“Wake up.” A cute little voice whispered.
“Please, wake up.” It silently repeated. I slowly opened my eyes and held my breath. Even though I knew my eyes were open, everything around me was still dark, like I was starring into nothingness itself. Even when I closed my eyes, it was still a little brighter than my surroundings.
I panicked. My legs were shaking and I started to look around very hectically, trying to find something I could orient myself on. But there was nothing! No ground, no sky, not even wind!
“You're Twilight, right?” That voice appeared again. It sounded female, but not familiar.
Why did she knew my name? I tried to open my mouth to answer, to ask her where I was,
but I wasn't able to say a single word. I panicked again, choked and screamed, without even
making a silent noise. I was hovering in mid-air, without knowing where I was and without the ability to speak... it was like I was trapped inside of a total different world!
“It's okay Twilight, don't be afraid. You're in a world far beyond the one you know. There is no air, no water, no pain and no sorrow in this world.” The voice continued.
“It's hard to say where exactly you are or who I am, but that's not important for now. As long as you can't talk in here, there is nothing for you to fear. At the moment you're just asleep, in safety.”
I was asleep? So this was nothing more than a weird dream? That was good to know, although still very confusing. I never had such a dream before in my entire life.
“I'm so sorry for causing all these troubles to you and your little filly friend.” Huh? Filly-friend? What did she mean by that?
“Please, listen carefully Twilight! They're back! They're watching you!” The voice got shaky, then turned silent. I turned my head from left to right several times, but there was still nothing than endless darkness. I tried to use my light-sphere spell, but not even my magic seemed to work in this creepy place.
“You have to protect her! You have to stop these... monsters.” Her last sentence sounded kind
of sad, almost like she regretted saying that, but why and what was she talking about anyway?
“Go back to the place where you've found these monsters, back into the forest! There you'll find
the truth!” Back into the forest? Which forest? Still puzzled I suddenly noticed that everything around me started to turn darkish red. Wherever I was, I at least was now able to see something more than just pitch black. But the color wasn't the only thing I saw that moment. A small silhouette appeared right in front of me. It was the silhouette of a little filly, her sad looking orange eyes were lifeless and silently starring at me, glowing right through the black fog surrounding her.
“Please, save my friend!”

“OUCH!” I opened my eyes, again and noticed that I landed on the floor of my bedroom. My blanket was half on the bed and half on the ground while my pillow was right on top of my head. The small table right next to me was laying on the floor too, probably because of the obvious fact that I just fell on it two seconds ago.
So, was it just a dream? Or did I accidently fell on my head right before I even got this dream?
That could've explained why that dream was that weird in the first place. Hm... but it somehow felt so realistic and-
“Ouch, my head.” Well, whatever that was, I couldn't get a clear thought with a ringing head like that. I slowly got back up onto my shaky legs.
“Great, I guess I just got myself a second horn.” My head was still pounding, but at least it wasn't
bleeding or something.
“A little bit medicine will fix that. Spike? Do we still have some- Spike?” I was surprised when I starred into his empty little bed. According to his still untouched looking bed, he probably stayed up the whole night again. Cleaning up the library, hanging around with Pinkie, Fluttershy or somepony else, or maybe he just fell asleep by doing anything of these, who knows. I shook my head and
went downstairs, but even the library was Spike-free. I walked into the kitchen, checked the storage rooms and even the celler, but no trace of Spike at all, not even Owlicious.
“Okaaaay? Where is everypon- uhm, everyone?” I was used to it that Spike sometimes spent the night at some of our friends places, but not without telling me first or without leaving a letter first.
And especially Owlicious... hm, well okay he always used to sleep during daytime so it wasn't that strange. But still, something WAS strange in this town the last few days. I walked back into the kitchen, searching the cupboards for some painkillers and maybe also some things to make a little breakfast.
“I was pretty sure we had some painkillers around here somewhere.” Suddenly a loud
knocking-sound echoed through the library.
“A visitor? That early in the morning?” I never got a visitor around that time of the day, it wasn't even sunrise. Nevertheless I walked into the library and to the front door. The knocking got louder and was repeated in nervously short intervals. It felt like hammers which were constantly slamming onto my head. I hurried up and opened the door. The sad and exhausted looking face of
my crazy, and usually happiest, friend Pinkie Pie was starring at me from beyond the door sill.
She was totally upset if not depressed to the bones. Her long pink mane was deflated, lifelessly hanging down into her tears covered face.
“TWIIIILIIIIIGHT!” She shouted with a shrill voice and jumped into my arms.
“Pinkie!? Ouch! Not that tight please! W-what in Celestias name has gotten into you?”
“GUMMY IS GONE!” Gummy? Oh right her little baby alligator... or crocodile. He was gone?
“Nah, nah Pinkie. Calm down and tell me what happened.” I walked with her into my kitchen and sat her onto one of the chairs next to the dining table. It was very hard getting out of her incredibly strong embrace, but after a bit of struggling I finally made it to slip through. I knew that was harsh, but she almost broke my spine, not to mention my still pounding head.
She was still crying, which was very VERY unusual for Pinkie, but I somehow could understand her feelings for the loss of her little pet.
“Don't cry Pinkie, tell me what happened.”
“I was just searching for Gummy yesterday evening to give him his food but I couldn't find him then I remembered that he usually likes to play hide and seek and I thought he wanted to play hide and seek and he was hiding so I should seek him!” She answered hysterically without even breathing once. Listening to her made me feel dizzy with every second passing by.
“Uhm...”
“But when I gave up two hours later he still didn't came out and I started to get worried so I searched for him again and again and again and again and again and again-” Oh sweet Celestia!
“PINKIE! I got it, please go on!”
“Well I searched the whole night, all Ponyville and even everyponies house such as yours!”
“I see. Hm, maybe he- Wait, what?!?”
“And now I'm pretty sure he got Gummy-napped!” It was more than amazing how much and fast a pony could talk in a row without breathing, besides that, I was pretty sure that she was just overreacting. Gummy was a strange animal, maybe he was still hiding somewhere and Pinkie just couldn't find him by now, that's all. I felt sorry for her, but who would kidnap a baby alligator or crocodile? I had to be honest with her.
“Pinkie, don't you think you're, well, overreacting a tiny little bit?” She suddenly stopped crying and looked at me with a deep frown on her face.
“Overreacting? I'M OVERREACTING?” She screamed.
“You don't understand how I feel, DO YOU?!? And I'm also very sure it doesn't matter to you either, right? What would you do if spike gets SPIKENAPPED?” Was that even a word?
“Oh come on Pinkie, that's ridiculous!”
“You... you... YOU ARE SO DAMN COLD TWILIGHT! I'LL GO TALK TO A REAL FRIEND! Thanks... FOR NOTHING!” She angrily stomped out of my house, still screaming and nagging.
My head was now seconds away from detonation. Sure I felt very bad that I couldn't help Pinkie, but there was no actual reason for being worried at all! I decided to talk to her again later that day AFTER she calmed down a bit. First I needed something to calm my head, so I followed the slight road of destruction Pinkie left on her way out and went outside.

“BOOONBOOOON WHERE ARE YOU?”
“CLOUDCHASER? IF YOU CAN HERE ME, PLEASE ANSWER!”
“DADDY WHERE ARE YOU?”
When I reached the center of Ponyville I couldn't believe my eyes. Almost everypony in Ponyville was hysterically running around, searching for somepony they seemed to miss! Many where loaded with bags filled with placards or photos of their missing friends or family members. What in Equestria was going on here?
“ANGEL? ANGEL! PLEASE, HAS SOMEPONY SEEN A LITTLE WHITE BUNNY?”
Fluttershy? With big tears rolling down her cheeks and tons of photos of her little bunny friend,
she was flying hardly two hooves above the ground through the town. She flew right past me without even noticing my presence.
“YO TANK! COME HERE YOU LITTLE JOKESTER! I HAVE ENOUGH OF THIS GAME!
TANK!” Rainbow Dash shouted while flying over my head. So even Rainbow Dash was missing her pet? It was a flying tortoise! Who would kidnap a flying tortoise for crying out loud?
“Gummy, Bunny and now even Tank? Who would do something like that?”
“TWILIGHT!” A shrill voice shouted at me from the side.
“Rarity?” With a terrified expression on her face she ran towards me.
“Twilight! This is a catastrophe!” She hysterically said while gasping for exhaustion.
“Wha-” I tried to say something, but got cut short before I was even able to.
“Everypony in town seems to disappear all of the sudden! My dear little Opalescence is gone TOO!” She shouted.
“Oh come on Rarity, maybe she's just, uhm, playing outside or... something?”
“My Opalescence? Playing outside, risking to make her outstanding white fur all dirty? Oh you got to be kidding me darling!“
“Well, maybe she's- huh?” I suddenly noticed that she got a small silvery chain tied around her hip,
while its other end was tied around a little unhappy looking filly.
“Sweetie Belle, is that you?”
“Hi Twilight.” She squeaked with a half smile.
“Why is she tied up with that chain?”
“Isn't that obvious? Who ever kidnapped all these ponies and animals around here is still on the loose! And as long as that's the case, my little Sweetie will stay by my side whatever happens!
If he or she tries to even look at her, I will show this pony how a real lady can fight if she has to!”
She angrily snorted. Shortly after she turned around and ran away, dragging the poor little Sweetie Belle right behind her over the ground.
“Uhm, okay... keep it up.” That was really weird, who would do something like that? Come on Twilight, think! When did all of this started? I had to check the missing pony reports which were hanging around Ponyville for more clues. I went over to the black board right in front of the town hall. When I arrived I could feel my throat getting constricted and my jaw falling to the ground.
“Great Celestia...” The whole board was filled with missing pony reports, posters, pictures and more. Over fifty ponies were already missing, along with the pets from Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash! That was insane! Mares and colts, young and old... there seemed to be no exceptions!
“This can't be real, why should anypony do that? Hmm, maybe it wasn't a pony, instead it
could be a... monster? A monster!” Suddenly I began to understand! That dream wasn't just a fake produced by a little headache, no, it was some kind of warning! But by whom?
“Huh?” I noticed an older looking piece of paper in the right corner of the board.
“Big Macintosh?” According to the date, he was gone missing two weeks ago! Why didn't Applejack mentioned it earlier? Something wasn't right, I had to see how Applejack and Applebloom was doing. I used my teleportation spell to get to Sweet Apple Acre as fast as possible, just to see the poor farm sunk in a silent cold fog. The fields and trees were covered with a thick carpet of snow, no hooveprints anywhere. I slowly walked to the barn in the centre of the gigantic plantation. Everywhere around me was nothing but dead plants and silence. It felt like walking over a graveyard which honestly gave me the creeps. The entrance of the barn itself was blocked by hundreds of empty crates, baskets and some broken barrows. The windows were covered with wooden planks, making it look even more like a sad ruin.
“APPLEJAAACK? ARE YOU IN THERE? IT'S ME, TWILIGHT!” Minutes were passing by,
but I got no answer. I started to get even more worried than I was already. I ran over to their house just a few metres away from the barn, but even this was blocked and barricaded from the in- and outside.
“APPLEJACK? APPLEBLOOM? IT'S ME TWILIGHT! PLEASE ANSWER ME!” And again I didn't get an answer, not even a slight knocking or something.
“Okay, I'm coming in now!” I had to know what was going on here! I used my teleportation spell once again to enter the house. Inside it was dark, but at least a little bit warmer than it was outside.
“Ouch! Stupid toolbox!” While wandering through the empty living room I accidently hit a hard adamant piece of metal with my left hoof. It hurt, but it wasn't as bad as the still pounding headache.
“Wait, am I a dumbpony?” I used my light-sphere spell to illuminate the whole room. Everywhere around my were wooden planks leaning against the wall, boxes filled with nails, tools and broken furniture.
The front door was nailed up and well hidden behind a huge wooden closet. It seemed that Applejack and her family were well aware of the trouble around Ponyville and already made some precaution. Hm thinking about it, I haven't seen Applejack for quite a while now...
“Oh my Applejack, what happened to you?” I continued my search through the house of the apple family. The kitchen was a total mess, plates and empty crates everyhwere. Like back in the living room, every window was covered with wooden planks and the door was nailed up and blocked, too.
It looked like there was nopony around here for ages!
“Huh?” A little whistling sound echoed through the kitchen. The sound was shrill and feisty,
it stung through the silence like a sharp needle. I knew that sound already, it was the sound of a
sweet tasty tea which waited for its owner to get it off the oven. That was a very satisfying sound, because a tea usually takes about five minutes to cook, so its owner had to be-
“AH GOTCHA NOW YOU DIRTY RATTLESNAKE!” That was Appleja-
“ARK!” A hard object hit the back off my head and threw me to the ground. The sound of vibrating sheet metal was ringing through my ears while my surroundings got blurry, then black.

“Where's that stupid tortoise? TANK!” I searched for several days now, but there was still no trace of my little Tank! First I thought he got lost somewhere, maybe even crashed into
something... again. But even if he did, he would have been way too tough to get seriously injured by that! Besides, Tank always found the way back home, so the only reason why he didn't came back by now must've meant that something bad happened! I've checked every corner of Ponyville, most parts of its surroundings and even Canterlot several times and I slowly began to get worried.
I never was the sentimental type of pony, but knowing that Tank was gone made me feel...
kinda sad. It was a strange mixture of sadness and rage growing inside of my belly. If Tank really got Tank-napped, I would beat the hay out of the culprit who did that!
“Wait! I haven't checked Ghastly Gorge! With all these unstable rock walls inside of it, it's the
most dangerous place for a flying tortoise who can't even fly straight!” I turned around and flew as fast as I could to Ghastly Gorge at the far end of Ponyville. I used to train inside of that gulch for so many years, that I was well aware of it's dangers. I could also remember that accident when that giant rock fall dragged me down into it's depths and almost crushed me. Without Tank...
well, I guess I would still be sitting there.
“Oh Tank, I hope you're alright!” It didn't took long to reach the huge gulch outside of Ponyville.
I flew down into the dark abyss and followed the entire passage. Sharp rocks, dirt and strange creatures, but no signs of Tank anywhere. Then I've found the place where I was trapped a month ago. I stopped and hovered right in front of it, reliving the day when it happened.
“I still can't believe he saved me, even after I ignored him like that.” My eyes felt warm and that strange feeling of sadness came back.
“Tank...”
“Yo Rainbow Dash!” T- that was Gladstones voice!
“Wha-?” I cringed and covered my eyes. Nopony should see me crying like a little baby!
“Woah, what an awesome place for a race! Look at all these daring obstacles and dangerous
curves! If you're stupid enough, I bet you can even cause a giant rock fa-”
“SHUT UP!” I shouted. It was a reflex, caused by the storm of feelings inside of me. Knowing
what happened was one thing, but getting reminded at it in such a snooty way was really scraping
the barrel! What was he doing here after all? Did he followed me? No, he couldn't possibly
keep up with me. He remained silent for a while and looked confused into my direction.
“Did I say something wrong?” He hesitantly asked.
“... no, it's just-” I stopped to think about an excuse, but nothing came into my mind. The thought about Tank was still blocking my head. Suddenly I felt a warm hoof on my shoulder. I looked
to the right and saw Gladstone standing right beside me, sadly looking but still with a smile
on his face.
“Everything alright Dash?” He gently asked.
I didn't hate Gladstone, no, I kinda liked him. Even though he was kinda brash and snooty sometimes. What should I say? I wasn't that different after all. At the moment, I just wanted to be alone, but knowing that somepony was around made me feel a little bit better.
“... it's about Tank.”
“Your little flying tortoise? Hehe, yeah I remember him. I still can't believe I saw a tortoise
flying through the sky.” He laughed.
“Yeah, he really was one of a kind huh?” He really was.
“Indee- Wait, did you just say 'was'?”
“Yes... he's gone since a few days.” He looked shocked.
“He's gone? Why?”
“I don't know! First I thought he was just doing a little trip through Cloudsdale or Ponyville,
but I haven't seen him for such a long time now... I just hope he didn't got kidnapped.”
Gladstone switched his expression into a more concerned looking. I landed on the ground which was just barely four inches underneath my hooves and walked over to the huge pile of rocks, leaning against the north wall of the gulch. I looked at the spot where my wing was trapped and continued.
“You know, I always wanted to have a pet. It should be cool, fast, agile and also able to fly of course. I started a contest to find out which animal would fulfil these requirements.
Well, Tank was always the loser in these contests. I almost made my choice, but then I thought about challenging these potential pets for a race through this gulch. There was a giant rock fall and I got trapped underneath this pile of rocks. I tried to shout for help, but my favourites didn't hear me, neither did they turn around to help me.”
“And let me guess, Tank came back?”
“Came back? Well, not really. He was the last one, a slow straggler. But he saved me... even
though I treated him like a nopony.” And again I felt this strange sense of sadness I felt before.
“Don't worry Dashie, uhm, Dash.” He gently answered while walking right beside me.
“You can call me Dashie if you want. I don't care.”
“Hey... I know we two don't know each that long, but I'm always there for you if you need me.”
“Hey, don't start getting sappy Gladstone!” I grinned at him.
“Hehe, sappy? Me? You're the one who started this sad story, not me.” He grinned back.
He wasn't such a bad guy after all and since Twilight and the others were still busy with other problems, having Gladstone around me didn't seemed to be that bad anymore.
“By the way Dashie, how was Tank even able to fly?” He asked.
“Oh that was because of Twilight. She used her magic and technical knowledge to build this weird
chopper-thing for him.”
“... Twilight, huh?” He dismissively said while making a frown. Did he hate Twilight for
some reason?
“What's wrong with Twilight?”
“She said a few things about you that doesn't seemed appropriate to me. You deserve better
friends than her!” He angrily said.
“Pff, yeah right Gladstone. Twilight is one of my best friends! She would never say anything bad about me! And even if she did, I bet whatever it was she was just kidding or something like that!”
It had to be, I mean, Twilight would never slander about me... would she?
“If you say so.” He slowly turned away. I knew he was talking nonsense, but...
“Wait! ... what did she say?”
“Well...”

“Nah, nah Fluttershy, p- please stop crying.” Roneo hesitantly said, but I couldn't do him that
favor. I didn't knew how long I was already crying, maybe some hours, maybe even days.
I've searched the whole town again and again and again... but there was not a single trace of my little bunny. I went back home and closed every door, every window and turned out every light.
I just wanted to cry, I wanted to hold my little Angel bunny inside of my arms again! But I couldn't!
He was gone! Besides that, every animal around Ponyville was ignoring me! They ran away,
kept distance from me, some even hissed at me like they were afraid or something! Why?
What have I done wrong? Why was it all happening to me? Everything was fine a few days ago,
but suddenly.... I began to cry even more, thinking of all this tragedy going on in Ponyville. It
made my heart burst. It felt heavy, it just hurt.
“Fluttershy, please...” He tried again.
“NOOOO! THIS IS A DREAM, IT'S ALL JUST A BAD DREAM!” I shouted. Usually I always tried to calm myself down a bit, pulling myself together to prevent such emotional outburts.
But to be honest I didn't care that much this time. My animal AND my pony friends were gone,
I was totally alone with my sorrow. Well, Roneo was still there with me... but it wasn't the same.
“Fluttershy...” He silently said. The poor colt was sitting right next to me for so many hours now.
He tried everything to cheer me up. Sweets, jokes, stories, he even tried to play violin, but that
sounded a little bit... not so good. I mean, I really-really-REALLY appreciated his efforts and I
loved that feeling having somepony around me, but I was also very embarrassed he saw me like that. Thinking of that made me feel even more sad than I did before. I couldn't stop crying... I just couldn't! No matter how much my eyes and throat were burning.
“Here!” Suddenly something white and bulky appeared in front of my nose. The snow white color of this object somehow gave me a small spark of happiness. First I thought it was my little Angel, but it wasn't him. It was something else. I looked down into Roneos ocean blue eyes. He sat right next to me, next to the green couch I was laying on. The ground underneath his hooves were soaked with my tears, but that didn't seemed to bother him at all. He sat there, holding that white object with his both hooves right in front of me, slightly smiling and blushing.
“I, uhm, made it for you.” He mumbled. I took a better look at it and gasped.
“Oh my... is this-?”
“It's a little white plush bunny.” He answered. My heart made a little jump and I stopped crying for a moment. I slowly took the plush into my hooves and looked at it with big eyes. It was a little bit weird looking, the stitches were wrong and pretty much random at some points... but besides that, it almost looked like my little Angel. The size, the color and even his cute ears. He did that for me?
A colt who was barely knowing me? That was so cu-
“Oh my!” I suddenly got a better look at his hooves. They were covered in bandages!
“What happened?” I said still shocked.
“Uhm, it's nothing. I just had a few accidents while sewing the plush. I'm more a writer-pony
than a sewing-pony.” He risked to get hurt just to sew this little plush doll for me?
“B-but why?”
“Why? Uhm, I guess I never learned how to sew properly.”
“No! I mean...” I laid my hoof onto his one, gently removing the bandage.
“Why did you do something that risky for somepony like me?” He didn't answer, instead he just looked away. Underneath the bandages I could see several little wounds, not bigger than the top of
a needle. Some of them where still slightly bleeding... poor Roneo.
“Wait here, I go and get some antiseptic agent!” I flew into the kitchen and grabbed everything I needed. Some antiseptic agent, a safety scissor and a few new bandages. It didn't took that long and after a few seconds I was next to Roneo again, carefully taking care of his hooves.
“It may burn a little bit.” He bit his teeth together and cringed a little, but only for a short time.
I carefully swathed each of his hooves into the new bandages. For a little moment, yes only this small minute, I felt kind of happy. Maybe because I could help a friend in need... or because I,
well, kinda-
“I like you.” Roneo said. First I thought my heart stopped beating, that I may misunderstood
what he said.
“What?”
“I like you, Fluttershy.” He smiled gently. So I wasn't mistaken... he actually said, what he said.
“I really like you Fluttershy. You're a true friend. I made this little doll to show you, that I'll always be with you if you need me.” Roneo...
“I... I don't know what to say.” I stuttered. He put one of his hooves onto my shoulder and looked deep into my eyes.
“Please stop crying, that's all I want.” Oh Roneo, he was so cute. I wiped away my tears and started to smile. Suddenly my heart felt happier again, it wasn't hurting anymore, no, it felt-
“Too bad that your other friends doesn't care about you the way you deserve it.” He suddenly turned away. What did he mean?
“Uhm... well, they're quite busy and-”
“That's no excuse! A real friend would be there for you, no matter what! You deserve better friends... especially after all these things that the purple unicorn said about you.” Purple unicorn?
Did he mean Twilight?
“You mean Twilight? What did she say about me?”
“Well...”

Twilight... Twilight... come on wake up... Darn it, ah'm so sorry...
I could hear Applejacks voice. It was a bit muted, but I was pretty sure it was her. I slowly came back to my senses again, opened my eyes and tried to figure out where I was. My short-term memory seemed to be quite damaged, I couldn't remember a thing. I looked around.
Everything was blurry, shapeless and turning in circles. Suddenly I thought I saw the silhouette of Applejacks face through the blurry blanket which was covering my eyes.
“A- Applejack?” She grinned brightly... at least I thought she did.
“Twilight! You're alright!” She jumped at me and hugged my tightly.
“Quick, tell me how ya' feel! Is there REALLY everythin' alright?” She nervously asked. There was only one word that was in my mind by then.
“Head... ache...” I silently gasped.
“Woah nelly, ah'm so sorry Twilight! Ah didn't knew it was you, ah swear!” She let go off me and ran back into the kitchen. In the meantime I tried to get back up, massaging my temples to lower the pain which was spreading through multiple areas of my brain. The blurry blanket was gone and I could now get a clear sight of my surroundings again. I was sitting on a dark blue couch with pink colored padding and some purple couch cushions. The door next to me was nailed up with big wooden beams like every door was around here, same was the windows behind me.
Some light was shining through the narrow gaps of the wood, revealing dust and some little glass fragments on the ground. I slowly began to remember what happened, even though my head still felt like it got hit with a gigantic hammer a couple of times.
“Here sugarcube. Take some of these painkillers and your headache will vanish lickety-split!”
Applejack came back with a little black bag in her mouth and threw it on the small table next to the couch. The bag looked hoofsewn and was richly ornamented with white circles and several other strange signs.
“What exactly is that? It looks pretty, well, uncommon if not even unique.”
“Zecora once gave 'em to me when that huge branch fell on mah head last summer. Ah though mah head was about to explode, but these little fellows here really helped me out that day.”
“From Zecora? So it's probably a herbal medicinal product.” I used my magic to take one of the little orange pills out of the bag and placed it onto my tongue. The moment that pill touched my
gustatory nerves, I thought I gotta puke. I distorted my mouth and wrinkled my nose out of disgust.
“Eww, this tastes the way rotten cheese smells!”
“Yeah, ah forgot to mention that.” Even though it tasted that bad, it soon started to work. My
Headache finally disappeared without a trace, what a relieve.
“Wow, not bad. Thank you Applejack.”
“You're welcome! Sorry that ah knocked ya' out back then.”
“Oh, that's okay... I guess. Next time it's my turn to hit you with a shovel.” Both of us began to laugh. Laughing was the best medicine in such depressing situations like the one that hit Ponyville.
We talked about different things, drank some apple tea and laughed even more. It felt like everything was alright like usual, but it wasn't. Behind Applejacks grin, I could clearly see her worries. Her blond mane was totally ruffled and covered in dirt, such as her fur, too. Her eyes looked tired, emphasized with dark eye circles. It seemed like she wasn't sleeping for days! According to what happened to Ponyville lately and the way it looked in here, she probably hid herself the whole time. Hmm, or furthermore she tried to protect her family. I had to ask her, even if it would destroy this semi-happy atmosphere we had by now.
“Applejack, may I ask you something? What happened here?” She kept smiling, although it didn't seemed to be honest this time. She looked down at her cup of tea and closed her eyes.
“Well, what does it look like to ya'?”
“It looks like you're hiding yourself from something.”
“Heh, you're darn right 'bout that!”
“I already thought so. Listen Applejack, I don't know what's going on in Ponyville, but I'll figure it out. Promised!” She remained quiet and I guess I knew why.
“... I know about BigMacintosh... I'm so sorry about that.”
“It's okay Twilight, it's not your fault, right? He's a big strong colt, ahm pretty sure he's alright.”
“You don't sound that convinced.” She slowly put the cup back on the table.
“But ah am... ah have to. In fact... it's not Big Mac ah'm worried about.” She silently answered.
“Granny Smith is gone, too... mah whole family breaks apart.” Granny Smith, too? Poor Applejack...
“And mah friends are about to turn away from me, too.” What?
“That's not-” She cut me short before I could answer. Her voice changed, it seemed to get angry.
“It's not true? C'mon Twilight, none of ya' cared even a lil' bit about me or mah family!
Everytime ah tried to talk to ya', your new 'friends' cut me short and dragged ya' away from me!”
T- that's not true! ... or was it? Honestly, I couldn't remember.
“I, uhm... really?”
“It's okay Twilight, ah don't mind if ya' don't wanna be mah friend anymore.” What was she
talking about?!
“That's nonsense Applejack! You're one of my best friends! I, well, maybe I wasn't there for you a couple of time lately... and I'm sorry about that!” I made a sad face and open my eyes as wide as I could, hoping she would forgive easier this way.
“Can you forgive me?” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow for a while.
“Heh, how could ah ever be mad at you Twilight?” I was so glad she wasn't actually mad at me, just disappointed, which was already worse enough for me. We hugged each other, I gently tapped on Applejacks back.
“Don't worry Applejack, we'll always be friends, no matter what happens!”
“Ah know Twilight.” She silently answered. We sat down again and took another sip of our tea.
I almost lost a very good friend of mine and maybe the others were about to hate me, too.
I had to help them! ... and I already knew how to do that!
“Applejack, we have to help the other finding their loved ones! Any idea where to start?”
“Sorry sugarcube, but ah'm afraid ah can't help ya' this time.”
“Why?”
“Ah can't leave our home. Ah have to stay with mah lil' sister until the kidnappin' stopped.”
“Applebloom's still here? Where's she?” So at least Applebloom was still safe? Oh thank Celestia!
I was so glad knowing that she was still here and alright that I haven't noticed Applejacks new expression. She looked at me with a rather strange glimpse, a slight sign of distrust in her eyes.
“Why?” She hesitantly asked.
“I just wanted to ask her something.” Her stare grew even more concerned and wary. It felt like she was thinking I was a criminal or something. Did she... nah Twilight, that was ridiculous!
But, what was the matter? Minutes were passing by, but Applejack remained silent.
“She's upstairs.” She slowly answered after a couple of minutes.
“Can I see her for a second?” Again she considered for a moment, but then she slowly nodded.
“Thanks.” I stood up and used the stairs around the corner to reach the first floor. I never was
here before so I could only hardly guess where her room was. I followed the dark corridor along some pictures of Applejack and her family, hanging on the walls on each side of the corridor and some closed or half opened doors, until I finally reached a door where the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem was hanging at. I reached out for the doorknob and turned it around, but it was locked... as expected. Why didn't Applejack told me it was locked in the first place? I looked behind me. Even though there was nopony, it felt like I was being watched. Was Applejack watching me? I thought of going back to ask Applejack about the key, on the other hoof I was thinking about leaving.
“No, I have to talk to her!” I whispered to myself. I used my teleportation spell to enter Appleblooms room.
“Hi Applebloom. It's me, Twilight. How a- Applebloom?” There was no pony in here.
The windows were nailed up with even more wooden beams than the windows downstairs,
it was almost ridiculously much. I could understand these tight security measures, but
where was the filly that should have been protected? I looked around, maybe she was hiding somewhere. Right in front of me was a darkish green canopy bed. Some blue cushions and a yellow blanket with apple motives was laying on the ground in front of it. It looked like somepony jumped out of the bed in a hurry, maybe because of fright? At the right side of the room was a large and also darkish green colored four drawer dresser with a big mirror on it. Every piece of furniture in here had the same color and was decorated with apple symbols, so were the wallpaper. I went over to the mirror and looked inside. It was quite dusty, but I could still see my reflection in it. My mane looked totally messed up. Heh, no wonder if you considered how my day looked like till that point.
“Huh?!” For a half second I could swear I saw two orange glowing orbs right behind me. I quickly turned around, but there was nothing! I hysterically kept looking around... did I start seeing things?
Suddenly I heard something rumbling. It seemed like it was coming out of the big closet to the
left of the door. I slowly sneaked up to it and prepared myself for whatever was inside.
I opened the double doors of the closet and...
“Empty?” Besides some clothes there was nothing inside.
“AAAAH!” Something jumped at my back and started punching me. It didn't hurt, furthermore it seemed kind of irregularly and desperate. I didn't saw what exactly hit my back, but I recognized the voice very fast.
“Applebloom?”
“Be quiet monster! The CMC monster catcher Applebloom is about to defeat you and-
Wait, Twilight?” She jumped on her bed and looked at me with big eyes.
“TWI!” She smiled and jumped into my arms.
“ Haha, hey monster catcher. You really surprised me.”
“Really? Uhm, ah mean, what did ya' expect? We are the best monster catchers in Equestria!”
“You mean monster hunter?”
“Yeah we do that, too.” She answered while slowly gliding down my chest and back to the ground.
I was so glad she's okay, at least something to be happy about. But wait a second, did she just
said 'we'? Was there another pony in here?
“Uhm, did you just say 'we'?” Applebloom grinned and nodded.
“My other CMC monster catcher agents are outside and lookin' for some of these bad ugly monsters.” Did she mean Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo? Well, Sweetie Belle had her own problems to face... her big sister Rarity. Thinking of that made me snicker for a moment, though it was more sad than funny.
“It's pretty great and excitin', right? Ah operate from here, usin' mah spyglass over there to
obser-, observy, obsa... uhm, to keep watch.” She pointed her hoof at the other end of the room.
A small wooden chair and table was standing right next to the nailed up window. On the table was a notepad, a yellow pencil and the spyglass. The spyglass looked self-made, probably made from some lenses from magnifying glasses and some empty loo paper rolls taped together.
How could she look through- oh. One of the lower wooden beams was removed and gave a small glimpse at the farm. You could see some of the dead apple trees, mountains and even the town hall of Ponyville.
“Wow, not bad Applebloom. And anything sighted yet?” I asked. She shook her head and made a disappointed countenance.
“Nnnnope. These are really intelligent monsters, ah tell ya' that!” Oh Applebloom, for you everything's just another adventure. The innocent mind of a filly, unable to see a problem as a problem, but maybe it was the best thinking that way.
First, I wanted to ask her about something that happened in the Everfree Forest that night. I didn't knew why, but I had a strange feeling that there was a connection between these two events, especially after my conversation with the princess. But thinking about it, I didn't wanted to involve the poor Applebloom in this again. She already suffered enough because of me...
“Twillight? You're alright?”
“Hm? Oh, yes yes... I'm just a bit dizzy lately.”
“Oh that's not a surprise.” She answered and rolled with her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Everypony in Ponyville is actin' kinda weird since a few weeks. Mah sister for example.
She just trapped me inside here, nailed up all the windows and doors! Oh and she told me not to
talk to any other pony anymore until she says ah can.” Was that so? Hm, it seemed Applejack
became a little bit, well, too overcautious. On the other hoof, it was probably the best thing to be like that.
“And to top it all, she even locked mah door a few hours ago. Pretty weird if ya' ask me.”
She just locked it a few hours ago? So Appleblooms room was open the whole time until-
“Applebloom? Did you here something or did Applejack say anything before she locked your door?” Applebloom scratched her chin and sat down.
“Hmmm, she said somethin' about an intruder. She also mumbled somethin', but ah couldn't hear what exactly that was.”An intruder, huh?
“Oh, before she came in and told me that, ah heard a 'woosh' or 'poff', followed by
a loud thud.” A 'woosh' or a 'poff'? Did she meant the sound of my teleportation spell?
Wait, so after I came in here with my spell and got knocked out by Applejack, she came up here and locked Applebloom inside of her room? ... so I am the intruder?
“Why are ya' askin'?”
“I... was just curoius.” I smiled, but deep inside I felt shattered. How could she say something like that? Well, looking back at all the things she and her family had been through just because
of me... it wasn't that surprising after all.
“Is everythin' alright Twilight? You look so sad all of the sudden.” She asked.
“... it will be alright soon, at least that's what I hope.”
“Do you think Applejack went crazy? She acts very weird.”
“No... no she isn't. Maybe she's just a little bit para-”
“-noid?” I cringed when Applejacks voice suddenly completed my sentence. She didn't sound that happy, instead she seemed to be very angry.
“Hiya' sis'! Look, it wasn't an intruder, it was just Twilight.” Appleboom happily squeaked.
Applejack stood with her frown, looking at me very angrily.
“Applejack?” Applebloom hesitantly asked.
“So ah'm just paranoid, isn't it Twilight?” She snorted.
“Applejack, I didn't mean it that way! I just-”
“You... should better leave now!” She continued, staring me down with her tired and hatred filled eyes. I felt a needle piercing my heart when her words silently echoed through the dark room.
I wanted to say something, trying to talk to her, but the way she stared at me... she wasn't kidding.
I looked at Applebloom for the last time, who was watching me with a mixture of puzzlement, apprehension and sadness in her eyes.
Without saying another word, I lowered my head and walked past Applejack. She looked away,
not even giving me a last glimpse of her eyes.
“Don't worry Applebloom,... Applejack. I'll fix this. I'll fix everything...” I closed my eyes and used my magic to teleport myself away from Sweet Apple Acre. Away from my... friend, Applejack.

“Woah, Pinkie. Please come down!” Grey desperately said.
“I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE SAID THAT!”
“Holy pancake!” I threw a few cakes after the poor Grey. Well basically, I threw them all over the place, along with some forks and knives and everything else I could get into my hooves. I was so angry, sad, disappointed! Nopony seemed to care even a little bit about me!
I couldn't find Rarity, Dashie, Applejack, not even Fluttershy! Talking about 'friends', the only
other 'best friend' I could find was Twilight, who simply said I would be overreacting! I've lost my little baby alligator Gummy! My sweet, little, silly, toothless Gummy... was gone!
Thinking of him made me start crying again. I couldn't believe what happened, I just couldn't!
Why would anypony steal my little pet? I was the kindest and happiest pony in Ponyville!
Nopony hated me... did they? I mean, why would anypony hate me? I sank down to the ground of my room, the only spot that wasn't covered with cake. So I sat there, tears running over my pink cheeks, covering my eyes with my hair so nopony could see me cry.
The 'happiest pony in the world'.
“... Pinkie?” Grey carefully squeaked from behind the turned over closet in front of me. I remained silent, still sobbing and shaking. I tried to hug myself, because, well, hugging somepony always made me happy, so I thought hugging myself would do the same. But it didn't.
“Hey Pinkie...” He slowly came out of his self-made bunker of blankets and cushions, carefully watching me from the distance. Maybe the kind of way I crying scared him. I wasn't just silently crying, it was more a mixture of that and a more aggressive kind of crying.
“Please sunshine.” He gently said. I knew he was just trying to help, but it was useless. My friends turned against me after all we've been through... starting a new friendship would just cause the same. I bent my legs to my belly and embraced them, slowly gliding down to the left and onto one of my bonbon-pink colored cushions.
“Hey...” He hesitated first, but then he started to get closer to me.
“Come on sunshine, smile again.”
“Just leave me alone!” I snorted. I just wanted to be alone, I couldn't need another false friend!
He remained silent. For a few minutes, my sobbing was everything that echoed through the room.
I felt so cold inside, my heart was so heavy. Why? Whywhywhywhywhywh-
I suddenly stopped, cringed. A warm hoof began to stroke over my back. I was paralysed,
couldn't, no, didn't wanted to resist. It felt good, comforting and made me feel a little bit happier.
The hoof repeated this procedure for a few more minutes. It made me stop shaking, struggling, though I still wasn't able to stop crying. But I calmed down a bit, my crying wasn't that
aggressive anymore thanks to it.
“Calm down sunshine, everything's alright.” Grey gently whispered. Somehow Greys presence made me feel happy, he was the only one who actually cared about me.
He didn't even knew me for such a long time, but he still dodged every of my attacks and emotional outbursts, just to cheer me up and to be with me. He was so kind and caring.
Suddenly my pink curtain of hair was lifted aside and a pair of wonderful turquoise eyes
were saying 'hello' to me. Grey laid himself right next to me, sadly looking but still grinning.
“Hey sunshine, say something.” Seeing his eyes made me smile. Strange... the need of crying disappeared, too. What was so special about that colt? Whatever, I didn't care for the moment,
I just wanted to grant him his wish. Besides that, there was something that I wanted to say a
long while ago.
“I'm hungry.” I silently said. Hihi, Grey looked totally puzzled. Soon after both of us began to
laugh. Oh my, I totally forgot how good it actual felt to laugh. I slowly got up again and wiped away some of my tears, which were still about to roll down my cheeks.
“I'm so glad I can hear your laughter again.” He said.
“Hihi, me too.” For a little moment, we just remained the way we were. We sat in front of each other, brightly smiling and looking into each others eyes. It was funny and... I don't know.
I kept staring. Somehow something, was strange about Grey. His eyes were that hypnotizing, calming. Suddenly my breath stopped when a warm body was pressing itself at mine. Grey wrapped his arms around me and pressed me at his chest.
“Pinkie, you have to promise me something.” He said.
“What ever happens sweety... never stop smiling, okay?” Grey... I- I promise! At least that's what
I wanted to say, but I was like paralysed... again! Not knowing if I should feel embarrassed or flattered. He slowly let go of me and stood up again.
“Soooo...” He began.
“You're hungry, huh?” He continued. I slowly nodded, still looking into his eyes.
“Well then, I'll go and make some of my 'special Grey strawberry pancakes'! You'll love it~” He grinned at me and turned around, slowly making his way around the crushed cakes on the floor and up to the stairs. Come on Pinkie, follow him! That was what shoot through my head this second. Even before this sentence reached the end of my head, I jumped up and ran after him.
“WAIT!” Uhm... I mean wait. Let me help you, please.” He turned around and began to smile.
“Hey, tears are not part of my recipe!” He laughed.
“Huh?” I shook my head and wiped away the last few tear that were hanging at my face.
“Hehe, that's much better!” He smiled. Grey... I knew we were standing on the middle of the staircase by now, but I just went up to him and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you Grey! Thank you so much!” He remained quite, but after a few second he began to stroke my head very gently.
“Hey, that's what friends are for. Don't worry, we'll find your little croc-”
“Alligator.” I added.
“Heh, alligator Gummy again. Promised!” He gently continued. And you know what? I believed him. He was there for me when I really really needed him. He was a real friend. I let go of him and walked down the stairs.
“Uhm, Pinkie...” He hesitantly said.
“Yes?”
“About your friend Tw-” He suddenly stopped. He sadly looked into my eyes and sighed.
“N-nothing. C'mon, let's bake some pancakes!” 'Pancakes' was the word I was waiting for!
“YAAY!” He jumped down the stairs and together we ran into the kitchen, making some yummy strawberry pancakes!
“By the way Pinkie, do you have a new manecut?”
“Well...”

“Oh, this is HORRIBLE! How could something like this happen? How could something like this
happen to me?” I was totally nervous, stressed and the worst of all- totally desperate!
First almost everypony AND Canterlot refused their huge collection orders from my boutique and now my precious Opalescence disappeared, too!
I ran in circles since I came back home, trying to think what to do next. Trying to calm myself down somehow. I couldn't let this stress and depression level I was in getting even bigger, or else I would get WRINKLES!
“Could this get even worse?” I kept asking myself.
“Rarity?”
“I mean, I haven't done anything wrong, haven't I?”
“Rarity.”
“I'm very kind, generous, polite and I am blessed with an outstanding beauty, creativity and sense
of fashion! Everypony loves me!”
“Rarity!”
“Maybe it's something else? Yes, it has to be! Maybe they have their own problems, maybe they already bought enough of my clothes and don't need the new ones anymore!”
“RARITY!” Sweetie Belle shouted.
“What is it Sweetie? Don't you see that your big sister is busy?” You don't interrupt a lady when she's in thoughts, but I couldn't be mad at Sweetie Belle. I mean, she was my dear little sister, besides that she doesn't knew that much about good manors by now. I looked down at her and noticed that she was watching me with a frown on her face.
“Ooooh well sorry for that, dear sister. But, you see... COULD YOU PLEASE STOP DRAGGING ME BEHIND YOU?!” She angrily screamed with a high pitched voice.
“What do you mean?” She picked up the silvery chain that was connecting our both hips with each other and began to twitch with her left lower eyelid. Well, maybe I accidently forgot to disconnect her when we got home and dragged her up and down the stairs... a few times, in circles and through the garden.... Oh my! I looked back down to my poor little sister and saw that her wonderful white fur and purple/ pink mane was all dirty and rumpled. Was it really because of me?
“Oh my! I'm so sorry Sweetie Belle!” She began to smile and sighed.
“I'm glad you noticed your mistake. If you would now like to get this stupid cha-” I ignored her last words because of an emergency. I had to get her fur and mane clean before the dirt would get dry.
I couldn't let my little sister look like an ordinary farmer pony, sorry Applejack. I turned around and ran up the stairs.
“RA-A-A-RI-I-I-I-TY-Y-Y-Y!” She squeaked with every step. Sorry Sweetie, I knew we had pretty much steps, but I couldn't touch you or else I would have got myself dirty, too. And to be honest,
I couldn't need any more reasons to worry about than I already had. As soon as we arrived upstairs, I turned around, ran into the bathroom and threw her gently into the bathtub.
“Don't worry Sweetie, your fur will be clean again in no time!” She didn't answer, instead she just laid on her back, angrily staring onto the ceiling.
“Thanks, dear sister.” She snorted. Even though her smile seemed to be faked, I knew she was very thankful.
“Oh you don't have to thank me Sweetie. I'm always glad if I can help my precious little sister.”
“Yeah... I know. Could you now pleeeaaase disconnect me from this chain?”
“What a question my dear, of course I will!” I slowly opened the lock and took the beautiful silvery chain and hip strap away, while the warm water was still filling up the bathtub.
“We don't want it to get rusty, don't we?” This beautiful chain and wristband was that shiny and fancy decorated with the most exciting gems in Equestria, that I just couldn't let it rust like an ordinary chain. I was pretty sure she was thinking the same way.
“Sis?” She asked.
“Yes Sweetie?”
“Please leave me alone.” She said. Still with a frown on her face and permanently looking to the ceiling, she slowly began to glide down the tub and into the water. Huh, she probably was as depressed as me, poor Sweetie. I turned around and walked back downstairs.
“Oooh why me? Why does everything has to be so tragic? My poor Opalescence, what happened
to you?” I didn't knew what to do, didn't knew who I could ask for help. Twilight and the others were probably way to busy with their own things... or at least they thought they had something
more important to do than caring about her dearest friend Rarity. Maybe they've found new friends?
Maybe it was their fault that I lost all of my orders!
“Oh come on Rarity, you're getting hysteric! A real lady has to keep calm, no matter what happens!”
I used my magic to get rid of the hip strap and chain myself too and placed it onto one of my ponyquins along the way to the kitchen. I was about to make a pot of tea to regain my composure, when I suddenly noticed that there was already a tea filled teapot standing on the oven.
“Hello my dear.” A elegant voice welcomed me. I looked to the right and saw Starlet sitting at the dining table next to the door, taking a small sip out of her teacup.
“Oh, hi there Starlet dear. What brought you here?” I asked.
“What do you mean with 'what brought you here'? I noticed that something wasn't right in Ponyville, so I thought I should watch for my dear friend Rarity. And, well, here I am.” She gently smiled. 'My dearest friend'? Did she really considered me as her friend, even though we didn't
knew each other that long? Well, she was sitting in my kitchen while my other friends were somewhere else in my time of need... so I really appreciated that.
“Really? Why, thank you Starlet. To be honest, I really needed somepony to talk right now.”
“Well then, come here Rary, take a cup of tea and tell me what bothers you.” She said.
She stood up, took a clean empty teacup out of the kitchen sink and filled it up with some tea from the fancy white teapot. In the meantime I slowly took a seat at one of the brownish chairs next to the counter. The dining table was lovely decorated with a beautiful light green tablecloth, a white crystal vase with a red rose in it, some white fancy looking plates and a few colorfull cupcakes.
Did she all of this? Wow, that was really courteous.
“Here you go my dear.”
“Thanks Starlet.” She placed the teacup and the fitting white saucer on the table in front of me,
afterwards she sat back down on the chair right opposite.
“So, now please tell me what's bothering you. Don't lie to me, I can see in your eyes that your pretty exhausted Rary honey.” She winked.
“That's very kind of you Starlet! I can't thank you enough for this.”
“For what? It's just an ordinary cup of green tea.” She said puzzled.
“No, not about the- well, yes because of that, too. But I mean the fact that you're there for me.”
“Don't be silly honey, that's what friends are for, right? Only a false friend would let you down at times like that.” She smiled.
“Yes... your probably right.”
“Speaking of false friends, I'm really sorry for you.” She laid her hoof onto mine, sadly looking into my eyes. She seemed very concerned, but why? And why did she say 'false friends'?
“What do you mean?”
“Oh you didn't knew? Oh poor Rarity, your friends are scoffing, no, they slander about you.
Right behind your back my dear.” She gently said. What was she talking about? Was that right?
No, that was just ridiculous! Rainbow Dash and Applejack may had some small controversies with me sometimes, but they wouldn't scoff, nor slander about me! Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie wouldn't even be able to do so and Twilight... well, she wouldn't either I guess.
“Ohoho Starlet dear, I think you're grievously mistaken. Sure, they're maybe a liiittle bit indelicate
from time to time, but they wouldn't do that. I know them way to well my dear.” I maybe was very stressed and disappointed because of my friends, but I had to stay calm and most importantly collective. I tried to take another sip from the teacup, not noticing that my magic I used to levitate the cup was shaky. The teacup and it's saucy was clinking onto each others in mid-air while a few drops of tea were falling onto the tablecloth.
“... you're in a terrible condition my dear.” She slowly took the teacup and placed it back on the table. I didn't answer because I knew she was right. I haven't slept for a few days and I was really exhausted. Knowing that my orders were cancelled, that I would maybe had to close my boutique, that Opalescence was somewhere out there and possibly totally scared. Not to mention my little sister who... well, who was I trying to fool? She'd hate me. I remained silent and kept staring out of the big window to the left. I saw Twilights tree near the centre of Ponyville and thought about my friends again. Maybe they weren't as reliable and loyal I thought they'd be. She stood up and took me into her arms.
“Don't worry my dear, I'll be there for you whenever you need me!”
“... thanks Starlet.” Great... now the stupid tears were ruining my beautiful mascara, too.
This really was the worst day in my entire life...

“Psst, Sweetie Belle? You there?”
“Yes, over here Scootaloo. Are we ready?”
“Yeah! That's going to be so AWESOME!”
“Psst be quiet! My sister is still around here somewhere! If she hears us and finds out what we're
planning, she'd probably connect me to this horrible chain again!”
“A chain? What chain?”
“... I don't want to talk about it. Now come on! I have to get back until she finds out that I'm gone!”
“Alright, let's go then. Cutie Mark Crusaders Monster Catcher Squad, move out!”