Chapter 1

Welcome to Everdale

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

The same question, the same answer. Twilight Sparkle, aggravated by Rainbow Dash’s impatience, imagined a spell that would automatically respond to Rainbow Dash's incessant whining.

“Twi, c’mon!” Rainbow groaned from her harness at the front of the cart. She and Applejack had been faithfully pulling Twilight and a mountain of suitcases for the better part of an hour without complaining, but it seemed that Celestia's summer sun was starting to sap their energy.

"Rainbow Dash, I've already told you—"

“It can’t be that much further! Just let me fly up and take a quick look! There’s not a single cloud in the sky, you know.”

“Asking again won't change my answer!" Twilight scolded. If Rainbow was going to act like a foal, then she was going to be treated like one! It was difficult enough to focus on magic without having to deal with a bothersome pegasus every five minutes. It would have been a much smoother trip if Twilight hadn't been forced to create a protective bubble around Pinkie Pie and Rarity’s luggage, which was stacked like a skyscraper behind her, but it seemed that some ponies hadn't learned to pack lightly, despite the fact that they were only going to Everdale for a quick investigation at the princesses' behest.

Rainbow, still unsatisfied with the answer she got, tried to make puppy dog eyes at Twilight.

Twilight sighed. “No, Rainbow, cut it out. If you did, you’d be leaving Fluttershy to pull the cart in your place.”

The yellow pegasus, who was anxiously hovering around the mountain of luggage, turned when she heard her name. “Oh, I wouldn’t mind,” she assured with an amiable smile. Twilight wished that Fluttershy had played along, but the Element of Kindness was too kind for her own good.

“See? It’s all good! Thanks Fluttershy, I'll be back in a jiffy!”

With a blast of wind, Rainbow Dash zipped up into the air, causing the unstable mound of bags on the cart to wobble. Fluttershy, immediately flying over to stabilize it, let out a small squeak as the suitcase on top threatened to tilt over the edge. Twilight would have caught it with her magic, but she couldn’t have done anything without causing the rest to fall. Thankfully, Fluttershy was there to help, but it seemed that the suitcase was too heavy for her, sending her plummeting to the dirt road.

Rarity, seeing the commotion, immediately left Pinkie behind the cart and trotted over to help. “Oh dear! Fluttershy, I am so sorry!” Rarity, her eyes wide, enveloped the heavy suitcase in a familiar, sky-blue aura. Despite her intense effort, the luggage refused to budge. Twilight wished that she could have helped, but trying to focus on something else while keeping her barrier up would have resulted in another avalanche.

After a small ordeal, Rarity finally managed to free Fluttershy from the offending suitcase, leaving the white unicorn exhausted. Rarity, having not recognized it as her own, immediately spun and scowled at Pinkie Pie, who was still giggling behind them.

“Goodness, Pinkie! What did you put in there? Bricks?”

“Yep!”

The stunned silence that followed was interrupted by another rush of wind, announcing Rainbow Dash’s return. “Guys, we’re almost there!” she exclaimed, only to pause and stare blankly at the scene in front of her. “Hey, uh, what happened?”

Twilight sighed. “Pinkie Pie happened.”

“Oh.”

That was all that needed to be said. Within moments, Pinkie Pie had effortlessly tossed her suitcase full of bricks back onto the cart and Rainbow Dash had slipped back into her harness. Twilight could barely hear Fluttershy's soft voice as she assured Rarity that her wheezing was, in fact, not a collapsed lung. Everything was back to normal.

After a few more minutes in silence, Twilight opened her eyes again, spotting what appeared to be a few cottages on the horizon. It seemed that Rainbow was right.

Rarity clambered onto the cart, satisfied with the fact that Fluttershy wasn’t injured. “Civilization at last!” she gasped. “You know, it does feel charmingly rustic. What do you think Fluttershy?”

“It looks... nice.”

Applejack, who had been relatively quiet for the entire journey, voiced her opinion. “Honestly, I got no idea what this place is like. I didn't even know it was here! It’s pretty much directly on the other side of the Everfree Forest from Ponyville, so you think we'd have stumbled across it before now.”

Twilight quickly jumped in, finding the perfect opportunity to explain their mission. “Actually, Applejack, Everdale is fairly new. It was founded shortly after Ponyville by a pegasus named—“

“Enough Twilight, don’t ruin the suspense!” Rarity interrupted, giving her fellow unicorn a disapproving glance.

With a grin, Rainbow turned to face Applejack. “It’s like some sort of conspiracy! There’s probably some crazy cult around here dedicated to reviving Discord, or maybe even Nightmare Moon! Oh man, I’ll get to beat up some—”

“Rainbow!” Rarity chided, “be conscientious of what you say about Princess Luna! Goodness! If anything, this is more like a spy mission, being on Her Majesty’s Secret Service! Dashing, handsome stallions with dark pasts, and beautiful—“

“Ooh, I brought my spy gear!” Pinkie exclaimed. The conversation was quickly getting out of hoof, forcing Twilight to close her eyes again and block them out so that she could focus on the shield she was maintaining. She was looking forward to relaxing when they finally arrived at Everdale.

After what seemed like hours, Twilight felt the cart slow to a stop, nearly making the teetering pile of luggage topple over again. Considering how at least one of them was filled with bricks, Twilight was grateful that she managed to keep everything sturdy. Just a little bit of reinforcement there, a little stability there....

As Twilight adjusted the barrier, she began to wonder what they were doing in this small town. Everdale, according to the note that she had received from Spike this afternoon, was a town on the other side of the Everfree Forest, but Twilight had not been able to find a single mention of it in her library’s cartography section. Not only that, but the Princess had been quite secretive about what they were supposed to be doing, only telling them to investigate the town, and then there was the cryptic way that Celestia had insisted on contacting them, which involved something about Luna and dreams, but since when could—

“Hey Twilight!”

The sudden surprise, coupled with Twilight's adjustments, resulted in an unexpected shower of luggage. Squeals of terror filled the air as ponies dodged left and right to avoid the falling suitcases.

Once the dust had settled and the cacophony had died down, Twilight could hear the childish cackling of a certain cyan pegasus above her. “Rainbow!” Twilight growled angrily, contorting her face in an effort to hide how angry she really was. “That wasn’t funny! One of us could’ve been seriously hurt! And look, you even broke the cart! How are we supposed to get all of this stuff back to Ponyville?”

“Aw, c’mon!” Rainbow Dash chortled, looking all too pleased with herself as she hovered above the wreckage. “It’s all in good fun, right?”

“No it’s not!” came a surprising shout from Fluttershy, who flew up next to her friend and crossed her hooves in front of her chest. “You could have really hurt somepony! Now apologize.”

Rainbow, caught off guard, took a few moments to respond. “Uh, sorry guys. I guess.” With a sigh, Rainbow hung her head, not really sounding like she actually meant it. Twilight smiled and nodded, as if to say that the apology was accepted.

It was a good thing that they had just arrived at Everdale, since their cart had been smashed to pieces by Rainbow Dash’s misguided antics, but they were still going to have to carry all of their belongings to the nearest hotel. Twilight wasn't looking forward to it.

Glancing around at the wreckage, Twilight found herself standing next to a small wooden shack at the very front of the town, one with a large window facing outwards. Right outside of the shack stood two ponies — a bright blue pegasus and a dull gray earth pony with identical caps — who were staring blankly at the catastrophic scene before them.

Applejack, who had been the first to notice the two, immediately trotted over to explain everything, a piece of the broken harness still hanging off of her back. “Mighty sorry about this,” she apologized, doffing her hat and lowering it slightly over her face. “We’re not here to cause trouble, we just—“

“Eh, it’s no problem,” the sky-blue pegasus responded, blowing a bit of the debris out of her white mane. “Nightowl and I were just getting ready to start the night shift anyway. Right?”

She nudged the statue-esque earth pony beside her, trying to snap him out of his stupor. He didn't move. “Nightowl, come on you lummox!” she whispered through clenched teeth.

“O-oh, um,” the gray earth pony stammered, shifting around on his sizable hooves. For a moment, Twilight wondered if he was hiding something from them — something that could prove vital to their investigation. As the detective, she was going to have to squeeze every ounce of truth from the suspects!

Before Twilight could say anything, Nightowl’s partner, the pegasus, stepped in front of him and laughed. “Oh, hehe, please excuse my partner. He just got up, you see….”

Twilight responded with a nod, starting to get excited at the prospect of a mystery. If she played it cool and let the pressure work him over, he'd be singing like a canary in no time. “Just got up, eh? It’s past seven ‘o clock right now, if I'm not mistaken.”

The pegasus didn't seem bothered by Twilight's interrogation. “Well, his name is Nightowl, after all. Sorry about him. He’s a few bits short of a buck, if you know what I mean.”

“Not a problem, miss!”

“Oh, just call me Page.”

“Not a problem, Miss Page,” Twilight responded, sneaking a quick glance at the mare’s cutie mark: a sheet of paper with a quill across it, probably indicating some sort of writing profession. “Now, if you could direct us to a hotel or somewhere we could stay, that would be fantastic. You see, Princess Celestia sent us to—“

“I knew it! Oh man, I can’t believe it!” the gray stallion exclaimed, shoving his bewildered partner aside. “You must be Twilight! And you’re Rarity and Pinkie Pie! And Fluttershy!” He began naming each of them off with the precision of a teacher taking roll. “I don’t believe it! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! You two are my favorites!”

The six ponies, seven including Page, stood absolutely dumbfounded by the sudden outburst. Applejack, holding onto her hat, gave him a skeptical glare. “Uh, beg your pardon?”

“The Elements of Harmony! Page, can you believe it? I was expecting that the princess would send help, but I didn’t expect them to send the Elements! Oh man, this is unbelievable!”

Applejack frowned, giving Rainbow a nudge to wipe the grin off of the egotistical pegasus' face. “Now wait just a second, partner,” the farm pony sighed, looking Nightowl right in the eyes. “I’m mighty glad that y'all appreciate what we’ve done, but we’re just normal ponyfolk when it all comes down to it, and us normal ponyfolk would really like some help carrying our luggage to the nearest hotel so we could get some shuteye. Would ya mind givin' us a hoof?”

Nightowl blinked a few times, his internal motor beginning to sputter. “Oh, sorry!” he apologized, realizing how much he had embarrassed his partner. “Sure, we’ll help you out. But....” He paused for a moment, pensive. “Would it be possible to, you know, get some autographs?”

“Sure thing!” Rainbow Dash answered immediately, as if she had been waiting for the question to pop up. Twilight sighed, glad that they were finally heading to the hotel so that they could get some rest before they started investigating. As Rainbow began chatting with an excited Nightowl, the others began to salvage what they could from the splintered cart.

Twilight picked up her saddlebags and hefted them over her back before looking around to see if anypony else needed some help. Immediately, she spotted Page, who was struggling to pick up a familiar pink suitcase. Rolling her eyes and trying not to laugh, Twilight trotted over to help her out.

Page, seeing her approach, spat the handle out of her mouth and shot an exasperated look at Twilight. “Sweet Celestia, what did you pack in here? A bunch of bricks?”

Twilight grinned. “Don’t ask.”

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After a grueling half hour of getting the six ponies moved into the local hotel, Page and Nightowl said their goodbyes and trotted over to the little wooden shack that they spent so much time in. Page had been a little excited to meet the Elements of Harmony in person, but she had never expected Nightowl to freak out like that.

“I still can’t believe it!” echoed Nightowl’s voice in the failing light. It was almost completely dark outside, meaning that Luna was about to put on another one of her beautiful shows. That was one of the perks of being a watchpony, after all. The stars really—

“Uh, Page? Equestria to Page! Do you read me?”

“Oh, my bad,” Page responded half-heartedly, slowing down her pace. “I was just thinking about those six.”

“Quite the characters, right? I still can't believe I got Rainbow Dash's autograph!”

“C'mon Nightowl, that's not what I mean. It's more that, well, they aren’t quite what I expected.”

“Really? They seemed just fine to me.”

Page stopped a few paces short of the guardhouse, turning and regarding Nightowl skeptically. The earth pony quirked a brow, making sure that he didn't damage the autographed photo of Rainbow Dash that he held between his teeth.

“What?” he asked, a guilty expression flashing across his features.

“I just wonder why you idolize them so much,” she finally admitted, stretching her wings out as she stepped into the familiar outpost. While she didn't get a response from Nightowl, who was busy shutting the door behind him and finding a place to frame his photo of Rainbow Dash, she did notice how worried he looked.

Aggravated, Page continued. “I admit that we really need their help right now, but why would the Princess send her most powerful weapon to a place like this?”

“Hey, don't call them weapons! And for all I know, they just happened to be in the area,” Nightowl responded thoughtlessly. “C'mon Page, you should be excited! You always wanted to be one of them, right?”

Page bristled. “Can we drop that already?” she hissed, plopping down on her haunches and gazing out of the front window.

"Okay, okay," Nightowl sighed as he set the picture down on the only table they had in the shack. "I don't see why you'd be ashamed of that."

“Look, I'm just saying that we should be careful, okay?” Page grumbled, opening up a wing to invite her friend to sit next to her. “I'm worried that this is bigger than we thought. They weren't in the area, you know. Otherwise, they would have packed lighter, not to mention how tired they looked when they arrived.”

Nightowl opened his mouth to say something in response, but instead took a seat and stared at the stars with her. “I know what you mean, Page. Just don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? You know, there’s probably a better way to word that, now that I think about it. It’s kind of creepy.”

Page, her spirits lifting, giggled and spread her hooves in the air above her like she was reading a headline in the local newspaper. “I can see it now! The lecherous Nightowl has been brought to court on charges of harassment against Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey, that's not what I meant!”

“The fiend will appear in court in a week! Rainbow Dash refuses to comment!”

“Well, the unjustly accused Nightowl has been framed by the wicked changelings! He teams up with Rainbow Dash to—”

“But alas, Rainbow Dash had been replaced as well!”

Their squabble continued for quite a while, each pony presenting a scene while the other ruined it in an intense display of uncooperative storytelling. After they had laughed themselves to exhaustion, they stared up at the stars, recalling old stories that they had told each other while on duty.

As their conversation began to die down, Page thought back to the only case they had encountered. It had been a while, hadn't it?

Nightowl, almost as if he had read her mind, broke the silence. “You’re thinking about that case again, aren’t you? It’s been six years now, you should let it go.”

“No, this is too much of a coincidence! We’ve only had two cases of missing ponies in Everdale. Two! I can't count that on my hooves! We may have solved that one six years ago, but this one is much worse.”

“You’re trying too hard, Page, trust me.” Nightowl’s tone became firm. “We can’t do anything about this one. You know that. And you know what would happen if we did. That ransom note made it clear what would happen to the missing ponies if we interfered.”

“But—”

“No. I'm not going to risk it. Whoever is behind this has their eyes on us to make sure we don't get in the way, but now that the Elements are here, we've got a chance. Either way, we're done arguing. And If you're still worrying about that case six years ago, that one has already been solved! Back then, after the mother showed up in in the middle of that nasty storm, you just bolted out the door without asking any questions. You spent all of those hours flying over the Everfree Forest, even though the filly had already found her way back. You know what? This is kind of similar to that case, now that I think about it.”

Page, breathing a sigh of relief, flopped down on her back. “Thank you, you’re finally starting to see—”

“Because you’re just jumping to conclusions, like you did before. You’re just going to end up wasting your time again!”

“Hey!” Page huffed, crossing her hooves over her chest and turning away. “I know that we can’t do anything, but I guess that, well, I just wanted to try and solve this one for myself. I’m a writer, not a watchpony, so can you blame me for trying to come up with some crazy connection between the two cases?”

Thankfully, Nightowl took the hint and began to calm down. “Nah, I’m sure it’d make for one heck of a campfire story. Actually....” The earth pony trailed off, smirking. “That’ll be our competition tonight. Let’s see who can come up with the best explanation for these disappearances! We know that it'll happen again tonight, but we can at least start making up theories, can't we?”

"Are you sure?" Page whispered, almost too soft for her partner to hear. "One gets taken every night, but what if the foalnapper decides to make it two? Whoever is behind this can't be happy that somepony called in the Elements of Harmony. If I were them, I'd focus everything on trying to get them to leave!"

"Don't worry about it," Nightowl insisted, jabbing her on the shoulder. "All we can do is sit back and watch. So how about we start our storytelling competition, hm?"

Just like always, the two of them spent the night swapping melodramatic campfire stories, each one more needlessly convoluted than the last. As much as Page tried to ignore the growing feeling of helplessness, she still couldn't ignore the fact that they were being forced to act like nothing was wrong while the culprit had free reign over the town. Regardless, the Elements of Harmony had come to save the day, meaning that things would go back to normal soon.

After all, bad things didn’t happen in places like Everdale. Page was determined to make sure that it stayed that way.