If I had time with the last chapter, this would have been part of it and it would have been ungodly long. Hopefully this one won't end up that long. (If some of you don't like the parts that set up for Pinkie but don't include her, skip this chapter.)

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Rarity, Spike, Sweetie Belle and her friends sat around the table in Rarity's kitchen. The fire the night before had completely exhausted them, even after they went to sleep they only woke up tired and confused. They had spent the last two hours trying to make sense of everything that happened. Everypony seemed to be a little more under control now and they wondered what they should do next; the pegasi were still cleaning the town and surrounding area with scattered rain clouds, the Apples had managed to fix up the damaged parts of the orchard, even without Applejack or Applebloom's help and most of the rest of the town was busy trying to replant the Everfree Forest.

Spike felt a strange buzzing in the back of his head. He looked around and noticed that, as his head turned, the strength of the buzzing changed. It was loudest when he was staring at the corner. That didn't seem to mean anything so he kept looking. He happened upon the clock nearby and the buzzing stopped. It said 11:58 in glowing green letters.

"Oh no!" Spike jumped up startling everypony. They had already been watching him as he looked around the kitchen seeming confused, but the sudden movement made everypony jump.

"What?" Rarity untangled herself from her stool and looked where Spike was pointing. "It's almost noon what abo-" Her face lost all color.

"What?" Sweetie Belle asked, climbing out from under the stools that were knocked on top of her.

"We were supposed to meet Princess Celestia at the library at noon. We can't find anypony else and we were supposed to bring them."

"Ah can go check the farm real quick for Applejack," Applebloom volunteered.

"I'll zoom down to Fluttershy's cabin real quick and see if she's there. She probably hid from the fire."

"And I can go look for Pinkie at the Sugarcube Corner, maybe her and Twilight will be there this time. They said they would." Spike began to leave the room. "Stall the princess Rarity; we need a couple of minutes."

"Okay, but do hurry. Sweetie Belle, come with me." Rarity stuffed the scroll with the princess's instructions into a saddlebag and left the room, leaving Sweetie Belle to follow.

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A huge flash of light appeared in the library and a whirlwind caused books to fly off the shelves. Celestia and Luna stepped out of the fading doorway and into Twilight's bedroom. She looked around at the dark dusty room.

"That's odd, she's usually so concerned with appearances." Celestia said, examining a set of footprints Spike had left after coming home late a few nights ago.

"Well, given what's happened you can hardly expect the place to be spotless."

"No, she should be here right now. And you don't know her as well as I do Luna, if she knew we were coming and didn't have the place at least dusted she would have a panic attack. Besides, look at this layer of dust on the floor, nopony has been here for days."

"But your message went through to the dragon, you said so."

"Then he must not be in a position to give it to Twilight."

The door to the library slammed open and Rarity ran in, her face red with the unaccustomed exercise. Sweetie Belle trotted in behind her, closing the door softly. "Okay Sweetie, they could be here any moment. We just need to clean the place up a little and make a story for why nopony else is here. Got it?"

"Yup," Sweetie Belle picked up a broom and began sweeping the doorway clean of dirt.

"I do too," Celestia said, coming down the stairs. Luna trailed behind her, smirking a bit at the unicorns' obvious discomfort. "So where are your friends, I said that I needed to see all of you urgently."

"To be honest your majesty," Rarity said, giving a bow, "I don't know. Spike went off to see if he could find Pinkie and Twilight, Sweetie Belle here had friends over and they went to look for Applejack and Fluttershy."

"Didn't they get my letter?" Celestia raised an eyebrow. She was now standing directly in front of Rarity.

Rarity launched into a quick explanation of what happened over the last few days, beginning with finding Spike and ending when Spike remembered the appointment. Luna burst out laughing when Rarity briefly described the crusaders' intrusion; Sweetie Belle's face turned a mixture or red and green. She still shuddered at the memory.

Just as Rarity finished talking, the door opened again and Scootaloo rushed in on Ol' Blue. She slid to a stop and began talking, seemingly oblivious of the two alicorns she had just sprayed with dirt. "No sign of Fluttershy. Her cottage is okay but even Angel said he hadn't seen her since she left to see you."

"Who is Angel?" Luna asked. Scootaloo turned to see who had spoken and saw the princesses standing there with a layer of dirt being brushed off their sides by a frantic Rarity.

"I uh- I mean-" Scootaloo was too shocked at not noticing them earlier to talk.

"It's quite all right," Luna said, gently pushing Rarity away. Her horn glowed and the dirt fell off. "Luna, Angel is a rabbit that lives with Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus with the element of kindness, he is her unofficial caretaker."

"Ah, I remember now," Luna had briefly seen Angel when she came to Ponyville during Nightmare Night. Twilight Sparkle was trying to convince Fluttershy to leave her cottage when Luna noticed a shape in the upstairs window. A rabbit had been standing there smacking the blunt edge of a machete against his paw. He pointed downwards and shook his head. He slid his paw across his throat, the meaning quite clear to Luna: don't touch her.

"Maybe I can find her if I try," Celestia said. Her horn began to glow again and a small circle appeared in the air in front of the ponies. It began to show Fluttershy's pink mane, zooming out slowly, but then the colors began to run. It no showed Fluttershy's face as well, but at this point the image had run too much to see anything. Even the window itself began dripping; small rainbow drops pattered against the floor. It shook violently and imploded, leaving Celestia shocked. A deep laughter resounded through the room accompanied by a light giggling.

"I'm guessing that wasn't supposed to happen," Rarity said, seeing the shock register on Luna's face as well.

"No," Celestia croaked, "to somehow break that spell, whoever did it had to know only realize that we were looking, but they also had to know how to break the spell and be strong enough to drain my magic. Even Discord at his strongest couldn't break that spell, though he tried many times."

Everypony tried to think of what this could mean when the door opened again. Spike and Applebloom ran inside, Pinkie was close behind them.

"I found Pinkie, but she says she hasn't seen Twilight since yesterday." Spike said as he came to a stop, panting.

"And there's still no sign of Applejack," Applebloom wasn't breathing as heavy as Spike, despite running much farther; she was covered in a light sheen of sweat.

"This can't be good," Luna said, startling Spike and Applebloom, "only two of the elements are present. With all that's happened lately I fear the worst."

Pinkie was sitting a little way behind everypony, seeming to blend into the shadows. Her eyes seemed to change to a bright red occasionally and her mane was darker than usual. Every now and then, somepony would glance at her, confused by her lack of Pinkie-ness; most just put it up to stress over what had happened.

"There's something I should have warned all of you long ago. Listen up my little ponies, for it seems this concerns you much deeper than I first thought."

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Pinkie Pie woke up suddenly. She and Pinkamena were curled up in their bed in the Sugarcube Corner; the true, hidden one that so far only two other ponies had seen, neither lived to tell. Fluttershy was sitting in a pile on a nearby chair. Pinkie gave a luxuriant stretch, waking her counterpart who copied the gesture exactly.

Pinkie sat up and looked at her clock. It was wavy and had no numbers or hands on it, merely moving shapes that jumped around in random squiggles.

"Oh wow," pinkie said, amazed that so much time had gone by.

"What is it," Pinkamena asked, glancing at the clock.

"We took Twilight almost a week ago. I think ponies may be starting to catch on to the fact that we've been gone so long."

"It would seem that way," a light knocking noise echoed through the room.

Pinkie jumped up and began climbing the wall. She reached the ceiling and flipped open the light. Inside was a small tunnel that led into her bedroom at the Sugarcube Corner most ponies saw. She came through the tunnel and heard Spike calling her name through the mail slot on the front door.

She went downstairs and opened the door. "Hey Spike!" she said loudly, "watcha doin?"

"Princess Celestia said we're all supposed to meet her at the library," he said frantically, "I got the note last night but it was too late to do anything with it and now we're supposed to be there in," he paused and looked at the clock hanging on the wall, "FIVE MINUTES AGO!"

"Well we'd better hurry then," Pinkie said, cheerier than usual after her week-long vacation with her friends. She hopped along happily for a few hooves then stopped, a funny feeling came over her and she got an itch in the bottom of her back right tooth on the bottom. 'Somepony's watching me,' she thought, her sing-song voice even sounded eerie in her thoughts.

She strained and was surprised to learn that she could feel Pinkamena doing the same. She could vaguely see an image of the library floating in front of Pinkamena. In the image she saw both of the princesses, Rarity and the cutie mark crusaders. She gave a final push and the window vanished with a small pop.

Pinkie opened her eyes and noticed Spike was tugging at her leg. "Come on," he said, "we're already late. We don't have time for… Pinkie things right now Pinkie."

"Okie dokie lokie then," Pinkie hopped off again, pulling Spike along even as he tried to let go. Every bounce made his head hit the ground until he somehow slipped off Pinkie and flew through the air, crashing through the library's door.

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"So how long have you known about this," Rarity asked, upset that Celestia could have tolerated such occurrences in such a peaceful place.

"As I've said," Celestia spoke slowly, her soft tone hiding her impatience with the flustered unicorn, "this all started about fifteen years ago. Nothing I've done since has even given me a hint as to what could be happening." She gestured at the puddle of rainbow liquid on the floor. "Given what happened earlier with the spell, I think we can safely assume that whatever that thing is, it has your friend Fluttershy."

Rarity gasped, "but Fluttershy wouldn't last a second against something like that."

Spike suddenly felt very cold, he had just learned that he broke Fluttershy's heart unknowingly, not once but twice, and now before he could say anything, she was gone beyond any hope of rescue.

The cutie mark crusaders were horrified. Fluttershy had been one of their favorite mares and now she was… gone. They crept over to a corner to make plans to find the monster that had taken Fluttershy; whispering so as not to be discovered by the adults. They failed to notice that Pinkie was in a corner very near theirs and had heard every word.

"I think Rainbow Dash may have suffered a similar fate," Celestia said, "her disappearance was exactly like those we had found before. I hesitate to say it, but we fear that something may be targeting you ponies specifically."

"Whatever do you mean?" Rarity asked. Nopony noticed Pinkie smile a little here.

"Think about it," Luna said, as she spoke small pictures appeared above her head of Rarity and her friends, "Rainbow Dash was taken a few weeks ago," a red 'X' covered her face, "then we had no disturbances until recently Fluttershy was taken," another 'X', "and both your friends Applejack and Twilight Sparkle have been missing for some time correct?" White question marks covered their faces. "Other than this, we have had no news of any movement here for a few months."

Pinkie nodded, she had plenty of supplies stored up, she only needed a little now and then to prepare for a sudden end to collecting ingredients, like now. She didn't gather things very often, usually only when names floated out of the cauldron as they had been doing a lot lately. 'As they did before I went to bed last night,' she thought.

The cutie mark crusaders had agreed on a plan. The young fillies snuck out the door, being careful not to alert anypony. As the door closed, Pinkie stepped forward, trying to ensure that nopony noticed them leaving.

"We have to do something," she said, now glad that she had taken those acting classes years ago, she couldn't even rely entirely on her natural talent anymore. She made herself cry and she put an angry look on her face, "we can't let this keep happening to ponies." She allowed herself a small smile on the inside; she had played the emotions just right. She even gave a few sniffles when she paused between words.

Celestia looked at the small pink pony. Her eyes had filled with tears as she spoke passionately about saving her friends. An idea struck the ruler as she listened to Pinkie's plea. "Maybe there is a way. If we put out some… bait. Maybe we can lure this creature out and together Luna and I can capture it, or at least discover its hiding place and rescue any ponies trapped inside."

"Bu that would be suicide," Rarity exclaimed, "surely anything that could defeat you so easily for so long would have no problem killing a normal pony like us."

"Yeah," Pinkie said, pushing herself further into the charade, "if we can't even slow the thing down, how can you catch it?" She wasn't expecting the answer that followed.

"The bones that we've found shows that it like to… play with its victims. None of them are pleasant. We've known where to find it for quite some time, or at least, a general area. We just need to leave a trap and put a tracking spell on whoever is left there."

Luna stepped in, "could we not also seal a spell into that pony's flesh so that when they are harmed they are teleported to safety? Then when you and I move in to attack, that pony would be out of harm's way."

Celestia thought about it for a moment, "Yes I suppose that would work. Now we just need somepony to leave as bait. But they must know that there is a strong chance that they will die."

"Sister," Luna said, pointing out the window, "that pegasus there, I've seen her before. I doubt much harm would come if she was hurt in any way. Perhaps we could convince her to do it."

Pinkie looked where Luna was pointing and saw Derpy flying by with a large bag full of mail. She had a tray on her back piled high with muffins and was busy following a line of bugs.

"No," Celestia and pinkie said at the same time. Celestia pretended not to notice the small pony, "she's a rather… special mare around here. I'm afraid that I cannot go into detail here but suffice it to say that if she were harmed there would be some very angry powers working against any who had a hoof in her injury. She is under protection that even Discord feared to affect when he escaped."

"Yes," Pinkie said quietly, "no one touches the derp."

"What?" Rarity said turning towards Pinkie. She had been watching the grey pegasus move through a crowded area, somehow managing to stay with the bugs and not drop a single muffin… even while she tipped over carts and knocked ponies aside. She was soon joined by a small similar looking unicorn filly.

"Nothing," Pinkie said. In her mind she flashed herself a symbol she had discovered long ago. It was created with two half circles with their curves touching; slash marks connected to the top of each semi-circle and extended away as they sloped down. /)*(\ A similar symbol passed through Celestia's mind at the same time, this one had half-squares rather than circles though /]*[\.

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The cutie mark crusaders snuck through the piles of ash. Much of it had already been washed away but large piles still remained for disposal. Small trees had already sprouted and a few groups of animals had returned to the destroyed forest. They still knew the area fairly well and knew where they were going.

A special clearing in the woods had been labeled taboo by every foal in Ponyville ever since a huge mound of bones had been found within it. Nopony had ever seen anything or anyone enter that area and most foals believed it to be haunted. The few who had grown up since the area became taboo called it 'childish fears', but they still managed to talk their way out of ever going near it.

The girls knew that this is where they'd find the monster attacking everypony.

They had just reached the edge of where they knew the clearing to be. Even the ponies replanting the forest had made sure to leave this place clear, the ashes were still here and bodies of animals lay twisted on the ground. Even if their eyes had been closed the fillies would've known the place. They could feel vileness radiating out from it; a foul smell seemed to fill the air.

"Boo," yelled a familiar voice from behind a large carcass. Pinkie Pie jumped out and scared the girls.

"Pinkie," Scootaloo asked as she laughed nervously, "what are you doing here."

"Yeah," Applebloom said stepping forward, her tiny face scrunched in confusion, "and how'd ya' get here so quickly?"

"Do you wanna know a secret girls?" Pinkie glanced from side to side. They all nodded and she made them Pinkie swear never to tell anypony. "I know where the monster is, I've known for a long time. But if I told anypony it would find out. Plus nopony would ever believe me. I need your help to kill this thing before it can hut anypony else."

Pinkamena led the girls through the hidden tunnel; she had repaired the doors before retiring the previous night. It wouldn't do to let anypony know where the tunnel was. She laughed on the inside. It had been so easy to fool the three fillies into trusting her, she merely had to shrink herself down and act like her original and she had them eating right out of her hooves.

She led the girls through the twisting tunnels and into the funhouse. As they stepped into the main room, the fillies looked around, recognizing where they were instantly.

"Pinkie," Sweetie Belle asked, "what's going on?"

Pinkamena laughed sinisterly and closed the door behind them, locking it and swallowing the key.

The crusaders began running frantically trying to find a way out. They suddenly found themselves frozen in place. Their heads snapped to the side to watch Pinkie.

Shadows bloomed around her as she changed. One second she was Pinkie, small pink and innocent; the next, a hulking shadow pony whose cruel fangs dripped an unknown crimson liquid. Steam seemed to erupt around her as she laughed. "Please, call me Pinkamena." The lights flashed off and somepony screamed.

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And thus ends Chapter 19. I hope you enjoyed it. For those of you who have noticed, I've started putting real book/movie titles as chapter titles and I'm planning on continuing that for a while. I just finished reading Princess Molestia not long ago so that should give you a hint as to what you can expect in later chapters (not the next one though).

Review, review, review, favorite, subscribe, review. And, for those of you subscribing/favoriting but have messages turned off… you get an angry face cuz now I can't say thanks for reading to you. So mmmphf *sticks out tongue*

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Pinkie: Does this mean I can come out now?

KN: Do you still have a spoon?

Pinkie: Noooo~ <3

KN: Well the chapter is done so you can't really do anything until tomorrow. You may as well go to bed now.

Pinkie: Awww, but it was just getting good.

KN: yeah, well I wanna finish it too, but I hafta sleep. I'll let you out but you hafta promise no more biting.

Pinkie: *cuddles* okay

(Just so you ponies know, I have these conversations in my head all the time when I'm working on this story so I felt like putting them down. You don't like it, skip my ridiculously long author notes. But just so you know, Pinkie's cuddles are the bestest /)^3^(\)

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