The first step was to survey the damage done. Twilight set up her telescope on a hill-top just outside of town and scanned the mountain.
“Weird. No fires, no wreckage – it's like the Palace and the High City were just erased.” Twilight looked up from the eye-piece of the telescope and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, fly over the area. See if you –“
Rainbow Dash's spectral trail already stretched across the sky. Fluttershy shrugged and frowned.
“So you don't see anypony hurt, right? They might all still be OK?” She was obviously terrified.
“We have no way to know. Not until we have a look. There's no obvious danger right now.” Twilight tried to reassure her friend.
“So, no obvious danger... just mysterious, sneaky, we won't know until it gets us danger.” Fluttershy's lower lip trembled. “That's just... wonderful,” she said weakly.
Behind them, Rarity was using her horn to help Applejack prepare Twilight's balloon for the trip to what remained of Canterlot.
“Are you still fussin' with that harness?”
“If I don't 'fuss' with it,” Rarity stated, “it won't work properly. So, do we have one pegasus towing us, or two?”
Applejack looked skeptically at Fluttershy, who had a far-away look in her eyes. Applejack ambled over to her friend and waved a hoof in front of Fluttershy's eyes.
Fluttershy did not react – her forced smile and distant gaze remained unchanged.
“Ah think we got one pegasus.”
Rarity harrumphed, and returned to securing the tow lines.
Rainbow Dash returned, banked, and came to a cantering landing. “The Lower City is still there, and everypony is freaking out! The Royal Guards are all over the place.”
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash as she slowed to a trot and halted. “And what about the Palace? Or the High City?”
“Nothing! Absolutely nothing! It's like it was never there!”
Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes. Behind her, she folded her telescope and guided it into her saddlebags. “Well, everypony get ready. We depart for Canterlot!”
Rarity strutted over to Rainbow Dash and Twilight, levitating a bejeweled bridle and harness. “Now, Dash – be a dear and put this on.”
Rainbow Dash was flabbergasted. “How about – no.”
“It's more comfortable than towing the balloon with your mouth, offers better control –”
“It's kinky.” Rainbow Dash remained stubborn.
“Just because some ponies use them for, shall we say, recreational activities, I assure you that there is no shame in using the right tools for the job. Now be a dear, Rainbow Dash, and hold still.”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Ahem. As I was saying.... we depart for Canterlot!” She smiled awkwardly.
“Oh, all right. Let's get this over with.”
The balloon approached the High City.
Twilight scanned the ground with binoculars, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Beside her, Pinkie Pie jabbered.
“Do you think it's some meanie? I don't, it'd have introduced itself by now. They always do, they need the attention and to know that they're big and bad and scary. I bet it was an accident, because who'd do something silly like erasing cities on purpose? I sure wouldn't. So I'll bet it's not Nightmare Moon because she's big and scary and likes for everypony to know it, and it's not Discord because it's just not random and chaotic like –”
Twilight gently placed a hoof on her pink friend's mouth.
“Stop making sense, Pinkie. It's disturbing.” She looked behind her, to where Applejack and Rarity were looking after Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, are you OK?”
Fluttershy sat stiffly in the basket with a very fake looking smile plastered on her face. Her eyes were closed tightly. “I'm just fine. You don't need to fuss over me.”
Applejack and Rarity exchanged quick sidelong glances. Twilight shrugged and returned to searching with her binoculars. “Hah! Rainbow Dash, set down by the falls to our right. I think I see something!”
A few moments later, the balloon set down. Applejack leaped out of the basked and expertly drove wooden stakes into the ground with her hooves, which Rarity used to tie down the balloon with the mooring lines. Rainbow Dash released her harness from the tow ropes and swept the bridle from her face.
Fluttershy waited until the balloon was no longer moving, then flapped her wings, propelling her out of the basket.
Twilight Sparkle slowly approached the object on the ground, head lowered.
“A book?”
Rainbow Dash laughed. “Ha! Twilight's arch-enemy! Gonna read it until it gives up?”
“Very funny, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight lifted the book up with her horn and glared at it. “This isn't an ordinary book. It's... alive.”
“Alive?” Fluttershy sounded hopeful. “May you can talk to it and ask it nicely to put everything back. Find out what it wants...”
“It's worth a try.” Twilight lifted her head and closed her eyes. “Here goes...”
Her mind made contact. Twilight Sparkle's eyes rolled back and her jaw hung open loosely. The other ponies approached her, concerned.
With a jolt and a strangled scream, Twilight Sparkle's horn extinguished, and the book fell to the ground. She leaped back, running into Fluttershy.
Fluttershy wrapped her wings around the trembling unicorn, who babbled, “...there's so many of them... there's too many of them...”
Fluttershy nuzzled her friend. “There there. Just stay here until you feel better.”
“...everypony's in there... and the others... and it's all so huge inside... and it's hungry...”
Pinkie Pie scowled at the book. “So, a big bad meanie book. Hmph.”
“Why don't we just zap it with a rainbow and make it a nice book?” Rainbow Dash eyed the book suspiciously.
Twilight's head was pressed against Fluttershy's chest. The unicorn looked up.
“The Elements of Harmony are there to maintain balance – they can heal a broken heart, restore the natural order – but this... thing... has no heart.” Twilight looked downcast. “And it's doing what comes naturally. It's a book. It contains words and ideas and stories. And it's alive and hungry and wants to live forever.”
Twilight stood up, and Fluttershy released her. The unicorn turned to her friend.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.”
“It's all right.”
“I..”
“Don't worry about me. I had a nice, quiet nervous breakdown on the way here and I'm fine now.” The pegasus smiled sweetly.
“Um... good.” Twilight Sparkle's friends had formed an impromptu circle. Twilight strode to the center and raised her head high.
“So – this book doesn't want to be about just one story. It wants to be about all the stories, and the stories of the writers of the stories, and so on, until it's about everything everywhere.”
She turned to the book, fixing it with a fierce glance. “Right now, it's holding the Princesses and the population of the High City hostage.”
Applejack set her jaw. “So we have to git in there and get 'em out.”
“Exactly! So, who's with me?”
One by one, each of the other five ponies nodded.
With some apprehension, Twilight levitated the book and opened it to the first page.
“Everypony ready?”
The other five ponies looked at her expectantly.
“Here we go.” Twilight began reading.
“In the beginning was the Word –”
There was a flash of light, and six ponies disappeared.
The book fell to the ground, covers closed.