As the sky turned a soft shade of blue just before the sun came up, all of Ponyville was enjoying their last few hours of slumber before starting their day. After the storm from last night abruptly interrupted them, it was a good feeling to be able to sleep in peace and quiet again.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the Everfree Forest, the denizens of the ancient mansion were also mostly asleep. Aside from a stray worker or two, Raven Feather and her colleagues always tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour to give them enough rest for their arduous work.

Dust Kicker was laying passed out in his bed. He had spent the majority of the night tending to his unconscious sister, but even he had to sleep sometime. The two pegasi stayed in a room on the second floor of the mansion just to the left of the main stairway. It was a room with two beds in it, so Raven Feather allotted the siblings to use it to stay close to each other.

Being the more adventurous types, the brown pegasus and his pale counterpart decided to actually sleep on the beds that were already in the room. Most of the ponies in the mansion either slept in sleeping bags placed on top of the old mattresses or were privileged enough to exchange the mattress for a new one, but Dust Kicker and his sister didn’t much care for how old the beds were. They were fairly luxurious, even with the odd smell and occasional raggedness that accompanied them.

“Dust Kicker wake up!” The sound of a loud and alarming voice rang out directly next to Dust Kicker’s head. The shock of being jolted from his sleep so suddenly was enough to make him fall out of bed. When he pushed the blanket off of himself and looked up, the stallion was surprised to see his sister standing above him.

“Raincloud…? You’re awake?” Dust Kicker asked curiously. The last time he had seen the pale pegasus, she was still unconscious from when the human attacked her shadow, but now she seemed perfectly fine.

“Well duh…” Raincloud stated sarcastically while rolling her eyes. She then returned a more alarmed expression to her face.

“What’s wrong?” Dust Kicker asked, unsure as to what would make his sister so distressed. The pale mare mumbled something in a concerned tone while looking around urgently. She seemed to be trying to find a way to explain something, but her words couldn’t come out straight.

“Cotton is gone!” Raincloud finally managed to blurt out in a concerned tone. She then waited for a response, as if expecting her brother to understand immediately.

“Wait what?” Dust Kicker asked with confusion and slight alarm evident on his face. He could barely understand his sister with how unfocused she was, but he could tell that something was amiss.

“Ugh… just follow me!” Raincloud said while throwing her hooves up in frustration. Before Dust Kicker could even formulate a response, the pale mare turned around and rushed out of the already open door.

“Raincloud wait up!” Dust Kicker called out to get his sister to slow down. By the time he finished his outburst she was already out of the door and rushing down the hallway. The stallion sighed before getting up and trotting out of the door to follow the pegasus.

Just barely catching a glimpse of where she was going around corners, Dust Kicker followed Raincloud through the winding hallways of the mansion. As he passed the various hooded ponies lingering in the hallways, he noticed that they had a more anxious appearance to them than usual. They seemed like they were upset by something they knew.

Recognizing the path he was following, Dust Kicker gathered that his sister was leading him to their usual meeting spot in the library. Spotting the pale mare going through the library door, his suspicions were confirmed.

Inside of the room were several hooded ponies either sitting at attention or standing off to the side talking amongst themselves. Shadow Mist was leaning against a wall off to the side with a troubled expression. Grimwood was sitting beside his older sister with a troubled expression. And finally, Raven Feather was sitting in the middle of the room with a troubled expression. Everyone seemed to be deeply troubled as if something horrible had happened.

Raincloud walked forward and sat down next to a few ponies in front of Raven Feather. The green eyed earth pony was holding one hoof up to her face and looking down in frustration. If anyone was going to be able to answer the stallion’s questions, it would probably be his leader.

“Raven Feather, what’s going on?” Dust Kicker asked with a confused expression while walking into the room.

Raven Feather shrugged before sliding her hoof off of her face and looking up. She looked like she had just been told her parents died. Although Dust Kicker was fairly certain that the black mare had no positive feelings for her parents.

“Cotton Quill wasn’t in his room when we got up this morning… I had a group search the mansion, and he isn’t here. On top of that… our scouts are telling us that a storm appeared over Ponyville last night… one with lesser demons spawning out of it. I had them investigate further, and apparently someone used one of our pictograms to summon the storm over at Sweet Apple Acres.” Raven Feather explained in a dismal tone.

“And… you think Cotton did that?” Dust Kicker asked in a shocked tone. He couldn’t believe that the unicorn would even attempt something so bold and careless.

“Good heavens I hope not. As much as I berate him, I would like to think there is some semblance of a brain in that empty head of his.” Raven Feather shook her head in disappointment and frustration. She couldn’t believe that something so catastrophic would happen to her to impede her progress.

“He’s the only one that could have done it… none of the hoods are missing and I don’t even think they know how to create a complete symbol on their own.” Raincloud reasoned while glancing around her at the various anonymous ponies in hoods.

“*Sigh*… Well at any rate, we can’t know for sure until the scout I sent gets back to me with his location.” Raven Feather stated in annoyance. She then got up and looked around the room to the ponies scattered around. “Did anyone see Cotton Quill last night? Anyone talk with him? Did he act strangely…?” The black mare asked loudly while scanning her eyes around for volunteers. Nobody raised their hooves or spoke up.

“Well…” Grimwood muttered nervously from beside the green eyed pony. Raven Feather turned to look at her younger sibling and softened up her expression.

“Go ahead Grimwood… if you know something you can tell me.” Raven Feather said in a gentle and encouraging tone. The young pony fiddled his hooves together nervously before speaking up.

“Cotton came into the library last night looking for you… he said something about trying to impress you. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but right before he left he grabbed a book off of a book shelf. I looked over to see which one he took, and it was one of the summoning tomes… one of the more complicated ones even. I thought he might be on orders from you, so I didn’t say anything… I didn’t think he would do something like this. Please don’t be mad at me...” Grimwood explained while trailing his eyes downward.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Grim…” Raven Feather said while putting a loving hoof on the young earth pony’s shoulder. She then looked away and shifted her expression to a more agitated one.

“As for Cotton… I think we need to have a nice long chat with him whenever he gets his sorry tail back here.” The black mare added while contemplating what ways she could punish the unicorn when he finally returned to the mansion.

Suddenly, the group heard the library door open. They turned their heads to see a hooded yellow stallion walking into the room with an urgent air about him. The pony wasted no time in walking up to Raven Feather and speaking up.

“Miss Raven Feather, we’ve found Cotton Quill.” He stated before waiting for a response from the black mare. By now everyone had turned their heads to watch the conversation take place with anxious expressions.

“Go ahead and tell us already. Where is that featherbrained idiot?” Raven Feather demanded eagerly. She couldn’t wait to get her hooves on the white unicorn. Instead of sharing her enthusiasm, the hooded stallion had a more apprehensive expression.

“He’s being held in the royal guard station in town by the princess and her team for questioning. Apparently, they caught him last night at Sweet Apple Acres and took him there.” As the scout spoke, whatever good feeling was left in the room completely vanished. Raven Feather stood silently in shock while everyone else in the room quietly chattered to themselves.

“Cotton was captured?” A group muttered to themselves just barely loud enough to hear.

“What if he squeals on us?!” Another hooded pony stated in a panic to two of his colleagues.

While everyone else in the room was having a meltdown, Raven Feather placed a hoof back onto her face and looked down in thought. She couldn’t understand where she had gone wrong. Cotton Quill seemed like such a good addition to her little scheme. He was eager to join, eager to work tireless hours for her, and eager to not screw up, at first anyway.

“If he’s down there we need to go get him before he talks!” Raincloud stated while getting up and turning around. “Come on Dust!” She announced to her brother while rushing towards the door. Dust Kicker didn’t have much time to decide, but he nodded and went to follow his sister on her mission.

“Wait…” Raven Feather instructed to the two pegasi while still looking down. Raincloud stopped in her tracks and turned around to see what the black mare wanted.

“Raven Feather… we need to act on this now! If Cotton tells them anything we’re screwed.” Raincloud reasoned in an urgent tone while hoping that the black mare would allow her to leave. Raven Feather glanced up from the floor and sighed before looking over to the eager pegasus.

“I know Raincloud, but think about the situation for a second before you go charging into battle will you? The sun is almost up… so your powers will be limited; the princess and her team of ponies, not to mention the entire Ponyville branch of the royal guard will be there, and you want to go blazing in there with just the two of you and no backup plan? The greatest minds in history did not turn to hysterics when under great stress. Instead, they sat down and came up with a plan… which is exactly what we need to do.” Raven Feather explained in a more calm and composed voice.

“But… Raven Feather!” Raincloud protested in a persistent tone.

“Don’t argue with me right now Raincloud… if I were a lesser pony I would be taking out my frustration on you. Just give me time to come up with something… then you two can go blow up the town to find him for all I care.” Raven Feather replied in an agitated tone.

“*Sigh*… Yes, Raven Feather.” Raincloud muttered in defeat before walking out of the door slowly. She needed to take some time to process all of her emotions before going out on the mission anyway. Dust Kicker shrugged and followed his sister out of the library, leaving everyone else to tend to themselves.

“I should have just stayed in bed today…” The brown stallion groaned in annoyance while exiting the room.

As the sun climbed progressively higher into the late morning sky, even the most exhausted inhabitants of Ponyville were waking up. Over at the library, Twilight Sparkle even managed to wake up before her two friends.

Perhaps she was too eager to sleep in for that long, or perhaps she was anxious. After all, they had made a monumental step towards wrapping up the investigation. They now had one of their enemies in custody, waiting to divulge the secrets that he knew. Twilight knew that it would probably be difficult to get any answers out of their prisoner, but the prospect alone filled her with excitement.

Quietly getting out of bed and walking down the steps from her loft, Twilight tried her hardest not to disturb her human friend and the young dragon still peacefully asleep. As much stress as both of them were under last night and the day before, the two definitely needed a lot of rest.

The purple mare decided to spend this time sweeping up the broken glass in the bedroom and cleaning up the salt from the bathroom floor. Although she was sure Spike would have done all of this for her, she wanted to lessen the number of chores he had to do.

Ugh… now I have to find someone to replace these windows. Greaaat… Twilight thought to herself while rolling her eyes. She was thankful that nobody got hurt last night, but the problem still remained.

Being careful not to step on any of the glass, the unicorn used her magic to sweep the numerous pieces into a dustpan. She then quietly went out of the room and swept up the line of salt in the bathroom. After dumping the trash into a nearby trashcan, the unicorn decided to rest for a moment in the kitchen.

Hearing the sound of footsteps in the other room, Twilight glanced through the doorway and spotted Spike climbing down the stairs. The dragon seemed to be still waking up, yawning and rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Morning Spike.” Twilight greeted the dragon warmly while walking into the room.

“Morning…” Spike replied sleepily while glancing over to the seemingly energetic pony. Knowing how his friend acted after just getting up, he wondered why she wasn’t as sleepy as he was.

“How long have you been up?” Spike asked curiously while glancing outside to check the time.

“A while… not as long as Tom usually is mind you. How is he anyway? Is he awake?” Twilight asked while looking upstairs.

“Last I checked he was still out cold. He must have been really tired last night… I hope he’s ok.” Spike stated with a concerned tone of voice. It wasn’t like the human to sleep in for so long.

“I’m sure he just needs a little more rest than usual… he did look exhausted after whatever happened at the farm.” Twilight said with a troubled expression. She didn’t like how often the boy put himself in danger like that. No matter how many times he claimed to be ok, it was obvious that his numerous hardships had been taking a toll on his body.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Spike nodded in agreement. He wanted to feel better and stop worrying about the human, but he still felt just as concerned as before.

“I just hope he doesn’t sleep for too much longer. We need to head down to the guard station before they get done interrogating Cotton Quill.” Twilight stated with excitement evident in her voice and expression.

“You seem a bit chipper this morning.” Spike observed while noting the giddy smile on the purple mare’s face.

“I guess… I’m just glad that we’re finally going to get somewhere with this case. We might even be able to find where the rest of these guys are and put a stop to them then and there.” Twilight replied with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

“Well if we’re going to do that, we should probably get going then shouldn’t we?” The two heard Tom’s voice coming from beside them. They looked over to see the human waiting by the stairs. He seemed to have a lot more color in his face than last night, and he definitely looked healthier.

“You’re looking a lot better Tom. Do you feel better?” Twilight asked, hopeful that the human’s weakness was gone.

“In comparison to last night, I feel like a million bucks… err… whatever you use as currency.” Tom said to clarify. Twilight and Spike chuckled slightly at the human’s lack of knowledge on their society.

“It’s bits for future reference.” Spike said in a helpful tone.

“Duly noted…” Tom replied with a nod while committing the knowledge to memory for future use.

“Well… I’m glad you’re feeling better. I hate how you keep getting hurt to deal with our problems.” Twilight shrugged sadly while thinking about how often the human saved her and her friends at the cost of his own misfortune.

“Don’t sweat it… it’s kind of part of the job description. You don’t get to go very far as a slayer without getting knocked around a lot. And besides… no offense, but I don’t think you guys could handle most of this stuff by yourselves.” Tom said lightheartedly to cheer up the troubled unicorn.

“Heh… I guess you’re right about that. Even Brimstoke and the others seem a little undertrained for the situations they encounter.” Twilight replied sincerely. She appreciated the fact that the princess had trained a team to deal with all of the new monsters in Equestria, but she didn’t think they were nearly as prepared as the human was. The somber thought of their own lack of preparedness made the unicorn’s smile vanish as she adopted a more pensive expression.

“Speaking of which… shouldn’t we get going? We don’t want to miss anything.” Tom said as a reminder of what they were supposed to be doing.

“Yeah we probably should.” Twilight replied while thinking of the time it would take them to walk downtown to the station. With this in mind, the two walked over to the door and stepped outside. They then turned around to face the young dragon still waiting inside.

“Bye Spike… we’ll be back later.” Twilight said while taking one last look at her young assistant before departing.

“Alright… I’ll try not to burn the place down while you’re gone.” Spike stated lightheartedly while waving to the pair. After waving back and closing the door, Twilight and her human companion set out on their way.

Looking around at the water-logged streets of Ponyville was a strange sight for both the slayer and the unicorn. Most storms Twilight had seen weren’t nearly as severe or long lasting as the one from last night.

Numerous puddles and streams of water were sitting on all of the sidewalks, and the unpaved ground was so wet that it couldn’t retain any more water, making walking through a dry area nearly impossible. Several awnings and buildings were still dripping onto the ground below, offering an occasional cold drip on the head or back to anyone passing underneath. There were also several bits and pieces of small debris littered around the streets and rooftops from the blowing wind.

All of the ponies the two saw while walking around town seemed generally upset as to their current surroundings, and nobody could blame them. The entire atmosphere in town was already tense and eerie with the looming threat of another attack from the hooded ponies, but now they had to deal with the odd contrast of a rain-soaked town underneath a clear and sunny sky.

Twilight looked down and sighed sadly at the state of her hometown. It wasn’t just the water or the debris that was bothering her, but the atmosphere in general. On even the worst day in Ponyville, the generally peaceful and carefree attitude of the townspeople remained strong and steady, but now everyone was scared, uneasy, and uncertain of what the future would hold.

Tom looked over to the upset unicorn sympathetically. She seemed to be struggling just to remain optimistic about the situation. Over the past few days, everything she had known to be safe and every foundation she had laid for her life was uprooted and turned on its head.

“You doing alright over there?” The human spoke up in a friendly tone, causing the purple mare to look up. Twilight shrugged as she tried to find a way to put her feelings into words.

“Yeah… I’m just having trouble dealing with everything that’s been happening recently… I know you got here at a bad time for us, but we’re usually a lot more lively and energetic and… happier.” Twilight stated with a disheartened expression.

“You guys seemed to be getting along just fine… before yesterday anyway.” Tom said while looking around at the many gloomy faces around him.

“Yeah, well the knowledge of monsters and hooded ponies trying to throw everything into chaos only just became available publicly yesterday. Before the princess made her speech, most ponies were happily ignorant about the dangers we’ve been facing. Twilight replied in a dismal tone. It seemed like the more she thought about the reality of what was happening, the more sad and hopeless the unicorn was becoming.

“Hey… we’ll get through this just fine. I might not have been a slayer for very long, but I have memories of slayers who have faced evils far greater than the ones we’re facing and coming out on top. I’m sure you’ll have the opportunity to show me what things were like before all of this happened in no time.” Tom stated in a reassuring tone while offering a confident smile to the purple pony. The unicorn felt better knowing that the slayer was so confident in their success.

“You know what… you’re right. We can beat these guys… we just need to stick together and keep our heads held high.” Twilight said with a progressively brightening expression.

“Besides… we have one of their guys. I’m sure that we can find out where the rest of them are from him, and then it should be easy to wipe these hooded jerks off the face of the planet.” Tom said with a confident smirk.

“I hope it will be that simple… we don’t know how much it will take to crack this guy. He could be their toughest member for all we know.” Twilight said with an uncertain expression. Tom laughed from just hearing the unicorn’s statement.

“If that guy is their toughest member, then beating them will be easier than I thought.” The boy chuckled while thinking back to the hooded pony he met last night. It was almost pathetic how much of a spineless coward he was.

Before long, the two came to a stop as Twilight recognized the guard station ahead of them. It wasn’t too hard picking it out against the other buildings around town. Being a sort of hub for the royal guards in Ponyville, it had a different kind of architecture to it that resembled something you would find in Canterlot. Not to mention the various flags and banners scattered around bearing the royal emblem on them.

“Have you ever been down here before?” Tom asked curiously while observing the building and the various ponies coming and going in royal guard attire.

“A couple times, yeah… My brother is captain of the royal guard, so I visited him occasionally when he would come to town on duty.” Twilight replied while reminiscing about the time she spent with her older brother in the past.

“You have a brother…? And he is captain of the royal guard?” Tom asked in a surprised tone. He never figured the purple unicorn’s family to be so connected to the princess. Twilight was Celestia’s student, and apparently, her brother was captain of the royal guard. Twilight felt a little proud to have elicited such a surprised reaction from the human about her brother.

“Yep, his name is Shining Armor. I’m sure he would love to meet you sometime when he is in town.” Twilight stated with a cheerful smile.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Tom replied in a sincere manner before redirecting his attention forward. “Well… let’s head in and find our hooded friend.” He said with an eager smirk. Twilight nodded before walking over to the front door of the building.

Once inside, the two found themselves in a sort of waiting area. There was a window built into the far wall to serve as a front desk with an earth pony mare behind it waiting to assist any visitors. There were also two doorways on either side that led off into the rest of the station’s interior. Various pictures and other decorative items adorned the walls above the chairs and tables that made up the waiting area. Other than the mare behind the front desk, the room was fairly empty aside from glimpses of other ponies rushing to and from their destinations.

Twilight and her human companion walked over to the front desk and waited for the earth pony to notice them. Once she did, the mare put on a friendly smile and moved a little closer to the desk to address her new visitors.

“Can I help you?” She asked in a polite, though clearly dulled tone. It must have been hard sitting behind a desk twenty-four-seven while exciting things happened around you.

“Uh… we’re here to see Brimstoke and his team. They just brought in a pony for interrogation last night… Are they here?” Twilight asked while glancing behind the mare into the other rooms. The receptionist pointed over to the doorway on the right side of the room in response.

“Brimstoke and the princess are still waiting for that guy to talk. Just go to the end of the hall and head through that door, they should be right there.” She explained to the pair while still pointing. Twilight glanced over to the doorway before returning her attention to the earth pony.

“Thank you.” The purple mare said while walking over to the doorway. Tom followed her as she rounded the corner and started her way down the hall.

After reaching the end of the hall and going through the door, the two came out into an open area with numerous ponies scattered around. Several work areas were off to one side, while other offices were at the far end of the room.

Along with the various guards walking around in full uniform, there were several familiar ponies waiting in the center of the room. Princess Celestia and her sister were conversing with Brimstoke and his team, although Neon Streak seemed to be missing.

There was also another pony among the group that Twilight didn’t recognize. He was a white stallion that was wearing the same attire that a royal guardsman would wear, although the tuft at the top of his roman styled helmet was a different color than the usual guard outfit.

A little off to the side of the vested ponies, Twilight’s friends were all gathered around while talking with each other. Applejack was the only one missing from the group, which explained why Neon Streak wasn’t present. As they noticed the purple mare and the human approaching them, everyone turned to look at them.

“Twilight! It’s good to see you made it.” Celestia greeted her student with a warm smile as she walked over to join the group.

“Well, we couldn’t resist coming over to hear what Cotton had to say. Have you gotten anything out of him?” Twilight asked curiously while glancing over to the glass window everyone was staring at before.

Apparently, the window led through to an interrogation room that held the white unicorn. Cotton was sitting at a table with a gloomy expression on his downcast face. He didn’t have his hoodie on from last night, instead wearing only the vest that he had underneath it.

“He hasn’t talked to us since he got here… he barely acknowledges our questions at all.” The white stallion spoke up while glancing over to the captive unicorn. Realizing that the purple mare hadn’t been introduced to him, he suddenly understood the curious look she was giving him.

“Oh, I’m sorry… where are my manners? I’m Fireside, I’m the Sargent in charge of this station.” Fireside stated while offering the unicorn a firm hoof shake.

“Pleased to meet you, sir.” Twilight replied with a courteous smile.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want. I’m going to go try to talk to him again.” The stallion said while looking over at the two-way mirror that served as a window into the interrogation room.

“I’ll come too… maybe we could play good cop bad cop with him… I’ll be good cop and you be bad cop?” Glimmer Shine offered while walking alongside the white stallion.

“Are you trying to say that I don’t look like a good cop?” Fireside asked jestingly. Twilight and the others chuckled as they watched the pair walk into a hallway beside the window that led to the inside of the room.

“So how long have you guys been down here? I know we must have slept in a lot… but I didn’t expect all of you to be down here before me.” Twilight said in a surprised tone while looking around at the group of ponies. Suddenly, Sunspot stepped forward from the group to answer the unicorn. Twilight was surprised to see that she wasn’t wearing her signature suit.

“Well… me and Rainbow Dash got here a little late. I had to drop off my uniform at a dry cleaner. I can’t exactly get it patched up with blood stains on it…” The orange pegasus explained with a shrug. “When we did get here, only Brimstoke and his group were here. The princesses came a little while after that. All in all… I would say we have been here a few hours.” She stated while thinking about how long she had actually been at the station.

“Wow Sunspot… you look so different without your suit on.” Twilight said while noting the pegasus’s appearance and cutie mark. She seemed a little bit disheartened by the unicorn’s comment.

“Yeah… I feel weird without it.” Sunspot stated with an awkward expression.

“Really? I would imagine those things would get irritating to wear after a while. I guess you were born to be a Wonderbolt… or at least to wear their uniform.” Twilight added with a friendly smirk.

“Heh… thanks.” Sunspot said in a bashful tone while looking away with a slight smile.

Princess Celestia stepped forward from the group to speak directly with her student. She seemed to have a slightly anxious air about her as if she needed to be somewhere else.

“I’m going to head outside for a while to talk with Luna. You should make yourself comfortable if you want to stay here Twilight. I’m not sure if Cotton Quill will be divulging his knowledge to us anytime soon.” Celestia said while glancing behind her to the window. Glimmer Shine and Fireside were already hard at work interrogating the nervous unicorn.

“Alright… see you later Princess.” Twilight said while offering the two alicorns a wave as they walked away. After the two departed, everyone else was left to wait in the room while watching the interrogation take place.