That voice... Inhio instantly jumped up from the sofa and turned towards the author of the voice. "Twilight!" he exclaimed with cordial joy.

This was no dream. Not only did he hear her voice, he also saw her standing just a few feet away from him.

"I'm sorry I had to come this early. I--" Before Twilight could finish explaining herself, Inhio dropped down on his knees next to her and locked his arms around her.

"I've missed you so much," he let it all out, nearly bursting into tears from joy in the middle of his sentence.

"It's good to see you too, Inhio," Twilight replied with a warm smile on her face. "I just wish we didn't have to meet under such horrible circumstances."

"What do you mean?" he curiously inquired after releasing her and forming eye contact.

"A terrible tragedy has befallen Ponyville!" Twilight replied in a nervous tone. "We've spent weeks trying to fix things, but we could find neither the cause, nor a solution!"

"What kind of tragedy?" Inhio asked sympathetically, feeling as concerned about this as Twilight herself.

Twilight turned her head away for a moment before speaking. "It would be much easier to show you..." she answered and walked over to the table with the crystal ball on it. She put her hoof on it before turning her head back towards Inhio and continuing, "Would you follow me to Equestria?" she asked with eyes full of sorrow. She almost sounded desperate.

Is she seriously asking me this? Inhio wondered.

Twilight took his silence as a sign of uncertainty. "I know it's very early and your working hours start soon, but I wouldn't be asking this if I knew of another way to solve this..." She extended her other foreleg towards Inhio. "Please... You're the only one that can still help Equestria."

Even if it wasn't so incredibly important, Inhio would have gladly taken the chance to see Equestria with his own eyes, whenever offered. Without needing so much as a full second of consideration, he walked right up to Twilight and gently placed his hands on her hoof with a confident smile on his face. "I've wanted to see your world ever since the day you and your friends came into my life, Twilight... No time of day or unforeseen event could change my mind about this."

"Then hold on tight!" Twilight replied with a smile just as confident as she pulled Inhio closer to herself. Just as both of them had placed their hands and hooves on the sphere, Twilight's horn began glowing brightly and creating a thick cloud of white and purple lights. Before long, the two of them disappeared into the mist that had already engulfed them completely.

***

On the other side of the crystal ball, the room had also begun to shroud itself in a magical fog that faded away instantly after a bright surge of light tossed Inhio and Twilight right out of it, landing them on the floor, near the hooves of Twilight's five best friends.

Overjoyed to see them, the five other ponies rushed over to help them stand up and give Inhio a welcoming hug.

"It's good to see you all again," Inhio sincerely admitted.

"Glad you could make it, Inhio."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Applejack."

"So sorry we had to cut our last conversation short, darling," Rarity apologized. "That was right when this recent tragedy first occurred."

"Speaking of which..." Inhio turned towards Twilight. "What exactly is this tragedy you mentioned?"

"You mean you haven't told him yet?" Rarity asked. She was as surprised about it as the rest of Twilight's friends, who all started staring at her with wide eyes.

Twilight shook her head. "I thought it would have been easier to just show him."

"I suppose it would be..." Rarity partially agreed. "But you could have at least given him a hint about what he'd be getting himself into."

"It's all right," Inhio interjected. "I've been wanting to visit this place for some time now... and I must say," he said while gazing around the throne room of the castle they were in. "I'm loving every bit of it, so far."

Twilight giggled. "That reminds me." She took a quick bow before Inhio. "It's an honor to welcome you into my castle."

Without much thinking, Inhio knelt before Twilight. "The honor is all mine, Your Majesty."

Twilight laughed modestly with a slight shade of red on her cheeks. "Oh, stop it, you."

The current sight inspired a different feeling in all of Twilight's friends. Rainbow Dash seemed to be the least entertained one. She leaned closer towards Applejack and whispered through gritted teeth, "Getting off topic here."

"Khe Khem..." Twilight immediately cleared her throat after overhearing her grumpy friend. "Right... I'm afraid the formalities are going to have to wait." Twilight started leading everyone outside her castle. "Come on. We've no time to lose."

***

As the company made their way through the castle corridors, Inhio couldn't stop gazing at all the amazing sights before him. Little did he know that the best part was only about to follow. After the door to the outside world had been opened and all seven of them had left the castle, Inhio was left inspecting every inch of the town of Ponyville. Witnessing this happy and simple little place made his heart feel much warmer than the concrete jungle he was so used to seeing every day.

"Welcome to Equestria, Inhio," Twilight said in a voice full of sorrow.

This should have been a cheerful event, and yet, something was clearly wrong. Something even aside from Twilight's saddened tone... Even Inhio was beginning to notice it.

"Where are all the other ponies?" he asked after looking upon the silent and empty streets. The houses looked empty, and the only audible sound in the streets was the sound of wind slamming some of the house doors open and rolling tumbleweed around.

"The six of us are the last ponies still left in the town of Ponyville," Twilight explained and hung her head. "And to be honest, I'm not sure how long will it be before one of us..." She paused for a moment, too afraid too speak the words she had in mind. "Vanishes..."

"Vanishes?" Inhio repeated.

Twilight nodded. "A few weeks ago, the residents of Ponyville simply started disappearing, one after another, and we've been trying to find a solution, ever since. That's why we couldn't afford to take the time to chat with you," Twilight clarified.

"I see..." Inhio acknowledged. "And you haven't had any luck, whatsoever?"

With eyes full of sadness, Twilight looked upon Inhio and shook her head. "Not even Zecora or the other princesses could make any sense of all of this."

As the company moved forward--through the streets of Ponyville--Inhio looked into each and every house he passed by along the way. Indeed, the entire town seemed devoid of life.

"I am glad you thought of me when looking for allies..." Inhio paused for a short moment, after which he looked into Twilight's eyes and regrettably admitted, "But I'm not sure how I could be of any assistance here when not even your most powerful magic users could find any leads."

Twilight instantly broke eye contact and started rubbing her right hoof against her left foreleg. "There's something I've neglected to mention."

"Oh?" Inhio seemed intrigued.

"Something that made me think of you the very instant I saw it... Something that I was hoping I could avoid showing you unless there was no other choice." Twilight hung her head.

Inhio dropped down on one knee next to the saddened mare. "This must not be easy for you if you've been trying to avoid it for so long." He gently placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head upwards to face him. "For all it's worth, I'm sorry it had to come to this... but what could possibly be so unspeakable that you would choose to hide it from me, even under such circumstances?" Inhio was as curious as ever.

Twilight shifted her eyes away from the man. "Whatever it was that was causing the ponies to vanish, every time it took one of them, it left behind a certain... object." She reestablished eye contact. "We were hoping you could try your powers on these objects to see if they show you where they came from."

Something isn't right here. Inhio thought to himself. "Is that all?" he asked in a surprised tone. "Why didn't you come to me right away? You know that I would never turn you down like this."

"The thing is..." Twilight slowly extended her foreleg, revealing one of the objects in question. "We weren't sure about how would seeing one of these make you feel."

Inhio gazed at the object on Twilight's hoof with both his eyes and mouth wide open. It can't be... He said in his thoughts. He immediately grabbed the object and turned it around. It is... He told himself, still unable to believe his eyes. For the object he was holding now looked exactly like the object he had carried in his pocket for longer than he could remember, all the way up until the day he gave it to Twilight, just a few weeks ago--a coin with a sun embedded on one of its sides, and a moon on the other.

"How can this be?" the man asked in disbelief. "That coin was one of a kind!" he stood up and shouted.

"We thought so too..." Twilight said as she revealed several more coins that looked exactly like the one Inhio was holding. All of her friends also extended their forelegs, each showing several more coins.

Impossible... Inhio told himself as he witnessed the sight that made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever.

"Will you do it, then?" Twilight asked, breaking the man out of his stupor. "Will you try and see what left these coins?"

Still a bit dazed, Inhio took a few more seconds to process this information, right after which his face lit up with serious determination and his hand gripped the coin tightly. "Gladly," he said and held his fist against his head as he focused his mind on the object. In his short vision, the history of the coin became clear to him, but his mind was still uneasy. "This can't be good..." he admitted and sighed loudly. "You had better not lose those coins if you ever hope to see all the ponies return."

"You saw what left them?" Twilight inquired.

Inhio nodded. "The ponies themselves."

"What!?" All six ponies shouted out at once.

"But how could all of them had possibly had coins like these? I thought I was the only one with a coin like that!"

"The ponies didn't have the coins," Inhio clarified, only inducing more uncertainty in the crowd. "They are the coins."

"What!?" The ponies shouted again.

"Are you certain?" Twilight asked, continuing after seeing the coin master reply with a firm nod. "What could have possibly caused this?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Inhio sadly admitted. "I can only see the history of the coin itself, and it won't show me anything beyond the point where a certain pony simply vanished into a cloud of magical energy, leaving behind this small, metal object."

After a brief moment of silence, all seven of them hung their heads in sorrow. The last hope the ponies still had was just erased.

All of a sudden, Twilight lifted her head and asked, "But what about the one you gave me?"

"What about it?"

"Where did you get it from?"

Inhio paused for a moment before answering, "I..." He paused even longer than before. Something was clearly bothering him as he tried to recall the history of the talisman that he had carried with him for most of his life. "I don't remember..."