Chapter 4

Inviting Misfortune

The inside of the Everdale Hotel was more colorful than anything that Twilight had ever seen before. When she and her friends had arrived the night before, the place looked like it had fired all of the staff except for the desk clerk, who had graciously allowed them to host their party in the lobby. Before, there were no decorations, no pictures on the wall, and not even a little bell to ring if the clerk was away, though the clerk had been there the entire time. After Pinkie Pie and Rarity had their way with the hotel, it was almost unrecognizable. Pinkie, if by some miracle she managed to focus for more than 30 seconds, knew quite a lot about interior decorating, so when that untamed creativity was merged with Rarity’s unmatched precision and direction, they could turn anything into a spectacle grand enough for the Grand Galloping Gala! Twilight had to marvel at their handiwork as she continued to mix the bowl of punch that Pinkie had brought along with her emergency party supply kit.

They had only been ready for approximately 45 minutes, but some of the townsfolk were already beginning to filter in through the hotel doors, eyes wide. Pinkie had been impossibly quick with the invitations, somehow managing to design and send out nearly 25 of them in 15 minutes. Preston, along with a few other ponies, had already arrived and were sitting down to watch Pinkie Pie do her signature standup comedy routine.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she felt something. There was a small flux in the barrier she had created around the hotel, indicating that somepony was either leaving or arriving. No, it was two ponies....

Right on cue, she heard the front door open, admitting yet another guest. As the unicorn turned to see who it was, she saw one of the two watchponies, Nightowl, trot excitedly through the front door. Page was draped over his back, snoring obnoxiously despite all the noise that Pinkie was making in the corner.

Rarity was there to meet him, acting as the maitre d’hotel. It seemed strange that Page would be asleep at this time of night, so Twilight wasted no time in trotting over to greet him as well.

Both Rarity and Nightowl jumped as Twilight approached, making her wonder if she had interrupted something important. “Oh, uh, sorry!” she quickly apologized, earning awkward looks from the two. “I just came over to see how Page was doing. She must be a pretty heavy sleeper, huh?”

Nightowl laughed. “Oh, her? It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Usually I’m the one who falls asleep on the job. But as soon as Pinkie gave us the invitation and told us that we could take the night off, she just crashed! I guess she’s just really tired.” Nightowl’s tone became more subdued. “She’s been working herself to the bone out there, you know? I think she deserves a bit of rest.”

“We’ll try not to wake her,” Twilight assured, wanting to make sure that the two watchponies could relax for a night. It was impossible to imagine how difficult it must be for the two of them to be responsible for the safety of a town that was slowly falling apart. “Just relax tonight, alright? We’ve got guard duty covered! Pretty easy to take care of everypony if they’re in one place, right?”

“Absolutely!” Rarity agreed, nodding fervently. “Now, let’s get the poor thing upstairs so she can have a proper rest. After sleeping here last night, I can assure you that these beds are absolutely divine.”

“Thanks, guys,” Nightowl sighed. “You have no idea how much this means to us. But I have to say, this party is going to be legendary! A party thrown by the Element of Laughter herself! Oh man, Page is gonna miss out!” The earth pony’s energy shot through the roof as he started to trot towards the back of the lobby where the staircase was. Rarity was right behind him.

Before they could leave, Twilight shouted after them. “Hey, what room are you putting her in?”

“Oh, the room right above the lobby! It’s where I stayed last night!” Rarity shouted before disappearing into the stairwell with the stallion.

“Well then, this might be a problem,” Twilight grumbled, pursing her lips as she shut the front door. Thinking out loud, she began to pace back and forth. “Page won’t be with the rest of the party, leaving her vulnerable should our culprit try something risky. Let’s see, I was across the hall from Rarity, meaning that she was in room 201. Makes sense.”

Twilight stopped her pacing for a moment to focus on her magic. She just had to imagine the room above her and how it was designed. If it was anything like hers, it would have two doors, one leading to the room beside it and one leading to the hallway. Getting the image in her mind, Twilight readied herself to create yet another barrier around that room, one that would alert her anytime somepony entered or left.

One barrier spell later, there was an immediate disturbance, informing Twilight that three ponies had entered the room. After a few moments, two ponies left. Twilight grinned, proud of her accuracy.

Expecting the two ponies to come back down, Twilight looked impatiently at the stairwell. The two of them appeared to be taking their sweet time! Poor Rarity was probably being ambushed by Nightowl in an attempt to get her autograph.

After about a solid minute of trying to block out Pinkie’s oinking sounds from the corner, Twilight finally decided that she had waited long enough. She was trying to keep this town safe, but it was difficult to do so when she couldn’t keep an eye on everypony! Fully intent on giving Nightowl a lecture about personal space, she began to trot towards the stairwell.

Before she could trot a few steps, she was interrupted by a multitude of disturbances in the barrier. The sudden impact of it made her vision swim for a moment, but she recovered.

Grumbling under her breath, Twilight turned around and put on the most congenial smile she’d ever worn. Rarity wasn’t able to make it to the door, so her welcoming duties were passed on to Twilight. “Hello there, and welcome to—”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Caesura whistled as she led a group of what appeared to be eleven ponies into the lobby. Once everypony was in, Caesura took it upon herself to shut the door behind her with a little magical push. “You’ve really got guts, you know? Red’s gonna flip when she finds out about this.”

Twilight watched as the eleven ponies immediately made their way over to Pinkie Pie’s comedy corner. Now that she had a bit of room, she pulled Caesura off to the side and gave her an uncomfortable frown. “Look, Caesura, I know that Red told us to leave, but this is too much for Red to handle on her own. Please understand. We just want to help.”

“Tell me about it,” Caesura mumbled. She sounded tired. “Why do you think I rounded everypony up myself? I went door to door to round up everypony but Red, just ‘cause I’m pretty sure she’d bite my head off if she found out about this little party here. The poor girl’s been in hysterics ever since you six left. Hey, did she even get an invitation?”

“Oh, she did,” Twilight giggled knowingly. “You can thank Pinkie for that. She insisted on two things. The first was that we invite Red, and the second was that we used those bright pink flyers over there, probably to see if our culprit has a sense of humor.”

“A sense of humor?”

“Absolutely!” Twilight responded energetically, eager to explain the little joke that she and Pinkie had come up with. “Our culprit delivered their ultimatum on the same flyer, after all! I asked the desk clerk to make sure that these flyers are only available at the hotel, just to make sure. But now we’re doing the same thing!”

Caesura didn’t seem to appreciate the irony of the situation. “So you’re throwing a party?”

“Of course! We’re delivering our own ultimatum on the same sheets of paper. We’re going to show the ponies of Everdale that we won’t abandon them!”

Twilight had expected some kind of response from Caesura, but the mare just stood there, looking a little taken back by how enthusiastic the other unicorn was.

“Wow.... Th-thanks,” Caesura finally stammered out, almost like she found it hard to believe that Twilight and her friends were still offering to help. After what Red had told them, Twilight could understand why. Red had been very clear that she didn’t want their help.

“Think nothing of it,” Twilight responded automatically. Twilight hadn’t given it a close look before, but Caesura’s cutie mark looked like two musical clefs with one flipped upside down. They almost made a heart shape.

Caesura made an uncomfortable sound as she realized that Twilight was staring at her flank. “Well,” the white unicorn chuckled awkwardly. “It may not mean that much to me, but I’m sure Red will appreciate it. She may seem like a jerk, but that’s just because....”

But before Twilight could press the issue any further, she felt another disturbance in the barrier. Right on cue, the front door burst open with a percussive thwack!, making everypony in the lobby turn to see what was going on. Even Pinkie stopped her nonsensical singing to take a look.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

Red stood in the open doorway, megaphone in hoof. A small piece of bright pink paper floated gently to the floor in front of front of her, carried by the growing wind.

Adjusting her mane and trying to get the ringing out of her ears, Twilight galloped over to try and keep Red under control. She had known that this was going to happen, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. “Red, let me explain, I—”

“No explanations! Is this how the Elements of Harmony are supposed to behave?! Throwing parties at a time like this?!”

Twilight followed the pink paper as it came to a rest in front of her hoof. It was one Pinkie’s hoofwritten invitations, complete with pictures and an hour by hour schedule of how the party would work. Pinkie Pie’s comedy routine would last from 9-10, music and dancing from 10-11, campfire stories and s’mores from 11-12, and at midnight they would start up a game of blindfolded hide and seek.

“Blindfolded hide and seek?! Really?!” Red shouted nearly twenty times louder than she needed to. “Not only are you—”

“Red! Quiet down!” Twilight stuffed a hoof in the pegasus’ megaphone to make sure that she got the message.

While it worked, the pegasus’ temper was still at an all-time high. “You...! You!” she whispered behind clenched teeth, kicking the door shut behind her. Pinkie had already gone on with her routine in an attempt to distract everypony from the argument that was about to break out. “You numbskull! Not only are you undermining my authority, but you’re also putting everypony in grave danger! What’s that? Some jerk wants to make everypony disappear overnight? Oh hey, I’ve got a brilliant idea. Let’s put them all in one place and blindfold them!”

“Red, listen to me!” Twilight urged, fighting to keep her voice down despite her urgency. “That’s the point! We’re trying to lure the culprit here at midnight. I’ve got a barrier around the place that lets me know when anypony enters or leaves the premises. Caesura made sure that everypony is here, so if I feel any disturbance, we’ll catch our criminal red-hoofed. Now, think you can play along with this?”

It took a moment for the orange pegasus to finally lose her scowl, but she eventually gave in. Twilight could almost see some of the weight being lifted off of her stiff shoulders. “Okay, fine,” Red groaned with a little grimace. “I’m just a little peeved that you relieved the night watch. They’re our last line of defense.”

As Red forced out those last words, she looked back at the group of ponies that had gathered around Pinkie, who was now wearing a jester’s cap and some mismatched socks. She’d somehow managed to drag Fluttershy on stage, who looked more like a statue than a pony as she stared wide-eyed at the crowd. Rarity and Nightowl had apparently come back down, since they were sitting at the back. Twilight took stock of where everypony was and turned to face Red, but something didn’t seem right.

“Hey,” Twilight asked curiously, a hint of suspicion present in her voice. “How did you know that I invited the night watch as well?”

Red shrugged and tossed her megaphone over in the corner of the room. “I just saw Page in the window as I came in, and Nightowl’s over there. What, did you think I wouldn’t notice? You’re gonna have to do better than that to pull one over on me.”

“Wait... you saw Page in the window?”

“Yeah.” Red didn’t seem to see any problem with what she was saying. “She’s in the room right above us, isn’t she? The light was on when I walked by, so I looked up. What’s she doing up there anyway?”

Twilight had to pause and think for a moment. There had been no disturbances in the barrier around her room since Nightowl and Rarity had dropped her off. From ground level, Red shouldn’t have been able to see her on the bed. Just to be sure, Twilight had to ask something. “She was sleeping, but I guess she woke up. What was she doing?”

“Eh, she seemed like she was having an argument. But that’s Page for you. Girl just doesn’t know when to drop it.”

“She’s got plenty of energy, that’s for sure,” Twilight giggled, realizing that she had been worrying about nothing. Page was the kind of pony that would argue with a brick wall if it got in her way!

“I know, she seemed pretty upset!” the pegasus remarked with a smirk. The corners of her lips twitched the slightest bit as she locked eyes with Twilight. “You know, you’re still technically banished and all, but....” She broke eye contact, looking away as she trotted past. “Thanks. Thanks for coming back.”

The words warmed Twilight’s heart as she let out a sigh of relief. Everything was in order. All they had to do was relax for a few more hours and wait for the culprit to take the bait. If the culprit was somepony inside of the hotel, they were going to have a difficult time whisking everypony away without getting caught. But if the culprit was an outsider, which was more likely, they would immediately alert Twilight of their presence as soon as they got within a few feet of the building.

Wait. Wait a second. Twilight paused mid-trot, her heart pounding inside of her chest. No... something’s not right here. I’m not sure what, but I need to be sure. Okay. We have a grand total of 21 ponies from Everdale on top of our 6, making 27 ponies in this hotel. There’s 26 of us down here in the lobby and one upstairs. If Page was awake, then why hadn’t she left her room yet? According to Red, she was having an argument with somepony, so maybe....

“Having... an argument...?”

An argument?!

“Girls! Upstairs, now!”

The next few moments were a blur to Twilight. within seconds, she found herself trotting up the stairs with a few other ponies. Page was on the second floor, but what if the culprit had already been waiting inside the hotel? This was a four story hotel after all, so it would have been easy for somepony to hide in one of the rooms and wait until Page was isolated from the group!

“Okay, plan!” Twilight hurriedly huffed as she kicked open the door to the second floor. Her actions were miles ahead of her thoughts. “Nightowl, we’ll check on Page. Everypony else, split up and search the other floors! Stay with somepony else at all times!”

As Twilight turned to Nightowl and began to gallop towards room 201, she heard Applejack shouting behind her. “But what’re we gonna do ‘bout Rarity?! She, Red, and that pegasus with the funny accent stayed behind to watch everypony down there!”

Twilight looked back for a moment, doing a mental roll call. Sure enough, Preston, Rarity, and Red had stayed behind with the group.

“They’ll be fine!” Twilight called out as she closed the door to the stairwell with magic. As she approached the room in front of her, a terrifying thought occurred to her. There had been absolutely no disturbances in the barrier around Page’s room. If nopony had entered or left the room after she had been placed there... who had she been arguing with?

“Wait!” Nightowl whispered urgently as they arrived at the door, throwing out a hoof in front of her to keep the unicorn from going any further. He turned and locked eyes with Twilight, who was trying in vain to push him out of the way. “What’s going on? Is Page alright?”

Twilight huffed. “No time to explain. When she arrived, Red looked in the window and saw Page arguing with somepony! There’s somepony else in the hotel. And we need to find them now!”

The gray stallion’s eyes widened and he took a step backwards, fear beginning to show in his features. “W-wait, you mean—”

“I mean that Page is in Danger!” Twilight whispered, worried that the culprit might still be in the room. She didn’t have time to explain the barrier to Nightowl! “Now on the count of three, we bust in, okay?”

“Wait, wait!” the stallion insisted, blocking her path again. “We can’t both go through the front. There’s a side door that leads to the room next to it. You go through there, I’ll take the front.”

“Got it.”

With a curt nod, Twilight quietly dashed into the next room. It reminded Twilight of the room that she had stayed in the night before, meaning that all of the rooms had similar blueprints. Stowing the thought away for further scrutiny, the unicorn rushed past the bed towards the door that lead to room 201.

Just as soon as she reached it, she heard the deafening crack of splintering wood and felt a number of small disturbances in the barrier. Nightowl must have already broken down the front door. As quickly as she could, Twilight whipped around and bucked the door as hard as she could, not even thinking about property damage.

The door gave way, swinging open as the lock broke through the wood. “Page!” Twilight shouted as she scanned the room.

“Page...?”

There was no response. The dark room was entirely empty... except for a large stallion sitting at the foot of the bed.

As Twilight approached him, Nightowl fell back on his haunches and stared out of the window at the dark, cloudy sky. He opened his mouth to speak, but a peal of thunder cut him off, illuminating the room in a brilliant black and white flash.

“Nightowl,” Twilight gasped, her heart pounding heavy in her chest. No, this wasn’t possible! It didn’t make sense at all! There had to be some other explanation, there had to be! The more Twilight thought about it, the harder it became to explain.

Nightowl spoke the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.

“She’s... gone....”