“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

Albert Einstein

Princess Celestia opened the ornate patio doors to her private sitting room and stepped out onto the grand balcony that overlooked the shining palace-city of Canterlot. She breathed deeply of the fresh mountain air and strolled over to an ornate silver picnic table, where her maidservant had just finished setting out a fine porcelain tea set and was now arranging an assortment of pastries around the kettle.

“Good afternoon, your highness. I trust everything is well?”

Celestia sat at the table and leaned over her cup of tea, inhaling the perfumed steam. “Oh, it’s certainly about to be. Thank you so much, Spring Fresh.”

Spring arched an eyebrow. “The princess, thanking her own maidservant? What would the aristocracy think?”

“I meant every word of it,” she said. “It really is the best tea to be had. I sometimes worry I don’t appreciate the little things nearly as much as I should. I’ve spent so much time in court every single day, day in and day out... so very exhausting.”

“It’s good to have her back, isn’t it?”

Celestia gazed down at her teacup.

“Your highness? I didn’t offend, did I?”

“Not at all,” she said, “you’re quite correct. When she left us I had no choice but to carry both the sun and moon on my shoulders. It’s been a terrible burden, but I’ve been doing it for so long that I...”

Celestia’s voice cracked. She leaned on the table and scrunched her eyes shut.

Spring Fresh set a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “Princess?”

“I’d forgotten what it’s like to have someone share a burden with you.” Celestia opened her eyes and smiled. “Now that things have finally been set right I have so much more time to myself. And there is so much lost time to make up for.”

A ruffle of wings caught their attention and they turned to see Princess Luna alight on the balcony beside them.

Celestia raised her cup. “Sister! Do please, have a seat!”

“You’re actually here?” Luna glanced left and right. “I thought you spent your afternoons in court?”

“Oh we do not miss tea, dear.” Celestia took the kettle and poured a fresh cup. “Sit, sit!”

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Luna’s mouth as she sat down. “Teatime... every week... you really meant it, didn’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Luna stared down at her cup in silence.

“Ahh, ladies!” The waiter approached their table with a bow. “Will you be requiring a lunch menu, or shall we skip straight to the special of the day?”

Luna looked up with a smile but recoiled in alarm. Their waiter was a gargantuan rooster, three times taller than either of them. His long, flowing plumage shimmered with every hue of red and orange imaginable and his comb and wattle were made of golden fire, flowing with the light and heat of the sun itself. He stood with grace and dignity, and the feathers of his wings flexed like fingers: he had a towel slung over his forearm and was holding a pen and notepad. The cloth facade of a button-down tuxedo shirt was stuck to the front of his chest, complete with a black bow-tie.

Luna snapped back in her chair. “Alectryon!?”

“Ut ut!” he quipped. “A job is a job. Now then, the stuffed peppers with couscous, spinach, feta cheese, and a dash of dill is particularly—”

“What are you doing here?” Luna turned to Celestia. “What is he doing here?”

Alectryon rolled his eyes. “It seems somepony decided to skip over the prologue. Do you intend to order, or not?”

Luna stared up at him, silently mouthing the word ‘what’.

Celestia gently cleared her throat. “He and Twilight Sparkle had a bit of a run-in and he didn’t have anywhere else to go afterwards.”

“So you hired him as a waiter?” Luna said, aghast. “The old gods exiled him to an astral prison for trying to annihilate all of reality! Twice!”

Alectryon shaped the feathers of one wing into a fist and held it against his hip with a scowl. “That’s a little pot-and-kettle, don’t you think?”

“Well, I... ah, that is...”

“Two specials please,” Celestia said.

“Very good, miss.” Alectryon bowed deeply to both of them. Not the bow of a knight or a noble, but of a distinguished butler. He walked away with a flourish and his long tail swept the floor like a cape.

“He seems...” Luna’s eyes lingered on his posterior and a slight blush shaded her cheeks. “Nice.”

Celestia grinned at her. “He’s such a hunk, isn’t he?”

She looked at her, amused and alarmed at the same time. “Sis!”

After a moment of silence they broke into laughter together. They each sipped at their tea and nibbled at the pastries, and when Luna’s cup was empty Celestia took the kettle and refilled it herself instead of summoning the maid to do it for her.

“Thank you,” Luna said.

Celestia set the kettle down. “No. Thank you.”

“For what?”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but the words were lost to hesitation.

A heavy impact slammed the balcony nearby and shook the table, rattling the plates and spilling tea over the fine lace tablecloth. Luna was up and out of her chair in an instant, sheathing a protective wing around her older sister.

“Princess!”

“Rainbow Dash!?” Celestia pushed her sister’s wing aside and rushed to where Rainbow Dash had crash-landed. Her coat and feathers were bedraggled and she was gasping for air at a voracious rate. Her eyes were bloodshot.

“What have you done to yourself!? You should know better than to push yourself this hard.”

“It’s Twilight!” Dash said between gasps. “She’s out of her freakin’ mind! You’ve gotta do something, quick!”

“You’re delirious from exhaustion,” she said. “Let’s get you inside and give you time to calm down.”

“You don’t understand! Twilight did something horrible to herself... she turned herself into a freakin’ nightmare!”

Celestia stared down at her. “If this is a prank, it’s gone too far. You should know better than to—”

Dash reached up and clamped her hooves on either side of Celestia’s head, refusing to let go. “She tore up all the equipment in her library to make a giant metal tower and then a giant creepy eyeball came out of the clouds and there was super sad music and then it cried on her and then she turned into a princess for a while and then it all went horribly wrong!”

Celestia stared down at her, silent and blank.

“You gotta do something! It’s happening right now!”

“Twilight did this?”

“Yes! I swear, it’s not a joke!”

“Twilight... Sparkle?” she said, tentatively.

Dash nodded. “Yes! That Twilight!”

“But... why?”

“It was that homework assignment you gave her last week! It drove her bonkers!”

Celestia stared down at her. She then walked to the edge of the balcony and stared off into space, stunned and bewildered.

Luna rushed to her side. “Sister?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said, matter-of-factly, “turned herself into a wicked Nightmare. Because of a homework assignment.”

“We must act quickly,” Luna said. “Her power will grow at a voracious rate in the first few hours alone.”

“No. This is... it can’t be.” Celestia shook her head. “She did this over a homework assignment? Seriously?”

“That’s how it always starts,” Luna said, “with something you think is important but that everypony around you thinks is completely insignificant.”

Celestia glowered at her sister. “You expect me to believe that Twilight Sparkle would even consider doing such a thing? It’s insane! Absolute madness!”

Luna pursed her lips. “I never said it wasn’t.”

Celestia glanced back at Rainbow Dash, still lying on the floor and gasping for breath. She turned back to Luna. “Is it possible?”

“Nothing is impossible. You always say that.”

Celestia walked towards the edge of the balcony. “I always knew her magic was powerful, but this is a whole new level. How could she have done this?”

Luna walked beside her. “This was nothing like what happend to me, all those centuries ago... the ritual that summons the Deep Eye of Ginnungagap is neither complicated nor exhausting. It takes a great deal of effort to survive it, but it’s very easy to initiate.”

Celestia shook her head. “How can it be easy? You know how much raw power would be required to open an interdimensional portal to the very furthest depths of—”

“They provide the power,” she said. “They want to be summoned. They want to break through.”

Celestia stared at the golden rooftops below.

“Sister? We must act now. Whatever we decide to do, we must do it quickly.”

Celestia turned and marched to the patio doors where Alectryon and Spring Fresh waited. “Maidservant. Summon a healer at once for Rainbow Dash. The very best. She has injured herself in an attempt to save us all and I expect she will have no choice but to do so again before the day is over. Inform me the instant she awakens.”

Spring Fresh galloped off through the palace halls. Luna watched her go, then ran to catch up with her sister.

“Celestia? What do we—”

“I am deeply sorry we cannot finish our tea together but you are correct: time is precious and I have much to prepare for.”

Lune stopped and stamped a hoof. “Forget the tea! We need to stop this before it becomes a catastrophe!”

“I am aware,” Celestia said, marching on without her. “I must visit the vault before Rainbow Dash awakens.”

Luna spread her wings and darted ahead, landing in front of her. “I said we, sister. What can we do about this?”

Celestia glared down at her, imperiously. “You will return to your tower and prepare the night watch, just as you do every evening.”

“We art stronger together, dear sister! How can you do this alone?”

“I will find a way. Nothing is impossible.”

“Must we have this argument again? You know full well that I am a princess of war whereas you are a princess of peace. This is what I was meant for! How can you doubt my abilities?”

“I have no doubt, Luna, but we are not at war yet. We may still salvage the situation without bloodshed.”

“Like you salvaged me?”

Celestia clenched her jaw. “Do not provoke me. You know I had no choice when I banished you.”

“I’m thankful for what you did all those centuries ago, for I know now that the alternative would have been far worse... but this situation is different!” She pointed a hoof at her. “This time, you have a choice! Please, Celestia, I beg of you to let me share this burden with—”

“I cannot lose you! Not again!”

Luna took a step back, eyes wide.

Celestia looked away. “It has been little more than a year since you were freed of your terrible curse and I know the memories still tug at your dreams every night. The wound in your spirit may have closed, but it has not yet healed. It would take so little to send you hurtling once more into darkness. If you were to be exposed to evil once more... if you were to kill for any reason, no matter how justified...”

She gasped as Luna darted forward and hugged her neck. For just a moment, the stress and strain faded away. Her little sister stepped back and smiled up at her.

“Go and do what you must,” she said, “and we will wait for you. It takes great courage to go to war, but it takes even greater courage to reforge a shattered peace after the hatred and violence has spent itself. I promise you, sister, we will stand ready to pick up the pieces.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”

“I don’t,” said Luna with a smirk, “but the best way to learn is by doing. Perhaps when this is over and done with, the princess of war will finally learn something of peace.”

Celestia nodded and resumed her grim march inside. “I do not know how long I will be gone. You will need to attend court in my absence.”

“They will demand an explanation. What do I tell them?”

“Tell them everything is fine and nothing bad will happen. It’s just another day in Equestria, the same as every other.”

Luna arched an eyebrow. “You want me to lie to them?”

“You were always better at it than I was,” she called back. “Right now our subjects are in dire need of a noble lie.”

Luna watched her go. Alectryon stepped up beside her and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. The two stood quietly.

Luna’s expression gradually shifted from apprehension to displeasure, and then to annoyance. She let out a mildly exasperated sigh

Alectryon peered at her. “Your highness?”

“When is this fanfic going to be funny again?”

“Don’t look at me,” he said with a shrug. “I tried.”

Rainbow Dash sipped at her cup of tea. she closed her eyes as aromatic steam filled her mouth and nostrils and soothed her throat and tummy. She lifted the teabag by the string and dipped it in the liquid. Not because she needed to... just because she could.

“The portal will take you to the outskirts of Ponyville in an instant,” Celestia said. “A mysterious force prevents me from sending you any closer, so you will need to locate your friends on your own.”

“Yeah, sure. Hey, do we have any more of this tea around?”

“Yes, if you need it. The kettle is on the table.”

Dash lifted her cup and nodded to the resplendent, majestic Princess. “Could you? There’s a dear.”

Celestia paused to look at her. Her horn glowed and the kettle levitated over and refilled her cup. “As I was saying, you will need to locate your friends as quickly as possible. Until you are together it is imperative that you avoid all contact with Twilight Sparkle. Don’t even approach the village of Ponyville unless absolutely necessary.”

“Right, right.” Rainbow Dash sipped at her tea, then rolled her eyes. “This is, like, the best tea I’ve ever had. Seriously.”

“It is no ordinary brew: it includes a number of rare herbs and spices that rejuvenate the body and soothe the spirit. You were exhausted to the point of injury and we needed you in peak condition as soon as possible.”

“Wow. Just... wow.” Rainbow Dash lazily looked at the table in the middle of Celestia’s small, private library. The room was filled with all manner of ancient manuscripts and artifacts, some of which predated the princess’s own coronation thousands of years ago. “Do we have any crumpets? I have a sudden urge for crumpets. I don’t even know what a crumpet is.”

Celestia pursed her lips. “You may have crumpets after the situation has been resolved. For now, I need you to remain focused on the task before you.”

“Right, right.”

“As I said before, I cannot assist you directly until you gather more information.” Celestia passed her a plain cloth pouch tied shut with a silver ribbon. “This powder will obscure your auras and protect you from magical detection. It is extremely potent, but be warned that Twilight is a master of information and analysis: if anypony can overcome its effects, it will be her.”

“Seriously... this is the best tea ever! Can I bring some with me? I gotta share this with Twilight. She’s always drinking tea.”

“Absolutely not! I just told you to avoid all contact with her!”

Rainbow Dash stared off into space for a moment. “Right, right. That whole Nightmare thing. You know, I bet this tea would calm her right down. Why don’t we just go over and visit her? We could just talk this over.”

“Peaceful negotiations are out of the question,” Celestia said crisply. “If Twilight Sparkle is truly a Nightmare, she will absolutely refuse to settle anything peacefully. Our only hope is to neutralize the curse long enough to enact a more permanent solution.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “You really gotta chill out, babe. I’m sure everything’ll be just fine. No need to get all excited and rush into something, is there? Ya gotta learn to take things nice and slow now and then.”

Celestia scrunched her eyes shut for a moment, then took a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash. How many cups of that tea have you had? That tea in particular?”

“Eighteen. Why?”

She went to a nearby alchemy bench, turned on a bunsen burner and began shuffling vials and bottles around. A minute later she passed Rainbow Dash a slender vial of bubbling green liquid.

“Here. Drink this.”

Dash eyed the vial. “What’s in it?”

“Just some more rare herbs and spices. It will fortify you for the challenges ahead.”

Dash took the vial and drank the contents all at once. Celestia took a single step back and watched as Dash’s eyes began wandering in different directions.

“Wha... whoa. What sort of herb did you put in this, anyhow?”

“About four hundred milligrams of caffeine,” she said. “It’s technically an herb. The rest of it is sugar.”

“Wow. Oh, wow... oh, yeah!” Rainbow Dash threw the vial back over her shoulder and wiped her hoof against her mouth. “This is like totally the best ever wow this is I can’t even what are we doing here just sitting around? Come on princess we can’t just let Twilight go crazy we’re her friends we gotta do sum’ bout dis amirite?”

Celestia strapped a courier’s bag around her neck. “Take bag. Give to Rarity.”

“Right you got it boss it’s as good as done you can count on me!’

Rainbow Dash darted away but Celestia nabbed her tail before she could leave the room. “Take the portal. You’ll arrive instantly and without fatigue.”

“Portal? What portal? What are you talking about?”

Celestia stepped aside and nodded to the massive stone circle set in the wall. Every square inch of it was inscribed with glowing runic symbols and a vortex of blue light swirled within it’s frame.

“Oh that portal.”

Applejack crouched at the edge of the forest and peered into the rolling plains beyond. It was still early afternoon, but the clouds along the horizon were tinted with rich orange light and deep indigo shadows. It was the most beautiful sunset—or sunrise, it was hard to tell which—she’d seen in awhile. After half an hour of waiting, it hadn’t changed a bit.

Pinkie Pie walked up to her and set a canteen next to her. “I managed to find some apple juice for you.”

“I am not that thirsty.” Applejack continued to scan the horizon.

“You really ought to keep up your energy, you know. You’ve been through a lot.”

“I am fairly certain that the cloud is getting closer. Or it is getting bigger. It is hard to tell.”

Pinkie Pie bit her lip for a moment. “So, uh... you’re still talking funny?”

“That is the problem, is it not?” she said. “I am no longer able to talk funny. I feel like... a machine. Like one of those forms you have to fill out when you ask the bank for a loan.”

“I’m sure it’ll go away on it’s own! Can’t keep an Apple down for long, can ya?”

Applejack stared at the roiling clouds.

Pinkie Pie nudged the canteen closer. “Won’t you just take a sip? Just for me?”

She took the canteen with a frustrated sigh and swallowed a mouthful of the sweet-and-sour liquid inside. “There. Are you happy?”

“Yeah, actually!”

Applejack smiled back at her. “I am glad for that, at least.”

“Hey, you want me to take a turn standing watch? You’ve been at it for over an hour.”

“I will be fine.”

“But I wanna stand watch. You can’t just hog all the fun yourself!”

“It is not about fun,” she said. “It is about paying attention.”

“I can pay attention! I can totally pay attention. Just watch me pay attention to something!” Pinkie Pie leaned forward and stared at Applejack, standing perfectly still and rigid.

Applejack took a step back. “No offense, but I do not think this is the best responsability for you.”

Pinkie Pie continued to stare at her, wide eyed and motionless.

“I am serious, Pinkie Pie. I know you want to help, but—”

Rainbow Dash slammed into the ground on all fours and a gust of wind buffeted their manes and tails. “Hey, girls! Sorry I—”

Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof right at Rainbow Dash’s face. “I noticed something!”

“Well... good for you.”

“Never mind that,” Applejack said and pushed her hoof down. “Did you meet with the princess?”

“You better believe it.” She nodded at the courier pack strapped to the front of her chest. “She gave me something for Rarity. Not sure what it is. She also told me to get everypony together as fast as possible. And this isn’t the usual ‘get the gang together’ deal: whatever she’s got planned, it won’t work unless we’re all in the same place.”

“That will not be hard. After we ran out of Ponyville, I took everypony to one of the old country cabins south of the city borders. It is a good thing you found us when you did: if those clouds were to spread any further, we would have had to move further away.”

Rainbow Dash eyed her for a moment. “We gotta fix your voice quick. It’s starting to freak me out.”

Applejack sighed and turned back to the forest. “Let us just get moving already.”

It took only a few minutes for the five friends to pack up and leave the cabin. There wasn’t much to carry, other than Rainbow Dash’s courier bag and a small box of dry crackers Pinkie Pie had somehow scrounged up. The package from Celestia contained only two things: a letter and a pouch of dust. Rarity was carrying the scroll and reading it as they walked down the dirt road to Ponyville.

“So,” Rainbow Dash said, “should we go over the plan again? One more time? Just in case?”

“Would you settle down already?” Rarity said. “There’s hardly any plan to go over. The note simply said for us to investigate the village, then find Twilight.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” she said. “We don’t have a clue where Spike is, and it takes a whole hour for me to fly to Canterlot and back again. Anything could happen in an hour!”

Rarity turned the scroll around and held it up. “The princess scribbled a magic spell on the back of her letter. I can use it to... well, it’ll help.”

“Help? How?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly what it does. I know it will allow us to send a message, but only to the princess and only once.”

“You don’t even know how it works!?”

“This is the princess we’re talking about! You can’t expect me to comprehend the glory and magnificence of her spellcraft at the drop of a hat.” She lifted the letter and pointed at the princess's flowing, ornate cursive. “I can barely comprehend the glory and magnificence of her signature!”

“I don’t like this plan,” said Dash.

“We’re just investigating, aren’t we?” Fluttershy said, “we should probably do this as quietly as possible.”

Dash sighed and kicked a rock off the road.

Applejack shook her head. “It does not matter what the plan is. The princess can not do anything until she understands what is happening.”

“What is happening?” Fluttershy said. “All we know is that Twilight did something crazy, and now there’s a lot of scary dark clouds over Ponyville. What happened?”

Applejack shrugged. “We do not know. That is why we need to scout ahead.”

“What could have happened?” she said. “Can we even guess?”

Applejack looked back at her but said nothing. The five of them stopped where they were and stared at the clouds looming over the horizon.

“This is far enough,” Applejack said. “We had better use that powder now.”

Rainbow Dash took the pouch out of her satchel and tossed it to Rarity, who opened it with care.

“There’s only enough for one use,” she said. “Everypony get together as close as you can.”

“Do we even know what this powder is gonna do?”

“Not... precisely. The princess only said it would help us ‘go unnoticed.’ Not even magic spells will be able detect us.”

They huddled together, shuffling back and forth into as tight a space as they could manage. There was some shoving and several tails were stepped on, but none of them complained.

“Alright,” she said, “let’s see if this works.”

“It is ‘all right,’ ” Applejack muttered.

“Pardon?”

“Twilight kept telling us that. It is supposed to be two words: ‘all right.’ ”

“Well, she was wrong. It’s not all right. None of this is.”

Rarity turned the pouch upside down and a stream of silver dust cascaded out. As soon as it hit the ground it filled the air with a thick silver cloud that obscured all vision. The sparkly dust was disorienting to look at and all five of them fell into a mild fit of coughing and sneezing.

“Is everypony okay?’ Applejack said. “Can we tell if it is working yet?”

“Oh my stars and garters!” Rarity shrieked. “My mane! My beautiful mane! How could she do this to me!?”

“Everypony out of the cloud, now! Move! Move!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash dragged Rarity out of the cloud and set her on the grassy bank by the road, gasping as they caught sight of her. Her coat was dull, flat grey. Her mane, her tail, even her eyes—all were a slightly darker shade of grey that had no shine or luster at all. Instead of a stylish spiral, her hair was straight and long. They all looked at each other and saw the same: Pinkie Pie’s hair was just as straight as Rarity’s, and Rainbow Dash’s spectrum of color was now a gradient of grays. Even Applejack’s freckles were gone.

“Go unnoticed!?” Rainbow Dash said. “Just look at us! How are we supposed to sneak around like this? We’ll stick out like a sore hoof!”

Fluttershy pointed at Rainbow Dash’s flank. “Is that... your...” Her voice trailed off.

Rainbow Dash looked at her own cutie mark. There on her flank was a series of numbers and letters separated by decimal points. All their cutie marks had changed.

“Who are we hiding from?” Fluttershy whispered. “Who are we supposed to fit in with?”

They stared at each other in silence. After several moments, they set off for Ponyville.

The streets and buildings of Ponyville were all the same.

The same building, over and over, arranged in neat rows and columns. Multi-level buildings were really just the same building stacked on top of each other, over and over. The details varied—a balcony here, a bay window there—but they were the same details over and over. On every level of construction there was no genuine variety: each house was the same. Each wall was the same. Each brick and board was the same. Each fencepost was the same. Even the arrangement of the components was repetitive in a manner that strained the eyes and numbed the mind. There was only one single building in all of Ponyville. One brick, one plank, one nail, one cobblestone, one blade of grass... over and over and over.

There were only three colors in town—gray, dusty-purple, and some other kind of gray—but it wasn’t at all obvious because everything in sight was bathed by two kinds of vibrant light: royal purple from the east and rich rose-gold from the west. The sun and moon were both visible on opposite ends of the sky but neither were falling or rising. They were orbiting each other along the the horizon, perpetually half-hidden behind the edge of the world. Everything in sight glowed orange on one side and indigo on the other and everything cast two different shadows in opposite directions, long and horizontal.

The five friends walked further into the town proper, where the dirt road gave way to smooth cobblestone. Now that they were up close they could see bookshelves built into the surface of every building. They hadn’t been installed or refurbished as an afterthought: they were integral to the architecture. They were worked into the walls and around every window and door, often far out of reach and without any regard for the harsh elements of nature. Even the park benches and garden fountains were designed with little spaces and grooves where hardcover novels were tucked away.

They passed only a few other ponies—perfectly normal for this part of town, at this time of ‘day’—sitting on benches or walking in groups of two or four. Never three. All were the same three shades—grey, dusty-purple, and other gray—and there were only three different styles of mane and tail. These living silhouettes walked without a sound with their noses buried in books or pamphlets or binders. Their cutie marks were numbers. Letters. Decimals. As they walked further along main street they passed larger groups: ponies walked together in formations of four, nine or sixteen, and no other number. A square of sixteen carpenters walked out of a nearby workshop and glanced up from their books just long enough to nod and wave at a square of sixteen housewives, all carrying the same bushel of wheat, corn, and paperback novels. There was nothing rigid or rehearsed about it.

Nopony noticed Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, or Rainbow Dash. There was nothing unusual or exceptional about any of them. They were all the same orange and indigo silhouette, out for a stroll.

Just another ‘day’ in Ponyville.

They came to a halt by one of their favorite gardens and found a secluded and lonely spot to rest in. It wasn’t hard... the entire garden, and every other garden they’d passed, was secluded and lonely. Ponyville had no shortage of places to sit and read a good book.

“One hour,” Applejack said. “She did all this in one hour.”

“What even is this?” said Rainbow Dash. “What do we even tell Celestia?”

They sat and quietly stared at their surroundings.

“We need to—” Rarity cut herself off as a pair of unicorns strolled past, lazily being led about by their books. After a tense quiet, they left without incident.

“Why even bother hiding?” said Dash. “Nopony cares that we’re here.”

“We had better not push it,” Applejack said and looked back at her own grey coat. “This might just be the powder at work.”

Fluttershy looked back at the two unicorns that had passed. “They don’t seem... unhappy.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re happy,” Pinkie Pie said. “They’re content. There’s a big difference.”

“But it’s good to be content, right?”

Dash shook her head. “Content is good, but complacent is bad. These ponies don’t care about anything at all. If nopony cares, things will never improve. Things will always stay the same.”

“The same,” Rarity whispered. “Is that what Twilight wants?”

“Why would she want that?”

“If everything is the same, then everything fits in. Which means she fits in.”

Applejack shook her head. “She is not Twilight Sparkle anymore. Whoever she is, she is not our friend.”

“But she’s still in there, right?” Fluttershy whimpered. “We saved Nightmare moon, didn’t we?”

“We didn’t save Discord,” Dash grumbled.

“Well maybe he couldn’t be saved! Maybe he was bad all the way through!”

“Argh!” Rainbow Dash stamped a hoof on the manicured grass. “We don’t know how Twilight did any of this, we don’t know what Celestia needs us to do, and don’t even know how the elements of harmony really work. We don’t know anything!”

“Well we had better get started on that,” Applejack said. “We need to scout the village as quietly as possible. Celestia did not give us much in the way of instructions, but she told us to avoid bumping into Twilight too early.”

“The library,” Fluttershy said. “If she’s in the village at all, that’s where she’ll be.”

“In that case,” said Applejack, “we should stay away from the center of town. That will also help us avoid crowds and keep us from being noticed by accident.”

The others gave her a resolute nod and got to their feet.

“Now then,” she said, “we will start our search on the edge of town at Sweet Apple Acres and work our way—”

Rainbow Dash cut her off with a wave. “Why do we have to start at the farm?”

“It is on the edge of town. That is all. We have to start somewhere, do we not?”

“Well what about my cloud castle? It’s on the edge of town. Why can’t we check it first?”

“We can check it later. It is not as important.”

“Are you kidding? It’s my home!”

The five friends flinched, and glanced around: a few nearby ponies almost looked up from their books with an irritated frown. Almost, but not quite.

“It’s my home,” Dash whispered. “We can search it quick just to see if it’s still there.”

“There is nopony in it!” Applejack hissed. “Friends and family come first!”

“I need to check on the boutique,” Rarity said.

“Not you too! We can not waste time checking up on your frilly—”

Rarity clenched her jaw. “Sweetie Belle was in town when this... whatever it is... happened. She was right in the middle of it and I refuse to go one more minute without knowing what happened to her.”

“And what about my family, huh?” Applejack said. “Are you saying Sweetie Belle is more important than Applebloom?”

“Not at all! But the farm is well outside of city borders. Maybe... maybe your family is still safe.”

Applejack snorted at her and lowered her head. “For now, maybe! All the more reason to come to the rescue sooner rather than later!”

“We have a mission!” Rainbow Dash said. “I know Celestia didn’t give us much to go on, but we can’t just brush her off because we feel like it.”

Rarity drew close. “So my family’s a lost cause, is it? We can just sweep her under the rug? Is that what you think!?”

“I think this is an emergency!” she said, glaring back at her. “I think this is way bigger than any of us!”

The three of them locked eyes while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy looked on helplessly. After several moments, their furious anger drained away. Something was out of place. Something was missing.

Rarity scraped at the ground, bashful. “She’d stop us, wouldn’t she? She’d stop us before we got really angry.”

“It is time for us to return the favor,” Applejack said. “I know she was always the one with a plan, but this is up to us. We need to do this as a team... as friends.”

There was a long, awkward silence.

“We could split up,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Absolutely not. Celestia ordered us to stay together.”

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “No she didn’t. She said the spell she gave us would only work if we were all in the same place, including Twilight. She didn’t say we had to stay together the whole time.”

Applejack stared off into space for a moment.

“Hey, yeah. You might actually—”

Pinkie Pie put her hoof in front of Applejack’s nose. “I noticed something!”

She stared at the hoof for a moment, then broke into laughter. An instant later the others joined in.

“We can split up for now,” Applejack said, “but we will finish this together. All five of us.”

“All six of us,” said Fluttershy. “I’ll go with you to the farm. You might need some help with the animals.”

“Mighty kind of you.”

Pinkie Pie stepped forward. “Then I’ll go with Rarity to check up on the boutique. It’d be nice to sneak a peek at Sugarcube Corner, but we don’t have to. I’m just saying it might be on the way.”

“What about me?” said Dash. “Who needs an extra helping of awesome on their team?”

“We need you to keep an eye on the village center,” Applejack said. “If anything big happens, come find us.”

“I’m stuck standing watch? Aww...”

“Well, if anything really bad happens, you will be the one most likely to fly rings around it and get away safely. And if anything happens to any of us, you can mount a rescue operation.”

“You expect me to rescue all of you? By myself, you mean?”

“Yup.”

Rainbow Dash grinned at her. “Flatterer!”

Applejack held her hoof out. Each of her friends gathered around and placed their hooves on top of hers, like the spokes of a wheel.

“This is it,” she said. “We end this here and now, once and for all. It is up to us.”

The others nodded together. “For Twilight Sparkle.”

Next Chapter: %i%: “We don’t need no education” is a double negative. Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 20 Minutes