The town was deserted when Fluttershy arrived back. The causeways no longer teemed with the talking ponies and laughing foals who’d been there when she left. Instead they were dominated by mounds of powdery, fresh snow. Fluttershy pulled her cloak tighter around herself against the chill. A breeze ruffled the black fabric, sending a shudder down her spine.

The entire way back, Fluttershy had been unable to keep her mind off of Old Bones—he’d actually been waiting for Death to show up, of all things…Blanche had reassured her that not everypony was afraid to die, and that many older ponies, well past their prime and in no shape to go on, actually wished to Celestia for Death to come to them. It was cold comfort at best.

On the way back, Blanche had come to her. “I looked into what Spike was doing,” he’d said, “turns out, well…he was acting as a runner for Twilight and trying to pull the rest of your friends together. She apparently didn’t have time to go out and talk to all of them personally, so they’re meeting in the library in a few hours. I suggest you don’t take as long to get back as you did getting here, or you’re like to miss it.”

And she hadn’t. She’d made tracks for Ponyville as quickly as she could, though the snow mounds had impeded her progress. To think the snowfall had come so quickly…the ground had become blanketed by the white stuff as she lay passed out on the floor, and compared to the birds chirping and wind blowing as she’d made her way here, Fluttershy had found the world eerily dead on the way back.

Fluttershy entered the town via the road next to the windmill around ten-thirty at night. She’d tried to ask Blanche when exactly the meeting was happening, but he was either busy or ignoring her, because he refused to answer. It was so odd…Fluttershy knew she must’ve been out here at some point before now, but she’d never noticed how lonely it was without colts and fillies playing in the hills eastward.

As she came into the town square proper, it wasn’t hard to spot the lights on in the library across the way—they were pretty much the only thing lit up in the entire town square, after all. Fluttershy walked across those cold cobblestones and to the window of the library, hesitant for a moment; all of her friends were in there, and they all looked despondent.

“Blanche,” she asked, waiting a moment. When no answer came, she repeated, “Blanche! Please, I need you to answer a question!”

“What?” Blanche asked, startling Fluttershy, “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m very, very busy at the moment…what’s the question?”

“Can I walk through walls?” she asked, “I mean, um…sorry if that’s a silly question, but if I just open the door and come in, they’re sure to notice, even if they can’t see me.”

Blanche sighed heavily. “Yes, just imagine it happening, like all the other powers you’ve been given, and it’ll happen. Now don’t bother me, please.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to respond, but he’d severed the link—she was alone, at least for now.

As Fluttershy passed through the wall, the harried feeling in the room hit her full-force; there were books scattered about on the ground, the lights were full-blast, and everywhere one turned, ponies were shouting over each other, leafing through books, and throwing things both up and down to each other. Spike was nowhere to be seen—Twilight had probably taken him someplace less loud to sleep. Despite the chaos, however, Fluttershy noticed that, in truth, the meeting hadn’t started yet—they were just gathering materials, not using them yet, and Rainbow Dash was still absent.

“Rarity!” Twilight hollered, setting down a book, “Did you find that volume on ‘spiritual absence’ or whatever it’s called?”

“Yes Twilight!” Rarity called back, “But it doesn’t say anything in here about victims of it telling their friends about leaving! They sort of just, well…vanish!”

Twilight groaned in frustration. “Well, she definitely didn’t ‘just vanish’,” she said, tossing her current book to the side, “Applejack, have you found anything?”

The farmer pony raised her head from the book where she’d had it buried. “Can’t say I have, Twilight! Whatever happened to Fluttershy, it’s not in anything I’ve read.”

Twilight placed her elbows on the desk and put her face in her hooves, utterly exasperated. “Girls…I don’t know…is she even going to come back now? We’ve been at this for what seems like forever, and I’ve been doing it for days now…collectively, we’ve looked through the whole library!” She sighed heavily, leaning her cheek on a hoof, “Is Rainbow Dash coming? Did anypony find out?”

Pinkie Pie turned away from the window. “Dashie said she’d be a little late. She didn’t really wanna come over, but I convinced her!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. ‘Pinkie, I know we have more pressing concerns, but…how in the world did you do that? I thought she hated Fluttershy.”

Pinkie shrugged. “It may not seem like it, Twilight, but Dashie trusts me. I just told her that it was really important for getting Fluttershy back, and that we really, really needed her help and she said she’d be here, just a little late…it’s only been thirty minutes, give her a little time! I know she doesn’t hate Fluttershy, I just know it!”

Twilight sighed heavily. “Alright, Pinkie,” she said, standing up from the desk, “we’ll wait a little while longer. I just hope she makes it.”

Rarity looked over from her work. “Twilight, not to be pessimistic, but didn’t Fluttershy tell us that she was never coming back? Why are we doing all this work if, well…” She didn’t finish, but the mood in the room darkened considerably. Twilight’s eyes, however, gleamed with determination.

“Because, Rarity,” Twilight said, “If Fluttershy isn’t going to come back, it’s our job as our friends to go and get her back. You saw her…we all did! Fluttershy wasn’t leaving for no reason, that much was obvious—whatever’s twisting her arm, we won’t stand for it. We may not have any leads, but that’s not going to stop us.”

Pinkie nodded emphatically. “Yeah!” she cried, “Fluttershy looked so sad when she came to talk to me! I mean, I’ve never seen her that sad—well, maybe except for when Philomena burned up and she started crying, or maybe that time when Gilda yelled at her, and well, that was really mean, but this would have to be something seriously mean to make her so-”

Applejack chuckled and cut her off. “Pinkie and Twilight are right; Fluttershy wasn’t looking too good when she showed up at Sweet Apple Acres. I didn’t say anything about it, but it was pretty dang obvious that Fluttershy wasn’t leaving because she wanted to.”

“Goodness…” Rarity said, smiling and standing up, “I feel sorry for whatever is between us and Fluttershy, because we’re going to make it regret taking her away from us!”

All the ponies shouted emphatically, raising hooves into the air. As enthused as they looked, though, Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice the way their eyes didn’t share the smiles on their faces, or the fact that their hooves dropped limply to their sides when they’d finished. Right after the cheering was finished, all the energy in the room seemed to just die…

They weren’t half as confident as they appeared, Fluttershy knew—they were just trying to put on brave faces, to give themselves a boost of self-assurance that they desperately needed. Still, Fluttershy smiled—they hadn’t given up yet, and that was the important thing. In truth, she was almost surprised…they had absolutely no idea what they were up against and here they were, huddled together in the cold library, poring through volume after volume, trying to find anything that could get them on the right path.

And to think, it was all for her…Fluttershy raised a hoof to her mouth, her eyes stinging. “Everypony,” she tried to said, knowing in the back of her head that it was futile, “You don’t need to do all this for me, really…” But they continued, her protests unheard.

“I think I have a theory,” Twilight said, “it’s a little crazy, but…when I got Princess Celestia’s letter back, I was shocked by how vague it was…all she told me was ‘Fluttershy’s leaving is a tragic loss for Ponyville, and even Canterlot will miss her influence dearly. I am sorry I cannot provide more comfort than that.’”

Twilight shook her head. “The Princess has never been that vague with me before, girls. It’s obvious there’s something much bigger than we figured going on here. There’s no telling exactly what it is, of course, but just the fact that the Princess dodged my questions so obviously…it’s almost like somepony told her to.”

Rarity put a hoof to her mouth. “Twilight!” she cried, “You can’t possibly be suggesting that Celestia was intimidated, are you? She’s the most powerful pony in Equestria! What could possibly scare her that badly?”

Twilight thought a moment, then levitated a book over, flipping through the pages. “It might not be that simple…” she said, “There’s no being in Equestria who could scare the Princess, I’ll grant you, but what if it was someone else…? What if it wasn’t even a pony?”

Applejack blinked. “Twilight, you’re losing me. Not a pony? The Princess probably wouldn’t be afraid of any living thing in Equestria, far as I know.”

Twilight stopped on one of the pages—a detailed account of the near-war between Avania and Equestria. “Exactly,” she said, pointing to the depiction of the griffon king, “nothing in Equestria. But Avania, Dragonica, and Mythos…there’re too many variables for us to just dismiss the intimidation theory. Too many other powerful beings, like Rex III, Wobbles, and Icewings…any one of them threatening war could’ve made the Princess so anxious that…that…” She bit her lip, trying to piece it all together with Fluttershy’s departure.

“Ooh, I know!” Pinkie piped up, “What if Fluttershy was asked by the Princess to leave to the, uh…country that wanted war as some kinda peace pony?”

Applejack’s eyes hardened. “Or as a slave.”

Twilight nodded grimly. “Or a ransom…‘take one of our Elements of Harmony to prevent a war’…” Twilight shook her head. “Only I can’t imagine who Equestria would’ve gotten in return.”

“Probably a crown prince, or an extremely important advisor!” Rarity cried, “It’s all beginning to make sense! Twilight, you’re simply brilliant!”

“Don’t get too excited,” Twilight responded, “That’s only one theory. It’s a good one, but we have to considering everything here…after all, being too hasty has gotten us into more than one jam in the past. We’ve gotta think about everything here.”

Applejack cocked her head. “Well what else is there to think about, Twilight? We know there’s nothing else that could make the Princess send Fluttershy away except for the other countries…”

Fluttershy, still off in the corner, was shaking her head vigorous, desperately shouting at her friends that they were going in totally the wrong direction!

“Well…there is one other thing,” Twilight said, grabbing a different book, “it’s a little farfetched, mind you, but it’s basically all we’ve got beyond the war theory.” She flipped through the book and settled on a page. “It’s amazing we didn’t think of this before, but…The Ever.”

Fluttershy’s heart shot into her throat.

“The Ever?” Pinkie asked, “I feel like I’ve heard of that before!”

Twilight nodded. “You have; they taught it in school back when we were still fillies—that was before the whole idea was considered debunked and the teaching of it was phased out. It’s supposed to be some kind of mystical place that ponies go when they die, and supposedly the rulers therein are the most powerful beings in existence. Put simply, it’s a theory that deals with what happens after we die, and attempts to explain how we all got here.”

Applejack blinked. “Twilight, beg your pardon, but ain’t that a little silly? I mean, that’s just an old story they told us in school.”

Rarity nodded in agreement. “Twilight, I’m almost certain that this is a red herring—Fluttershy is probably wasting away in some horrid foreign country; the poor dear is probably scared half to death! We can’t be wasting time with-”

Twilight raised a hoof. “Let me finish,” she said, “I know it sounds farfetched, extremely so in fact, but there’s an old myth associated with The Ever, about some kind of Death cycle.”

Fluttershy was practically bouncing around now—her friends were so close!

“Basically, what happens is, every thousand years or so, Death comes down to Equestria and picks a successor; don’t quote me on this, but I guess The Ever trusts Equestrians more than any other race…in any case, the book ‘documents’ the last time this switch took place, and it was around six hundred years ago. Maybe…maybe Death asked Fluttershy to take his place?”

When everypony gave her a skeptical look, Twilight sighed. “I know, I know, it’s silly, but still, it’s a theory. If the war one is disproved, then it’s all we’re going to be able to fall back on. I mean, I know the book says a thousand years or so, but if I were Death, I know I’d probably get bored pretty easily.”

Fluttershy almost laughed at the irony of that.

“Well, I think that’s all we should consider it—a fallback,” Rarity said, “It’s definitely out there.”

Pinkie and Applejack nodded in agreement. “But Twilight,” Pinkie said, “how do we start looking into all this stuff? This is kind of a lot to think about!”

Twilight thought a moment. “I’ll start by sending a letter to the Princess letting her know that we’re going to come to Canterlot as a group to address her—if she tells us that there’s nothing wrong, then we just have to believe her. If not, then hopefully that’ll put us on the right track.”

Fluttershy hoped desperately that they didn’t get off-track with their investigation –they were her only hope to get back to normal now. She looked around, hoping even more that Blanche hadn’t heard any of that.

“For now,” Twilight concluded, “I think we could all seriously use some sleep—it’s past twelve-thirty. So, if there’s nothing else, let’s-”

“I made it!” came a voice, accompanied by the door opening and Dash whizzing in, floating in the middle of the room. “What was it you girls needed me for?”

When everypony put a hoof to their foreheads in exasperation, Dash looked around, confused. “Did I miss something…?”