Shining Armor's friends had no idea of what was going on in Canterlot, and even if they did they likely wouldn't have cared. Heck, as far as the citizens of Ponyville were concerned, just a few hours ago everything had seemed normal. And then, without warning, The Everfree Forest had gone berserk and was now invading the quiet little town at an alarming rate!
Fluttershy's cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville was the first place to find itself thrust into chaos! With The Everfree Forest expanding rapidly, accompanied by thick black vines with thorns, animals big and small alike were forced to flee and they sought shelter with the one pony they knew would protect them.
"Goodness, I've never seen so many animals here before," Thunderlane commented, helping Fluttershy conduct a head count. "This place feels like a zoo!"
"Oh, I'm sure it's not as bad as the animals are making it out to be," Fluttershy reassured Thunderlane. "Chances are The Everfree's just reacting to something, and whatever it is it'll all blow over soon."
"Um, about that. You might wanna take a look outside," Rumble nervously replied, his face pressed up against one of the cottage windows. "The Everfree looks like it's gone crazy!"
Fluttershy wasn't concerned, she'd stood up to Discord of all creatures, practically nothing phased her anymore. "Oh come now, Rumble. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's nothing you need to really worry about," She boldly stated, before she opened her cottage door and screamed! Thick black thorny vines had already overwhelmed her front yard, and they were continuing to expand rapidly! Some of them were even starting to form a sort of protective barrier to block off the cottage! Fluttershy slammed the door shut, panting heavily. "Oh, no, you were right. You should be worried! Very, very worried!"
"Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so!" Rumble commented, while his hooves started to shake uncontrollably.
Thunderlane was quick to take charge. "Rumble, you stay here with Fluttershy and don't go outside for anything! I'm going to get to the bottom of this!" And before anypony could say or do anything in protest, Thunderlane flew off, just barely managing to make his way past the thick vines. "Some Summer Sun Celebration this is turning out to be." He thought to himself.
As the encroaching Everfree continued to advance towards Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres was the next major location to find itself under attack. Black wweds were sprouting up everywhere!
"Come on, ya'll! Put your backs into it!" Applejack instructed, as she and each of her family members tried to pull up the weeds sprouting up on their soil. But the vines seemed to have a mind of their own, constantly avoiding any attempts by the Apple family to grab them and yank them up out of the ground.
"I ain't ever seen vines like these before," Big Macintosh commented. "They ain't natural!"
Just then, a high pitched whistle split the air. "Hey, you guys need a helpin' hoof or two?" Braeburn asked with a smile.
"Cousin Braeburn, what are you doin' here? I thought you were on your way back to Appleloosa?" Apple Bloom asked.
Braeburn removed his hat as he somberly stated. "All the trains have been shut down because of these here vines. Nopony's gettin' in or out as long as them darn vines are hangin' 'round! Figured the least I could do was try to make myself useful!"
"Well, don't just stand there, we need all the help we can get!" Granny Smith bellowed. "These here vines ain't gonna clear themselves, and I'll be darned if The Everfree Forest thinks it's gonna just uproot the Apple Family. We ain't goin' anywhere, not while I'm still kickin'!"
Braeburn couldn't help but chuckle, as he joined the effort to pull up the weeds. "Been a long time since I seen such a fire in your eyes, Granny! But I guess that's to be expected when your home's under attack!"
"Hey... uh.. not that I mean to divert attention from these here weeds or anythin', but what in tarnation's goin' on with the sky?" Apple Bloom asked, pointing to it. "It can't be half day and half night, can it?"
"I'm more worried about them clouds, personally," Applejack replied, as she noticed clouds with the same black color and thorny exterior as the vines that were continuing to advance on Ponyville. "They don't look like any kind of clouds I ever seen before!"
Earth ponies and pegasi weren't the only ones to find themselves powerless against the invading Everfee. At Carousel Boutique, Fancy Pants was starting to notice something was happening to unicorns as well, when Rarity suddenly appeared to lose control of her magic and drop a full tea kettle.
"Miss Rarity, watch it! That was boiling hot tea you almost spilled on me!" Fancy Pants remarked.
"I'm terribly sorry, Fancy Pants, I swear it wasn't me," Rarity protested. "My horn seems to have developed a mind of its own now."
"She's right," Fleur declared, rushing into the living room on the boutique's ground floor. "My magic has completely failed, I can't even lift a sewing needle. And it gets worse, Sweetie Belle's horn seems to be surging out of control!"
"What?!" Rarity and Fancy Pants both exclaimed at once.
And indeed it soon turned out to be true. "Rarity, you have to help me! I think something's wrong with my horn!" Sweetie Belle pleaded, as she was levitated off the ground in an unfamiliar blue glow of magic that nopony could ever recall seeing before. "I know Mom and Dad warned me about magic surges, but I didn't think they'd start happening so soon!"
Rarity was at her little sister's side in an instant. "Sweetie, this isn't your doing! Something's taken control of you!"
"Whatever it is, I don't like it! It's making me do stuff I don't wanna do! Please, you've got to make it stop!" Sweetie Belle pleaded, as her horn somehow managed to bring a recently finished dress resting on a ponyquin to life! The light pink colored robe lunged at Fleur with a monsterish passion.
Rarity intervened, cutting through the dress with a pair of scissors. "A lady is always prepared for any emergency!" She vowed, holding the scissors tightly in case anymore of her, her boss, or her boss' wife's creations came to life. But nothing seemed to happen, the magic left Sweetie's horn just as quickly as it had arrived.
"That was no ordinary surge," Fleur commented, holding an exhausted Sweetie Belle. "Something is not right here! I thought something was odd with the sky when I saw the sun and the moon appear side by side!"
"I hate to admit it, but I saw the same thing," Rarity replied. "Whatever is the world as we know it coming to?!"
It didn't take long for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to decide that this invasion of The Everfree Forest was being caused by something, and that if it wasn't stopped the forest would likely invade half of Equestria. Wasting no time, they rushed to the Golden Oaks Library to find Twilight.
"I was just about to send a message to Cadence informing her of what's going on," Twilight told the five stallions that had gathered. "I've looked through every book I can find, but found nothing. This is something that defies all logical explanation!"
"Well, send that message anyway!" Soarin instructed. "Maybe Cadence will know something we don't!"
"And what about Shining Armor?!" Thunderlane asked. "He has to know about this!"
Big Macintosh shook his head. "We can't depend on Shining Armor to solve all our problems for us! Chances are he and the princesses are already aware of what's goin' on and are workin' on a way to stop it!"
"But what about the sun and the moon?" Braeburn commented. "It's not like the princesses to leave both up in the sky at the same time!"
"I've tried to send a message to Shining Armor v.i.a. Spike," Twilight spoke up, before she glumly added. "Unfortunately, it seems even that magic has been blocked by The Everfree Forest, none of my messages to him have gotten through. Oh, I hope they're alright, wherever they are!"
"Now don't you worry about Shining Armor, or Spike for that matter," Soarin declared. "They've been in tough spots before and know how to handle themselves."
"I know, but there's no telling how far The Everfree Forest has expanded in the past few hours," Twilight anxiously replied, trotting in place. "It could've spread as far as Canterlot, maybe even beyond! And even if it hasn't, it could reach that place within another hour or two!"
"Then there's no time to waste, send that letter to Cadence and then assist us in our search!" Fancy Pants instructed. "This is one time we can't wait for instruction on how to proceed, if we don't act fast there may not be an Equestria left to save!"
Twilight reluctantly sent the letter, and quickly recieved a reply from Cadence, which she read outloud: "As much as I would love to come down and help out in Ponyville, the guards are quite insistent that I remain in the safety of The Crystal Empire. I have not recieved word from Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but I am told Shining Armor and Spike are safe. I will check the library here at my crystal castle and send another letter if I find anything helpful. Sorry I can't be of more help to you, Princess Cadence."
"Well if that don't take the biscuit!" Braeburn remarked, throwing his hat down on the ground. "Guess it's up to us to save the day, with or without Shining Armor's help!"
Unknown to any of the occupants inside the Golden Oaks Library, Shining Armor and Spike were already well on their way to Ponyville. In fact, they were rapidly approaching the library at a break neck speed!
"Slow down!" Spike cried to Shining Armor.
"Hey, no one likes a back seat driver, Spike!" Shining protested, while flapping his wings. "This was the fastest way to get to Ponyville and get the Elements of Harmony!"
Suddenly, the Golden Oaks Library came into view, and began to quick grow bigger and bigger as Shining and Spike approached it! But Shining found that he couldn't stop himself, his wings refused to slow down their fluttering!
Spike was concerned! "Shining, watch out for that window! We're gonna crash!" He cried!
"Not if I can help it!" Shining vowed, and lit up his horn. He disappeared in a flash, and reappeared inside the library, crashing into a pile of books.
"Well, speak of the devil," Fancy Pants remarked. "So nice of you to drop in, Shining Armor."
"Um, I know you don't really live here very much anymore," Thunderlane began, sticking his head up from a pile of books. "But I do hope you know we wouldn't go through your sister's books without permission."
"What are you talking about? The books belong to the library, they're for the public," Shining remarked, dusting himself off from his crash landing. "Where's Spike?"
A sudden "Thonk!" answered Shining's questions, as he Spike smack face first into the library window. Twilight carefully opened it, and pulled the dragon inside. Luckily, he wasn't hurt.
"Ah, sweet ground!" Spike remarked, bending down to kiss the floor boards. "Sweet, sweet, wonderful ground! How I've missed you!"
Shining groaned and rolled his eyes. "Okay, I get the hint, I need to work on my flying. You were the one who said taking the carriage would take too long."
"Yeah, well I didn't anticipate you being such a clumsy flyer," Spike replied. "At the least give me a heads up the next time you decide to pull an emergency teleport! You know, you're lucky I have such thick scales, or that might have actually hurt me."
Twilight quickly intervened to break up the fighting. "Alright, alright, break it up you two. We've got more important things to worry about."
"Yeah," Braeburn spoke up. "I mean, I'm sure you've already noticed this, but the Everfree Forest is just a teeny-tiny bit out of control." Suddenly, a huge black vine shot out from nowhere. Braeburn barely had time to duck under it, but poor Fancy Pants ended up getting hit on the broadside.
"That's the understatement of the year." Fancy Pants groaned, as he rose to his hooves. He was a little bit bruised where the vine had struck him, but thankfully he had escaped serious harm.
"Guess you were missin' somethin' here in Ponyville after all." Big Macintosh chuckled.
"But if you're here now, then that has to be a good sign," Soarin commented, buzzing his wings. "Perhaps you already know what's causing this? I mean, you always do seem to be one step ahead of us on these sort of situations."
"Please tell me that the princesses have everything under control in Canterlot, and that there's a perfectly logical explanation as to why the sun and moon are where they are," Fancy Pants pleaded. "Please tell me they sent you here to dispell whatever's causing all of this disorder?"
Shining gulped, and adopted a nervous smile. "Uh... right, the princesses. Hehe.... um..... funny story actually. The thing is... Celestia and Luna... well..."
"They're missing!" Spike cried! "And we don't know who or what took them, or why The Everfree Forest has gone beserk, and... oh.... wow... I can not shut up when I'm scared."
Twilight and all of Shining's friends gasped!
"It's true," Shining confessed, his head hanging low. "We have no leads into their disappearances, we've received no distress messages or ransom notes. However, I have a feeling that whoever or whatever took them is connected to this sudden attack from The Everfree Forest. And I've got a hunch we're going to need the Elements of Harmony to put things right once again." He rushed over to the glass display case the elements rested, lifted it up, and gave each element to its rightful bearer.
"Ah yeah, just like old times!" Soarin remarked.
"Alright, we've got the elements. Now we just need to figure who or what we're supposed to aim these here bad boys at to free Celestia and Luna, and prevent the rest of Equestria from endin' up as plant food!" Big Macintosh remarked. "Any ideas?"
Shining pondered for a while, thinking over all the information he had on him at the moment. Despite being thrust into this leadership situation, he knew he couldn't afford to make any rash judgements. "Who could have the opportunity and the motive to do something like this?" He thought, then a realization slowly dawned on him. "Half day, half night... strange weather patterns... out of control plants. This all the hallmarks of a threat we faced once before."
Thunderlane gulped. "You don't really think he could behind all of this, do you?" He asked outloud.
"Maybe not, Discord's supposed to be reformed," Shining commented. "But even if he's not responsible for this, he should have some idea as to who or what is."
"And how are we supposed to find him? It's not like he has a home here in Ponyville, or anywhere in Equestria for that matter." Braeburn asked Shining.
"There is one way," Shining replied. "Princess Celestia arranged it with Discord shortly after he promised to use his magic for good instead of evil. But we'll need to be out in the open to perform the spell. That way, if anything goes wrong, no one else will have to get hurt."