The first few sunbeams lit up the balcony. Twilight and Luna were still
there, having an excited conversation. The topic had changed from
astronomy to Twilight's daily life. She told Luna about her adventures
with her friends. Twilight tried to avoid talking about Fluttershy, as
she felt depressed whenever reminded of her current state. The only
thing keeping her going was the hope that Celestia would solve the
situation for her. It was close to the time Twilight and Spike usually
woke up. The two left the balcony to see if he was still sleeping.

“It's so quiet in here. I bet he's already having breakfast. It's easy to
tell if he's asleep from the sound of his snoring.” Twilight told Luna
as they walked downstairs.

“I don't see him around.” Luna said as they arrived at the ground floor.
There was nothing on the dinner table. Whoever woke up first
traditionally set it up, but it hadn't been prepared at all. Twilight
looked around the room for signs of life, but everything around them was
still. Twilight felt a cold shiver up her back.

“Spike! Where are you?” She yelled. There was no reply. She checked the
basement, but there was nopony inside. Where could Spike have gone so
early in the morning? It wasn't like him at all. Twilight forced the
negative thoughts away and tried to be reasonable. The two had seen him
only a couple of hours before. He couldn't have gone far. After Twilight
was certain he wasn't in the library, she went outside with Luna.

“Look for Spike in that direction.” Twilight pointed her hoof towards east
from the library. “I'll look on the other side. Let's meet here within a
few hours.” Luna nodded in response and left.

Twilight looked around carefully as she walked through the village. The sun was
still rising and there weren't many ponies around. Twilight checked
every street on the western side. A purple dragon should've been easy to
spot in the empty streets, but there was no sign of him. She was about
to move onto the fields outside as she saw Applejack walking on the road
leading to the farm. Applejack looked at her with sleepy eyes.

“Mornin' Twilight. You're up early.” She said and yawned.

“Morning. Have you seen Spike around? He wasn't in his bed this morning.” Twilight asked.

“Who's that again?” Applejack asked. Twilight's hope that this had nothing to
do with the strange events crumbled. She felt her fear of unexplainable
changes return.

“My assistant! You've seen him many times, stop pretending you don't know him!” Twilight said angrily.

“Hold on, sugarcube. I didn't know you had an assistant.” Applejack said. She was surprised at Twilight's harsh tone.

I do! He has to be somewhere around here. I'm going to look for him in
the Everfree Forest.” Twilight said. She ran towards the forest.

“That's not a good idea!” Applejack yelled at her from behind.

That was exactly why Twilight felt she should search there. She couldn't
forgive herself if Spike was hurt by one of the dangerous animals
inside. A part of her felt like it was useless to run around looking for
him. However, she felt like she would break down if she admitted to
herself that Spike might be gone. She kept believing she'd see him soon
as she ran towards the eerie forest. She was approaching the edge of the
forest when suddenly...

Wham!
Twilight ran into something hard. Her forehead hurt. She crouched and
clutched it in her hooves. She cried out in pain, as her sensitive horn
had taken a direct hit. The collision was completely unexpected, as she
hadn't seen anything in the way.

“What'd I tell ya.” Applejack said from behind her. “Nopony's getting in there. You really should know that by now.”

“What the hay? What hit me?” Twilight said as she looked up. She saw the
forest a couple of steps ahead of her. There wasn't anything in the spot
she had hit.

“The village barrier. We haven't broken it down yet, you know.” Applejack
said. For once, Twilight was the clueless one in the conversation.

“What barrier? I haven’t heard of that.” Twilight said.

“The magical wall that appeared some time ago. It goes around the borders of
Ponyville. Nopony has been able to get past it.” Applejack said.

“That can’t be true. Why did it appear?” Twilight asked.

“We haven’t figured that out. We do have a team workin' on breaking it.
After the initial panic, we left handlin' it to them. You'd have to ask
them for details. I don't know anything about this fancy magic stuff.”
Applejack said.

“I can't believe this.” Twilight said. She got up and touched the spot she
had collided with. Even though there wasn't anything visible there, she
felt a hard wall on her hoof. It had to be a strong magical barrier.
Twilight couldn't have broken it with her magic, as it was far too
thick. There was no choice but to accept the fact that she couldn't
leave Ponyville. Everypony in the village was stuck inside the
unbreakable walls.

“Anyway, are you going to be okay on your own? I really should get back to work.
Those dang rabbits never stop stealing my apples. Can't leave the farm
alone for a minute. We could use somepony to take care of them.”
Applejack said.

“What about Spike? Do you really have no idea where he is?” Twilight asked. She was desperate for any sign of him being alright.

“No idea. Why are you asking me? You know him better than I do. I've never
even met him.” Applejack answered. She looked towards the farm to see
rabbits hopping with apples in their mouths. “Sorry, I gotta get back to
work. See ya!” She said and went to chase the rabbits.

Applejack had managed to confuse Twilight even further. She suddenly claimed to
have never met Spike. This made no sense, as he'd tagged along with them
many times. Twilight tried to make sense of her words as she returned
to the library. Hopefully Luna had found Spike so she could forget about
all that. They still needed to tell Celestia about the evidence they'd
gotten. Twilight realized that she would have no way of delivering a
letter to Celestia without Spike. The barrier that had appeared out of
nowhere prevented regular mail from going outside of Ponyville. Twilight
would have no choice but to fix the oddities without any help from
outside. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Twilight waited for Luna at the library. Three hours had passed since they left
and there had been no sign of her. Twilight was starting to worry that
something bad had happened to her. In her rush to find Spike, she hadn't
thought of her safety. In this unpredictable Ponyville, there was no
knowing what'll happen. Maybe it would've been better to stick together
after all. With no sign of Luna after another hour, Twilight went to
look for her. She walked around the eastern side of Ponyville searching
for her. She asked the ponies passing by if they'd seen her anywhere.
Thankfully, one of them had seen a pony matching her description. He
said he last saw her in the town square. Twilight heard loud talking as
she approached the square.

“Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm
here.” Said the voice. Twilight got a deja vu from hearing that. Even
the voice saying it sounded similar. What in Celestia's name was going
on there? Twilight walked from the side of the stage at the square. She
could see many ponies gathered there, looking at the stage.

“You're here to... to...” Said a voice that sounded even more familiar. It was
almost like Twilight's own. Twilight reached the front of the stage and
looked at it. Nightmare Moon was standing on a balcony at the top.
However, something about her looked off. The blackness on her body
gleamed at the spotlight directed at it, as if it was made of cheap
plastic. Her voice was lacking any excitement and she looked like she
really didn't want to be there.

“Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth,
the night will last, uh, forever?” Nightmare Moon said. Her tone was
more that of a polite question than a threat. The monotone delivery
clashed with the dramatic lightning effects that activated in the
background. Quite a few ponies in the audience laughed at this.
Nightmare Moon and Twilight Sparkle went backstage as the act ended. The
real Twilight joined the audience for the rest of the show.

The last act was on its way. Three soldiers were pointing their spears at
Nightmare Moon with Princess Celestia behind them. The soldiers stared
fiercely at Nightmare Moon, even though she didn't look threatening at
all.

“You are not my sister. You are nothing but a demon who wallows in her
foolish hatred. You have no right to bear resemblance to my dear sister.
I shall banish you to the moon for eternity!” Princess Celestia said
dramatically.

“Oh, okay.” Nightmare Moon replied timidly. She had forgotten her lines a
long time ago. She let out a very uninspired scream as a special effect
made her disappear. The paper cutout moon on the top corner of the stage
turned to reveal the other side, which had a picture of Nightmare Moon
on it.

“Thus, the evil demon was vanquished and peace was restored into Equestria.
Our beloved Princess Celestia continued to rule with grace, and
Nightmare Moon was never seen again. The end.” The narrator concluded.
The audience stomped their hooves as the actors gathered on stage to
bow. All but one, that is. Nightmare Moon had taken the opportunity to
quietly slip away. Twilight went to meet her at the back door.

“How did I get roped into that?” Luna said. She and Twilight were sitting at
a nearby bench. Luna looked very embarrassed. “I tried to tell them I
can't act, but they wouldn't listen. They insisted I was perfect for the
role, as if I had been cast into it all along. I guess they had to
learn their mistake the hard way.”

“Well, the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves.” Twilight said.

“Not in the way they were supposed to.” Luna said.

Twilight wished she could enjoy the small talk, but she had to ask the question
in her mind. She was afraid of hearing the response. Luna looked at
Twilight, who had suddenly gone silent. Twilight prepared herself for
the worst and asked the question.

“Did you find Spike?” Twilight asked. Her face was full of worry. Luna
hesitated with her answer. There was a moment of silence before Luna
spoke up.

“No. I looked everywhere, but he wasn't in the eastern part of Ponyville. I'm sorry.” Luna quietly answered.

Twilight felt a sharp pain in her heart. Spike couldn't be found anywhere in
Ponyville. Twilight had no way of knowing how he was doing. All of the
negative possibilities Twilight had locked away in her mind were
released. Spike could be lost. He could be all alone, starving himself.
He could be running from a monster. He could have gone for a swim and
drowned. He could have been eaten. He could be dead already. Tears
dripped down from Twilight's face. Her body shook uncontrollably. She
closed her eyes and fought against the pain with all her strength. She
didn't have time for a mental breakdown. She refused to take anymore of
this torture. She didn't need Celestia's help. She would fix this mess
with her own hooves. She was going to find whoever did this and make
them pay.

Twilight opened her eyes to find everypony staring at her. She stood up on her
back hooves and yelled. “You hear me Ponyville?! I am not crazy, you are
all crazy! I am the only sane pony in this hellhole! I will prove it
and return everything to the way it should be!”