Twilight Sparkle awoke to the light sound of birds chirping outside her bedroom window in the library. She clambered her way out of bed, stretching her new alicorn wings. They became very still at night, as she had not yet become accustomed to sleeping with them. It had only been ten days since she had been brought before Princess Celestia, and the life of a princess seemed to be treating her no different than before.

Trotting over to Spike to wake him, Twilight glanced out her window. She caught a quick glimpse of a Blue Jay before it took flight.

"Wake up Spike," said Twilight gently, nudging him with her hoof. "We have a lot to do today." Spike grumbled and rolled over onto his side.

"Do we have to Twilight? Ever since you became an alicorn all you've wanted to do is sit in your library researching all you can about them. Can we please do something else today," said Spike. Twilight sighed and sat down.

"I'm sorry Spike, but if I'm to be a princess, I simply must know everything there is to know about it. I can't just be a princess and not act like one. Princesses have certain duties you know. Don't worry; I'm almost done with my reading. I think sometime next week I will be done completely and we can go out then, okay?" Twilight smiled apologetically. "Now get up and help me find a book."

Spike sat up in bed. "Fine, but can we eat first, I'm starving." Twilight laughed.

"Of course we can Spike."

There was a knock at the door and Twilight stood up.

"I'm going to go get that. I expect you to have my book when I'm ready. Thanks Spike." Twilight trotted toward the stairs and made her way down to the library where a huge pile of books was piled on the floor. Carefully maneuvering her way around them, she made it to the door.

"I'll have to get Spike to clean up this mess sometime today," she said to herself as she opened the door. Fluttershy was standing sheepishly on her doorstep.

"Oh, I hope I didn't bother you Twilight, if I did I'm sorry, I can go," said Fluttershy.

"Why would you think you were bothering me Fluttershy? You're never a bother. Come on in, what can I do for you?" asked Twilight as she held the door open further to let Fluttershy in.

"Well, I was wondering if you've seen Rainbow Dash?" asked Fluttershy quietly as she trotted inside. Twilight closed the door behind her and motioned to Fluttershy. When they both realized that the few articles of furniture were covered in books, they silently agreed to stand instead.

"Sorry Fluttershy, I haven't seen much of anypony lately, I've been cooped up with my books. Why do you ask?" said Twilight.

"Um, well, I was supposed to meet her this morning. We were going to go on a trip to Cloudsdale this morning to meet with Spitfire. We were going to meet at my cottage, but she never showed up. I thought she maybe forgot so I checked her cloud palace where she lives, and she wasn't there. Nopony else has seen her that I've asked, but I haven't checked with Apple Jack yet," replied Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of much use Fluttershy. Good luck finding Rainbow Dash, come back if you need anything else."

The ponies walked to the door and Twilight let Fluttershy out, who lifted herself off the ground gently with her wings.

"Thanks again Twilight, I'll see you later I guess," said Fluttershy.

"Actually, hold on a second, I'll come with you. I haven't left the library in a while and I could use the wing exercise." Twilight leaned into the library. "Spike," she shouted. "I'm going out for a little. Can you please find me my book and clean the place up a little. If I'm not back by then, meet me at Sweet Apple Acres, okay?"

A cheer told Twilight that Spike had received her message and she trotted outside, closing the door behind her. She jumped off the ground, unfolding her wings and flapping them carefully, testing them. She got herself into a controlled hover next to Fluttershy before climbing into the sky. Together, the two of them made their way to Sweet Apple Acres to find Apple Jack.

"So, um, do you like your new wings Twilight?" asked Fluttershy so quietly it was hard for Twilight to hear over the sound of her heart beating rapidly. She was still not used to being in the air on her own accord without the use of magic and quite frankly, she didn't really trust her wings yet.

"Yeah, I do. Do you always fly this high up?" she said, glancing down at the ground that seemed to become further and further beneath them. She knew that it was utterly ridiculous to be afraid of the height, as even if she were to fall, she could stop herself with magic. But even that thought didn't comfort her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Twilight; we can fly closer to the ground if you want. I'm used to flying with Rainbow Dash, and she flies really high and really fast."

"No, it's okay," Twilight tried her best smile, and Fluttershy nodded. Somehow she had become more scared of her new ability than she had been at the beginning. There was something unnatural to her about flying, and though she knew it would become second nature to her in time, she silently vowed to herself to stay on the ground as much as possible.

When Fluttershy and Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, they found Apple Jack sitting outside the barn sipping apple cider with Pinky Pie. It looked as if Apple Jack was telling Pinkie a story, as her hooves were flailing animatedly, and as they got closer, they caught the tail end of it.

"And then he bets me that he could buck apples faster than anypony else around. I told him he was right outa' his mind and challenged him to a straight-up contest. We set up a course and took off into the trees. We were just about to start our buckin' when suddenly it just started pourin' rain. We decided to put if off 'til later, but I think we both know who'll win, don't we Pinkie?" Apple Jack's hooves settled onto the armrests of her chair. She looked up and spotted Twilight and Fluttershy approaching her.

"Well howdy there. I didn't see y'all come up. I was just tellin' Pinkie about a bet I made with some pony who thinks he's better'n' me. How can I help y'all?" Apple Jack smiled and Twilight and Fluttershy came to a halt in front of her. Pinkie Pie, who had been strangely quiet this whole time, jumped out of her chair and hugged them.

"Hey guys! I was about to go swimming in the pond and I was inviting Apple Jack to come, but since you're here, you should come too! That'd be so awesome, I'm so glad you guys showed up!" said Pinkie as she trotted circles around the two ponies.

"Oh, no thank you Pinkie, I…" Pinkie Pie continued to trot around them, chatting about how much fun it would be if they all went to the pond together. Fluttershy tried again, "No, Pinkie, um, excuse me, I just wanted…"

"Pinkie!" said Twilight loudly. Pinkie stopped mid-trot and sat.

"Sorry, Twilight," she said.

"It's okay, just be quiet for a minute. We have a potentially serious problem here."

"Um, Pinkie, I've already asked you, but we came to ask Apple Jack something," said Fluttershy, content that she'd finally been able to get in a word.

"Ask me what Fluttershy?" asked Apple Jack. Fluttershy told Apple Jack what she had told Twilight.

"Sorry Fluttershy, I haven't seen Rainbow Dash today either. I could come and help you look if you wanted, though. I've been so busy on the farm lately and I could use a break. That's what I was doing when Pinkie came along."

"Oh, oh, can I come, can I come?" asked Pinkie Pie, jumping excitedly.

"Of course you can, Pinkie," said Twilight.

"Hurray!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

"If you want to, I don't want to make you do anything you wouldn't want to," said Fluttershy.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, it'll be fun," said Apple Jack.

"Well… okay then," said Fluttershy, smiling thankfully and ducking her head.

"Since it's the four of us, we should go find Rarity and ask her if she wants to come too. It would be the first time we all get to really hang out since I became a Princess. Minus Rainbow Dash of course," suggested Twilight. The others nodded in agreement.

"Hold up a sec, I have to tell Apple Bloom that I'll be out for the day. She needs to be reminded to do her chores," Apple Jack trotted away.

Twilight sat on her haunches and looked at Fluttershy. "Any idea where to start looking?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I checked Rainbow's usual spots already. I don't know where else she'd be."

Apple Jack came around a tree in front of them, slightly out of breath. "All done," she said.

The ponies all began walking back into town. Twilight was grateful that she could have an excuse to walk instead of fly.

Pinkie Pie was still jumping excitedly ahead of the group, blathering on about how they could go on an adventure to find Rainbow Dash, and how excited she was about everything.

"Have you checked all her favourite spots, Fluttershy? Sometimes Rainbow Dash falls asleep in the strangest of places," asked Apple Jack.

"I checked by the pond, and the clouds, and all of the trees I've ever found her sleeping in; she's not in any of them," Fluttershy reiterated. She looked worried.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy; I'm sure she just found some new place to snooze. She's bound to show up sooner or later," assured Twilight.

Soon, the ponies found themselves in front of Rarity's dress shop. Pinkie Pie ran to the door and knocked on it with her hoof.

"Rarity! Come out and open the door!" she shouted.

"Oh I'm coming, I'm coming, settle down," came a shout from inside. The door swung open and the ponies all rushed inside at once, squishing through the door.

"Well come in then, I guess," said Rarity as she moved out of the way. She led them into a room with fabric lining the walls and floor. There were model ponies half-dressed wandering around talking with one another. They all seemed to be uninterested in what Rarity was trying to put on them.

"I have been trying to use real ponies for fitting my dresses and it is simply not working," whined Rarity. "They won't stand still for even one moment and they cry out when I accidently poke them with sewing needles. This is just not going the way I planned." Rarity's exhausted look turned from the models to the four ponies standing in front of her. Her eyes became wide.

"I could use you four! Of course I can, why didn't I think of this before? Come, come." Before any of the ponies could say anything in protest, they were ushered into the center of the room. Rarity began taking the dresses off her model ponies and putting them on her new ones.

"Rarity, this is not why we are here. Can we talk to you for a minute?" asked Twilight as Rarity was shoving a blue sparkly dress over her head.

"Mhmm, yes just what I thought. If I just loosen the collar a bit, it would be perfect," said Rarity to herself, ignoring Twilight.

"Rarity," said Twilight, trying again. "We need your help. We can't find Rainbow Dash. Nopony has seen her all day and we were about to all go out to look for her, would you like to come?"

"I'd be happy to, Twilight, I just have to finish this dress, then sew something together and cover that dress with sparkles an-" started Rarity.

"We have to go now, Rarity," interjected Apple Jack.

"Well alright then," sighed Rarity. She took the dresses off the four ponies and placed them carefully on the floor.

"Everypony else, please leave, now," said Rarity, motioning to the door. The model ponies grumbled and began to file out. The shop quieted with their departure.

"Okay, I'm ready, where to first?" asked Rarity.

"I was thinking of checking her house again," said Fluttershy. "Maybe I missed her while I was there."

"Sounds good, let's go," said Twilight

~~Ten Hours Earlier~~

Rainbow Dash found herself hovering in her cloud kitchen. This was not the first time that she had awakened from sleepflying. As a filly, Dash had often found herself in a different room than the one she had fallen asleep in, but when she got her cutie mark, the sleepflying had ceased.

Now, years later, it was happening again. It had started a month ago, and had become more frequent since, until it seemed that she never knew where she was when she woke.

This time, she found herself holding a small cloud. Her throat was parched. She squeezed the cloud's water into her mouth and rubbed her eyes. The darkness outside told her that it was between midnight and three.

Walking to the cloud counter, she placed what was left of the small cloud into the water fountain that was running next to it.

"I should probably go see Zecora today and see if she has anything for sleepflying," she said to herself. "Maybe after Fluttershy and I meet with Spitfire."

Rainbow Dash's wings carried her back through her house to her room. She knew her place so well that she got there with her eyes closed. Just as she was about to lie down and try to get back to sleep, she heard a strange sound coming from back in the kitchen. It sounded like thunder.

Dash glanced outside. There were hardly any clouds in the sky, not enough for a lightning storm. She decided to ignore it and settled into her bed. Just as she was about to doze off again, there was another sound from the kitchen, this one louder than the last.

Dragging herself out of bed, she crept slowly toward the kitchen.

"Hello? Is anypony there?" she called warily. Dash stopped before the door of the kitchen, and leaned against the wall. When she peered around the corner, she saw the outline of a pony against the back wall.

"Who's there?" she said challenging. "Show yourself!"

"Hello Rainbow Dash," came the familiar voice of none other than Derpy Hooves.

"Derpy, what are you doing in my house? Get out before you break anything else!" said Dash, noticing the grilled remains of her favourite leavy-snack lying on the floor.

"I would, Dashy, but I have to ask you to come with me. Please," Derpy said.

"What? Why?"

"Because the PIA needs you, Rainbow Dash."

"The PIA?"

"The Ponies Intelligence Agency. We need you to-" started Derpy.

"I know what the PIA is. My dad was one of the top agents. That was before…" Rainbow Dash fell silent for a moment, lost in her thoughts. "Why do they need me? More importantly, why are you the one telling me this?" asked Dash finally.

"I work for the PIA, silly. They even give me free muffins on Fridays," Derpy licked her lips and pulled a half-eaten muffin from seemingly nowhere. She went to take a bite but missed the first time, as her eyes were looking in different directions. She focused one eye onto the muffin and tried again, this time taking a small nibble. Rainbow Dash waited impatiently for Derpy to answer her other question.

"Derpy, for Celestia's sake, what do they need me for?" Dash shouted. Derpy finished chewing and swallowed loudly.

"There have been some new… events that have transpired, and the PIA is calling upon you to help resolve them," explained Derpy.

"Well that doesn't answer any of my questions at all!" replied Rainbow Dash. She rubbed her eyes, fighting the urge to just lie down and sleep.

"Just come with us, everything will be explained later," said a deep voice from behind Dash. She spun around to see a pony clad in black an inch away from her muzzle. She stumbled backwards and reflexively raised her hooves in a fighting stance. Under the black suit, Dash could just make out the cloudlike tint of the pony. His purple and blue striped mane was streaked back to reveal his emerald green eyes. His wings were folded neatly on his back.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"All will be explained later," he said in a soft tone. He leaped toward her and in her sleepy state, Rainbow Dash did not react fast enough before a white rag was pressed to her face. She breathed in to yell and felt her eyes droop. Before she dropped to the floor in a deep sleep, she blindly swung her right hoof in the direction of the colt. She felt it hit something soft, and then she collapsed.

"How much are we going to tell her?" asked a hushed voice.

"As little as possible. We can't have her panicking. She has to know her assignment and she has to complete it, but she cannot be told any more than that," said a second voice.

"She does have a right to know," the first voice countered.

"Yes, she does, but all in good time. It is not our job to tell her. For now, she can only know enough to get the job done," said the second.

"You said that. Are you sure she won't find out anyway?" asked the first voice.

"Find out what?" asked Rainbow Dash groggily. She opened her eyes to a bright white room. The amount of light in the room forced her to close her eyes again. She tried again, squinting and shielding her face with one hoof. Everything around her was a blur and her head felt as though it was inhabited by Pinky on a sugar high. Two ponies were hunched over her. They had masks covering their muzzles.

"How do you feel?" asked the pony on her left. The pony belonged to the first voice.

"Um, fine, I guess, but I have a bit of a headache," replied Rainbow Dash, blinking.

"That'll go away soon enough," said the pony.

"What happened? I remember standing in my kitchen, and I was talking to someone, and then… nothing," asked Dash, trying to remember. Her eyes had adjusted enough to open fully. She looked around and found herself in a room resembling a doctor's office. There were strange tools on a tray in one corner, and many wires and tubes hanging from the walls. She herself was lying on a rough bed in the middle of the white room.

"All will be explained," said the pony on her right. They both took off their masks and placed them on a counter. The two ponies were wearing black suits, and had bright gold badges attached to their haunches, right over where a cutie mark would be. They both were a dark teal colour, the first pony with a pink mane, and the second with a brown one. Rainbow Dash began mentally calling them Pink and Brown.

"We will take you down to see Lighthouse, come with us," said Pink. Rainbow Dash hopped off the bed and they shepherded her to the door.

"Just wait 'til you see this," Pink said, smirking slightly.

"See wha- whoa…" Rainbow Dash's voice faded into nothing as the door was opened to reveal a giant room probably a quarter of the size of Ponyville. They walked out onto a glass balcony that wrapped around the entire room. Dash leaned over the marble railing that lined the balcony, far enough that she would have fallen if not for her wings. On the floor below she could see what seemed like hundreds of ponies all typing on computers in their cubicles, carrying files to and from various offices, and chatting to one another.

There were several Pegasi flying around carrying letters, delivering them to earth ponies and unicorns, all wearing black suits with the gold badge over their cutie mark. Some, Dash noticed, had small gold stars surrounding their badge, which she assumed showed their rank- kind of like martial arts belts, she figured. The cubicles were placed in such a way that they left a huge circular space in the middle of the floor. In that circle was the same crest as on all the ponies' badges – a rearing Pegasus in spy gear, encircled by the words 'Each for All,' with PIA written underneath the whole thing.

"What… what is this place?" asked Rainbow Dash in utter awe. Brown chuckled and placed her front legs on the rail, gesturing to the room.

"Welcome, to the Ponies Intelligence Agency," she said.

Since Fluttershy and Twilight were the only two that could fly, they had to leave Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie waiting on the ground while they flew to Rainbow Dash's house.

"While y'all look up there, we can search around here, just to make sure," said Applejack.

"Sounds good, we'll meet you guys right back here in a bit," replied Twilight. She gulped and leaped into the air just behind Fluttershy. They began their ascent into the clouds, the ground getting further and further away from them. Twilight tried not to concentrate on the fact that only her new wings could support her now.

Soon, Rainbow Dash's palace-like house came into view. Waterfalls flowed off the side and dissipated into water vapour, and rainbows circled the entire place. Fluttershy flew ahead of Twilight and landed next to the entrance. Twilight flew up next to her and hovered a few feet from the cloud.

"Can alicorns stand on clouds?" she asked nervously.

"I think so, I don't really know," said Fluttershy. "I guess we won't know until you try."

"Great," Twilight muttered. She slowly floated down until her hooves were dangling just inches from the cloud. Gingerly, she placed one hoof down, then another, then the last two. She stopped flapping her wings but still held them out, ready to use them again in case anything happened. When it appeared as if she was going to be fine, she folded her wings and took a careful step. The cloud seemed to hold. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked up to Fluttershy who was waiting for her at the door.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash, are you there?" Fluttershy knocked softly at the door.

"Well she's not going to hear that," said Twilight. She stepped up to the door and knocked louder than Fluttershy had. "Rainbow Dash? We've been looking for you, are you in there?" When there was no response, Twilight tried the door handle, it was unlocked. The door swung open.

"Um, Rainbow Dash?" called Fluttershy into the open door. Twilight went to walk in, but Fluttershy blocked her with one leg.

"I don't think we should just walk in there. I mean, do you think she'd mind?" asked Fluttershy, putting down her hoof.

"Oh no, I think she'd be fine with it. She'd understand," said Twilight reassuringly.

"Oh, okay then," said Fluttershy, unsure. The two ponies walked into the house side by side. They split up and took turns calling out Dash's name.

Twilight found herself in Dash's room. She had never been there before. There was not much to see. Most everything was made of cloud, and the walls were bare except for a lone poster of Rainbow Dash doing a Sonic Rainboom. Twilight looked over at Dash's bed. The cloud sheets were unorganised, piled up at the foot of the bed.

"This must mean that she slept here last night," said Twilight to herself. Twilight heard Fluttershy calling her from another room. She looked around Dash's bedroom one more time to make sure she didn't miss anything, and trotted over to where she heard Fluttershy's voice.

"Yes Fluttershy?" she asked. "Where are you?"

"In the kitchen," came the faint reply. Twilight wandered around a bit until she found it. She walked in.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" she asked.

"Look." Fluttershy was pointing to the middle of the room, where a there was a pile of ashes in the shape of a leaf.

"What's that?" asked Twilight.

"It's a burnt leaf," replied Fluttershy. "It looks like Rainbow Dash's favourite. I wonder why she would have done this." Twilight walked up to the remains and poked it with her hoof. It felt cold, as if it had been there for a couple of hours.

"Well it must have happened sometime early this morning," she concluded. "It looks pretty fried. It was probably pretty hot when it was first zapped." Fluttershy nodded. Twilight went around the rest of the room, searching every surface and corner for anything she might find. She stopped at the doorway, having spotted something odd.

"Fluttershy, come look at this," she said. Fluttershy trotted over.

"Look at what?" she asked.

"That," said Twilight, pointing at the ground.

"I don't see anything."

"Look closer." Fluttershy leaned in. At first, she saw nothing, but then her eyes focused on a small red dot.

"What is it?" asked Fluttershy.

"I think… I think it's blood," replied Twilight. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide.

"Do you think it's…" Fluttershy couldn't finish her sentence.

"Rainbow Dash's? Maybe, but it's only a small little speck. You know what, it's probably nothing," said Twilight, more to convince herself than Fluttershy. "Besides, even if it is blood, there's so little of it, Dash probably got a paper cut or something."

"Yeah, yeah you're probably right," breathed Fluttershy, not looking convinced. Twilight walked over to the cupboards and produced a small container.

"What's that for?" asked Fluttershy.

"Well I thought that we should maybe get a sample of the… red substance. That way, I can analyze it to see if it really is Dash's," said Twilight as she scooped up the red-stained cloud into the container. She popped it shut and held it with her magic.

"That's a good idea," said Fluttershy. The two ponies searched the rest of the house, but nothing else turned up. They left Dash's house and started on their way back to the ground to tell the others about their findings.

Fluttershy and Twilight landed softly in front of the three other ponies. They had been waiting impatiently for their return.

"What did you find? What did you find?" asked Pinkie Pie. She was jumping in excitement.

"You first," said Twilight. Pinkie Pie sunk and sat down, already knowing what Fluttershy and Twilight were about to hear for the first time.

"Right. So, we split up, thinkin' that would cover the most ground," said Applejack.

"I found nothing but mud," said Rarity, unhappily.

"I didn't find anything either," said Pinkie Pie. "Not even squirrels." Both Rarity and Pinkie Pie sighed at their small misfortunes.

"I found something. Or rather, somepony," said Applejack.

"Oh?" asked Twilight.

"I was walkin' around right over there," she pointed toward a bunch of trees. "I was lookin' up in the trees in case Rainbow Dash decided to fall asleep in one of 'em. Since I was lookin' straight up, I walked right into a pony and we both fell over.

'Sorry, I didn't see you there,' I said.

'S'alright,' she said back to me.

'Hey, have you seen a blue pony with a rainbow mane lately?' I asked her. She told me that she did. She saw Dash just this mornin'. She says she was out for a walk 'cause she couldn't sleep 'bout three this mornin' an' she heard some commotion 'bout where Rainbow Dash's house is. Says she heard some thunder an' some shoutin' an' then it was silent, figured that was something," Applejack reported.

"That explains the burnt leaf," mumbled Twilight. The other ponies looked confused. Twilight and Fluttershy reported all they had found. The other ponies listened in awe, stunned with what they had heard. The ponies formed a tight circle, trying to piece everything together, finally coming up with the conclusion that Rainbow Dash had been ponynapped.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, what are we going to do?" asked Fluttershy, sobbing and shuffling anxiously.

"Girls, please, we can't say for certain that she's been ponynapped. There has to be another explanation for what has happened," said Twilight. The ponies all looked at her.

"Like what?" asked Rarity.

"Like, um, well," Twilight fell silent and bowed her head. "I don't know. But we have to remain positive." The ponies' devastated looks didn't change.

"Twilight's right. We have to stay positive. Here's what we're gonna do," said Applejack. "Pinkie Pie, Rarity, you two go make some posters an' put them up 'round Ponyville. Maybe somepony knows where she is, an' they can help us. Twilight, is there some sort of location spell that you can use to find Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight paced, looking uncertain. "I don't know. I just don't know. I would have to look in my books. Maybe… yeah, I think I can find one."

"Perfect. Fluttershy, you go ask all your animal friends if they've seen anything. Sometimes, animals see things that ponies don't." Fluttershy smiled happily, glad she was able to help. "As for me, I'll go ask around Ponyville to see if anypony else knows anythin'." All the ponies nodded.

"Put your hooves in," said Applejack, placing her hoof in the center of the circle. The other ponies followed her lead. "We're gonna find Rainbow Dash, alright y'all? Together, we can do anythin'. Alright ponies, good luck to you." Applejack threw her hoof in the air with the other ponies and they all ran off in different directions to begin their tasks.

"Right this way please," said Brown. Rainbow Dash hopped down from the balcony rail and trotted behind the two earth ponies. She wasn't looking where she was going, instead awed by everything else in the room. The two ponies stopped suddenly and Dash ran into them.

"Sorry," she said. The ponies didn't say anything. Pink reached out and pressed a small round button on the wall. A large rectangular part of the wall sunk in and split in two, like doors. Inside, there was a small room lined with mirrors and a handle going around the room. The two ponies walked in and Dash followed. They turned to face the doors and Dash copied, confused. The doors slid shut and a panel of buttons revealed themselves.

"Identification please," asked a voice coming from the room. Dash jumped a bit then stared at her hooves and coughed, trying to hide that the voice had startled her. Brown took a small card out from her black suit and placed it against the wall. There was a beep and Pink pressed one of the buttons.

"Welcome, Agent," said the voice. Rainbow Dash felt strange, as if she was falling at a strange pace, but she was still on the ground. She went into a balancing stance and looked wide-eyed at Brown and Pink.

"What's happening?" she asked. Brown started laughing, but Pink hit her with her hoof.

"We're in what we call an elevator," she explained. Dash's confused look told her that she needed to explain further. "It takes you from one floor to another."

"Isn't that what stairs are for? Or wings?" asked Dash. Brown shrugged.

"This is easier," she said. The elevator came to a halt and the doors reappeared and opened. They were on the main floor of the PIA. Dash walked out of the elevator behind the two ponies and followed them across the floor.

"So who did you say we were going to go talk to?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Her name is Lighthouse. She is the leader of this organisation," explained Brown. "She has a proposition for you." The two ponies looked at one another and shrugged.

"What was that?" Dash demanded.

"What was what?" asked Pink.

"That look you two just shared." The two ponies looked at one another again.

"Yeah, that! What was that?" Pink sighed.

"When we say a proposition, it's really more of a demand. You don't really have much choice in the matter," said Pink.

"Choice in what matter?" whined Dash. She was sick of not being told any answers

"You'll see," said Brown. The ponies all walked together across the entire room. With all the cubicles and other ponies in the way, it seemed to Dash like it was taking forever. Bored of walking, she began flying a few feet off the ground behind Pink and Brown.

"How big is this place?" Dash complained.

"Pretty big. This is the headquarters of the entire PIA. Most of the other branches are much smaller," said Pink.

"Where are we anyway?" asked Dash.

"You sure have a lot of questions," said Brown.

"She has a right to. I mean, she woke up in the middle of the night to find agents Hooves and Stormcloud in her house. If I was in her situation, I would have questions too," reasoned Pink. Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered everything that had happened that morning. She remembered coming into the kitchen and finding Derpy, then being attacked from behind. Her head started thumping painfully again and she had to stop flying.

"Why did you have to attack me?" she asked.

"It was for your own good. And the good of the PIA," said Brown. They finally arrived at an office. The door and surrounding walls were made of glass, but there were wooden shutters that shut the outside commotion out from whatever was inside. Pink knocked at the door.

"Excuse me Lighthouse, but we have Rainbow Dash her." Pink opened the door slowly. Inside there was a small desk near the back of the room. Sitting behind the desk was one of the most stunning ponies that Dash had ever seen. Her shining white coat and light blue mane radiated the pure goodness of her heart. Dash was shocked to find that not only did she have a unicorn horn, but wings sprouted from her back as well. Rainbow Dash found herself looking at an alicorn.

"But how…" asked Rainbow Dash. She had thought that alicorns were rare, but recently, she had been seeing more and more of them. The pony laughed.

"You must be Rainbow Dash then, come in." Dash trotted in, not noticing that Pink and Brown shut the door and left the minute she did. She took a seat on the other side of the desk.

"We meet again, Rainbow Dash," said a somehow familiar voice from the back corner. Dash's head jerked to look behind her. As soon as she saw the pony, Dash leaped out of her chair at flew at him. Her hooves collided with the chair as he had jumped out of the way just in time. A hoof-shaped bruise already occupied some of his face and his emerald green eyes stared curiously at Rainbow Dash.

"Whoa there," he said just as Dash was about to pounce at him again.

"You're the pony who broke into my house and attacked me!" she shouted.

"Yeah, sorry about that. My name's Stormcloud. Nice to meet you properly," he said. He held out a hoof toward Dash as a greeting. She turned up her head and went back to her seat, watching him wearily.

"That's not very nice Rainbow Dash," said another voice. Dash looked behind her again. Derpy was sitting in the other back corner holding a half-eaten muffin.

"Derpy," Dash said flatly. Derpy smiled and took another bite from her muffin.

"That's me," she said. She pulled up a chair and sat beside Rainbow Dash. Stormcloud did the same, but sat a bit further from Dash, watching her with the corner of his eye. Dash looked back to the white pony.

"You are Lighthouse then, I guess?" she asked. The white pony nodded and smiled.

"Good, now that we're all acquainted, we can begin," said the white pony.

"I trust that you were welcomed kindly to the Ponies Intelligence Agency, Rainbow Dash?" asked Lighthouse.

"By some ponies, at least," said Dash, glaring at Stormcloud. He rolled his eyes and slouched in the chair.

"Good. I hope you understand that it was necessary for your protection and for the protection of the PIA that you were brought here without your initial knowledge," said Lighthouse.

"I've been told," said Dash.

"We bring you here only because we must. If there was any other way, we would have left you out of it," began Lighthouse.

"Out of what?" asked Dash. She was tired of nopony explaining what was actually going on. "I was taken out of my house in the middle of the night, brought here and told a bunch of gibberish that everypony but me seems to understand! Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"All in good time," said Lighthouse.

"Stop beating around the bush and get to the point!" said Dash impatiently. Her head throbbed again and she rubbed it with her hoof.

"It's not that simple, Rainbow Dash," said Lighthouse, placing her hooves on the table. "There is a lot to be explained, and you look like you have a headache. Maybe we should adjourn after you have rested."

"No! I'm fine. Just tell me why I'm here," said Rainbow Dash. She tried to ignore the pain.

"As you wish. You have already met Agent Stormcloud and I see you are well acquainted with Agent Hooves. Agent Hooves has been working for the PIA for years now, and through her faithfulness toward this cause and her continued support, she has made her way to top agent here. You may have noticed that she is constantly in the background of your adventures. She is our best surveillance agent. Recently, she has been away on a top secret mission of sorts. That is neither important, nor relevant, to this mission. Agent Stormcloud has been with the agency for almost as long as Agent Hooves has. During this mission you are about to embark on, Rainbow Dash, Agent Hooves will be watching your progress from a distance and you shall be partnered up with Agent Stormcloud."

"What!?" shouted Dash and Stormcloud simultaneously, jumping out of their chairs.

"This is unacceptable," complained Stormcloud. "There is no way I'm going to be partnered with some inexperienced filly with an overgrown ego!"

"Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure you were the one who attacked me in the first place! There is no way I'm going to be working with you, you arrogant little…" The two continued to yell at one another while Derpy tried to intervene.

"Silence! I will not have this. I expect more from you Agent," she said, frowning at Stormcloud. "As for you, Rainbow Dash, you don't have any say in the matter. Now, sit down and I will proceed." The two ponies glared at one another again and sat down, slowly turning their attention back to Lighthouse.

"As you all know, Rainbow Dash's father once worked for the PIA. In fact, he was the most highly respected agent that this agency has ever had. He was involved in a multitude of classified missions," said Lighthouse.

"What does this have to do with my father?" asked Rainbow Dash quietly. The last day that Dash had ever seen her father was the day that it was decided that the Equestria Games were not to be held in Cloudsdale. She held back tears remembering her father. She closed her eyes for a second to make sure she wouldn't crack, even a little bit. She opened her eyes and her face fell into a scowl.

"As you know, your father disappeared many years ago. He left in place a series of clues and a note. Agent Dash was one for codes. For years, we have had various intelligence ponies trying to decipher the codes, but to no avail. Even the note itself was written in some sort of code, but we managed to decipher it. This is why you have only been called in now, and not earlier. We fear that Equestria is in danger, and you may be the only pony capable of saving it. Will you help us, Rainbow Dash?" asked Lighthouse. Rainbow Dash sunk back into her chair, stunned with what she had just heard. Were they really going to make her relive her painful memories? She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"You may have the rest of the day to sort your thoughts. In the meantime, I'm sure Agent Stormcloud would be willing to give you a tour of our agency," suggested Lighthouse. Stormcloud moaned and put his head in his hoof. "You may have until tomorrow morning at 9am to make your decision. Now go." Lighthouse motioned at the door and her horn glowed a bright white. The door swung open and Rainbow Dash, Derpy, and Stormcloud left the office.

"Spike, get me every book I have on finding things," said Twilight as she entered the library. She spotted Spike sleeping on top of a pile of books.

"Spike, I thought I told you to clean up this mess," said Twilight. Spike made a slight snorting noise.

"Spike! Wake up!" Twilight trotted over to Spike and nudged him with her hoof. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Twilight?" he asked.

"Yeah, Spike. I thought I told you to clean up the library," said Twilight. "Now it's going to be even more difficult to find the book."

"What book?" asked Spike and he rolled off the pile. He picked up a book from the bottom and brought it over to the bookshelf, putting it in place.

"The new one, that Princess Celestia gave to me, by Starswirl the Bearded. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I think there might be some sort of location spell in it that can help me find Rainbow Dash," explained Twilight, beginning to sift through the books lying on the floor.

"You mean you didn't find her?" asked Spike, piling books into his arms.

"No, and it's not looking good," said Twilight, looking faster, her horn glowing nearly without pause. "Which reminds me…" Twilight took out the small plastic container that held the sample in it. She placed it on a desk carefully, trying not to disturb the contents any more than she had to.

"What's that?" asked Spike, indicating the container. Twilight told him everything that she and her friends had found. Spike stopped stocking books and stared in disbelief.

"You don't think she's been…" Spike couldn't finish his sentence.

"Ponynapped? No. Yes. Maybe. We just don't know," said Twilight worriedly. "What can really help is if you find me that book." Spike grabbed another armful of books and started sorting them. After what seemed like hours, Twilight finally found the right book at the bottom of the pile. Excitedly, she took the book over to the desk where the container sat. She began rifling through the pages and scanning each of them as fast as she could, hoping to find a location spell.

She looked through the entire book and found nothing. Twilight sat down in frustration and her eyes welled up.

"Spike," she said. "I don't know how to find her. I don't know any kind of spell that could help me find her. What kind of princess am I if I can't even protect my friends?" She put her face in her hooves. Spike walked over and hugged her gently.

"It's okay, Twilight. I know you can find a way. I know you can," he said. "Did you find a spell to figure out what the red stuff is?"

"No, but I didn't really look." Twilight took her hooves from her face and sniffled. She looked through the book again, carefully searching for anything that could help her. Again, she flipped over the last page and found nothing.

"It's hopeless Spike. I'm never going to be able to find her." She got up and began pacing. "What can I do Spike?" Spike began to pace on his own, placing his hands behind his back.

"I know what we can try," said Spike. Twilight stopped and looked at him.

"We can go and ask Zecora if she can help!" he said.

"That's a great idea, Spike! Maybe she'll even have something to find out what that is," she said, looking at the container. "Let's go." Twilight floated the container over to her and she and Spike left to find Zecora.

Spike struggled to keep up with Twilight as she ran as fast as her hooves could carry her into the forest. For them both, it seemed to take forever, though for different reasons. Twilight needed to see Zecora; she needed to see if she could do anything to help her. Spike felt like he was running nonstop for hours. When they finally arrived in front of Zecora's house, they both breathed a sigh of relief. Twilight trotted up to the door and knocked loudly.

"Zecora, we need your help! Are you there?" asked Twilight. She heard a noise and a shuffle from inside and the door swung open.

"What is it that troubles your hearts,
is there anything I can do with my magical arts?" asked Zecora as Twilight and Spike walked in.

"We can't find Rainbow Dash," said Twilight. "And we were hoping you could do some sort of spell to find out what this is." Twilight motioned at the plastic container that she was still floating with her magic.

"I shall try my best to analyse this,
and I hope that this trouble will not persist.
I dreamed something of whom you speak
the night it made me very weak.
Dash was flying when sleep was occurring,
sleepflying is to what I am referring," said Zecora. Twilight looked confused.

"You mean to say that Rainbow Dash was sleepflying? She's never done that before, not from what I remember," said Twilight. Zecora shrugged and took the container.

"I simply retell what the spirits told me,
this information is but free.
I will get to work on this evidence,
perhaps we can find something of relevance.
For now you must wait
and a spell I will create."

Twilight nodded and sat down, waiting impatiently. Zecora set about her house, gathering ingredients for some sort of spell.

"I hope you can find something Zecora, I really do."