Chapter 2

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

Twilight, despite all of her knowledge on the subject of sleep, still found herself perplexed by the world of dreams. While she did not consider dreams to be the most useful area of study, there was a part of her that still longed for a crash course seminar from the Princess of the Night: Luna. Why had Celestia been so vague about Luna and her ability to speak through dreams? It didn't seem like the kind of thing that they would want to keep hidden, but Twilight wasn't going to question the princesses' judgment.

With a hefty sigh, Twilight sat on a little cushion in her imaginary library, waiting patiently for her guest to arrive. She knew that this was a dream, yet she had little to no control over where she was or what she was doing. The prospect of not being able to control the world around her was a frightening one, especially for a unicorn as powerful as herself, but she kept her discomfort from showing. This was a world of the subconscious, so she had to keep herself collected, just like the two princesses.

The instant that she thought of the them, Luna walked right through the front door of the library. Twilight had to blink a few times, trying to process the fact that Luna had walked through her front door. Literally. With a gulp, Twilight found herself resisting the urge to barrage Luna with questions about what she just did.

Luna, her tall, dark form out of place in the quaint library, took the opportunity to survey her surroundings, almost as if she were evaluating Twilight on the cleanliness of her home. Despite her slow pace, it didn't take long for the starry-maned Alicorn to find her seat at the other end of the wooden table.

“P-princess?” Twilight croaked, wincing at the sound of her own voice. Twilight had become comfortable in the presence of Princess Celestia, but Luna was still something of a mystery to her.

“Twilight,” Luna responded, her gaze homing in on the unicorn in front of her. “I take it that you have already arrived at Everdale.”

The atmosphere in the library was delicate, making Twilight hesitant to answer. “Yes, princess,” she whispered, shifting on her haunches. “We—”

“That is wonderful!” Luna suddenly shouted, raising herself up to her full height. “I have been waiting for weeks to finally see your dreams! It is exactly as I imagined, Twilight Sparkle. Your books are still alphabetized with clear titles, meaning that you know the contents of your library quite well! I must say, this is the most orderly dream I have ever visited!”

Still reeling from the onslaught of observations, Twilight raised herself off of her cushion in an attempt to match Luna's excitement. “Um... thanks?”

“Thanks are not required, dear Twilight Sparkle, for the pleasure is all mine!” The only time that Twilight had seen Luna this excited was when the princess had discovered all of the silly games at Nightmare Night. “As you may be able to deduce, Twilight, the sharpness of details in one's dreams indicates their familiarity with their surroundings. To provide an example: if you were to imagine yourself inside of Rarity's bedroom, you would be unable to read the books on her shelves, unlike here!”

Twilight was rendered speechless as the Princess rambled on about the theory of dreams and their relationship to the waking world. A thought crossed Twilight's mind as she tried to focus on the perplexing lecture. If dreams represent the subconscious of a pony, was he currently communicating with Luna's subconscious?

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle, one thousand apologies!” Luna exclaimed, breaking off Twilight's train of thought before she could go any further. The princess' tone became slightly worried. “I just wanted to tell you that I am impressed by your dream. That is all. May we get to the, um, 'knitting gritting' of the situation?”

It took Twilight a moment to realize what Luna meant. “Oh, it's actually 'nitty-gritty',” she corrected. “You know, now that I think about it, that phrase doesn't make any sense.”

Luna looked somewhat disheartened. “Make that one thousand and one apologies,” she replied, returning back to her cushion by the table. “I have been attempting to learn more modern colloquialisms, but most of them are entirely nonsensical.”

Twilight put on a reassuring smile and took a seat as well. At first, she had been intimidated by the Princess, but even in dreams, Luna had a filly-like wonder about her. “Actually, princess, you're doing pretty good.”

“Pretty well.”

“Oh, uh.... Pretty well. You've come a long way since Nightmare Night. I had no idea you could communicate through dreams, though! Why didn't you tell me earlier? We could have had study sessions even while I was sleeping, meaning my productivity level would skyrocket! If I can take sleep out of the equation, I'll be able to write twice as many papers and reports!”

Luna's cheery demeanor took an immediate dive, making Twilight wish that she could stuff the deluge of words right back in her mouth. The Princess' smile remained, but her eyes were drilling holes in the middle of the table. Whatever Twilight had said, it had immediately caused Luna's mood to spiral downwards.

“Twilight Sparkle, let us nit and grit,” the alicorn stated. “My sister has given you instructions on your mission, correct?”

Trying not to let her confusion show, Twilight nodded. "Well, not really. She just sent me a note and told me to to go to this little town called Everdale. But then she said something about you meeting me in my dreams! I was hoping that you could tell me a little more about what I'm supposed to be doing here, princess."

Princess Luna paused for a moment, as if collecting herself. “Twilight Sparkle, you are to investigate a series of disappearances in Everdale. My sister and I received a messenger pegasus, informing us of their plight. Based on what the pegasus told my sister, there have been nearly 30 consecutive disappearances over the past month.”

Twilight's breath caught in her throat. 30?! This town couldn't be home to more than 70 ponies from what she had seen so far! Why would anypony wait so long to inform the Princesses about something this urgent?

Ignoring Twilight's confusion, Luna continued. “That is only the beginning. What prompted the messenger to seek our aid was that they found some of the missing ponies. There were nine of them wandering around in the Everfree Forest. Our messenger described them as lethargic and lifeless, barely seeming to notice that they were lost. Even when brought back to town, they were indifferent to the plight of Everdale and refused to answer any questions.”

Something sounded awfully familiar about this situation. Twilight looked up at Luna, who returned her gaze. “It sounds exactly like—”

“The Crystal Empire,” Luna remarked, finishing the unicorn's sentence. “My sister and I fear that King Sombra is targeting Everdale for some reason, but we cannot be sure. At most, we are 'reaching for the hay' in this situation.”

“Grasping at straws, Princess.”

“One thousand and two apologies, Twilight Sparkle. If you would, please refer to me as Luna. I hope that we may avoid unnecessary pleasantries here.”

Twilight, hoping that she could brighten the mood again, gave Luna an enthusiastic grin. “You got it, Luna! Just as long as you stop using my full name. Princess Celestia only does that to scold me.”

Within moments, Luna's childish smile had returned. “Very well, Twilight. Please exercise caution. I expect another report from you tomorrow night.”

“Roger that, Luna!”

“Who is Roger?”

“Oh, nevermind that. See you tomorrow night!”

The alicorn turned to leave, but stopped. “Twilight… I would prefer that you not speak of this dream to anypony. Only a select few know that I can travel through dreams like this. I would like to keep it that way.”

“Don’t worry Princess, you can trust the six of us!” Twilight responded energetically, as if she were trying to offset the intense aura that Luna was radiating.

“No. Only you, Twilight. Nopony else.”

“But Princess—“

“Luna. Call me Luna. And please, I trust you to keep this secret.”

“Luna…” Twilight whispered, becoming rather worried. Did Luna not trust the other Elements of Harmony, even after they had become such good friends after Nightmare Night? Regardless, she was in no position to refuse a request from the Princess of the Night. “I-I promise.”

“Good. Thank you.”

Without another word, Luna phased through the front door like before, leaving a confused Twilight to worry about her mission for the few hours remaining until morning.

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“King Sombrero is back?!”

Twilight buried her face in her hoof, wishing that Pinkie hadn't shouted so loudly. They were already attracting enough attention as it was, making a suspicious huddle in the middle of town square.

Considering that half of the population had disappeared over the past month, there were quite a few ponies still meandering around town. They hadn’t seen anypony except for the hotel clerk and the two watchponies when they had arrived the night before, but now it seemed like nothing was wrong.

Twilight, attempting to focus on the current situation, was about to correct Pinkie, but Rarity beat her to the punch. “Pinkie, it's Sombra.”

“But he went 'boooooom!' and exploded into, like, a million pieces! It was awesome! And anyway, Sombrero sounds better—”

“Pinkie, may I continue?” Twilight asked politely.

“Yep! Don't know what's stopping ya.”

Twilight groaned and looked around at her friends. “Okay, listen up. Now that we know what's going on, we're going to split up and find clues. Everypony, meet me here in one hour and we'll discuss the plan from there. Sound good?”

The other five ponies all answered at the same time, creating a jumbled mass of words. “I'll take that as a yes,” Twilight giggled as they all trotted off in different directions. Everdale was a small place, consisting of about twenty houses and a few stalls set up around town square, so it wouldn't take more than a few hours to question everypony.

Twilight trotted towards the wooden shack on the edge of town, hoping that the two watchponies that had helped them move into the hotel were still awake. Their testimony was probably the most important out of all of the ponies here.

The shack’s only window was facing away from Everdale, supposedly so that the pony on duty could look for any outside threats, but Twilight found herself wondering why they would arrange the outpost like that. If they were supposed to be watching the town, why weren't they facing it?

Stowing the question in the back of her mind for later, Twilight approached the wooden door in the back. As she reached out with her magic to pull it open, she overheard hushed voices on the other side. Twilight knew that it wasn't polite to eavesdrop on other ponies, but her curiosity was already piqued. She was in the middle of investigating a mystery, after all, and the detective needed to find as many clues as possible.

“You're bringing that up again?” a male voice sighed. “Look Page, that was nearly six years ago. This didn't start until the end of last month!”

“Just listen to me for once!” came another voice, this one female. “I know it sounds like a stretch, but think about it! There have only been two instances of missing ponies here in town: one six years ago and one right now. It just seems suspicious, that's all.”

“They're totally different, Page. The poor filly just wandered off into the Everfree Forest. When she came back, she was perfectly fine, not like....”

Twilight stood perfectly still behind the door, holding her breath. Now that she knew what was going on in this town, everything was starting to make sense. Deciding that it was best to interrupt their train of thought, Twilight lifted a hoof and knocked on the door.

There was a moment of silence before Twilight heard hoofsteps approaching the door. When it opened, Page was on the other side, eyeing her suspiciously. "Twilight, right?” she asked flatly. She didn't seem too happy to see Twilight, but Nightowl's expression brightened considerably when the unicorn made eye contact with him.

“And you're Page,” Twilight responded, flashing the pegasus a sincere smile. “I hope you don't mind, but I think I know what's going on here. Mind if I come in and ask you a few questions?”

Page glanced back at Nightowl, who was too busy staring at Twilight to notice. Grumbling something under her breath, she stepped out of the doorway and let Twilight in.

“Sure,” she Page grumbled. “We've been talking about it all night and seeing who could come up with the most outlandish theory behind these disappearances. I'm pretty sure Nightowl won.”

Nightowl pushed his chest out, nearly losing his guard's cap in the process. “Seems that it’s another victory for the esteemed author, Nightowl!”

“It also seems that the esteemed Nightowl doesn't realize that this is a competition to tell the worst story.”

Twilight and Page both giggled as Nightowl's posture slackened like a punctured balloon. Twilight was doing everything she could to lighten the somber mood in this town, but it seemed that these two still had a sense of humor.

Page, still in the spirit of the moment, plopped down on her rump and gave Twilight a challenging grin. “Well, we already have a victor for that last round, but I think some other awards are in order!” the pegasus announced, fluffing her wings out. “You said you knew what was going on, right Twilight? How about you give us your idea and we can see whose theory was the closest to yours?”

        Twilight gulped, looking back and forth between the two watchponies. The air in the room was electric with anticipation as both ponies stared expectantly at her. Twilight wondered how those two had enough energy to keep this up after spending a whole night on watch!

“U-um,” she stammered, wondering if telling them the truth was the best idea. She had come here to help these ponies, not start a mass panic!

“C'mon Twilight!” Nightowl urged, fidgeting around.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight quickly made her decision. Lying to these ponies, who were trusted enough to keep the night watch, would probably be a bad idea. “Alright, but let me make sure I have my facts straight.”

“Go ahead, shoot,” Page offered, her grin widening.

“Here's what I understand from my contact with the princesses. In the past month, nearly 30 ponies have gone missing. You recently found nine of them in the Everfree Forest, and from the way they were described, the nine ponies were emotionless and apathetic towards just about everything, refusing to answer any questions they were asked. Am I right so far?”

Page nodded, obviously trying not to appear worried. “31, actually. Close enough for government work.”

“Right. Based on the current evidence, it seems very similar to another case that me and my friends investigated not too long ago. Now, I don't want you to panic, so please, hear me out.”

The two ponies leaned in intently, eyes wide like fillies and colts at storytime.

“I believe that King Sombra has returned.”

The wooden shack fell deathly silent. Twilight, heart pounding in her chest, glanced back and forth between the two ponies. In a way, they didn't look afraid at all. They actually looked—

“Oh wow!” Page cackled, flopping over and rolling around on the wooden floor. Nightowl immediately followed suit, the two of them reduced to giggling heaps on the floor.

Twilight's face flushed a deep shade of red. She was being serious! Scowling, the unicorn stamped a hoof on the floor to try and prove her point. “It's not funny! Do you know what he nearly did to the Crystal Empire?!”

Nightowl, in between gasps, managed to roll over so that he was facing Twilight, his eyes brimming with tears of laughter. “Haha, I win again!” he managed to shout before doubling over once more. For a moment, Twilight was perplexed, but the realization dawned on her almost immediately.

Page spoke before Twilight had a chance to. “Ha, I can't believe it! You were right, Nightowl! It really was King Sombra!”

Twilight decided that she would come back later when the two of them were ready to listen to reason. Without even saying goodbye, she briskly turned around and made her way outside, slamming the door behind her with magic as she moved on to her next destination. Maybe those two would be more helpful after they had gotten some sleep. Trying to ignore the peals of laughter behind her, Twilight galloped off to the town square.

When she finally arrived, she found that she wasn't the only one who had come back a little bit early. Her friends were already there, along with what looked like the rest of the town. There had to be at least 20 ponies crowding around the small fountain in the center, and sadly, from what Twilight could imagine, these 20 were all that was left of Everdale, minus the two watchponies she had left behind.

As Twilight approached the crowd, she began to hear music. Lots of music. Most prominent among them was the banging of drums, which accompanied what sound like a small chamber ensemble.

When she got close enough to see what was going on, she had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't seeing things. In front of the crowd, there were three ponies around the edge of the fountain, none of which she recognized. One of them, a burnt orange pegasus, had taken flight and was up above the crowd with a megaphone similar to the one that the Apple family always used. Flying next to her was another pegasus, this one a deep green and wearing a puffy brown cap. He seemed to be mingling with the crowd a little bit more, making sure that everypony got the message.

What caught Twilight's attention the most was the mare behind them: a dirty white unicorn who was sitting on her haunches and swaying drunkenly. Her horn was surrounded by a teal aura, similar to Rarity's, that extended out to a number of different instruments. Twilight took a moment to count the number of instruments that she was playing, ranging from cellos to flutes. There had to be at least eight of them!

As Twilight reached the back of the crowd, she realized that she didn't see any drums in the ensemble, even though she was hearing them loud and clear. Then, as if to answer her question, Pinkie Pie came bounding around the fountain with her one mare band ensemble, banging and pounding in time with the other pony's energetic music. Behind Pinkie, Twilight could see a terrified Fluttershy running after her. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were all there as well, watching the show with a mix of confusion and awe.

Twilight ran to greet her friends, but was met by the booming voice of the orange pegasus, amplified by the comically large megaphone that she held in her hoof. “Everypony! We can do this! That's right! There's nothing to fear, now that our princesses have sent help! That's right, the Elements of Harmony have arrived right here in Everdale!”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, beginning to regret her earlier curiosity.

The pegasus continued in her obnoxiously loud voice. “For the first time in a month, we can all sleep comfortably, knowing that the heroes of Equestria are here to save us! Your friends will all come back! Our families will be whole again!”

The more that the pegasus talked, the more Twilight was reminded of the first time Trixie had shown up in Ponyville, but this time, they were bragging about her!

“That's right, everypony! They're even here in this crowd among us! They have already begun their work and will soon bring their harmony here to Everdale!”

The crowd began to part around Twilight Sparkle as more and more ponies noticed her presence. As she desperately looked for any way to avoid the spotlight, she saw that the same thing was happening to all of her friends. Poor Fluttershy was in the fetal position, covering her eyes with her hooves while Rarity and Rainbow Dash were already beginning to strike poses for the crowd.

Applejack, however, made it obvious that she wasn’t going to put up with this nonsense as she trotted up to the front of the crowd. The unicorn musician stopped her music, leaving Pinkie to continue drumming in the background.

“Now see here!” Applejack shouted, trying to match the pegasus in volume. “We haven't done anythin' yet! Quit making promises you ain't gonna keep yourself, ya hear?”

The pegasus, not even bothering to put away her megaphone, shouted right back. “As expected from the Element of Honesty, folks! So humble! So selfless! She's a model for all of us!”

Applejack, holding onto her hat to keep it from being blown off by the deafening volume, yelled even louder. “I'm telling ya! We! Haven't! Done! Anything!”

“Don't be so modest! This is a special occasion after all!”

Applejack huffed. “Oh yeah? And what's that?”

“It's the first time this month that nopony disappeared overnight!”

As the thunderous stamping of hooves sounded around her, Twilight began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The last time boasting had been an issue, it ended with an Ursa Minor rampaging through Ponyville. Twilight hoped that this would end differently.

        Either way, this wasn't going to be easy.