was a snow synonym she had no other clues to go on. Which would leave her at square one. Fluttershy, desperately trying to avoid that bit the bullet.

"Butterflies?" It made her uncomfortable to say honestly. But she was glad that she said it none the less.

"Not it." Fluttershy was surprised, but couldn't place why. She supposed that the suspense around the choice made it seem more likely that it would be the right one. She wasn't done yet however, like the trees there were a fair few synonyms it could be.

At least she thought there was. Try as she might she couldn't actually think of anything. It was a deep frustration, this was supposed to be her topic of expertise. Still though she had to say something, so she branched out.

"Swarm?" Now this was a stretch. She did remember those butterflies now, importantly how they swarmed in impossible ways. But again it was a stretch, it didn't really make too much sense in the grand scheme of things. 

Sure enough. "That's not it either." Twilight looked to Fluttershy. "Hey do you mind if we take a break, I'm kinda running out of room on the page here." Fluttershy saw through the lame excuse. Obviously Twilight wanted to do something else. No doubt finish that letter she had been writing. But Fluttershy wasn't going to give it up. Not yet, not until she had made some progress. However her time was now running out. The way she saw it she had only one more chance before Twilight would make her stop. She had to make it count.

But the question was how? she had already exhausted her supply of strange things from the book. Admittedly there were holes that could patched but she no longer had the time to try them. She had a gut feeling it had to do with her cutie-mark. The feeling had only grown from earlier. It was understandable. Of all the things in that book, her cutie-mark being in it was the scariest thing, by a long shot. Since it had the most significance, it was most likely to play a role here. But what exactly then? She had already tried butterflies to no avail and there weren't really any other ways to say butterfly. She had to think outside the box.

Fluttershy swiftly realized she had left Twilight without a response. She resolved this quickly. "Oh sorry, Twilight I was uh, distracted there." Twilight gave her a look of veiled suspicion. Couldn't forget how Twilight saw her. "C-could you try butterfly?" It wasn't as clever as she had hoped, looks like she would have to wait.

Once the requisite time passed Twilight spoke, her voice quiet. "I think you might have it." Fluttershy was shocked, she rushed over to Twilight's work desk.

The desk was as she remembered it. The page that Twilight was writing on was not. It was stacked with words upon words of gibberish. Fluttershy paid them little mind. Her prize was circled near the bottom of the page. "if you" It wasn't much, but it was clear what Twilight was doing. Twilight only deciphered enough to know that the code is cracked. Fluttershy was immensely grateful, Twilight was honoring the deal. This would mean that she would need to decipher the rest herself, but Fluttershy silently assumed it wouldn't be that hard. But before that she would need to know how to decipher it. Meaning Twilight.

"So, um, Twilight could you teach me how to do the rest?" She felt she was missing something. "Oh! and um, thank you for helping me with this." Even with Twilight's correct suspicion she wouldn't be rude to her. 

Twilight seemed to approve the addendum. "Sure Fluttershy." So then Fluttershy learnt cryptology.

Fluttershy was surprisingly right. Turned out once you did have the key you would just have to go down a list of letters and match them up to the key. At least for this method. Fluttershy was thankful she only had to learn one method. As this one frankly already hurt her head somewhat. It was an exhaustive process.

Just as Twilight was finishing up, she rounded on Fluttershy. It shook her deeply. "Don't forget you have to tell me everything that's going on here Fluttershy." There was venom in her voice. "Everything." Fluttershy was certain she wouldn't forget now. She couldn't. Not with a threat like that.

Just like that the moment passed and Twilight reverted to her normal friendlier tone. "Well if that's all then I guess that I'll be seeing you later than Fluttershy." Was she trying to kick her out? Fluttershy rejected the negative outlook. It was more likely she wanted to get back to writing the letter that Fluttershy had oh so rudely interrupted. In fact it would probably be best if she left Twilight alone.

Fluttershy nodded her head in a small smile. "Thank you for the help Twilight."

"No problem. Now if you don't mind, there is business I need to attend to." So she was right. "If you want you could decode the message in the reading area." A good idea from the sound of it. Fluttershy turned to leave. As she did Twilight gave her one more pointed look. It was a crushing reminder that Twilight wouldn't let this slip by. Fluttershy knew she had done something to cause suspicion in Twilight, but had absolutely no idea what she had done. It was agonizing, you cant defend against that which you don't know after all.

Fluttershy quickly found herself a spot by the edge of the reading room where no prying eyes could see her work. There were others in the room. Spike was talking to some old pony renting out one book or another. Fluttershy paid them no mind, except to keep tabs on them. With all the secrecy she had been acting in, losing it that way would be frankly embarrassing. They seemed to pay her no mind.

Twilight made decoding look easy really. On second thought easy wasn't the right word, it wasn't difficult to decode the message. Quick would be a better choice.  You would have to find the letter you want to decode in a list, then check that against the key, then find the right combination of the letters and you would have to recheck you used the right word of the key, else you would mess the whole process up. It quickly became tedious.

Fluttershy noted that eventually the old pony left, in a bit of a huff is she saw correctly. They probably didn't have the right book or something like that.  Spike gave Fluttershy a quick wave, that was reciprocated, before he disappeared out the front door. He didn't even tell Twilight. What got his so antsy?

Fluttershy didn't dwell on the matter as she had more important business to attend to. She made a promise to herself not to look at the full picture until it was properly decoded. She didn't want this too be spoiled for herself, this thing that she spent so long obtaining. There was niggling concern that tugged at the back of her mind, along with the various other emotions she had felt over the last few days. She was deeply worried that the message would be irrelevant, or not mean anything. What if this whole book was irrelevant? It was ancient, what, realistically, were the chances that it would help her.

The anxiety grew to consume her. But it's advance was halted suddenly. Fluttershy looked down, a mess of words, boxes and letters, but it was done. Fluttershy did not delay. The desperation to know what it all meant had built to a boiling point.

The note, translated, read:

if you wish to know more listen close go to fourteen cirrus boulevard at exactly ten thirty pm on the seventh of september hide your identity and ensure that you are not followed

you are close

Fluttershy's first emotion upon reading was anxiety. This had certainly just escalated hadn't it? If this note was anything to go by then she wasn't just chasing scraps anymore. There were actually ponies, somewhere out there, that knew what was happening to her. Knew why it was happening to her. The possibilities were endless. How many ponies knew about this? Why hadn't she heard about anything like this before? Was it just that rare? Did they hide for a reason?

After a few more moments of debate Fluttershy started to feel truly suffocated. She felt so utterly out of her league here.  The way  she was it, she was just the town Vet, that's what she did. All she did. Not follow strange esoteric clues hidden between pages in an ancient tome. Sure she did go with the others and defeat evil monsters, but, how much of that was her? She wasn't particularly fit, nor amazingly smart. When push came to shove, Fluttershy reluctantly admitted that the others did the leg work. Particularly Twilight. Fluttershy knew why this book was destined for her. If she hadn't stolen the book from her then Twilight would be dealing with all this. She'd probably take it in stride too.

Fluttershy took a moment to breathe and process what had been happening. She consciously knew she was veering into despair and pulled herself out of it. Breathe, in and out. 

In.

And out.

She needed a plan. She knew this much straight away. A clear goal kept the demons at bay. Kept her moving and thinking. She needed to follow those directions. That much she was certain of. Fluttershy wanted nothing more than to simply know what was going on. Next she needed to figure out how to get there. The method was surprisingly convenient. Wasn't the Fashion Toccata running then? She looked the translation over again. In the same city too. It seemed suspiciously convenient to Fluttershy. But she wasn't going to lose the opportunity because of that. She would just tell Rarity that she would be going.

But she had already told Rarity she couldn't hadn't she? That she had sick animals needing care. Fluttershy sighed to herself. She would have to lie even more to get to go after all. All this lying was taxing her moral compass. She worried that it was becoming too easy to lie, too easy to cheat. But again, she wasn't going to miss out on this golden opportunity. She would never know if she did. The note itself said 'you are close'.

Fluttershy quickly folded the note and tucked it under her wing. She headed for the door, The Carousel Boutique in mind.
> Chapter 6: Flow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy stood before the boutique, A million thoughts running through her mind. Chiefly among them was how to tell Rarity that she could come to the fashion show, without it looking suspicious. She had already lied and said that she had a sick animal that needed attending too and now she would have to lie again in the other direction. There was a simple answer for this. The animal had made a miraculous recovery, but it didn't sit right with Fluttershy. She told Rarity of the animals plight earlier that day, was she really to believe that the animal would have recovered in the span of a few hours? She had implied that the animal required critical care after all.

It was a predicament, and she still didn't know what to do. However her determination had led her here and her determination made her knock on the door. Despite her poor preparation. She would have to wing it again it would seem.

There was no response, no acknowledgement from anypony inside. It gave her more time to think. Maybe she could say that she had somepony else look after the animal? That felt like it would be a poor reflection of her character. Out sourcing her care for the sake of a fashion show did not help her reputation. Maybe the miraculous recovery would be better? She needed some new ideas.

At that very thought the door swung open, revealing a small unicorn filly. "Oh, hey Fluttershy. Do you want me to get Rarity?" Straight to the point, Fluttershy appreciated that.

"Oh, yes please." Sweetie-Belle was sweet and all, but Fluttershy knew all too well how much of a hassle she could be. Hopefully she would give her some alone time with Rarity. 

Sweetie-Belle disappeared inside the house. Fluttershy went straight back to thinking. She needed a new idea, and she needed it fast. Maybe she could say the animal died? No no no, there were way too many things wrong with that Idea to even acknowledge. It was swiftly discarded. Fluttershy soon realized that she couldn't come up with something entirely new to say. She had dug herself too far in this morning. No, she needed something subtle. Something that isn't an outright lie that could be easily disproved. 

"Fluttershy darling, is that you? I'll be with you in a moment." The statement was shouted from across the house. Rarity was obviously deep within her work, something that Fluttershy was disturbing. It gave her a pang of guilt that dissipated as quickly as it came. Fluttershy realized she had more time to think and didn't delay. Right, something subtle that was it. What she could try and do was discredit her earlier lie. She could say that she was being dramatic, or that on second inspection, the animal was healing better than she had thought. It still wasn't perfect. It still felt like she was making up excuses to go to a fashion show, which she was technically, just for different reasons. 

"Equestria to Fluttershy!" Fluttershy blinked for a moment. She hadn't been that caught up, had she? Evidently she had, Sweetie-Belle trying everything she could to wake Fluttershy, while Rarity watched up with an amused expression. Rarity hid her smile when she realized that Fluttershy was watching her. She didn't hide it very well.

"Oh welcome back darling!" There was real sarcasm in that voice. "How are you doing today?" Fluttershy was never one for small talk, however she acknowledged it's use. If this was the angle that Rarity was aiming for then so be it. She was here for a reason after all.

A reason she still hadn't figured out. Oh dear. "Oh, I'm fine Rarity, just came back from Twilight's."

"Oh, have you now? Did you ask her if she could come to the Fashion Toccata?" Well that was certainly convenient.

"Actually that's why I'm here." A lull. "Do you mind if I come inside?" She knew she was running out of time now, she needed to think of something.

"Of course my dear." Rarity faced away from Fluttershy. "Sweetie, would you mind setting the table, for me and Fluttershy?" Fluttershy could here Sweetie-Belle's groan from here, evidently she did mind. 

Rarity's smile became mischievous. "Oh, ever so polite Sweetie!" Fluttershy and Rarity shared a smile. Sweetie's groan could be heard again. Didn't Sweetie-Belle have somewhere to be?

Rarity returned her attention to Fluttershy. "Now then, while that's happening why don't I show you what I've been working on? Since you won't be able to attend after all." This was a fantastic opportunity for Fluttershy to bring up her change in status. Fluttershy didn't take it however. She still hadn't thought of a good enough story.

Fluttershy answered simply. "That sounds wonderful Rarity."  Rarity's eye shined at this and she quickly pulled Fluttershy into her dressing room.

Fluttershy took in the sights. It was a truly staggering amount of dresses that greeted her. Normally Rarity's modus operandi was to make one dress as exquisite as possible. All of the detailing and consideration being poured into one quality product. These dresses were more... rough. That wasn't to say they were bad, far from it. Rarity was a highly talented dress maker after all. However it was clear that the normal level of detail hadn't been applied to these examples. Fluttershy was curious for what had caused the change.

"If you don't mind me asking Rarity, why so many dresses?" Fluttershy couldn't think of a politer way to say it.

Rarity didn't seem to take offense, she almost seemed to be expecting that very same question. "Well, these are practice dresses of course!" Fluttershy had never heard of anything like it.

"Practice dresses?" Fluttershy gave Rarity a befuddled look.

"Yes, practice dresses. See, the Fashion Toccata is different from all other fashion shows." Oh?

"How?" Maybe this had something to do with the note.

"Well am I to assume you know how a fashion show works?" Fluttershy nodded her head. "You make some dresses and have models bring them down the stage." Fluttershy nodded again, where was she going with this? 

"The difference with the Toccata is the dress making. You aren't allowed to make any before the show." But... what?

"But, then how do you show off your fashion then?" Wouldn't be a very interesting show otherwise.

"That's the rub dear. You have to make the dress as you go up. I myself have never seen anypony get more than an hour for any of their dresses." Well that would certainly explain the rush job of the practice dresses.

Fluttershy thought about it for a moment. It struck her as immensely wasteful. Though she would never tell Rarity that. She went for a more diplomatic approach. "So wouldn't you end up with many..." Fluttershy looked for a polite word. "rushed dresses." Fluttershy cringed slightly. That came out wrong.

Fortunately Rarity seemed to take little offense. "Oh have no fear my friend! This is an event run by Hoity-Toity, after a dress is complete it is given to a random audience goer." Well that's nice.

"Well how sweet of Hoity-Toity."

Rarity snickered. "Well, I think it's more for his image than anything else. But I suppose that theory works as well." 

There was a lull in the conversation, during which Fluttershy sauntered over to the dresses. As she looked them over she opened her mouth. Ideas were forming.

"So Rarity, are um, the dresses worn when they're handed out?" Fluttershy felt a tinge of anxiousness as she spoke. Fluttershy's intentions weren't pure, and it shone through.

"Of course darling! Hoity-Toity wouldn't have it any other way." The question enthused Rarity's passion for the craft.

"Oh okay." With this Fluttershy had a plan. The note had required that she hid her identity. No doubt to protect the secrecy of... whatever this was. With the Fashion Toccata going on at the same time, there was an easy excuse why she would be in full disguise. Her plan upset her moral compass however. As there was no guarantee that she would get a dress to herself she might have to steal one. She could ask Rarity to just make her a dress, but that would be odd wouldn't it. Wouldn't it?

"Hellooooo... Fluttershy?" she had done it again hadn't she?

"Oh so so sorry Rarity, I was um, thinking about something." Something felt a bit vague for Fluttershy's liking.

"Hm? Something huh? Maybe you should tell Rarity about it over some scones? The table is ready now." Turns out it was a big vague after all. Now she would have to think of a decent lie for what she was thinking of.

"Okay." Fluttershy was lead out of the dress room. However, the damage was done by this point. Her plan stuck in her mind, as much as her morals abhorred more theft, she didn't see an alternative, well for now at least.

Fluttershy was ushered into Rarity's small kitchen. The breakfast table would be their destination. A simple checkered cloth hastily donned over the top. Fluttershy could see the dishes that once adorned it lining the sink. Clearly, Sweetie-Belle was a stickler for a job well done. Clearly.

Rarity, if her expression was anything to go by, felt the same as Fluttershy. Unfortunately for her Sweetie-Belle had since vacated the area. Doubtlessly aware of her superb workmareship. Fluttershy heard Rarity say a few choice words under her breath, before returning her attention to Fluttershy. Her frustration with Sweetie-Belle hidden, for now. 

"Now then I do wonder what you were thinking about." Darn. She had completely lost focus there. Now she would have to wing it.

"Oh I was just um, thinking about the animals." Honestly, it wasn't bad. Fluttershy was glad that it wasn't another complete lie. Something that would naturally spin out of control and come back to bite her.

Rarity seemed surprised by that answer. Fluttershy couldn't fathom why. Try as she might. "Oh yes! the animals that's right. Very unfortunate that is, you have some injured do you not?" Fluttershy saw an easy opening there, she did not squander it.

Fluttershy did her best to look bashful. "Well um, I might have exaggerated just a little." Rarity was intrigued, she gave Fluttershy a beckoning motion. Go on.

"It's just that, I thought that the injuries were really severe." Fluttershy was internally racking her brain. Trying to figure out where she was going with this. "They were covered in b-blood." She knew was she was doing now, stuttering deliberately. "But I've had a better look now, and I think that they should make a fast recovery. Rarity looked excited, but was trying to hide it.

"How fast?" Fluttershy didn't need to be a genius to know why Rarity asked that.

"Well I'm not sure entirely. But it should be no more than a couple days." Hook, line.

"Does this mean you might be able to come to the Toccata?" Sinker.

Fluttershy said nothing, giving a simple nod. Rarity's smile grew wider as she propped her head on her front hooves.
"Oh you don't know how glad I am to here that darling! So glad to know that I will have a companion for the Toccata. It can get a bit dry by yourself." Fluttershy was all too familiar with the feeling.

Fluttershy herself was extremely grateful for how the conversation had gone. Rarity hadn't so much as questioned her reasoning for her change of mind. Though maybe she should have expected that. Rarity did want somepony to come along after all, of course she was less likely to make a fuss. Now all she needed to do was too make her exit.

"Also Fluttershy, If you don't mind me asking..." Fluttershy had a terrible feeling about this.

"Yes?"

"What were you and Twilight talking about on that Picnic a few days ago?" Turns out she was completely justified in her feeling. This was a can of worms that she had hoped to forget about. Or more accurately, others, to forget about.

"Oh it was just um..." Fluttershy didn't know what to say. What she could say. She certainly wasn't going to let Rarity in on the lie. It was already way too risky with Twilight knowing, what if she told somepony else? She could just not tell Rarity what had happened. But that would leave Rarity curious wouldn't it? No, she would have to try and think of something else. 

She didn't have the time however, Rarity awaited a response. "Oh it's just um... a secret between me and Twilight." Fluttershy was surprised with herself. It seemed that the truth was the best answer after all. Fluttershy did feel a tinge of shame there, truth should always be the best answer. Applejack would never let her hear the end of it for sure.

Rarity pouted at this response. "Oh I understand that dear, it's just... you looked like you were on the edge of tears and well... It just broke my heart." Rarity looked down. "If you don't want to tell me I-I understand." Fluttershy sat deep in thought. An inward rage clawed at her. She had hurt another close friend now. All due to that stupid lie that she didn't even think about. How much more of this was she going to do? Could she do? Hell she already had plans to steal a dress from somepony. What if they need it? What if the dress that they randomly get is the only thing they ever wanted? Fluttershy hated it. She was still in conversation however, she composed herself for a response. It was more difficult than expected.

What could she even say? "Well um... a-ask Twilight about it. I... don't want to talk about it." Well it was too late now, soon there would be another pony in on the lie that spun way out of control. Meaning that she would have to dig herself deeper and deeper. At least she wouldn't have to do the hard part herself. Ignorance is bliss after all.

"Well I suppose that will do." Rarity came in for a hug. Too many ponies had been hugging her lately, she didn't deserve it. "I understand that this is difficult Fluttershy." Fluttershy's internal anger grew. "Know that whatever Twilight tells me, I will keep to myself." the statement cooled Fluttershy's nerves. She hadn't even thought about the possibility, but it was a risk. At least until now, hopefully. She felt she ought to check.

"You promise?" Fluttershy played up her sadness, it made her feel slimy.

Rarity gave her a small smile. "Now trust me, I know I have a reputation of loose lips." Fluttershy knew this for sure. "But I would never give up something like this. Especially from a friend." Fluttershy was satisfied with this. The emotion in Rarity's voice gave away her intention. She was never as good an actor as she thought. 

Rarity broke off the hug upon seeing Fluttershy's approval. She quickly returned to her graceful, proper form. "Now then, now that we've got that uncomfortableness out of the way, how about a spot of tea? I would enjoy the break from my work." Fluttershy allowed herself to cool off, somewhat. She had originally just come here to ensure her spot in the Fashion Toccata. On reflection however, she knew she was stressing out. Some tea would certainly help with that.

"I'd love that Rarity." Rarity went to fetch a kettle. 

---0---

The tea session proved to be uneventful. Though it had done wonders for her mood, it was amazing what a simple distraction could do for ones mental state. That wasn't to say that it had gone perfectly however, her mind kept wandering back to her actions. Fluttershy knew that she was getting more comfortable lying to others, and it scared her. She sincerely hoped that the trend wouldn't continue. There was little action that could be taken for it however, so she did not allow the thoughts to consume her. She returned home with little trouble.

The rest of her day was a wonderful return to form for Fluttershy. Work with the critters which had been held off were brought to the front. The familiar work was deeply relaxing. It did leave her mind to wander however. There were many unanswered questions that played at her. Where did the note come from? How old was it? If it was in the original book, which Fluttershy doubted, how could it predict the future? Why Las Pegasus? Why was it so conveniently timed along with the Fashion Toccata? All these questions remained unanswered. Unanswerable. It was a deep frustration. With no recourse Fluttershy simply speculated. With this the work was done before she knew it. The sun hung low in the sky.

Fluttershy hit the awkward lull in her schedule. Not late enough to go to bed, but too late to go out, leaving her alone in her home. Fluttershy tried to do some light reading, she did have those books Rarity had given her after all. Yet the effort proved itself vain. She could not keep focus. At first it was the same questions that plagued her during her house work. Mainly about the note. However, those questions soon dried up. With no answer in sight, there was no development. Her conscious then moved to the dreams themselves.

She hadn't given the dreams themselves much thought as of late. Much to her surprise. They were the catalyst for all of the recent happenings after all. Fluttershy's memory of them was spotty. Though that was better than how it was originally. At least she did have memory of them. It was strange. Her questions on the note left her frustrated, clawing for answers that she knew that she couldn't get. The dreams were even more mysterious, yet she couldn't bring herself to be frustrated with not knowing. Not to say she didn't want to know, she was desperate to. But she still took solace in what she did know. Whatever it was about those dreams, it left her deeply relaxed. Fluttershy laid there, musing on her dreams as the sun slowly sunk into the horizon. She failed to notice. Further yet she failed to notice herself fall into a deep sleep. Her thoughts on the dreams soon became her reality.

---0---

Several days passed with little drama. Fluttershy would awake in a sweat, complete understanding and comprehension of the dreams fresh on her mind. Then, over the span of a minute, lose it all. Until she was left alone once again, grasping at the straws of a knowledge greater than her. The need to know would tug at her, dragging her away from the activities that would normally excite her. To Fluttershy, the Fashion Toccata could not come fast enough. Each day was slower than the last. She hated not being able to do anything, at least before she had leads to follow. But now she had no choice to sit and wait.

Despite the restlessness that this period brought Fluttershy, it wasn't completely uneventful. It started when Fluttershy was walking through the market. It was a regular routine, buying feed for the animals for while she was gone. She had already gotten Applejack to sit for her. Fluttershy felt a bit stupid that she had failed to consider getting somepony to look after the animals during her leave. It was probably a heat of the moment thing. 

The strangeness started when she went to buy carrots for Angel. Fluttershy approached the carrot vendor with little fanfare.

"Heya, Fluttershy. The usual?" Carrot-Top knew Fluttershy well by this point. New carrots were a regular need after all.

"Oh um, I actually need more. Maybe twenty?" Despite Fluttershy opening up over the last few years, she still felt the old anxieties around those she knew poorly. She would keep conversation brief.

"Can do Fluttershy. Now uh..." Carrot-Top looked around the cart. "Hey! I know there were more carrots here before!" As Carrot-Top said that two rabbits burst out from under the cart. A bag in a mouth each.

"Oh why I oughta..." Fluttershy watched as Carrot-Top gave chase, a broom in mouth. Fluttershy knew it would be hopeless. Nopony could catch a rabbit. 

With Carrot-Top off to chase rabbits, Fluttershy was left alone. With little to do to pass the time, and trying desperately to avoid thinking about the dreams, she scanned the market. Maybe something would catch her eye. 

Soon enough something did. Just two stalls down was a familiar apple cart. The cart itself didn't interest her, but it's inhabitants certainly did. Applejack was currently manning the stall, in what appeared to be a very hush-hush conversation with Twilight. This triggered several questions in Fluttershy. Firstly what Twilight was doing there in the first place? Twilight herself was a rare sight in the markets. Preferring usually to send the drake on more mundane shopping. For Twilight to be there would mean a special occasion. Secondly why was Twilight being so strange about it? She seemed to be trying to hide her voice from the market. What was she saying that would be so upsetting? Whatever it was Applejack wasn't having any of it. Judging from her facial features at least. Very strange. With nothing else to do, Fluttershy decided to investigate further.

Fluttershy sauntered over to the stall. As she got close she heard snippets of the conversation.

"-ust strange that it coincided so perfectly that's all. I mean I get-" Fluttershy was tempted to stay there and listen in, but the look Applejack was giving her convinced her otherwise. She would have to but in at some point anyways.

Fluttershy gave Twilight a gentle tap on the shoulder. Twilight turned quickly and immediately jumped up. "Fluttershy! how did you ah, how long were you there for?" Did Twilight not want her to hear her specifically? The thought worried Fluttershy. She already had a feeling that Twilight was on to her. This did not help ease her nerves. 

Applejack responded for Fluttershy. "Not long enough I reckon." Applejack had some venom in her voice. Whatever Twilight was saying to her, she didn't like one bit. Which was both comforting and concerning.

Nobody said anything for a time, so Fluttershy felt she needed to cut in. "Oh... well I was just wondering what you guys were talking about." Fluttershy doubted she'd get any real information out of that, but it was worth a shot.

Twilight, who had been standing there looking very awkward, took up the mantle. "Oh nothing! I was just asking Applejack if uh... when the cider season was starting! Yes that's it." Twilight was never a good liar. 

Applejack certainly thought so, she simple shook her head at Twilight's antics. "Something like that." Applejack's response surprised Fluttershy. Applejack's normal response would be to immediately call out a lie like that. Yet she was going along with it. Reluctantly, but going along with it none the less. The element of honesty was going along with it. Whatever she was talking about must be pretty serious. Fluttershy's anxiety grew.

Twilight clearly felt deeply uncomfortable. "Well um, if there's nothing else I guess I'll get going now..." Twilight trailed off as she said it, strolling away as casually as she could. She got a few looks as as she went. Including both Fluttershy and Applejack.

Fluttershy spoke first. "Uh, what was that about?" Applejack wouldn't lie, so maybe she'd get some information here.

Applejack put a hoof to the face. "Ah, can't tell yah Fluttershy. Pinkie Promise." There was a rustling from a nearby market stall. "But if yah ask me it's a bunch of hogwash." Well that wasn't very helpful. Fluttershy already knew how Applejack felt about Twilight's... something.

"Oh well um, is it about me?" Maybe she could tease out some more information.

Applejack looked at her strangely. "Now why'd yah think that?" Fluttershy's stomach twisted. She had just made a mistake there hadn't she?

Fluttershy quickly thought herself an excuse. "Well it's just, she got all scared when she saw me." Fluttershy looked away. "I thought I did something wrong." 

Applejack's expression softened. "Yeah, fair enough. Just, ah, look don't worry about it pumpkin. Twilight'll probably forget all about this by the week." Fluttershy sincerely hoped that would be the case.

"Oh, okay." Fluttershy didn't say anything else, she came close there to letting Applejack know something was going on. She wasn't planning on risking it again. 

A silence took over the area, where Fluttershy didn't risk saying anything and Applejack having nothing to say. Fluttershy was saved when Carrot-Top trotted up to her, two bags of carrots in her mouth.

"Sorry about that, the bastards are tricky aren't they?" Fluttershy held her mouth agape.

"How did you...?"

---0---

The incident at the apple cart was not isolated, as Fluttershy would soon discover. Another incident would happen when Fluttershy was at Applejack's farm. It was Berry Punches birthday, and the event had just started. Meaning Pinkie had piled the whole town into the Barn. Ponies mingled away with each other, enjoying a drink or two. Or three depending on who you asked. Fluttershy however struggled to join in on the festivities. Her anxiousness to find answers preventing her from feeling comfortable. Instead she merely stood off to the side, acting as a passive observer. 

The hours whiled away. Some ponies had come to talk to her, some coming out of sympathy, some out of inebriation. Fluttershy shot them down all the same. Hard to talk to a pony giving one word answers. Soon she was left well alone. Her vantage did give her good view of the happenings. The party was in swing by this point. Ponies danced and swayed, some drunk themselves under the table, sometimes literally. It was actually quite fun to watch.

Fluttershy performed another scan of the room. She took a half hearted sip from her mug, as she looked. She was wondering where her friends had gone off too. Outside of initial meeting and greeting she had seen little of them during the party. Depending on how she felt, she could fix that.

Pinkie-Pie was the first and by far the easiest to spot. She was making leaps and bounds across the make shift dance floor. While Pinkie would never be considered restrained, this was clearly the result of intoxication. She was creating a zone around her devoid of all others, them clearly not wanting to be whacked by a drunk earth ponies hoof at high speeds.  Though there was another in her dance zone. Some stallion that she could not put a name to danced with her. Fluttershy felt deeply uncomfortable watching the scene. She would have to try somepony else. She took a sip.

The next pony she was able to spot was Applejack. She sat in the center of a crowd of ponies, Forming a ring around her. Empty mugs littered the floor around her. The mare of the hour sat opposite her, a similar pile at her hooves. Fluttershy didn't need to be a genius to know a drinking when she was one. Judging by the expressions of both participants, the drinking contest was well under way. Though it would still be some time before it's close. And the inevitable vomiting afterwards. Fluttershy didn't particularly feel like she would make for stimulating conversation there. She continued her hunt. Rarity was usually a good choice.

Fluttershy didn't have to search long to find Rarity. She stood in the front of the ring of ponies, standing behind Applejack. Her expression was resignation. Much like Fluttershy she held a mug of cider and much like Fluttershy it was scarcely touched. Obviously she would be acting as support for when Applejack inevitably becomes catatonic. While Fluttershy did hope to talk to her, she didn't want to distract from her duty. Applejack will need the support after all. Fluttershy took a sip.

Fluttershy did begin to wonder however, where was Rainbow Dash? She was usually either trying to fight somepony or make love to them at this point. Whatever her approach, she was never subtle about it. She should be zooming about the room, yet there was no hide nor hair of her. It was certainly an anomaly.

After a time of searching Fluttershy found her in a quieter corner of the room. She nursed her mug of cider, looking toward Applejack with a small smile on her face. Fluttershy found Twilight along with her. She too was nursing a mug, but it clearly had a more noticeable affect on her. She swayed occasionally, her eyes often unfocused on anything in particular. It was common knowledge that Twilight couldn't hold her cider to save her life. Though Fluttershy knew she was no better. She felt the familiar warmth in her cheeks. Fluttershy ensured that she would pace herself. She didn't want to say anything she would regret. 

Fluttershy despite her reservations about talking with Twilight decided to join her and Rainbow's conversation. She initially wanted to be left alone, but the alcohol was convincing her otherwise. Aside from that, Fluttershy felt the isolation was beginning to feel depressing. Fluttershy trotted over to Rainbow and Twilight.

Unlike before Twilight did see her coming, yet Twilight did not jump, or change the subject of the conversation. In fact Fluttershy was starting to suspect Twilight didn't see her, how much had she been drinking?

Rainbow's reaction was far more immediate. "Oh hey, Flutters. Where ya been? I haven't seen ya all night!" Fluttershy felt good knowing that her isolation was noticed by somepony.

"Oh I was just um..." Fluttershy struggled to think of an excuse.

After a moment of silence Rainbow spoke. "Hey don't worry about it, come pull up a pew." Fluttershy smiled at that. Rainbow knew not to push the issue and Fluttershy respected that.

She felt she needed to say something, so Rainbow would know. "Thank you for caring Rainbow, really." Fluttershy was pretty sure it was the cider talking, but she didn't care. She took another sip. Maybe she had more that she had realized.

Rainbow put a hoof behind her head. "Hey no problem Fluttershy." Fluttershy knew that Rainbow was getting uncomfortable but once again struggled to care. She felt she needed to get this out.

"No seriously, you don't know how glad I was that somepony noticed that I was missing." Rainbow looked increasingly uncomfortable. Wilting under the praise. Fortunately for her Twilight couldn't hold it in anymore and had to say something. Fluttershy took a sip. 

"Fluttershy! I haven't seen you at all tonight! Where have you been hiding?" Even Fluttershy, tipsy as she was becoming knew that Twilight was drunker than she had originally expected. Did she not just hear that whole conversation? 

"Well I was by myself, just thinking about some stuff." Fluttershy stopped. She was getting more tipsy and she knew it. Through the haze she remembered, she can't tell anypony. She drilled it into her head. Don't tell anypony, even if you really want to. Don't tell anypony, even if you really want to.

Twilight leaned in. "Reaaally? What?" She swayed again.

Fluttershy tried to think of a decent excuse, thankfully for her Rainbow Dash cut in. "Hey no need to hassle her Twilight." The statement was uttered casually, but the meaning behind it was anything but.

Twilight simply pouted. "Fiiine, but I've got my eye on you!" She did the classic gesture. Pointing at her eye then pointing at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was glad she wasn't at Twilight's level, yet. She looked down toward her mug. Nearly empty.

Fluttershy still trying to not talk about it, tried to change the subject. She looked to Rainbow Dash. "So why aren't you drinking anyways? I figured you'd be worse than me and Twilight combined." Rainbow Dash snickered at this.

"Hey! I'm not that drunk!" Rainbow Dash gave her a look. "Am I?" Twilight went quiet after that, examining herself closely. It gave Rainbow Dash time to respond.

"Yeah well as much as I'd love to kick Applejack's flank over there." Fluttershy looked to the contest, it was beginning to destabilize. "I got work early tomorrow, so no bueno." Fair enough, it was a surprisingly mature decision from somepony like Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy took the last sip from her drink. Now she wanted another one...

Nopony said anything for a time. Rainbow Dash looking to the drinking contest with a grin on her face while Fluttershy pondered getting a refill. Just as the silence was getting awkward there was a loud thump from the otherside of Rainbow Dash.

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy looked over seeing that Twilight had finally tumbled. Twilight looked somewhere between confused and nauseous, she was probably feeling both. Fluttershy trotted over to see how bad it was. Rainbow Dash quickly followed suit.

Twilight was sprawled out on her side, with one hoof to her forehead. Eyes, fused shut. Clearly she had reached her limit.

Twilight herself acknowledged this. "Okay... I might have drunk more that I thought. Twilight was starting to sweat. Which was generally considered the prelude to the vomiting, which was when the real fun began.

Fluttershy thought it best to let Rainbow know. "She's gonna be sick soon, do you want me to look after her?" This was after all, Fluttershy's usual role at these sorts of things. 

Rainbow said nothing to this. Instead opting to give Fluttershy a gentle push. Fluttershy lost her footing for a moment but gained it back just as quick. Though Fluttershy knew with a push like that, not even her should have more than flinched in response. It told her all she needed to know. 

"Oh right..." Fluttershy could have sworn she was fine just a moment ago, but maybe that was the alcohol talking? It was hard to tell. She still wanted another mug.

"Well maybe I could keep you company then?" Fluttershy didn't feel like being a loner anymore. She had little chance to see Rainbow Dash ever since the dreams started plaguing her.

"Yeah that'd be cool. Better than sitting here by myself." Fluttershy was still hoping for another drink. She looked around the room to find it, but was finding it hard to focus.

Rainbow Dash knew all too well what Fluttershy was chasing. She slid her a new mug. "Here you can have mine if ya want. Just don't end up like egghead over here." Twilight was sweating more heavily now. She had her forehooves to her ears. 

Fluttershy simply giggled and sat down, the action causing her some dizziness. Rainbow followed suit, sitting near Twilight, not really focusing on anything. Fluttershy opened.

"So how did Twilight end up this bad anyways? Doesn't she usually avoid this sort of thing? Poor thing." Fluttershy was genuinely curious about this. Twilight was the kind of mare to have a drink for politeness's sake. Maybe getting a bit tipsy here and there, but never drunk. Especially not this drunk. Fluttershy also emphasized with her. She had been in that position herself before.

Rainbow laughed at this, clearly this had a story behind it. Fluttershy got comfortable. Rainbow spoke once the last of the snickering was done. "Yeah it's a pretty good one I reckon. Cause ya see me, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie were all here early to set this shindig up right?" Fluttershy nodded. She took a sip.

Fluttershy felt she had to interject. "I'm so sorry I didn't come to help with you girls-"

Rainbow interrupted, her eyes rolling. "It's fine Fluttershy it wasn't that much work, besides I've still got the story to tell." Now Fluttershy felt bad that she interrupted Rainbow's story. She looked down, dejected.

Rainbow laughed to herself. "You're an emotional drunk you know that Fluttershy?" Fluttershy responded by taking another sip. Rainbow shook her head. "Anyways, so yeah it was just us four setting up the party right? So Twilight walks in with a big frown on her face. So y'know I think Pinkie asked her what was up. She said 'something's weird with Fluttershy' Fluttershy, even in her current state, recognized the importance now. Her ears perked up.

Rainbow Dash noticed. "Hey don't worry Flutters, it was all crazy talk." Fluttershy wanted to push it.

"How so?"

Rainbow snorted. "Hold up, I'm getting to it. So yeah Twilight walks in and says you've been acting funny. Saying you been knowing things that you shouldn't." Fluttershy processed that as best she could, given her current state. "Again, pretty crazy if you ask me. And she starts asking around, saying if anypony seen anything suspicious. Course nopony says anything right. But it got me thinking." Fluttershy didn't like the sound of that. "Cause I saw ya with that book right? So I figured maybe I could do somethin' with that." Fluttershy was sweating, and it wasn't because she was drunk. "So I tell her I saw something."

"What happened!?" Fluttershy all but screamed the phrase.

"Woah chill dude. I just said I saw ya with a book capiche? Now Twilight goes off on hearing this right." Rainbow started imitating the purple mare with hand gestures. "Going all, 'Really? What? Tell me?" Rainbow was clearly smiling at this point. Fluttershy wanted to hide somewhere. "So that's when I knew I had something good right? And let me tell ya I wasn't gonna waste it. So I give her a deal. For every drink she has tonight she gets one question from me." Rainbow started laughing. "And lemme tell ya, I don't know what you did to get her like that, but shes been slamming them down left and right!" Rainbow gave herself a moment to regain her composure. "Yeah... when she wakes I owe her a lot of information. Hell if she remembers any of it."

The alcohol hindered Fluttershy's inhibitions. "How much do you know?!"

Rainbow assumed a defensive pose. "Relax, I don't know anything. You were pretty air tight back there." She paused to think. "Why does Twilight want to know so bad anyways?"

Fluttershy struggled to think inebriated. "Oh I uh... don't know." That felt alright? No. "But I just wish she'd stop worrying about it, it's kinda embarrassing." Fluttershy reprimanded herself. Why did she say that? It certainly wasn't what she meant.

Rainbow looked away. "Hey look buddy the less I know here the better." Fluttershy blushed. Definitely not what she meant, but she wasn't going to change it.

Twilight was looking very green by this point. Fluttershy was concerned. "You probably want to turn her over." Never vomit facing upward.

Rainbow remained unmoving. "Trust me dude, I've seen my share of drunk ponies, I know what I'm doing. Do me a favor and go easy on the cider yourself hey?"

Fluttershy would later wish she heeded those words. 

---0---

There it was again.

Fluttershy had no further run ins with Twilight. At least not direct ones. The increased paranoia and desperation to reach the date specified in the note meant that Fluttershy was increasingly vigil. Especially for Twilight. So the scene before her raised alarms.

She was out on a house call again. Colgate's cat was experiencing indigestion again. Probably another hair ball. The trip was all too familiar for her, allowing her mind to wander. Her gaze wandered lazily, until she saw it. 

It was Twilight. But it wasn't the pony that concerned Fluttershy, it was her destination. She was clearly going into the town hall, again. Her saddle bags were empty. But if the past was anything to go by, they'd be filled by days end. 

The scene worried her deeply. Twilight, despite her high status within the town, was not a politician, not by a long shot, so what was her plan? Why was it so regular? These questions troubled Fluttershy deeply. So much so that she failed to realize she was staring.

It was an uncomfortable realization. Fluttershy and Twilight locked eyes from across the street. Fluttershy shone a guilty smile. Twilight wasn't having any of it. Her eyes narrowed as the staring contest wore on. Fluttershy wilted under that look. Twilight was known to be nothing but determined and hard working. And now that prowess focused on her. Fluttershy felt a pit grow in her stomach. Despite Fluttershy and Twilight usually being quite good friends, nothing was said. After a time Twilight simply broke contact and continued to the town hall. Fluttershy continued to her appointment, more anxious then ever. 

She just needed to hold out until the Toccata.

---0---

Despite how agonizingly slow the last week was for Fluttershy, time always catches up eventually. And soon enough Fluttershy found herself awake on the day of the Toccata.

Even with this in mind her morning started as it normally did. Her rushing out of bed with all the knowledge in the world. Then losing it all as fast as it was gained. Until she was just left with a burning desire to know and a journal full of assurances of what happened. But she never remembered it herself. And that's what drove her to such desperation.

Fluttershy looked down. Another new page in the journal greeted her, it's contents all foreign to her. She quickly read it. Hoping against hope that it would reveal a new revelation. But it never did. The dreams were always the same, yet, never enough. With the Toccata on her mind, Fluttershy decided to go back through the journal. She had done-so before, but now she had far more dreams than last time, maybe now something would reveal itself.

Fluttershy started at the beginning. The very first journal she had written down. There was a strange feeling of nostalgia looking back at these. Yet Fluttershy couldn't tell why. It was something how the original entries were more about why the dream was happening, rather than documenting the experiences. Fluttershy allowed a smile. Little did her past self know that there would be no end to these things. Fluttershy continued to flip through the pages. There was one entry that even recommended that she see Luna for help. Which was ridiculous... wasn't it?

Fluttershy sat there, unmoving, only for a short moment. Why didn't she ever ask Luna for help? It seemed like such an obvious choice, yet... she didn't.

No that wasn't right, it wasn't that she didn't, it was that she couldn't. It was that feeling, the one from when she had first started this whole mess. When she wanted to fess up to Twilight. It resonated deep within her soul, in a place she never even knew she had. It told her, screamed to her to not do it. That above all else she couldn't tell anypony, nor anything what she had been experiencing. The sensation was the same with Luna, she could never tell her. Not in a million years. It was a vice grip around her mind.

Fluttershy looked down at the journal. Breathing to regain her composure. The sensation didn't panic her or give her anxiety, per se. It was rather a deep sensation of wrongness. One which required a moment to pass, which would allow her to function in normal society.

The moment passed. The sensation scattered to the wind.

Fluttershy took in the pages. Their contents still known, yet, unknown to her. She still didn't have any concrete information. Which was a problem still in need of fixing. One which wouldn't be fixed by reading through her dusty journal. She had places to be. Which would have to start with breakfast.

Fluttershy raised herself from the chair.

---0---

It was a dull morning for Ponyville. A forecast for cloud cover meant that there were few inhabitants in the streets. Most ponies simply went where they were needed and didn't tarry. Leaving the town quiet.

Fluttershy enjoyed the reprieve. While she had been dying to know what would happen, now that the moment was upon her she felt more reserved than previously. The silence allowed her to think.

As per usual her doubts and worries popped up first. They were the surface level concerns that everypony gets from time to time. Things such as, do I have enough money or what if something goes wrong. They were quickly buried. She then started to worry about her mission. She worried that she wouldn't find anything, or worse, she found something she wished she hadn't. With some difficulty Fluttershy forced them from her mind also. She was convinced that the Toccata would be taxing on her and she didn't want to start off on the wrong hoof. She simply cleared her mind and thought happy thoughts. They helped.

Soon enough Fluttershy made her way to the station. A familiar sight awaited her. Rarity stood on the platform, facing away from her. Her usual enormous load piled next to her. Fluttershy trotted up and tapped Rarity on the shoulder.

Rarity turned gracefully. "Oh hello Fluttershy! Excited for the Toccata?"

"Oh yes, it should be fun."

Conversation developed into a comfortable small talk. Gabbing on about the weather, the latest gossip, fashion trends, that sort of thing. Fluttershy enjoyed it immensely. 

As the conversation wore on, so did time. She had arrived ten minutes earlier than departure. A second look revealed that only five minutes remained. This was no problem for Fluttershy, however that was not what she was concerned about. Fluttershy had noticed that Rarity started to become increasingly anxious. She tried to hide it but Fluttershy saw that she was getting increasingly fidgety. As the minutes ticked down and Rarity became more and more anxious Fluttershy pressed it.

The current topic was current affairs in Las Pegasus. Fluttershy spoke out of line. "So um, are you okay Rarity? You seem nervous."

Rarity blinked at the sudden outburst. She blushed slightly. "That obvious was it? Yes, I'm just a smidgen worried about Twilight is all." The mention of her made Fluttershy perk up.

She didn't show it however. "Twilight? Well why are you worried about her?"

"Well because..." Rarity made a tsk noise. "I forgot to tell you didn't I? Twilight's coming along as well." She paused for a moment, looking at the clock. "Well supposed to anyways."

Fluttershy wanted to swear, for the first time in her life. Of course Twilight was coming along. The one and only friend of hers who she wouldn't want along is coming. Fluttershy ground her teeth with her mouth closed. Now she would be under constant scrutiny! The book which she had taken along couldn't see any use now, and she would have to make sure that Twilight didn't look through her bag. Fluttershy smiled gently.

"Oh, when did this happen?"

Rarity smiled a worried smile. "Why, just after you left. See I had planned to ask the ladies after you had turned me down. But then you changed your mind, but I figured 'oh why not' and sure enough she accepted." Fluttershy was still curious.

"Well, I thought Twilight didn't like these things." Fluttershy had a suspicion she had something to do with that.

Rarity laughed, looking into the town. "So did I dear, in fact she didn't seem that interested until she heard you were coming." Rarity looked to Fluttershy. "I don't know what you did but she seemed very interested after that." She looked back to the town. "Now if only you could make her come out now..." 

Fluttershy sighed. She secretly hoped that Twilight wouldn't show up.

At exactly ten twenty-nine am Twilight showed up. She carried with her one briefcase, Fluttershy assuming it would contain clothes. But with Twilight you were never sure. She carried no other items. Which was a surprise. Compared to Twilight's average, this was a very spartan load. This naturally aroused suspicion in Fluttershy. She greeted her diplomatically.

"Hello Twilight." A pause.

"Hello Fluttershy." Fluttershy didn't know what to say, thankfully Rarity spoke for her.

"Now where have you been young lady! I've been worried sick waiting for you! Celestia forbid we leave you on the train station platform!"

Twilight merely looked confused. "What do you mean? I got here on time didn't I?" Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

Rarity took that in. She seemed to be processing through many different emotions rapidly. After some time she settled for resignation. "I... suppose you did yes. But please just give me some warning dear. You had me scared half to death."

Twilight responded cleanly. "I don't understand, I arrived on time didn't I? What's the issue." Fluttershy sighed to herself. Twilight still didn't understand how others worked it seemed.

She answered for Rarity. "Rarity was worrying you were going to be late. Maybe try arriving a bit earlier." Rarity really was the right word there.

Twilight held a small sigh. Fluttershy had theories for it's aim. "I suppose so." Twilight looked to Rarity. "Sorry for worrying you back there." She seemed genuine in her apology, though Fluttershy suspected that she still didn't get it. Fluttershy respected that courtesy. 

Rarity's response was interrupted by the tell-tale whistle of the Friendship Express. She grinned at it's approach, Fluttershy was more reserved in her feelings. It's approach was a reminder of what's to come. Fluttershy swallowed her feelings, looking to Twilight. She seemed to show no reaction to the train at all. Even as it rolled up she merely looked slightly bored. Clearly she looked forward to this trip...

Rarity exclaimed. "Oooh, let's get to our seats shall we girls. Oh Bellboy!" A scrawny colt emerged from the train. His expression soured upon seeing Rarity. Or rather her cargo.

Fluttershy and Twilight shared a giggle as they boarded the train. It reminded her that she and Twilight were still friends ultimately.

---0---

The train departed without a hitch. A few short minutes passed before Fluttershy found herself with little to do. In all of the excitement of finding her answers, she had forgotten, rather crucially, any entertainment to pass the time. She allowed a glance to the clock. eleven o' five am. thirty five minutes passed and five hours and twenty five to go. Joyous. What she would do to have a book right now. Well technically she did, but she certainly wasn't about to pull out that book. What with Twilight around.

On the subject of Twilight, Fluttershy looked to her for entertainment. While she didn't feel too confident around Twilight right at the moment, it was still far preferable than to just doing nothing. Unfortunately for Fluttershy, Twilight was wrapped up in a book. The sort of book that made Fluttershy's eyes glaze over just from the title alone. Any attempt at conversation on Fluttershy's part was met with one word answers or merely a look for Twilight, the point got across. She tried Rarity.

Rarity did prove to be a much more effective choise. She too had the foresight to bring a book with her, but she didn't hold them in the same reverence that Twilight did. So she was all too happy to gab away with Fluttershy for a short while. 

So that's what they did. While Fluttershy initiated the conversation, her nature soon led to Rarity leading the conversation. Which meant that much fashion and gossip was discussed. The majority of it very pedestrian, the sort of thing you'd tell your hairdresser to fill the silence. However, this was not a universal trait, and some interesting information snuck out.

Rarity, who had since run out of things to talk about in Ponyville, moved to talking on Las Pegasus, and their dirty little secrets. Once again, much of the gossip was trivial, about how this mare said this and that, which caused this other thing to happen. There was always a fierce internal debate when it came to gossip for Fluttershy. She thought that gossip was silly and a waste of ponies time, yet she couldn't stop listening to it. It was intriguing, in a strange way. 

There was one incident that got her full attention. "-personally I think that Mr. Inkwell had nothing to with it, but what do I know hmmm?"

Fluttershy said nothing, instead nodding her head along in agreement. Ms. Inkwell's story didn't add up at all.

Rarity then jumped into action. "Oooh actually I've just remembered, have you heard the rumor of Dr. Bones?"

Fluttershy was intrigued. Wasn't that the professor who had sent the book to Twilight in the first place? What gossip was there about him? Maybe it would lead her to another clue. "No I don't think I have." Fluttershy looked over to Twilight, trying to look casual. Twilight didn't react to the name. Whether that be from not knowing it or just having already tuned out the conversation, Fluttershy didn't know. She was thankful none the less.

Rarity tsked. "Well I wouldn't have expected you to, this ones rather recent." Fluttershy leaned in, this one she had to know. 

Rarity took Fluttershy's movement as interest and pressed on. "So lately ponies had started to notice that uh Dr. Bones is uh, a bit more eccentric then normal." Eccentric had some strong subtext behind it, Fluttershy knew as much.

So Dr. Bones is crazy? That wasn't very helpful, she needed more. "Why do ponies say that?" 

Rarity crossed her front hooves. "Well, as far as I know Dr. Bones had always been a little, off, so too say. He followed all these crazy conspiracies, like how the planet is flat, that sort of thing." Fluttershy took that in. The planet being flat? If that was true then there had to be something with this guy. Fluttershy gave a beckoning gesture.

Rarity continued. "But now he's getting worse. He had always mumbled to himself, but supposedly he does it constantly now. One pony said that they visited his house and found scratches all over the walls." Fluttershy faked a shudder.

Fluttershy was honestly mildly annoyed, so Dr. Bones is a bit weird. She remembered the letter that came with the book, his weirdness is nothing new. She wanted something better. "Does anypony know why he's started acting weird?"

Rarity scratched her chin. "Well there are a few theories, but I don't believe they hold much merit." Fluttershy was intrigued none the less.

"Oh?"

Rarity smiled. "Well it depends on who you ask but..." Rarity leaned in. "Some more uh, superstitious ponies believe that he found... something. Something that changed him." Background noise faded away as Fluttershy listened close.

"What exactly?" Fluttershy was fully focused.

Rarity looked before speaking. "Fluttershy I don't think I've ever asked you this but, are you religious?"

The question came out of left field, Fluttershy was left feeling unnerved. "N-no, why?"

Rarity spoke softly. "Well, you know modern Palena right?" Fluttershy nodded. She may not believe it herself, but it wasn't hard to come across. 

Rarity, despite herself, elaborated. "With how the Princesses are the sun and moon manifest right. And that when they die, the sun and moon themselves will die?" Truth be told Fluttershy wasn't familiar with it's inner workings, but she didn't care right now. She nodded along with Rarities explanation, she just wanted Rarity to get to it already.

Rarity spoke even quieter this time. "Well, a long time ago there was more than just that." Fluttershy felt her hairs stand on end. The idea was completely foreign to her. There was always the religion. Never more. It made her unease grow. Yet...

"What happened to them?" Fluttershy felt strange. She couldn't place it.

Rarity looked apprehensive. "Legend says that they were destroyed by Luna, long before her imprisonment." The feeling grew. "That they were evil, evil things, things that would destroy all ponies." And grew. Rarity risked another look around. "However, not all ponies believe that they were destroyed. Some say that they survived. That their wickedness writhes, somewhere, waiting to be uncovered." Fluttershy's unease grew to a head.

She and Rarity spoke at the same time. "The rumor says that Dr. Bones found them." Fluttershy and Rarity shared a look,  with Rarity continuing on. She failed to notice that Fluttershy had said 'it.', not them. "And that it drove him mad." Fluttershy was lost in her mind.

Rarity immediately lost all of her mystique. "Of course, that's just some poor fools conspiracy isn't it? I wouldn't trust a word of it." Fluttershy trusted it intrinsically. She knew that it was true, there was something telling her. She wished that she could Identify it. Whatever it was, it always stood just out of perception. There was enough to know something was there, but not enough to know it.

Rarity acted casual. "That's not all though, there are some other ideas for why-" Fluttershy cut her off whilst standing up.

Fluttershy tried to act indifferent. "I think I'll be good Rarity. I'm gonna go take a nap somewhere." The excuse was lame, and she knew it. But she already knew which theory was correct. She needed to go think on it.

Rarity seemed perplexed but didn't push it. "Oh! Well if you want to talk you'll know where to, find... me..." Fluttershy had already left the cabin. Twilight looked up from her book, watching her go. An eyebrow was raised.

---0---

Fluttershy had left her friends cabin for some space. Rarity's little 'gossip session' had turned out far more intense than Fluttershy had thought it would. She was desperate for some alone time to relax and process what had just happened.

By this point the journey had clocked up to two hours, with four left to go. Leaving Fluttershy with plenty of time to think. Her mysterious feeling still eluded understanding. While the memory of the feeling itself faded quick, the understanding of it did not. Above all else she remembered it being so utterly alien to her. A cacophony of unexplainable feelings in the context. Fluttershy tried not to think on it too hard. After all, the whole reason of this trip was so that she could gain understanding of it. Dr. Bones story was unsettling at the time, but on reflection, really not that surprising. This very same Dr. Bones had sent the strangest book she had ever failed to read, one which even contained her own cutie-mark! Of course the stallion himself was going to be nuts. But then again Rarity's story on it was deeply upsetting. Just what was she getting herself into anyways?

Fluttershy's mind ran in circles for a time. Once again she found herself with no new answers to solve some of these issues. She had nothing to do but wait, yet she craved answers now.

Eventually Fluttershy's internal monologue relented, and she returned to being bored out of her mind. The consideration and gestation of her and Rarity's conversation had only taken fifteen minutes or so. Yet she didn't feel ready to go back to Rarity just yet. Especially, on realization, that she had told Rarity she was going to take a nap. Fluttershy swiftly realized that it wasn't actually a bad idea.

She looked around the cabin she found herself in. It was sparsely populated. Save from the occasional couple or family off to see the Toccata, there were none in the cart she found herself in. That was a good thing, she was always a light sleeper, so less ponies meant less noise.  Fluttershy rested her head, her eyes closed.

Five minutes passed, nothing happened.

Ten minutes passed, yet still nothing.

Fifteen minutes, she peeked her eyes open. This was getting nowhere fast. Usually she'd have no problem sleeping, but there was too much on her mind. She couldn't relax.

Fluttershy rolled over. The way she saw it, she had no way of passing the time. She closed her eyes, determined.

---0---

Fluttershy awoke to the sound of shattering ceramic. Her groggy eyes were on swivel, looking for the cause of the disturbance. The culprit was found before long. An older mare was presented to her, the remains of a tea cup lay broken at her hooves. The mare had a big dumb grin on her face, with sympathetic eyes. Her emotions were not difficult to discern to Fluttershy. 

The mare went to talk but Fluttershy cut her off with a wave. It said 'Hey, don't worry about it.'

The old lady gave Fluttershy a silent nod of gratitude before walking off. Assumedly to go find something to clean her mess with. Fluttershy tried to lie down again.

The damage was done by this point however. Despite herself still feeling extremely tired she knew that there would be no return to sleep now. Her body craved movement, she felt it in her muscles. There would be no way she could sit still now. Fluttershy took in her surroundings.

The cabin was far more packed than it once was. What had once been a few scant ponies had turned into a full train. The majority clearly being designers, based from their... interesting fashion choices. If this was to be Rarity's competition that she had nothing to worry about.

As the world came back to her, so too did all the baggage that came with it. Fluttershy knew this would happen and subconsciously accepted it. However she did consciously notice something. It was her first rest in some time where she did not enter the forest. It was an extremely liberating feeling. Without the dream, the emotions that came with it were not with her either. Making Fluttershy feel better than she had in some time. It would not last.

For now though Fluttershy enjoyed the feeling. Or lack there of. Simply looking out the window of her seat with a small smile on her face. It was deeply relaxing.

Soon enough Fluttershy realized something. She had been asleep here for who knows how long, in a full cabin? Where anypony could have looked at her if they wanted? Heat rose from Fluttershy's cheeks. She had just fallen asleep in front of at least fifty ponies. Fluttershy hated feeling so vulnerable. Who knows what they thought of her?

Fluttershy decided it best if she left the cabin and return to her friends. She would be getting no more sleep today, and she didn't like the silent judging she was no doubt getting from this cabin. She unceremoniously raised herself from the seat and returned to her original cabin. She dared not look at the other ponies as she left.

Entering her original cabin revealed a few things. Firstly that it too had filled in her absence, with again many of them being fashion industry professionals. The second thing that she noticed was that Rarity had copied her idea. Rarity lay legs splayed apart with a book over her eyes. Her mouth was open. Fluttershy allowed a laugh. Very lady like. Twilight sat opposite of her, another no doubt riveting textbook hovered before her. 

Fluttershy took an empty space near Rarity. The sleeping mare having created a buffer zone around her. Where all other ponies where too polite to sit. Her and Twilight shared a polite greeting but were otherwise silent toward each other.

Fluttershy twiddled her front hooves. She found herself with nothing to do, again. She considered nabbing Rarity's book off of her head. But she wasn't feeling that desperate yet. The other ponies would no doubt find that very strange. No, find something else to do.

Fluttershy started to look over the other ponies sharing the cabin. As she suspected on first inspection the majority were fashion designers. Many wearing their finest designs to no doubt create a grand entrance. Fluttershy was glad that Rarity was more modest than that. Then you had your usual train fare. The families, two adults and a hoof full of foals. Ready to start their amazing family adventure. Then you had the love struck couples, the back packers, the commuters etc. The train was a melting pot of diversity.

While Fluttershy gawked she started to notice that she wasn't the only one. Fluttershy waited a moment before she saw it again. There was a mare on the far side of the cabin sneaking looks at her. She was sure of it. Whoever they were, they were trying to be subtle about it, though they weren't doing a very good job of it. Though maybe that was because she herself was sneaking looks at everypony. Maybe the other pony was bored as well?

Fluttershy then tried to be more subtle about it herself. She looked out the window, pretending to have lost interest in the other mare. She kept her in the corner of her eye.

It was clear that the other mare was fooled by this, believing Fluttershy to have lost interest. Her subtle glances just became all out staring. Why was this mare so interested in her? Fluttershy felt unsafe. She didn't like attention in the best of times.

From the corner of her eye Fluttershy was unable to discern much about the ponies appearance, other than that they were a deep shade of red. Fluttershy would need to get close. 

Fluttershy quickly formulated a plan. The toilets were on the mare's side of the train. She could simply pretend to need to go to the toilet and look at the pony as she went. Simple and effective, the perfect combination. She arose from her seated position.

As soon as she did so, Fluttershy noticed the mare scramble to look uninterested. Clearly she didn't want her to know that she was being spied on. Which further increased Fluttershy's paranoia. What would this mare want with her in particular, that she wasn't supposed to know about? Nothing good for sure.

Fluttershy put on her casual face and started walking. As she walked past, the mare was clearly acting uninterested. She held a magazine in a magical aura as Fluttershy moved past. Scrutinizing it's contents. This was a big plus for Fluttershy as with the mare attempting to look uninterested in her, it meant that Fluttershy could look at her without her noticing.

Fluttershy saw a dark red unicorn pretending to read a magazine. She had a messy mane even darker than her coat, approaching more of a black. The mare had bright yellow eyes, contrasting the mares more muted mane and fur. What Fluttershy found strange was that she wore a choker. A rare sight for adult mares and something that Rarity would doubtlessly find appalling were she to see it. She even managed to glimpse the mares cutie mark. It was s stylized cartoon heart, with a big black exclamation mark down the middle. Fluttershy didn't have a clue what it meant.

Fluttershy went to the toilet without hassle. She stood in the room for what she guessed would be an appropriate amount of time and flushed it. With that done, she returned to her seat. She didn't look to the mare this time, she had seen enough. Fluttershy was pretty confident that she was watched as she went. The hair on the back of her neck was raised.

Fluttershy found her seat soon enough. The mystery of the mare tracking her swirled within her mind. She would have plenty of time to think of it. No other intrigue would present itself from here on in.

Fluttershy prepared herself for a long journey. The mare was looking at her again.
> Chapter 7: Breach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a frankly excruciating amount of time the train rolled in to Las Pegasus. Despite awaking with only two hours left in the journey, Fluttershy felt every minute of them. With Rarity asleep, Twilight neck deep in text books and that weird mare creeping her out it was not hard to see why. But that was over with now.

Fluttershy stood waiting by the door, she was all too desperate to get out of this box. Rarity stood by her. Despite having slept through the majority of the journey she was all too enthusiastic to get started. She had not a hair out of place. Twilight stood on the other side of her. Her cold opening to the trip had somewhat faded now that they were here. Now looking at least mildly intrigued by the trip. She still held a textbook in front of her despite it.

Rarity cut the silence with excitement in her voice. "Ooh I just cannot wait! Trust me girls the Toccata the best fashion show in Equestria!" 

Fluttershy found the cheery mood contagious. "I certainly hope so." Her voice had rose to match Rarity's.

Twilight was more reserved in her response. "It should be interesting." The book hadn't left her gaze.

Rarity was having none of it. "Well, it should certainly be more interesting if you can see it." Rarity stared intently at the text book. "Wont it dear?"

Twilight looked sheepish for a moment. "I... yes I suppose so." The book was stowed, bringing Twilight back into the world. 

As the train began to slow for the station, the girls quickly became surrounded by other passengers. All trying to beat the system and get off the train earliest. Naturally leading to everypony getting off slower. It was a regular frustration for Fluttershy, but then again she was no different from the others. She sighed as she was quickly surrounded.

As she did so she felt that feeling again. That breath on the back of her neck, the one that caused her hair to raise. Fluttershy knew in that moment the 'mare', who she had taken to calling 'Red' was right behind her. Which caused her some general unease. Fluttershy used much of her time during that trip to figure out what this mare wanted. None of the possibilities she came up with ended well. She didn't know this pony, so why would they be so interested in her? It couldn't be good.

Fluttershy would not have to worry for long. The train had since made it's final stop at Las Pegasus station, meaning that it would only be a matter of time before she would be freed from the strange pony. Then she would never have to see her again!

Soon enough Fluttershy spied a young colt making a casual trot down the platform toward the door. He flung open the door with little fanfare, and then the hoards were released. Dozens of ponies spewed forth from the train, Fluttershy and her friends ranked among them. 

Fluttershy was completely overwhelmed as soon as she exited the train. There was good reason why she lived in a country town like Ponyville. There were just so many ponies in Las Pegasus. Even in this station alone there had to be at least five hundred ponies moving around. Many were in groups and were talking, there was music coming from somewhere she didn't know and many were trying to sell her, or anyone something. Canterlot was nothing compared to this. 

Fluttershy was barely able to make out Twilight's voice. "Is Las Pegasus always this busy? I can't hear myself think in here!" Fluttershy was inclined to agree with her.

Rarity didn't seem phased by it. She laughed. "Well, it's usually not this populated no, but it is the Toccata after all. There are ponies from all over Equestria here!" Fluttershy took the moment to process the environment.

Now that she was looking for it, the Toccata was plastered everywhere. She couldn't look even five feet without seeing a new sign, with a new ad, selling her a new fashion line that she had never even heard of. The locals seemed to be embracing it as well. For the first time in her life, Fluttershy felt embarrassed that she wasn't wearing anything, it seemed everypony else was. At least she had her friends to confide in.

Now that she had seen the station, she knew all the more that she wanted out. "Could we maybe go somewhere a bit quieter?" Fluttershy saw Twilight nod in response to the question.

Rarity clearly anticipated this. "Of course dear, just as soon as I get my luggage unloaded." Fluttershy assumed that meant a bell-boy would do it for her. Fluttershy assumed that the job would take some time. Meaning she would have to spend more time here. She moaned loud enough to be heard.

As she and Twilight waited for Rarity to negotiate her luggage back, Fluttershy spotted that mare again. Now that she was out of the train, the mare seemed to take no interest in her. Actually, on closer inspection she seemed to take no interest in anything. She spared no cafes or news stands a glance as she trotted past. It was apparent to Fluttershy that wherever she was going, she was on a mission. It made Fluttershy all the more concerned.

Twilight spoke unexpectedly. "Who's that?" The question through Fluttershy off balance.

She thought quickly. "I'm not sure." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "They kept looking at me on the train." Fluttershy was glad she didn't need to lie her way through this one. That otherworldly force did not show. Not now.

Twilight bought it. "Hmm, maybe they remember your modeling?" Fluttershy felt stupid that she didn't think of that. Yet it didn't seem to add up in her head. The mare didn't look at her with reverence, or anything like that. No, she seemed more... shocked than anything else. Though Fluttershy had no idea why she might feel that way.

Fluttershy decided it best if she didn't worry about it anymore. The mare was gone now. "Maybe..." She didn't look at Twilight as she spoke.

Soon after Rarity returned with a smile on her face. In her wake stood a rather muscular figure, Rarity's luggage hoisted upon his back. It didn't seem to bother him. How Rarity got ponies to do things like that for her Fluttershy would never know. Especially ponies like that one.

She spoke with a smile. "Well, girls I've managed to recruit this strapping young stallion to help us with our luggage."

Fluttershy felt shier than usual. "Okay." It was a shame Fluttershy brought almost no luggage.

Rarity hopped in the lead. "Well without further adieu?"

Twilight responded. "Lead the way." And so she did.

Fluttershy hung back.

---0---

The trot to the hotel was for the most part smooth. The girls chatted away, ogled at the sights and got hopelessly lost. Which was the usual fare. Thankfully on this occasion they had help. The stallion handling Rarity's luggage was a local and it didn't take long for them to get back on track.

Naturally, something had to go awry, and it was during that time  that Fluttershy spotted the mare again. It was early afternoon by that point, and It was becoming abundantly clear that they were not where they should have been. All the fancy decorations for the Toccata disappeared as they left the more 'well-off' part of town. The buildings were becoming cheaper, messier and emptier. It was not the kind of place that you wanted to find yourself by accident. Fluttershy knew this all too well.

She and Rarity had been for the most part quiet. Rarity getting quieter as she made her own conclusions of where they were. Twilight seemed completely oblivious to where they were going. She was far too pre-occupied arguing with the stallion. Who they had since learned was fittingly named 'Brick'. It was getting both increasingly scary and frustrating for Fluttershy. The neighborhood scared Fluttershy for obvious reasons but the frustration was not. Her frustration lay with Twilight. Who, while she had been arguing with Brick for a while now, argued over inane things. Right now Fluttershy didn't care that the city was laid out illogically. She just wanted to get out of here.

Soon enough she made her thoughts known, Interrupting Twilight "Can we please just get out of here?"

Brick followed up. "I'm trying don't worry, how do ya get though to this chick?" Fluttershy knew Twilight well enough to know that was a mistake.

Twilight did not like being spoken to like that. "Well excuse me for trying to make sense of this crazy map! Just how are we supposed to get anywhere without any structure? Hm?"

Fluttershy quickly tuned out the oncoming rant. This was usually where Spike would intervene and cool her down, but he wasn't here. He remained in Ponyville to look after the Library and the animals. What was worse was that is was a job only Spike could accomplish, he had that connection to her that nopony else did.

In order to make herself useful she checked over the surrounding area, looking for any muggers and or evil doers. Neighborhoods like these were feared for a reason after all. Then again, she did have one of the greatest mages on the planet with her, so maybe it would be fine? She remained vigilant none the less. 

It surprised Fluttershy how empty the streets were. It was mid-afternoon after all, where were all the ponies? There was the Toccata on, which was a pretty big event, but this big? Was the entire city going to see it? It hadn't even started yet so it seemed unlikely.  It certainly wasn't like Ponyville. Not by a long shot.

There were a scant few ponies milling around. But they seemed so listless compared to those she knew. They didn't seem to be on the verge of tears, but they certainly weren't smiling here. Fluttershy was glad that Pinkie Pie wasn't here, she'd likely have an aneurysm.

During her scan of the local ponies, she found her. She blended well into this crowd. While she had been energetic on the train, once here she seemed to lose all of it. Whether that be because of how depressing this place was or if she was just trying to blend in Fluttershy didn't know. 

The mare seemed to react to the attention she was receiving, how Fluttershy didn't know. Ponies wouldn't normally notice anypony looking at you from this distance. She looked around herself quickly, giving Fluttershy insufficient time to pretend she wasn't looking. Fluttershy knew she was caught, and opted to not break eye contact. It was more a subconscious desire than conscious thought. They locked eyes for a few moments. Fluttershy looking at her with confusion, while the mare looked at her with that ever-present expression of shock. Fluttershy wanted to say something, this mystery was driving her bonkers.

Fluttershy hesitated, before opening her mouth. "Fluttershy! Hello! Have you even been listening?" Twilight cut off her chance to speak, she and the mare broke eye contact. 

Fluttershy minimized her lying. "No... um, sorry."

Twilight was clearly in a huff now. "Well why not?" 

Fluttershy opted to point into the crowd, landing her hoof on the mare. There was no strange instinct to prevent her from telling the truth here. "It's that mare, the one from the train." Maybe Twilight could help her get to the bottom of this.

Twilight followed her gaze. She found the mare quickly, who had begun to walk off. Twilight was in no mood for subtlety. "Hey! You! Come here!" Fluttershy shrinked from the attention the crowd now gave the group.

Despite this, she stilled watched the mare closely. She didn't know what to expect as a response, but what she didn't expect was for the mare to immediately break into a dead gallop. She didn't even look back as she did. It caused further uncertainty in Fluttershy. This mare was interested in her, but was also very scared to get caught? It wasn't a stretch to assume that whatever she was doing, she was doing wrong.

Twilight prepared to give chase to the mare. The attempt didn't last long as Brick tackled her to the ground. Pinning her in place. Fluttershy watched as the mare rounded a corner, hoping that it would be the last of her. It was too bad that she knew better. 

Brick had clearly also had enough of Twilight by this point. "What in Celestia's name is wrong with you? Going on yelling and screaming in a place like this? Some of the ponies here will mess you up if you ain't careful. Especially a young unicorn mare like you." Fluttershy wondered if she was going to spew flames this time.

To her surprise and delight Twilight conceded on this, clearly the red mist had faded by this point. "I... no, your right. Uh, sorry for blowing up on you like that." Twilight pulled herself of off the ground, using her magic to disperse any dust and grit.

Brick accepted the apology gracefully. "No problem. Now then let's get you lot out of here and somewhere a bit safer." Fluttershy was all too happy to agree.

Rarity, who had remained silent spoke up. "That sounds wonderful deary." And so the group did a one-eighty, coming back the way they came. Fluttershy trusted that Brick knew where he was going.

As they did leave however, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the mystery pony. She had never seen a pony be so genuinely afraid of her or her friends. She originally suspected that the pony was afraid of her because she didn't want to get caught, but now she wasn't so sure. Fluttershy knew that she wasn't a scary pony, so whatever was scaring her, had to be quite scary. Fluttershy gave the mare a silent wish of good luck before turning her head and leaving the area. She tried to think on other things.

---0---

With Twilight having cooled down and proper direction from Brick, it wasn't long before the girls found their hotel. The first thought coming to Fluttershy's mind being 'ostentatious'. It was enormous for starters, being one of the tallest buildings on the strip. And it's size certainly didn't prevent it from being premium. There was a luxurious dosage of rose gold, flowing oceanic rivers snaked through the verdant greens of it's foyer. Fluttershy dared not think how much this cost Rarity.

The foyer told much the same story. It was the most luxurious place Fluttershy had been in, well ever. Fluttershy generally preferred the simpler things in life. Though she certainly wasn't complaining here. The line was immense, filled with a veritable who's who of the fashion elite. Fluttershy saw Rarity softly shaking at her side, trying desperately not to lose it in such a high-class place. Twilight didn't seem upset anymore, but she didn't seem particularly amazed by the place. Fluttershy rolled her eyes, not everypony grew up in Canterlot Castle.

Nothing of amazing interest happened in that line, which was to Fluttershy's surprise. This would usually be the point where Rarity would run into one fashion mogul or another and start one of her great adventures. The wait was long and the pure wealth of the building being it's only saving grace. An alarming amount of bits exchanged hooves and the three were ushered to their room with little problem.

Once that door opened, Fluttershy was left blown away once again. Rarity didn't cheap out on room either, going for one of the suites near the top floor of the building. The 'room' having seperate bedrooms, a kitchen area, a lounge and it's own balcony near the top. Ponies could live here if they really wanted to, and honestly who would turn it down?

Mouth agape, Fluttershy made her feelings known. "Wow Rarity, this place is amazing!"

Twilight added. "How much did all of this cost you?"

Rarity took it with grace. "It is quite impressive isn't it? Truth be told I hadn't expected it to be quite of this magnitude." Rarity played with the mood lights. "Though I certainly won't be turning down this opportunity." Rarity faced Twilight. "As for you dear, best not worry about it. Rarity has taken care of everything." Fluttershy, happy with that had a look out the balcony, the view was something to mesmerizing.

Fluttershy listened in. Twilight wasn't done. "You know that I paid by the crown right? At least let me split the bill."

Rarity tutted. "Ah ah ah, I won't hear any of it Twilight. It's my trip, so I pay." A pause. Fluttershy was too invested in the view to see what was happening. "Element of Generosity after all." It probably wasn't important.

Twilight pouted. "Oh come on! This place must be a thousand bits a night! It's not like I'll think any worse of you Rarity."

Rarity didn't seem tempted. "Trust me dear, it's fine. I'm a big girl, I can handle it." Twilight opened her mouth to speak, she didn't get a chance to finish. "Now I'll hear no more of it. I must start practicing for the event soon and I can't afford any little distractions." 

Fluttershy heard a rumbling from her perch. Based of Twilight's giggles, she didn't have to guess who's needs weren't met. Twilight spoke through a snigger. "Lunch maybe?"

Rarity allowed herself a giggle. "A bit late, but I suppose that will work." Fluttershy pulled herself from the balcony.

---0---

It was well into evening now, and Fluttershy found herself back on that balcony. Despite the building's immaculate presentation, Fluttershy found that it had no roost for pegasi, much to her chagrin. She had been on trains and walked all day. Even she itched for flight at some point. It was Las Pegasus for goodness sake, half the city was cloud anyways, did this hotel really expect no pegasus guests? The cynic inside her told her that no it didn't, but she didn't give such thoughts much audience. It had been a long time since she had seen any unicorn elitism. No need to start it herself. 

Fluttershy shook her head. She was starting to worry about herself. Despite her dismissal of the earlier thought, she usually didn't think like that at all. She was never cynical about everything. Maybe all of the overarching worries and concerns that had been plaguing her ever since that dream had started were starting to catch up with her. How much further would she go? If this one little note turned out to be nothing, then what? Would she just get worse and worse until she started to distrust her friends? How far would she go? Who was she becoming?

Fluttershy shook her head again. She was hyperventilating. All this time thinking wasn't good for her, she needed to do something else, something to take her mind off such worries. She knew that all she would do was wind herself into circles.
Fluttershy pulled herself from the balcony, stretching her wings. They were desperate for movement. Fluttershy reassured them that she would do so tomorrow. She wasn't brave enough to perform a night flight in a place like this. Who knows what she would see?

Fluttershy trotted into the living room. It still boggled her mind that a hotel had a living room. Since she had not brought any of her own entertainment, it would mean that she would have to rely on others again.

Rarity was easy to find, but Fluttershy thought it best that she did not intervene. As it turned out, that absurd amount of luggage that Rarity had brought wasn't just because she was a diva. Not entirely. Rather she had brought basically her entire workshop with her. Materials, tools, mannequins, the whole deal. Fluttershy took a few minutes to watch Rarity work. 

She moved in a blur. Flying through the whole dress making process. Measurements were practiced and rapid. Then came materials, barely a thought was put into them before being thrown into the sowing machine. Fluttershy was surprised how entertaining it was to watch. She never thought that the process of dressmaking could ever be described as 'intense' before. But here it was, a rapid fire of art and fashion. Fluttershy said nothing for a while, simply watching.

Soon however Fluttershy decided she ought to move. She was growing concerned that she was throwing Rarity off her game. Increasingly large amounts of fabric were being displaced as she watched. Rarity didn't say anything, but Fluttershy saw her expression. She was increasingly struggling to stay focused. Fluttershy got up as soon as she saw Rarity's look. It having acted as confirmation.

With Rarity being busy, Fluttershy was left with only Twilight for companionship. While not necessarily a bad thing, she was still wary of the mare. Having since noticed that Twilight rarely let her out of sight. Come to think of it, since arriving in Las Pegasus, this was the first time Twilight had given her any extended time alone. Despite the opportunity Fluttershy really didn't feel like being alone right now. She didn't want to return to her earlier musings.

Twilight was quickly located in her room. From a glance through the door's windows Fluttershy could see her lying on her bed. She was writing something, with whatever it was obscured by Twilight herself. Fluttershy once again found herself in two minds. One believing her to just be writing a report to the Princess. The other, newer segment believing it to be a report on her. 

The situation played out much like before. With Fluttershy growing more and more anxious before coming to her senses. Which then caused a moment of self-berating for even thinking like that. Fluttershy gathered her courage, then casually strolling into the room.

At least, that's what she would have done. Just as she was about to enter the room there was a flash of green. Dragon fire green. Fluttershy should have known better than to assume those bags were full of clothes, Twilight wasn't the one to go out without a backup after all. Fluttershy still watched from the corridor, her intention to enter temporarily forgotten. Fluttershy spotted the bottled dragon fire on her night-stand. The previously empty bottle now containing a single letter. One which was engraved with the royal symbol. Fluttershy watched as Twilight levitated the bottle toward her, having not moved a muscle. Fluttershy was silently grateful.

Twilight's reaction to the letter was... eventful. Even from her distant vantage Fluttershy could tell that Twilight was rattled. She shook slightly, very slightly, you'd only see it if you knew what you were looking for. Which Fluttershy did. Twilight instantly rotated ninety degrees. Fluttershy hit the deck. Twilight was already suspicious of her, getting caught spying on her would certainly not help her case.

Fluttershy crawled a few feet. Just enough that Twilight wouldn't see her raise from the ground. She intended to see if Rarity was finished practicing for the night.

As she prepared to leave however, Fluttershy found herself being drawn back to Twilight's room. She had never seen Twilight react to anything like that before. She remembered when she got that letter from Shining Armor, saying that he was getting married soon. It was a huge event for Twilight, one that she was getting told about only in the last minute. It was heart-breaking for her. The casual last minute sloppiness of it all basically told her that Shining Armor that didn't care about her. Yet even that had never caused such pure... shock to Twilight. Fluttershy realized she had to know what it said. Her curiosity wouldn't allow it any other way.

Fluttershy sneaked a quick peek into Twilight's room, a very quick one. Hardly noticeable really. What she did see, only added fuel to the flame. Twilight, who had been casually been writing on her bed before, was now in full note-taking mode. She was scrutinizing the letter up and down. Paper had formed around her, their contents unknown. Something that would have to change. 

But how was the big question. She wasn't just going to ask Twilight to have a look. She wasn't even supposed to know that she got a letter. Maybe she could contrive some reason to stay in Twilight's room. Which brought her back to the first question, which after some thought she didn't have an answer to. Fluttershy brainstormed like this for a short time. Soon she had an answer. As always her clandestine means troubled her conscious. Yet she didn't allow it control.

She would have her answers. 

---0---

It was well into the night now, a quick glance at an alarm clock revealed it to be close to midnight. She should be asleep now. The waiting was over.

Fluttershy quietly rolled herself out of bed. Heading straight for the door. The plan was very simple, just take the documents now, read them, and put them back no worse for wear. That way everypony was happy. 

The room was a different beast under the cover of darkness. Fluttershy had never been particularly afraid of the dark, yet that seemed to have changed tonight. Architectural crevices now acted clutched at pockets of darkness. Any number of potential unworldly beasts potentially hiding within. The city that never slept projected neon into the suite intermittently. Of course, not enough to light the suite independently, but enough to destroy Fluttershy's night vision.

Fluttershy crept through the hallway. Her ears swiveled this way and that for perceptible threats. There were none of course, Fluttershy knew this well. Yet paradoxically she knew that it wasn't always that simple. From where she did not know. The atmosphere was tense.

Fluttershy soon found herself before Twilight's room. She did not delay, allowing herself inside before she could second guess herself. It was of course, pitch black. Which was unsettling. For all she knew Twilight could be watching her move around right now. Twilight never snored. 

Fluttershy none the less pressed on. She had a vague idea of where she needed to go. Based off of pure memory alone, still she knew it wouldn't be easy. All it would take would be one careless step to blow the whole thing in her face. She went slowly. 

She bumped into something. Instantly her head snapped to Twilight. She paused for a second. She heard no movement. Despite it, she remained, waiting. Still nothing. Fluttershy clumsily felt for what she had hit. She suspected it was the drawer at the foot of Twilight's bed. But with almost no light seeping through the drawn blinds, she would have no way of orientating herself. If she were wrong, she would have no way of knowing. 

None the less she used the drawer as an anchor point. If she were at the corner of the drawer, than logically the writing desk would be to her right. Fluttershy moved there with more confidence.

Which was a mistake, almost immediately Fluttershy collided with the chair that she had forgotten about. And this wasn't a controlled tap either. The sound was comparatively deafening.

Fluttershy's heart sunk when this time she did hear movement from Twilight. The rustling of pillows and sheets was quiet at first, getting louder and louder.

"Wha- is somepony there?" The message was groggy and uncoordinated. It was terrifying.

Fluttershy was frozen up until she saw Twilight reach for her lamp. She acted, snatching for the papers, grabbing whatever she could and bolted, caution thrown to the wind. She ran out the room, intending to make a dash to hers before Twilight knew what was going on. As she did so, something inside her made her stop. Something made her look up, she wished it didn't.

The direction that Fluttershy had been running meant that the curtain wall shone external light at her. While this was nothing in of itself it allowed things that would have been unseen to be seen. Fluttershy couldn't tear her eyes away.

It was reflected in the light.

A single butterfly.

It floated harmlessly right in the center of the hall. Seemingly without purpose or logic. Fluttershy felt an overwhelming sense of danger looking at it. It was too convenient, too illogical for it to be there. Fluttershy felt ill. Above all it didn't make sense. Fluttershy dared not look away as the dark stretched behind her.

Fluttershy came to another sickening realization. One that made her quiver, her legs threatening to collapse. It wasn't just floating there. No, it was floating toward her. It was coming for her. With each flap it moved itself just a little bit closer.

Flap.

Flap.

Flap.

Flap.

It couldn't have been more than a meter from her now. Fluttershy thought maybe this was just another of her dreams. Maybe she had fallen asleep while she waited for Twilight. Though of course Fluttershy knew it was wishful thinking.

As the butterfly closed the last few centimeters a new thought entered her head. Was she going to die here? After all the previous panic it struck Fluttershy how rational the thought was. The butterfly had to be barely a centimeter from her nose now. She could feel the air currents from the creatures wings.

Fluttershy was then blinded by light. Was that what dying felt like? She didn't feel any different, in fact it felt like nothing happened at all. Quickly the dazzle of the light faded and Fluttershy found herself rubbing her eyes. Where was she?

As it turned out, she hadn't moved at all. Fluttershy turned behind herself to face the light source. It was Twilight, having woken to see what the fuss was. In her panic, Fluttershy had completely forgotten about that objective. The notes lay strewn around her hooves. Forgotten.

Fluttershy felt a spike of anxiety, having taken her eyes of off the butterfly. She turned back.

She saw nothing. The light of the city reflected an empty room.

This did nothing to alleviate Fluttershy's anxiety, only working to enhance it. That hadn't been her imagination playing tricks on her. No she saw that, she knew it. She felt it. But it was gone. Fluttershy's gaze darted around the hall, was it sneaking up on her? If it was, then it was certainly taking it's time.

Twilight spoke out "Hello? Is somepony there?"

Twilight's speaking out reminded Fluttershy of where she was, and what she was doing. She shook her head, taking her mind of the event. Silently picking up the haphazardly collected papers. She would have a chance to think about it later, get out of here now. Fluttershy entered her room without a sound. She saw the light turn off. She would be safe for now.

Fluttershy leaned against her closed door, clutching her head. A migraine was swiftly forming, though why she didn't know. She very rarely got them herself.

Fluttershy tried to wait out the migraine. After a few minutes however, it became apparent that it wasn't going anywhere. Though Fluttershy was still thankful that it had started to calm down. After a few more moments it had relaxed to the point that she could think clearly once again. There was one thing on her mind.

She didn't understand, what the hell had happened back there. She ran through the event in her mind. There was the butterfly floating in the hallway and it did... something. Fluttershy realized with a shock that the moment was erasing itself from her mind. Fluttershy struggled to grasp at her remaining memories. She remembered the feelings. She was scared, more scared than she had ever felt before in her life. But why? Was it something that it did? Did it tell her something. Fluttershy wanted to scream, what did she see? She thought it was a butterfly, but now she wasn't feeling so sure. Fluttershy flopped onto her bed miserably. She wished she had brought her dream journal with her. 

But she didn't. Leaving Fluttershy no choice to sit by and wait as the memories left her. Soon she was left only remembering that something happened and that it was important. With the loss of her memories, the urgency along with them evaporated. Leaving Fluttershy both frustrated and not. 

She turned to the notes. Whatever had just happened could wait, these documents could not. Fluttershy flicked her bedside light to the lowest setting. Giving her just enough light to see what she had nabbed. She prayed that Twilight didn't start getting curious.

Soon Fluttershy's eyes readjusted to the darkness and the contents of the notes revealed themselves to her. The first page was a complete bust. In her rush Fluttershy had simply grabbed whatever papers she could, leaving their contents a complete gamble, and this one was looking like snake eyes. It was for the most part a blank sheet of parchment. Only the back side revealed any information, and none of it usable. Twilight had obviously been using this page as an overflow for another. Leaving it's contents without context. Fluttershy tried the next.

The next page turned out to be the note from Celestia herself. This being obvious from the royal seal on the top and bottoms of the page. It seemed like her luck was turning now. She hoped her hunch on Twilight's reaction was correct.

Dear Twilight Sparkle

Thank you for bringing this to my attention and my apologies for the wait. I was away from the throne, In Saddle Arabia on a diplomatic mission. Your correspondence concerns me deeply Twilight. I have no memory of finding any temples or anything of the sort in the San Palomino desert. All land within Equestria has long since been mapped out. If there was any evidence of ruins in the area I would know. 

I suspect that there is somepony attempting to act in my stead. To ensure the validity of messages sent from I, you will find attached the symbol of the royal crown under an invisible ink. To view the image, hold it under dragon-fire. If you believe this method compromised, write to me immediately. I implore you to be skeptical of all written correspondence until the other is found. Including this one.

Be calmed knowing that I will have some of Luna's night guards investigating this 'Dr. Bones' character. Trust that they will be captured and brought to questioning rapidly. The night guard are experts in these sorts of clandestine affairs. I can trust that you will treat any further letters from them with suspicion.

As for the supposed book, I would not worry about it. I'm sure that whatever it may contain will simply lead you down the wrong track. Though of course if it does turn up I would like to know about it.

I do have one request of you Twilight, please don't try to handle this one yourself. As much as you have proved yourself over the years, this will be different from the adventures you've been on. There will be no grand villain to defeat here. No great lesson to learn. This is not your area of expertise. I know it will be a bitter pill to swallow, but I simply cannot predict what will happen here and I do not want to see you hurt.

Keep me updated.

Princess Caelum Celestia, Solor Diarch

Fluttershy understood Twilight's reaction now. While the majority of the letter was irrelevant to her, there was one detail that Celestia seemed to gloss over. The original letters that Celestia sent her, weren't from Celestia. So the first question was, who were they from then? There was somepony imitating her. The idea seemed completely stupid to Fluttershy. You would have to be practically suicidal to try something as audacious as that.

Fluttershy lied back into the bed, sinking into the mattress. Who would try to imitate Celestia? Dr. Bones was the first pony to come to mind, what who acted in Celestia's stead for a time. But what would a dusty archeologist have to gain from pretending to be Celestia? Furthermore would they really be dumb enough to try it? Maybe they had also been getting fake letters from Celestia? But if it wasn't Dr. Bones who was it. Fluttershy couldn't think of any other ponies who would be connected to this. But maybe they were ponies she hadn't met yet. Ponies she would never meet? It seemed likely. Whoever they would be they would have to be powerful and have a reason to lie. 

Fluttershy had a feeling in her gut. She realized that the mystery pony would likely know about her dreams, about whatever had happened not five minutes ago. She realized with a twist of the gut she needed to find them. It was likely that only they knew what she needed to know.

But first, she needed to put these notes back.
> Chapter 8: Search
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following morning was strange to say the least. Chief of which was her dream that night. Or rather lack their of. Fluttershy awoke feeling more rested than she had even before the dreams. It was strange though, she remembered something had happened to her the previous night. Whatever it was well and truly lost to her at that point. The second strangeness that happened that morning was Twilight. She said that she herself had a strange dream. Which excited Fluttershy, who was all too happy to have a pony to confide in. It wasn't to be however, when Fluttershy tried to get her to elaborate she just gave her another one of her looks. The kind of look that said 'Why should I tell you?'. Fluttershy assumed that she would have to be subtle about it. Just another task to add to the pile.

Rarity was surprisingly cognizant that morning. She would usually be untouchable until at least an hour had passed by Fluttershy's reckoning. It was probably the Toccata affecting her. 

She wanted confirmation, preparing to speak. They were having a shared breakfast at this time. Twilight beat her to the punch. "Wow Rarity, you're looking good this morning."

Fluttershy none the less added. "Mmm, aren't you tired at all?" Of course Fluttershy was much the same as Rarity usually, but there was no need to let the others know about that.

Rarity scarfed down a slice of toast in a lady-like sort of way. "Well, yes dear, but I cannot afford to have any weaknesses. It is the first day of the Toccata! This is where I'll make it or break it."

Fluttershy quietly sipped her tea as Twilight spoke. "How so?"

Rarity put down her toast. "Well, I like to think of it as a tournament, if you will." Twilight gestured Rarity to continue. "See for the first two days every artist competes head to head."

Twilight tilted her head. "Wait, how do dressmakers compete? Do you just give a time and see who makes the best dress?"

"I'd also like to know, if you don't mind." Fluttershy sipped the tea.

Rarity gave a gentle laugh. "Yes actually. In each round the competitors are given materials, a theme and thirty minutes. Then once done a panel, and the crowd vote on the best dress. Which then goes to the next level and rinse and repeat." Rarity sipped her coffee. "It's quite simple actually."

Twilight sat back, leaning into her chair. "Well now i'm curious." Fluttershy quietly raised an eyebrow at that.

Rarity laughed again. "And you weren't before? Hmmm." Rarity had said what Fluttershy had been thinking. Though Rarity clearly said it in jest while Fluttershy didn't. 

Twilight sputtered, becoming noticeably flustered. "Well no- It's just... Well I have got other things I need to be doing as well."

Rarity was very giggly this morning. Maybe it was the nerves. "It's fine darling, do not stress about it." Fluttershy wasn't sure how sincere she was.

Fluttershy also noticed that Rarity left something out. "Oh, what else do you have planned?" She had just assumed that Twilight was just coming to watch her.

Twilight looked embarrassed for a moment, maybe she wasn't supposed to let that one slip out, especially around her. Unlike her however, she admitted the truth, rather than doubling down. "Well I've just got some research to do is all."

Rarity played with her hair. "Hmm? What would a mare like you need to come here to find?" Fluttershy would have asked the same question.

Twilight's ears poked up. "Oh um... I can't tell you." She gained some confidence. "Orders from the princess." If Fluttershy could roll her eyes without being spotted than she would. Twilight was a terrible liar. Though it was a good thing for her, so she couldn't complain. She settled for looking bored. 

Even Rarity saw through that lie. "Is that so?" Twilight nodded, Rarity was silent for a moment. No sound replaced her, before nodding her herself. "Very well." Once again all was silent. 

Rarity broke it. "Now, we have to arrive by eight-thirty am. So I'd recommend we hurry along now."

Fluttershy hurried along.

---0---

It was mid-morning by that point and the Toccata was underway. Fluttershy had always enjoyed fashion shows but this was something else. This was spectator sport more than fashion. Though that wasn't to say she disliked it. It was quite the opposite, she had always had a weakness for sports, though it wasn't something that very many ponies knew about. It was one of the reasons that she and Rainbow Dash had remained so close for so long despite their differences. 

Rarity had been given the eleven o' clock slot. Meaning that she would be on next. Her opponent was a mystery, as it was a strictly enforced rule to have match-ups remain a mystery before they had begun. The grand finale was an obvious exception to this. 

Though it seemed that this match wasn't amazingly interesting. It was plainly obvious that the stallion on the left had far more skill and expertise that the mare on the right. Though thanks to the barrier separating them the mare none the less put in her all, it was endearing in a sad sort of way. Unfortunately match times were unchanging, meaning that boring games like these tended to drag on. As the minutes passed, Fluttershy's attention began to drift.

The crowd was acting much like her. Though while better than the average hoof-ball crowd, there still tended to be some yelling and cheering, which Fluttershy found very entertaining. However right now they were as quiet as a golf crowd. Silently viewing the one sided match. Fluttershy didn't want to know what it must have felt like for the ponies on stage. 

The mare had just lost track of a measurement, again. Putting her further behind the stallion, who had just started stitching. Fluttershy wondered where Twilight went, having lost her in the crowd. She decided to use her wings and hover up, to get a better view of the crowd. 

It was with a mild annoyance that Fluttershy realized that she wasn't the only one who had that idea. The other pegasi floating above the crowd obscured her vision, making tracking even harder. Despite that she pressed on, looking for the lost unicorn.

There were quite a few false alarms. As it turned out, there were more purple unicorns in Equestria that Fluttershy thought. She spared a glance back to the game. The stallion was adding decorations while the mare was still working on her stitching. She continued her search.

As Fluttershy looked through the crowd she spotted somepony else, a pony who stopped her search. It was that pony again, the one from the train and from when they got lost. The one who kept staring at her. Fluttershy wondered what she was doing here, before berating herself. Maybe she was just here to enjoy the Toccata. Not everypony was all mystery after all. Fluttershy soon realized however that the mare wasn't looking at the event at all, in fact she faced perpendicular to the stage. Fluttershy followed her gaze. 

At the end of it she found Twilight. This immediately raised more questions about the mare. Fluttershy thought that it was just about her. Her gut telling her that it had to do with her dreams, but this flew in the face of that. It was a surprisingly bittersweet feeling. Maybe the mare had something to do with the elements? But the question was how, Celestia made it very certain that the general populace would not know about their heroic deeds. Apparently so it wouldn't disrupt their lives. Fluttershy was thankful for that.

Maybe the mare was who wrote those fake letters! Surely if she knew about the elements of harmony, then she would have the means to copy Celestia. It made sense in her mind. Though this mare didn't seem that powerful, and she had no idea why she would do these things. Fluttershy shelved the idea for now, she would need more information.

"Five minutes remain!" Some elaborately dressed mare blared the time over the loud speaker. Fluttershy spared her a glance before focusing back on her target. The mare had not spotted her yet, still focusing on Twilight. Maybe she could try approaching her? As much as she usually loathed approaching others, this was important. But who knows how the mare would react. She was clearly in on whatever this was, what if she attacked her? Or something worse?

Fluttershy tried to ignore it, focusing back on the match at hand. Yet the combination on intrigue that the mare exuded combined with the dullness of the game meant that her attention was at best divided. She couldn't shake the idea from her mind, she would have to approach the mare. Fluttershy found herself moving toward the target without even realizing it.

She tried to be subtle about it. Doing her best to move naturally around the crowd of gathered ponies, however she knew it was wishful thinking by that point. The crowd was focused on watching the event, meaning that few ponies we're moving around. Which further meant that anypony who did move, especially one with strong intent like Fluttershy, stuck out. Fluttershy knew that she would be spotted soon.

She was getting closer now. Using her previous vantage, Fluttershy knew that she couldn't have been more than fifteen feet away from the mare now. Despite her earlier misgivings, the crowd was thick here. Which covered her advance.

With just a bit more shoving Fluttershy found herself directly perpendicular to the mare. Amazingly she still hadn't been spotted by the strange mare, her intent still focused on Twilight, who was still completely oblivious. Fluttershy now closer realized that the mare wasn't just watching Twilight. No, she was taking notes. While Fluttershy did find it very creepy for somepony to do that, it wasn't very incriminating by that point. It merely added support to her current theories on her.

Fluttershy was dumbfounded by this point, she still hadn't been spotted by the mare. She stood shoulder to shoulder to her, yet she still jotted away ignorantly. Fluttershy tried to sneak a glance without being spotted, unfortunately the angle with which the unicorn held the note made it impossible to read.

Fluttershy waited patiently for the mare to spot her. Even going so far as to watch the Toccata for a brief moment. They were doing voting now, and it was not looking good for the mare. Which came as no surprise to Fluttershy. Wasn't Rarity going on next? It didn't matter, the mare was still oblivious.

Fluttershy wondered if this was actually a clever strategy. Pretending to not see her so maybe she would go away. It made a good amount of sense, though Fluttershy doubted that this random mare was that good. If her spying was so obvious on her. Soon enough however, wonder gave way to frustration. Fluttershy being all too desperate to find some answers. In following with this new line of reasoning, Fluttershy tapped the mare on the shoulder. Expediting the process rapidly. 

The mare lazily swiveled her head. This became very rigid when she realized who had tapped her on the shoulder. She quickly returned to normal. "Um... do I know you?" The mare had a creased brow. Fluttershy knew this was disingenuous. The vast majority of ponies would not respond to a tap like that so rudely. 

Fluttershy wouldn't let her play stupid. She forced some iron into her voice. "I know you."

The mare gave her a fake smile. "Oh, do you? Are you a friend of Emerald's?" That was a new name for Fluttershy, she would do her best to remember it. 

Once again, Fluttershy skipped straight to the point. It was the rare moment where she wished she were more intimidating. "No, you're that mare who keeps looking at me." It felt weird to be speaking so plainly.

The mare just laughed. "Well sorry, but I don't swing that way." Fluttershy was flustered for a moment, maybe this mare was better than she thought.

Fluttershy stuttered. "N-no no, that's not what I meant. Why do you always look so shocked to see me?" This wasn't going as well as she had hoped.

The mare closed the notebook with her magic. She turned to Fluttershy, giving a genuine looking smile. "Honey, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Fluttershy had pre-prepared a response, however the wind had been taken out of her sails. She was better than she thought.

Fluttershy tried it. "You do, you kept looking at me on the train."

She shook her head slowly. "Nope, completely foreign to me. Are you thinking of somepony else?" Fluttershy wouldn't allow herself to be redirected so easily.

Fluttershy changed the subject out of the blue. She tried to remain steadfast, but her voice was wavering. "Well... how come you're looking at Twilight like that then?"

Fluttershy had the mare here. "Oh well I was just um... I'm just ah... a big fan of hers!" The confidence that Fluttershy had broken had returned in force. "It's not every day you see the personal protege of the princess after all." 

Fluttershy looked for ways to poke holes in the story. "If so, then how come your not going up to her." There was another attempt at conviction. "It looks like your spying on her."

There was a delay in the mares response. "Well I don't see how that's any of your business." It was an annoying realization that the mare had no reason to tell her anything. "But it'd be a bit rude to go and hassle her all the time." She had a point, yet Fluttershy wasn't done.

Unfortunately for her, the mare didn't stop. "Now, sorry to do this to you but I've gotta run. Have somepony waiting for me."

The conviction had run dry for Fluttershy, returning her to her normal state. "But I wasn't finished..."

The mare offered a hoof. "Well if you really want to, I wouldn't mind meeting you again miss...?"

Fluttershy had little time to think. "Buttercup." She scoffed internally. Was that the best name she could come up with?

The mare didn't seem to think anything of it. "Buttercup, alright. If you want to chat another time Buttercup, don't be afraid to shoot a letter. Since you seem to be more acquainted with me than I you."

Fluttershy was happy with this arrangement, hopefully she could get some answers from this. But first... "That would be nice, um..."

She looked surprised. "Do you not know?" Fluttershy shook her head. "Well you can call me Velvet. Velvet Rose at your service."

Fluttershy simply nodded in response. "Well if there's nothing else, I'll see you around Buttercup." Fluttershy repeated the courtesy to Velvet.

Fluttershy watched Velvet walk off with a smile on her face. At least, until she realized that she had just let her go, with basically no information except a name. A name that was probably fake. Fluttershy stood there silent for a moment. 

Velvet was good.

Fluttershy remained silent for a moment before receiving a tap on the shoulder herself. Fluttershy wouldn't be surprised if Velvet had somehow found her way back to her. To Fluttershy relief and annoyance it wasn't Velvet, it was Twilight. She looked at Fluttershy with mild excitement.

"Hey Rarity's on next!" 

Fluttershy attempted to muster some energy. "Oh, should be fun."

"Hopefully." Twilight now looked quizzical, with an undercurrent of suspicion. "Also weren't you just talking to that mare we saw when we got here?"

Fluttershy searched for a suitable lie.

---0---

It was later now, with the last contestants of the day facing off. The sun would soon crest the horizon, signalling an end to the event. The crowd had proportionally thinned also.With the only reason anypony staying this late was if they had personal involvement. Which Fluttershy had, to a degree.

With the excitement coming from the mare and the event itself Fluttershy had forgotten one of her goals. Finding a suitable disguise for her meet up with... whoever it was. The timing of the meetup was well planned. What Fluttershy hadn't realized before arriving was just how big an event it was for the city. There was advertising all over the place for it. Often showcasing various high profile designers to amp up the competition. In fact during the event, it was a common tradition to dress to fit it. It was the rare time when Fluttershy felt uncomfortable naked. That tradition meant that when she did move undercover, it wouldn't look so out of place.

The big issue that Fluttershy was running into was acquiring a suitable disguise. Her original plan was to see if she could take one of the dresses from the designers after their competitions. However, after spending some time observing, Fluttershy realized that it wouldn't be that simple. The way she thought the system would work was that after the event, the designer would offer their work to the crowd. Which she would take, maybe from another pony if she really needed it. But it didn't work that way. The designer was in no way obligated to give away one of their works. After most matches the designers simply walked back stage with their designs. Fluttershy didn't know what they did with them. 

It wouldn't be too hard to find out. As she was a personal friend to one of the competitors she had been given a back stage pass. Allowing her access where she otherwise would not. That wasn't to say that it would be easy. The back stage pass wasn't an automatic thing, it was something that she would show to a guard who would then allow access. This created challenges as a living breathing pony was a far more difficult thing to full than a rune. What if the guard wanted a reason? A second issue would be the designers themselves. She had been back stage briefly earlier in the day, however she wasn't able to see much. Meaning that a lot of what actually happened back there was a mystery to her. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that she might run into a designer back there. And of course if they spotted her running off with their disguise than she'd be toast. Actually, maybe it would be harder than she thought.

Fluttershy watched the Toccata passively. Details of the event didn't stick in her head for long. She was in full scheming mode, even if she didn't realize it. 

Fluttershy needed to get back stage. That much she was aware of. And she needed to not get spotted. It was a catch twenty two. If she went during the day, she would get found out by the designers if she tried to get their work. But if she went at night then she would get caught for trespassing. She spent some time thinking on it. Eventually she decided to hedge her bets. She would go just as it was closing for the night. That way, almost all of the designers would be gone for the night, but if she was caught she could just say she was lost... or something. Fluttershy double checked her reasoning, it seemed like the smartest choice. 

The last match had just ended and everypony was making their way home. If she wanted to do it, now would be the chance. Yet Fluttershy struggled to start moving, as much as her reasoning was good, actually acting it out was something else. Taking a step back Fluttershy realized how crazy her reasoning was. Here she was, going to try and break into a building all on her own, just to get some clothes. She could always just buy clothes, why did she think of this first? This was a genuine real crime?

All was quiet now, maintenance crews started taking down decorations for storage as the last of the contestants made their way home. Fluttershy felt silly, she had been so consumed by this idea, that she didn't even think to just get some clothes. Fluttershy felt like this right up until she realized she had brought almost no money. She wasn't a rich pony, she had only brought enough to keep her filled really. Meaning that she would have to go through with it. 

She could do it right now. She had brought her back stage pass with her. But morale dilemma aside, the idea of trying to sneak into a building on her own terrified her. There was so much that could go wrong so easily, and the results of it would be catastrophic. She could get a genuine criminal record from something as stupid as this. Imagine what her friends would think.

No, it wouldn't be today. She would come and try tomorrow. Fluttershy felt some anxiety from that. There was a time in front of her now, and it would only come closer.  

Fluttershy gave a meaningful look toward the Toccata's stage. Then without word turned back, heading for the hotel. Her head swum.

---0---

It was late evening now. Fluttershy found herself on that balcony again, brooding. Her wings still itched for activity, yet she could not use them. Fluttershy didn't trust herself to fly from this high up, all it would take was one cramp. Despite this she lay on the thickened railing. The subconscious pegasi in her happy. 

It was a good place to relax here. She now knew that long periods of inactivity caused her to stress out, but she couldn't care right now. The view from here was spectacular.

The hotel sat right on the edge of the city. Unfortunately their room was not the grandest of them all, meaning she missed the view over the side of the clouds. But what she had more than sufficed. Before her lay a sweeping overview of the city. With all the lights and games creating a miasma of colour, all heralded under the watch of the stars. It was fantastic, and really helped her relax. Despite it's track record not being perfect, Fluttershy looked forward to returning here.

Fluttershy gaze wandered. To the left lay the Orion district. It was by far the most relaxed area of the city. Housing the vast majority of the cities permanent inhabitants. It's warm yellow lights from its countless dwellings contrasted nicely from the the more bombastic elements. Creating an area of calm in the skyline.

To the right lay the Strip. The reason that ponies came to this city. It was the array of colors that contrasted the Orion district. It held seemingly endless amounts of casinos, clubs and bars. If you were interested in night life, then there was no where better to go. Fluttershy could barely make out from her perch the Toccata's stage. Taking a central space at the end of the strip. The lack of lighting from the Toccata contrasted with the rest of the cities madness. To Fluttershy, the Toccata was the only solace in that place. 

On the far right was the Draco district. This was the area that she and the girls had gotten lost in when they arrived. Now that Fluttershy had a birds eye view, it was obvious to see why. The cities lay out was at best messy. Spaghetti at worst. Bridges seemed to pop up at random, and many lead back to the Draco district. Fluttershy couldn't fathom why, it was not a nice place. It seemed to be the poor area of the city, where disenfranchised ponies from all walks of life end up. Despite all this, it still displayed it's lights just as strong as the others. Though it was painfully obvious that this was done as a facade. So that at a glance ponies wouldn't know that it was the bad area. The politest word to describe that place would be 'worn'. 

Despite this, Fluttershy struggled to tear her eyes from that area. There was something off about it, something that Fluttershy couldn't understand. She looked up, it was a new moon. Barely a sliver of light revealed the celestial object. Yet the area seemed to bathe in moonlight. It didn't make sense. 

It wasn't just that however. There was something wrong with the streets. She knew that the city had poor planning, but this... this wasn't poor planning. There were roads that seemed to go nowhere, or ones that cut through buildings. Fluttershy tried to rationalize it. It could have just been her perspective. But even then, it didn't seem right. The streets twisted around each other. They would stretch to their onset yet never connect. Were the buildings moving? Fluttershy felt a pit in her stomach.

It was wrong.

Yet she couldn't stop looking. It was the same feeling one would feel when they know that they're doing something wrong.  There was that fear, the knowing that at anytime you could be caught. Yet there was that excitement contrasting it. You, could get caught at anytime, but the potential for reward out paced the risk. It created a beautiful mixture of emotions. One where the fear played into the reward. Creating a high that struggled to be matched. It was that, but so much more.

It was getting difficult to think now. The more that she looked, the more that it opened up to her. The more she saw. Fluttershy didn't understand. How could she have never seen it before? It was so obvious. How did anypony not see it?

She needed to get closer. She would see. She would understand. 

Fluttershy inched steadily over the railing, The wind was frigid. 

She spread her wings. And was grabbed.

"Fluttershy! My god what are you doing?" Rarity held Fluttershy's back hoof in her magic. Preventing her understanding.

The distraction served to re-orientate Fluttershy. What had she been doing? "I was just... um..."

Rarity was shaken. "Goodness sake Fluttershy! What if you'd fallen? You can't fly that high!"

It was a good point. Fluttershy looked over the edge, hoof still frozen. The hotel had to be at least thirty stories tall, and she was near the top. What had she been doing? Fluttershy didn't understand why she felt so ill all of a sudden.

In her haze, Fluttershy struggled to push out a response. "I... was- I don't know."

Rarity clearly didn't expect that answer. But seemed relieved for some reason. "I- what do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know."

Rarity was quiet for a long time. Giving Fluttershy some time to return to understanding. Rarity was quiet when she spoke. "Don't you ever, ever scare me like that again." Fluttershy felt shame, but didn't know why. "Now come along, dinner will be ready soon."

---0---

Dinner was a simple affair. Understandable given Rarity's busy day. A simple meal of hay-burgers and fries lay before them. It was the crummy stasis kind. Food that has been put under a spell to help preserve it. Great for keeping cities of ponies fed, not so great for actual consumption. Well that's how Fluttershy felt about it anyways, having lived of off home cooked meals her whole life. 

The disgustingly bouncy burger did little to kindle Fluttershy's hunger. Instead she was left once again, pondering what had happened to her. This was the second time, on this trip alone that something strange had happened to her. The second time that she had no recollection of it's happening. It had to be because of the note. She gets specific directions to more information, and now strange things were occurring? It could be a coincidence, but Fluttershy couldn't believe that so easily.

Fluttershy spent some time musing. The burger going cold without her knowledge.

"Hey Fluttershy?" She was brought out of her thinking. Looking around she spotted that more time had passed than she had originally thought. Each plate, aside from hers, had been cleaned dry. She also noticed that Rarity had left the room. She had more events early tomorrow, it made sense for her to be at her best.

Fluttershy worried where this was going. "Yes?"

Twilight was neutral. "Are you alright?" There was a sliver of sympathy. "I know you're always quiet, but you seemed really... distracted."

Fluttershy spoke without thinking. "I've been thinking." Fluttershy jolted when her brain caught up.

Twilight obviously pushed it. "About what?" She kept any suspicion out of her voice. Fluttershy remained guarded. 

Despite it, Fluttershy had put herself in a problem now. "Oh um... Just that..." There was that feeling again, she knew that telling Twilight would be a terrible idea. "Have you ever had something strange happen?" The feeling intensified.

Twilight leaned closer. Soaking up all that she heard. "No... what do you mean?"

Fluttershy felt she was doing something very wrong, but she had already started now. There was no turning back. "Um, like if you're doing something and you feel like you've done the exact same thing at the same time before. Even though it's happening right now." That pit was returning with a vengeance.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Well yes, that's Déjà vu. It's a well documented phe-"

"No no, have you ever felt it before. That knowing that something is not right, but you have no idea what." Fluttershy didn't know why she was doing this. She felt awful.

Twilight now looked very uncomfortable. She took her time to respond. "I-I guess so, what's your point?"

Fluttershy swore she heard a ringing in her ears. "I'm feeling it Twilight. Right now." The ringing got louder. "I feel it in my heart." And louder. Fluttershy looked Twilight dead in the eyes. "Something's not right Twilight."

Right now, Twilight felt it. That same feeling of unease that had plagued her for so long. But unlike Fluttershy, Twilight had no direction, no clues. Fluttershy had deprived her of the chance. And now she was trotting blind. The desperation in her voice was of no surprise. "What? What's not right! I know you know!"

The feeling was becoming unbearable. Gripping at her very soul. She had come so far now, all she would have to do now was tell Twilight. If she could tell Twilight, than she could tell Celestia who could come and end this once and for all. She wouldn't have to lie anymore, she wouldn't have to steal. She could be rid of it. 

Yet there was that feeling. That otherworldly hum that stuck to her psyche was subtle no more. It's hum turned to pitched screaming. It fought her every step of the way. Fluttershy struggled to keep to her hooves. All she would have to do was beat it. She was an element of harmony! She had helped defeat Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra and more! Some anxiety would be nothing!

She could do this!

A victor was decided. Fluttershy spoke. 

"Nothing."

Twilight was taken aback. "Nothing? What do you mean?"

Fluttershy was completely neutral. "Nothing. I don't know what came over me."

Twilight was silent for a moment. She spoke softly. "You can't be serious."

Fluttershy dared not let any emotion show. "I am." Her response gave no ground.

Twilight exploded. "You can't be serious! You can't just give me that and then cut me out! What's happening!" Twilight pulled on Fluttershy using her telekinetic might. "Tell me!"

Fluttershy said nothing, barely flinching.

"Tell me!"

All was silent. 

There was a banging from the hall. Rarity shoved her way into the room, magic pulling on Twilight by the ear. "Celestia Twilight, some ponies are trying to sleep here! What in Equestria has gotten into you?"

The sudden exchange took the wind out of Twilight. She stammered for a moment, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Rarity tapped a hoof on the floor impatiently. "Well?"

Fluttershy intervened. "No, it's my fault. Don't worry about it."

Rarity shifted her ire to Fluttershy. But found that she had already turned around. "And where are you going?"

The call did nothing to deter her. Fluttershy left the room without a word. Calmly she found and entered her room. She made sure to lock the door behind her.

The facade fell. Fluttershy collapsed to the floor, while a whirlpool of emotions swirled insider her. It concoction of fear, doubt, anger and sadness. Above all though, she felt shame. She had been wrong.

She wasn't strong enough. Fluttershy shivered on the floor. All of the reassurances that she had given herself came back to haunt her. She was an element of harmony, the paragon of kindness. She had defeated many evils in her time. Yet she could not beat this. A feeling. Something that only existed in her mind. Fluttershy had never felt so pathetic.

She felt the tears flow, she did nothing to prevent them. Fluttershy, in her state, questioned herself. Who was she really? She had told herself that she had defeated all these monsters. But what did she do really? She couldn't fight, she couldn't use magic and even Spike could breathe fire and he was just a baby. No, she didn't do anything. The way that Fluttershy saw it, she was only there for the Elements to work. Nothing but a liability.

The funny thing was that Twilight was the solution to all of this. She could fight and she could use magic. She was smart, had the resources and the mettle to follow it through. If anypony needed to know about this whole thing, it was her. Yet Fluttershy couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough and because of that she would be stuck dealing with this.

It seemed fitting really.