//------------------------------// // Getting it Together // Story: Fair Exchange is No Robbery // by ElementOfFlutterSwag //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy approached Rarity’s boutique, the rain pouring down harder than earlier. Fluttershy was wearing an umbrella saddle Rarity had made for her, although much more subtle and average, still beautiful. Pinkie was wearing her rainbow colored umbrella hat. That wouldn’t really do much for keeping the rain off anything other than her head, but Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie. That’s as good an explanation as anypony would get. They reached the door and Fluttershy tapped on it with a hoof. They waiting a few moments, no response. “Oh dear, I hope she didn’t go off to search for Sweetie Belle on her own.” Fluttershy said as she glanced back toward Ponyville. She checked to see if the front door was unlocked, oddly enough it was. “I’m going to go look around inside to see if she’s in there, you wait here just a minute okay?” Pinkie nodded and Fluttershy entered the boutique to search. Pinkie turned around and glanced in the distance, watching the rain pour down somewhat absent-minded. Suddenly, she felt a combo coming on. Her tail twitched, her right hoof had a small spasm, and her nose wrinkled. That meant somepony she was close to was in danger! She took off in a full gallop to search for anything out of the ordinary, leaving Fluttershy at the boutique. ~~~ Fluttershy walked upstairs and into Rarity’s room to search for clues. The rest of her boutique was empty of anypony, and the darkened clouds outside added and eerie effect to the building. Or maybe Fluttershy was just overreacting. Entering Rarity’s room, the pegasus noticed three finished dresses. She assumed they were the orders the unicorn was working on when she stayed here with her last night. For a few seconds, Fluttershy stood still, remembering the past night with her close friend. She smiled fondly, and then snapped back to reality. She needed to focus on the task at hoof. Not her romantic fantasies with Rarity. She took one more thorough look around her room. Seeing nothing of interest, she exited and went back downstairs to sweep the first floor one last time. She looked over to Rarity’s dress closet, the one where the unicorn retrieved the pegasus’s new dress. Something told her she should look inside, something told her there was something inside that would give her a clue. She walked over to the door cautiously, and slowly pulled it open, peering inside. She took a few steps in, looking around carefully but not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She delicately pushed some dresses out of the way and looked for anything strange on the walls or floor. She saw nothing. She began to doubt her instinct was something to follow. Then something caught her eye. It was the floor door that led into the boutique’s crawlspace. Fluttershy gulped softly. She knew she needed to check inside for clues, but she was afraid of what she might find down there. It took her several minutes to calm herself down, and longer to finally work up the courage to pull the door open. She slowly lowered her head and gripped the handle with her teeth and pulled the door open. It was dark inside. Very dark. Fluttershy shuddered, gulping again. She carefully lowered herself into the crawlspace. She’d just take a quick look and get out. Everything would be okay, right? Finally able to open her eyes, the yellow mare glanced around the crawlspace for any clues. What she saw made her gasp. There was a decent sized hole in the side of the boutique, enough for at least an averaged size pony to fit through. Somepony, or something, could easily have slipped in and came through the door to the crawl space into the boutique. Fluttershy climbed out of the crawlspace and closed the door again. She quickly trotted outside to tell Pinkie Pie what she found, to realize that she was no longer there. She looked around for any trace of her, and saw muddy hoofprints leading back in the direction of Ponyville. Why was Pinkie acting so strange? Surely she had nothing to Sweetie Belle’s disappearance...Right? Fluttershy had no choice but to chase after the hoofprints in the hopes of finding the pink pony. ~~~ Twilight was examining the edge of the Everfree Forest very carefully for any more of the strange footprints she followed from Sugarcube Corner. She discovered that the direction the prints were going was toward the Everfree, which didn’t settle well with the studious unicorn. Anything that involved the mysterious and creepy forest was never a good thing by any means. She decided to refrain from entering the forest alone, and continued scouring the edge for more footprints instead. Finding no further evidence of footprints into the forest, Twilight felt it best to turn and head back to the library and tell Rarity what she found. If they really needed to travel into the Everfree Forest, she would much rather come with a group rather than alone. Turning and beginning to walk away, she heard movement in the brush behind her. She turned and looked, but found nothing. She began trotting at a faster pace, getting uncomfortable with the noises behind her. Somepony, or something for that matter, was chasing her. She could hear whoever it was moving behind her. She turned to face her pursuer. “Who are you and why are you-” She was cut off as she was struck across the face, knocking her out cold some ways away from the Everfree, and left there. ~~~ Rarity slowly stirred awake in Twilight’s bed. She groaned softly as she sat up and stretched a little. She had no idea how long she had slept for, but she supposed it didn’t really matter too much. She slowly got up out of the bed, and crossed the room to Twilight’s mirror. She looked simply hideous, her mane was messy and ruffled from sleep, and it was no longer curled. It had been straightened and soaked in the heavy rain she was caught in. She decided to brush it a little, and make herself at least a little presentable. Levitating the brush with her magic she brushed the tangles from her hair,leaving it look like she at least styled her hair in that manner. Finishing her mane brushing, she set the brush down, and sat down on her haunches. Her thoughts returned to Sweetie Belle once more. She sighed softly, more able to control her emotions after her breakdown earlier. She raised a hoof and rubbed her forehead slowly, keeping herself under control. She heard a knock at the door. “Come in.” She spoke plainly. The door opened and Spike entered the room. “Rarity? How are you feeling?” The unicorn put on a soft smile. “I’m feeling a bit better Spike, thank you. Once I had some time to clear my mind and rest, thing got easier to bear. But no less horrible.” She looked down and let out another soft sigh. the baby dragon approached her and gave her a hug. She returned it. “I think I’ll be alright now,” she said, “Tell me, has Twilight returned yet?” Spike looked toward the door. “No she hasn’t, I’m starting to get a little worried. She’s been gone for hours, and it’s getting dark out.” Rarity rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Hmm, Spike, do you think we should go look for her?” Spike looked down. “Well I uh...Yeah I do, but I don’t want to burden you any further. You already have a lot on your mind. Rarity stood up and motioned for Spike to get on her back. “Come along Spike, we’re going to find her.” The dragon hesitated. “But Rarity, are you sure you’re alright?” “Spike, Twilight is doing a lot to help me, and I simply cannot rest easy without knowing she’s alright. This is my problem, and if something happened to her I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Now come on, we’re going.” Spike crawled onto Rarity’s back, and she trotted down the stairs to the main floor of the library and opened the door. She wouldn’t let anything happen to one of her dear friends. ~~~ Pinkie Pie was frantically searching Ponyville for the source of her recent Pinkie Sense warning. She had no idea where to look, so she resolved to search everywhere until she found one of her friends. But what if it was Rainbow Dash or Applejack? Neither of them were in Ponyville right now, if they were in trouble Pinkie wouldn’t be able to help in time. She felt a little bad for leaving Fluttershy behind at Rarity’s place, but hopefully she would be able to catch up later. It was getting dark fast, so she had to hurry. It seemed there was nothing out of the ordinary in Ponyville, some ponies were coming out now since the rain had finally let up to a light drizzle. Maybe her friend in danger was somewhere on the outskirts of town? “Where else would any of my friends be at this hour? The only place that I can think of near Ponyville is...Oh no, the Everfree Forest!” The pink pony broke into a full gallop, she had no time to waste. She startled a few ponies with her urgency to get to her destination, but she was nearing Fluttershy’s cottage quickly. Her cottage was only a few minutes away from the edge of the Everfree, so that was the best place to start looking. She stopped in front of the cottage, trying to see anything nearby in the approaching darkness. It was getting harder to see, so she trotted out further into the field that was in between Fluttershy’s Cottage and the Everfree Forest. She was starting to get afraid that one of her friends had wandered into the Everfree alone. “None of my friends would be crazy enough to do that...Right?” Pinkie Pie practically tripped over Twilight’s unconscious body. She let out a loud gasp and kneeled down next to her unicorn friend. “Twilight! Twilight are you okay?!” She nudged the lavender mare, trying to wake her. Twilight groaned softly, and her eyes opened a little. “Twilight, are you okay? What happened?” Twilight lifted her head up, and groaned again, shaking her head. She glanced up to see her friend with an extremely concerned face. “Pinkie? What...What are you doing here?” Pinkie Pie gave her a stern look. “I could be asking you the same thing missy! What were you doing out here so close to the Everfree Forest?” She helped Twilight back up onto her hooves. “I think it’d be best if we get away from here, let’s go back to the library. I’ll explain everything there.” Twilight began walking. “Alright,” Pinkie replied as she began to follow, “But we need to go get Fluttershy first, I left her at Rarity’s boutique. She’s probably pretty upset that I left her there alone.” “Okay, we’ll go back there and look- Oh, well that’s pretty convenient” She looked ahead up the path and saw Fluttershy making her way towards them, more likely back to her cottage. Twilight and Pinkie ran up to her. “Fluttershy! I’m sorry I left you behind like that! My Pinkie Sense went off and told me a friend was in danger, so I had to go find the source! Pinkie Pie looked apologetically at Fluttershy, who in return offered a soft smile. “It’s quite alright Pinkie, I’m just glad you’re okay. Anyway, what are you two doing out here this late?” “I was looking for something out here...uhh, near the Everfree Forest. Pinkie found me unconscious out here. We were just on our way back to the library so I could explain what happened.” Twilight said. Fluttershy gasped. “You were unconscious?! You’re okay right? Are you badly hurt? “I’m fine Fluttershy, don’t worry. You can come with us if you want, I’ll explain everything once we’re safely inside.” “Oh of course I’ll join you.” Thus, the three mares walked together back to Twilight’s library to sort through the days events, unaware of the conflict soon to be headed their way.