"Come on Albert play with us!" Anna said, excitedly bouncing around an
annoyed Albert. Spike was standing nearby, watching them in anticipation.

"I already told you that I'm busy, Ann.."

"Oh please, you can do your magic studies later, pleeeeaase." She said and
stopped bouncing, instead looking at him with the best puppy eyes that she
could muster.

Albert tried his best, but he simply couldn't resist. With a heavy sigh of
defeat, he closed his book and turned towards Anna and Spike, standing on
all fours.

"All right , fine, what do you want to play?"

"Yay!" Anna smiled widely and jumped into the air. Albert couldn't help but
smile as well.

"Soo, maybe we could play hide and seek?" Spike asked while he walked over
to his friends.

"Sure why not. Go and hide, I'll seek." Albert stated and almost
immediately started counting, which surprised Anna.

"Hey! Not fair!"

"Sixteen, fifteen..."

"Come on Ann!" Spike shouted and ran away to hide somewhere in the library,
the filly panicked for a moment before she quickly followed suit.

"Four, three, two, one, ZERO!" Albert shouted and opened his eyes
immediately looking around. He saw no sign of the two and started to look
for his sister and the baby dragon.

Albert walked into Twilight's bedroom and grinned widely as he saw a small
tail sticking out from underneath her bed.

He walked around the room. trying his best to seem as clueless as possible.
He quickly pretended to leave the room by opening and closing the door that
he entered from. Albert quietly trotted over to the bed before he heard a
sigh of relief.

Anna left her cover and smiled.

"Hah, I always knew I was smarter than my brother."

"OH, are you now?"

"Yeah, I just..." Anna's eyes went wide and she turned around to see her
brother smiling at her wickedly.

"B-But! But how, you just..."

"Got you."

Anna expression changed to a frown and she stomped her front hoof with a
pout, making Albert chuckle.

"Come on Ann, we still have our little dragon friend to find." Albert left
Twilight's room with the assumption that finding Spike wouldn't be so
hard.

30 minutes later

"Come on! We searched this library through and through... TWO times! Where
is he?!" Albert shouted in frustration while Anna continuously laughed.

"Well well well, it seems somepony here is in trouble." Anna said while
scratching at her muzzle with a hoof. Albert was angry at her, and even
more so at himself. He hated the fact that the small girl could actually
make him frustrated with just her talking.

Albert started another round of searching ,not at all willing to give up.
He went down to the basement and checked nearly everything. Then, as he was
about to leave, he heard a loud burp come from a nearby laundry basket.

He quickly galloped towards it, Anna followed him close behind and watched
as her brother removed dirty piles of clothing, which was surprisingly big
considering that they only wore clothes on special occasions, but he
shrugged it off.

As Albert removed the last article of clothing, a small purple dragon with
a frown on his face and a letter in his claw came into view.

"Got you."

"You would never have found me if Princess Celestia didn't send this
letter."

"Who knows, maybe. So, what's with the letter?"

"I don't know, but since Twilight isn't here I suppose that it's for you."
He said and gave the scroll to Albert, who picked it up with magic and
nodded his thanks. Spike lifted himself out of the basked and walked up to
Anna with a frown on his face.

Albert slowly unrolled the scroll and read it's contents.

Dear Albert,
It is of utmost importance that you, Thomas, Michael, Terry, Brandy and
Alex travel to Canterlot castle, I have already dispatched a carriage, it
should soon arrive in Ponyville.

"Why would Princess Celestia need us in the castle now?" Albert thought out
loud, earning a surprised expression from his young companions.

"We need to find rest of the guys, a carriage to Canterlot will arrive
soon."

"A carriage to Canterlot? What for?" Spike asked.

"I have no idea Spike, but the Princess wrote that it is, and I quote, "of
utmost importance.".”

"Well all right, Ann and I will go get Thomas and Alex."

"Great ,then I'll look for the rest."

Spike and Anna nodded as they all left to find their friends.

Meanwhile in Canterlot

"Sister, are thou sure it is a good decision to call them here?"

"Yes, they have a right to know." Celestia said and turned towards one of
her guards."Is the search group ready yet?"

"Y-Yes Princess, they have already dispatched."

"Good. Now, dear Dash Light, go to the landing platform and wait for the
carriage to arrive. When our guests arrive, bring them to the throne
room."

"Yes, Princess."

Dash Light took off, on his way to perform the duty he was assigned.
Celestia turned towards the other guard.

"Are all of the letters sent?"

"Yes, your Majesty. Letters have been sent to all of the princesses."

"Very well, you can go now and rest a bit." The guard nodded and trotted
away. Luna looked at Celestia with a frown.

"Tia are thou sure that it is a good decision?"

"I have no other choice, Luna. Their empire was already strong enough, what
bothers me were these... shadow creatures. Putting Equestria in a state of
war is now our only choice."

With a loud sigh, Luna nodded her assent.

"You have any idea what Princess Celestia wants with us?"

"Sorry Tom, but she only wrote that she wanted to see us, nothing more."

Three royal carriages were flying through the sky with two ponies on each.
The flight went smoothly if you don't count the occasional bouncing from
the always-excitable Brandy.

Soon they arrived and landed at the designated platform where they were
greeted by one of the guards.

"Welcome, my name is Dash Light and I have been assigned to escort you to
the throne room."

Thomas nodded and the group followed Light into the castle, they had been
here before, after the Princess had found them in the Badlands and during
the gala, but they were still quite impressed by the castle's exquisite
architecture.

That was, until they arrived in the throne room.

Their jaws broke open and their eyes went wide when they saw the state that
the room was in.

"What the hell happened here!?Did someone detonate a bomb?"

"Kind of."

They turned towards Dash Light, who was slightly startled by this sudden
attention.

"What happened here?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I..."

"What happened here, dear Thomas, is for me to explain, and take full
responsibility."

They turned once more and saw Princess Celestia, accompanied by Princess
Luna, slowly walking towards them.

"Princess? What is the meaning of this?" Thomas asked, nervousness creeping
into his voice.

Celestia sighed and explained everything that had happened, not leaving out
any detail . As she continued to talk, the boys expressions were changing
into terrified frowns, eyes open wide and jaw hung low.

"T-That's, impossible ! Princess, please tell me this is some kind of sick
joke!" Thomas yelled, not being able to believe that the mare he loves just
got kidnapped, and he wasn't even there to protect her.

"I'm sorry Thomas, the search team was already dispatched. Sadly, that's
all I can do. I have to stay here and take care of everything else, I also
can't send any of our elite soldiers, we will need everypony we can muster
in the coming war."

That's right, war. As she spoke this word, the boys realized that their
marefriends being kidnapped wasn't the only problem at the moment.
Equestria, that place they first knew as an imaginary wonderland full of
magical ponies, then a place where they decided to stay for the rest of
their lives, was now at war.

Celestia turned towards her guard who came to report about the letter from
one of the princesses. The boys who were still shocked and terrified just
stood there, not sure what to do, then Thomas thought about something.

"Princess?" As he spoke, Celestia turned away from her guard and faced
Thomas once again.

"What is it Thomas?"

"We will find them."

Everyone turned their attention towards Thomas. It took only a few moments
for Celestia to realize what he meant by his statement.

"Thomas, I simply can't let that happen. It would be too dangerous.
Besides, I already sent out a search team."

"Princess, you said that you can't send anyone else because you will need
them for the war. We aren't soldiers Princess, we won't be of any use here.
As for the search team, they are trying to rescue the elements of harmony.
We are going to rescue our loved ones."

As soon as he finished his statement, all of the guys were standing by his
side, their expressions full of confidence.

"Still I can't accept this, what if something happened to you? From what we
know their ship is flying towards the Gryphon Empire. You would have to
travel through the whole of Equestria, and there are many dangerous places
on the way there."

Thomas wanted to respond somehow but he was stopped by a hoof on his
shoulder.

"Then I'll accompany them."

Thomas couldn't help but grin when he saw that the hoof on his shouder
belonged to nopony else but Shining Armor.

"I cannot accept that as well, you are needed here Shining, you are-"

"Princess, with all due respect I, am no longer captain of the Royal Guard,
you have more than enough skilled commanders. The Princesses will also be
there to accompany you. Besides, if they kidnapped the users of the
Elements of Harmony, that means they fear them. We will most likely need
them here as soon as possible, that and..."

He paused for a few moments, and then said.

"...I have to save my sister."

Princess looked at the group and sighed after a few moments.

"Shining Armor, I am putting you in charge of the Elements of Harmony's
rescue. Your team will be equipped with everything you need."

Thomas and rest of the boys started to cheer while Shining Armor and Luna
just smiled, their moment of success was soon interrupted by one of the
guards, who was keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the ground.

"Umm, Princess, Prince Shining Armor, if I could ask for something..."

"Yes what is it Light?" Celestia asked.

"I-I would like to accompany them as well."

Princess put on a puzzled expression.

"Why is that?"

"W-Well, I won't lie, I am a coward. I always was, I joined the guard
because I was hoping that it would help me get braver and stronger, but it
was pointless it seems. I am still a low coward, that's why I won't be much
of use on the war, however...

He lifted his head and continued.

"...I will help them rescue the girls, I promise I will do anything to save
them."

"And what is the source of your motivation, young guard?" It was Luna who
asked this time.

"Well actually it is..."

Light started to take off his armor which in turn stopped the magic
illusion changing his white coat back to its original orange color.

"...it's the same reason as Prince Shining Armor actually."

He took off his helmet making his blonde mane and tail turn to its original
color.

Or more precisely, seven colors.

"I have to save my sister."