Lost and Found

"My name's Fantasy." she told Strawberry. Then to Celestia: "Her name is Strawberry Breeze, she's a pegasus. Pink coat, pink and yellow mane, and a bow. And she doesn't know how she ended up like this but remembers a bright blue flash of light."

Celestia thought for a moment. Then the sandwiches came in. Then she took a bite of her sandwich. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that name before. Perhaps if you asked my sister? She usually gets more gossip than I do.” She suggested.

Strawberry tilted her head. “Her sister? Celestia has a sister? Geez, how long was I out of the loop?”

Fantasy's face fell upon hearing that, and she turned to Strawberry in shock. "You- you didn't know- you weren't around for-" Oh Jesus crimity how long has she been like this? Wait, if she's able to observe, she should still know about Nightmare Moon and Luna. Did she... skip a couple years? "

She faced Celestia. "Princess, she doesn't know about Luna. Whatever happened to her happened before Princess Luna's return, and for some reason she seems to have... missed out on a certain amount of time."

Celestia didn’t know what to think about this, so she came up with an idea. “Well then you have plenty of time to introduce her to Luna then, since she’s going to be spending a lot of time with you.” She said, finishing her sandwich and standing up. “I know this may come as a surprise to you, but Strawberry can’t really turn to anypony else. I can’t sense her presence, so aside from advice, I can’t help. So in addition to your normal routine, I’m assigning you the task of finding out what happened to Strawberry and how to fix it.”

Fantasy blinked. She turned a little bit to the side, then turned back to Celestia, turned to the side again, then back to Celestia again. She was obviously very conflicted.

Finally, she said, "Princess... don't you think... don't you think this may be a little outside of my capabilities? I mean, this is something you'd assign Twilight, not really a... barely-magically-competent fiction writer."

Celestia smiled warmly at Fantasy. “I understand you think Twilight is more suited for this kind of task, and honestly, under normal circumstances I would too. But this isn’t even close to a normal circumstance. You’re the only pony that can interact with Strawberry, so you’re the only pony that can save her.”

“I wouldn’t call it saving, but I’d sure like to… well, not be this anymore.” Strawberry interjected, gesturing to herself.

“Besides,” Celestia continued, levitating the other sandwich to Fantasy. “Perhaps you can provide a unique perspective that most ponies can’t.”

You mean the unique perspective of "I don't know how magic works and have just mastered basic levitation"? Fantasy thought, looking only more concerned. "Wha-... bu... what could I do that Twilight can't? I barely know magic."

Fantasy took the sandwich in her magic and took a bite. After a minute she spoke again. "Couldn't... maybe... couldn't some royal scientists or mages or something do something?"

“Magic isn’t the answer to everything, as much as some may wish it to be. The mages and scientists also can’t help if they don’t know anything about this mare. My suggestion would be to look up anything relating to missing ponies. Perhaps police records or newspaper archives. If Strawberry suddenly ended up like this, somepony would have filed a missing pony report.” Celestia conjured a scroll and quill and wrote something down, then floated it to Fantasy. “That’ll give you permission to search the police records. Now then, if you have any more questions, I’m afraid it’ll have to wait until tonight. I have a job to do.” She started walking back towards the throne room.

Strawberry watches as she left, then turned to Fantasy. “You know, there’s no rush to figure this out. I’m just glad I have someone besides my reflection to talk to again.”

"But- wait, couldn't I just describe Strawberry to the mages? Seriously, this could easily be solved with communication!" Seriously, what is up with ponies and being unwilling to communicate? "And what can the police do about a mare who's basically a ghost in all but energy field and... well, deadness?"

If Celestia left without answering, Fantasy would fume about Celestia leaving her with unhelpful instructions.

Celestia was already gone, so Strawberry stepped in to explain her opinion to the fuming Fantasy. “I think I get what she’s saying. She wants you to find information about what happened to me before you search for a way to fix it. After all, we can’t form a hypothesis without research.” She explained.

"Hm. Good point." Fantasy conceded. She got up. "Well, let's get started."

---

"Have any missing pony reports been filed for a mare named Strawberry Breeze?" Fantasy asked, holding Celestia's note in her magic at the ready.

The officer thought for a moment. “We might. Let me check with the chief. Why do you ask? Is she a relative of yours?” He asked.

“I’d recommend not telling him I’m standing right next to you. Celestia may believe you, but to anyone else, you’ll look nuttier than a fruitcake.” Strawberry interjected.

No shit, Sherlock. Fantasy thought, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. That wouldn't look good to the officer who couldn't hear her new invisible friend. However, she did accidentally look at Strawberry when the pink mare spoke. "Yes, she's a friend." Fantasy said simply.

The officer raised his eyebrow at Fantasy, but shrugged and went to tell his chief. When he came back, there was a file floating behind him, wrapped in his magic. He set it down on his desk. “Well here’s what we got on her here. The rest of it’s in Manehatten, as that’s where the main investigation took place. The case is pretty cold though, from what I heard. You’re welcome to look through this file, if that’ll help you.”

Inside the file is a description and picture of Strawberry, a list of ponies thought to be connected in some way with her, and her last known location. The ponies included a blue unicorn mare, a cyan earth pony mare, a yellow unicorn mare, a yellow pegasus mare, and a dark green unicorn stallion. Her last known location was near a warehouse in Manehatten.