Rarity was just about to finish one of her brand new dresses when suddenly a loud knock on the door caught her attention. She ignored it at first, thinking her unknown visitor to be a random filly knocking on doors for fun. Besides, she had a dress to finish, and it was the most beautiful of her new line by far.

KNOCK!

Rarity narrowed her eyes, intent on finishing the dress and not paying some little filly unnecessary attention.

KNOCK, KNOCK!

"I've had just about enough with you, you troublesome filly!" Rarity shouted, slamming open the door only to reveal a small dragon standing there.

"S-Spike, darling?" she gasped, covering her mouth in embarrassment.

"Hi, Rarity! I just need to talk to you for a moment; it's really important," Spike told her, not even acknowledging the fact that Rarity had just slammed open the door and called him a "troublesome filly".

"Of course, come on in! What'd you need? Here to request a new dress for Twilight, perhaps?" Rarity asked, stepping to the side in order to make room for Spike to enter.

"Actually, no," Spike answered, slowly trudging into the shop, "but it is about Twilight."

"What about her, dear?"

"I don't know, really. It's just that... she disappeared. I can't find her anywhere, so I decided to come to you for help just in case you know where she is; she never does things like this, much less disappear without a trace."

"Well, yes, if what you're saying is true, then I have to agree that this kind of thing's never happened before with Twilight... sorry to disappoint you, darling, but I don't know anything. Maybe you could ask the others instead; one of them's bound to know something."

"Alright then, thanks for the suggestion. Are you coming?" Spike asked hopefully; his feelings for Rarity weren't really much of a secret anymore as all of the Mane Six had already witnessed him trying to impress her at least once or twice. Even Rarity knew about it, but so far she didn't do anything about it yet.

"About that, darling," Rarity paused for a moment before speaking again, "I'm just about finished with a brand new dress; how about you head over to Pinkie Pie's first and wait for me there until I'm done?"

"Of course; I'll do anything you say!" Spike grinned enthusiastically, performing a quick bow before leaving the shop and heading for Sugarcube Corner. Now that he knew that Rarity, his secret crush, would help him get to the bottom of Twilight's disappearance, his mood lightened a lot. Nothing's better than trying to solve something with somepony you've got a crush on, he thought, his grin stretching even wider as Sugarcube Corner came into sight.

"Pinkie Pie?" Spike called as he got closer to the bakery, opening and closing the front door softly behind him.

"Spike! It's you!" Pinkie Pie was standing behind the front display - which displayed a variety of the goods that Sugarcube Corner baked - having just finished delivering an order to a customer, which was apparently a cupcake. "Can I get you anything? A totally delicious triple-layer chocolate cake, maybe?" she asked, giving Spike a warm smile as he went up to her.

"Sorry, Pinkie, not today. Let's just wait for Rarity first, then I'll explain to you what's going on."

"Hi there, darlings," Rarity's voice sounded from the front door as she opened, only to be bombarded by Spike and Pinkie as soon as she'd laid one hoof inside the building.

"Rarity's here! Can you explain everything now? Please? The suspense is making me ka-ray-zy!" Pinkie began to jump up and down in excitement, doing puppy eyes at Spike.

"Right, right, of course! Anyways, we came to find you because Twilight-" Spike's words trailed off as Pinkie interrupted, "Twilight? Did she get eaten by a big, bad zombie or something? Are we going to save her with the Elements of Harmony? Ooh, this sounds like a lot of fun!"

"No, Pinkie, she didn't get eaten by a zombie, and we can't activate the power of the Elements of Harmony without Twilight either," Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes in irritation,"anyways, before you so rudely interrupted, Spike was saying that we came here to find you in case you had any idea of why Twilight just suddenly disappeared into thin air."

"Yeah, that's definitely what I was going to say," Spike grinned, thinking that supporting Rarity would please her even though her words were much different than what he was about to say. "I couldn't find her anywhere in the library, not even her most favorite spots in Ponyville. That's why I came to Rarity and now you for help if you happen to know something about it. It's definitely not a hobby of hers vanishing like that."

"Twilight's missing? Did she get captured by a villain-" Pinkie's blabbering was interrupted once again by Rarity as she coughed meaningfully. Feeling slightly embarrassed, the pink mare immediately stopped talking, giving Rarity the best Pinkie Pie smile she could muster. "Right, darling, I'm not falling for it," she heard Rarity say sweetly in response.

"Erm, Rarity? Were you listening, Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked, breaking the tense silence that had just formed between the two mares.

"Yup! Basically, Twilight disappears without a trace, none of us knows anything about why she did, and we're all panicking because of it," Pinkie chirped, flashing another smile at Rarity, who rolled her eyes in response.

"Even though that's not perfectly accurate, you're still pretty spot-on. Anyways, judging by your words, I'm pretty sure that you too have no idea where Twilight went... right, Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked.

"Yup," Pinkie responded, her happy tone now slightly tinged with sadness.

"Well, if that's so, then I guess we'll just have to go to Applejack's place. Are you coming, Pinkie?" Spike stared at her expectantly.

"Of course! This whole thing just sounds like so much fun!"

"Hey there, Applejack!" Rarity greeted the orange mare as the three friends saw her at the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, running up to her and embracing her in a full-out hug at the same time.

"Howdy there, partners! What are y'all here for?" Applejack smiled as she returned Rarity's embrace.

"Well, we came here to talk about Twilight, who's apparently missing," Rarity answered.

"Twi's missin'? Ya must be kidding me!" Applejack exclaimed. "How'd it happen and when?"

"What Rarity forgot to mention, Applejack, is that we don't know how it happened, much less when it happened. That's why we came here in the first place, you know. We wanted to see if you knew something about this that could be useful in finding her," Spike added, trying to be as respectful as he could so he wouldn't wound Rarity's pride by correcting her.

"Yep! Maybe some evil pony got her and we have to use the Elements of Harmony against that pony!" Pinkie was blabbering again as she jumped up and down, clearly forgetting that the Elements couldn't be activated without each Bearer present.

"Sorry for not bein' of much help, but Ah really don't know anything about this whole missin' Twilight thing. The last time Ah saw her was the last time y'all saw her too," Applejack replied apologetically, shrugging.

"It's fine, Applejack; it's not like we blame you for not knowing anything about this whole business. Anyways, do you want to come with us to Fluttershy's cottage, in case she actually knows a thing or two?" Spike said, not even bothering to mask the disappointment in his voice.

"Sure! Ah'll try to be of as much help as Ah can!"

"O-Oh, um... sorry though, but T-Twilight never told me anything after we got back from the Crystal Empire," Fluttershy stammered, extremely frightened at the fact that one of her best friends had just disappeared without a trace.

"It's fine, darling. It's not your fault this happened," Rarity told the yellow pegasus.

"Well, I think it's time for the last straw. Our last straw. If Rainbow Dash doesn't know anything as well, then I guess it's safe to say that we'll have to search manually for Twilight. Mind coming with us to Rainbow Dash's house, Fluttershy?" Spike said, sighing.

"Y-Yes, of course," Fluttershy said, closing the door behind her as she followed her friends to Rainbow Dash's house.

"Sorry guys, but I'm not the pony for the job," Rainbow Dash told them, which immediately worsened their moods. "Twilight never told me anything after the train ride back home."

"Well, I thought it'd be this way," Rarity muttered to herself.

"Ah can't believe it! How could Twi just vanish like that?" Applejack exclaimed, her emerald eyes wide in disbelief.

"Maybe somepony really ponynapped her for real," Pinkie Pie suggested, much to the other ponies' irritation.

"Look, girls, how about we actually search for our friend instead of standing here arguing because of her?" Rainbow Dash sighed, breaking into their now growing arguments.

"Rainbow's makin' a lotta sense, y'know," Applejack agreed, nodding.

"Fine then," Spike said, "we're going to manually search for Twilight even if it takes us to the ends of Equestria, which means that Plan B... is in action."

"Yay," Fluttershy cheered quietly.