Twilight paced back and forth across the map room. Just thinking about the letter made her blood run cold. Worse still, as the situation in the Dragon Lands worsened in Ember’s absence, her friends were late.
I should’ve expected this, she let out a long sigh. I know how busy everypony can be. Why did I give them a specific time, again?
A stupid question. She knew why she’d asked. It was for her own sake, to stave off anxiety rather than anything realistic. Which, ironically, doubled the stress factor.
After more than three hours of waiting—two of which were before the scheduled time—Spike burst through the door with his friends in tow.
“Sorry we're late!” he announced. “I wanted to get everyone together first.”
“Thank Celestia you came,” Twilight said as they took their seats around the map. “We have a dangerous situation on our hooves.”
“About the dragon lands, right?” said Rainbow Dash. “Don't worry, Twi. We all got your letter.”
“Is this the part where we all get the elements of harmony and be like, zam! Kapow! Rainbow power whoosh,” Pinkie Pie motioned through every sound effect she could think of. “Then no more undead dragons, right?”
“I wish it was that simple, Pinkie,” Twilight sighed over the letter she held in her magic. “From what Peridot Pop wrote, we know Garble is deliberately stirring up tensions. Even if we could face down Torch on our own, it wouldn't fix the broken friendships between ponies and dragons.”
“Well, how's the relations lookin', Equestria-side?” asked Applejack. “I admit, I don't see many dragons 'round my neck of the woods, save for Spike and a few other Friendship School students. That said, I'd never turned away a potential customer.”
“Neither would I,” added Rarity. “Besides Smoulder, dragons don't take much interest in fashion. Though I will admit, ponies tend to rush their business when dragons visit my boutiques.”
“I have the opposite problem,” admitted Fluttershy. “I get a lot of dragons around my sanctuary, wanting to learn about my animal friends. They helped me overcome my dragonphobia, but as they became regulars, fewer ponies wanted to work with them.”
“What about you, Starlight?” Twilight asked. “Did you bring the student census like I asked?”
“No, but I did one better,” Starlight smiled, ripping a sheet of paper from her notepad. “The actual census is a huge document, but I've kept a running tally of each creature type attending each year to summarise it.”
“And? How many dragons are there compared to other creatures?”
Her smile dropped. “Yeah, about that...” she cleared her throat. “There's been a steady decline in dragon attendees, though that rate has slowed since Chancellor Neighsay was kicked from the EEA. I guess he did a lot more damage behind the scenes, huh?”
“Pardon my ignorance, Twilight,” Rarity chimed in. “But are you certain this business about Torch's resurrection is factual? Not that I don't trust you, but you must admit, it does sound a little far-fetched.”
“I didn't want to believe it, either,” she conceded. “But the bruising on Ember's chest are consistent with dragon claw marks, and I don't think she'd lie about something so extravagant.”
“So, what do we do, Twilight?” asked Pinkie. “I'm always inviting dragons to my parties, but most of them never accept! Wasn’t your meeting with Ember last month all about that?”
“It was, Pinkie,” Twilight held her head in her hooves, ears drooping. “But now everything's gone from bad to worse. Besides this, I’ve got missing unicorns reports from all over Canterlot!”
“Now wait just an apple buckin' minute,” Applejack interjected. “Why didn't ya tell us about this sooner, Twi? This could be important!”
Twilight blushed. “Ugh, I'm sorry, Applejack. I've been so stressed over everything lately, I must've skipped over that issue. So much for being the most organised Princess in Equestria.”
“Now, now, Twilight,” Rarity comforted. “Beating yourself up won't get us anywhere. We all make mistakes, after all.”
“I swear, if Spitfire had a bit for every time I forgot my officer's uniform, she'd be the richest mare in Equestria!”
“What's important is that we're here now,” added Fluttershy with a soft smile. “Even Princesses need help sometimes. My sanctuary wouldn't be the same without its volunteers! If some creature is threatening the Equestrian Alliance, we will be the first to deal with it.”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Pinkie, pulling out her party cannon. “And I do know dragons who love my parties and get along with every creature. If we can make them smile, we can do anything!”
“Also, I've already begun preliminary investigations into the missing unicorns, Celestia and Luna,” Starlight flipped her notepad back a few pages. “So, whatever we decide to do, we have something to work with.”
Twilight felt her heart swell at her friends’ magnanimous effort. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”
“More to the point,” Rarity continued. “I will admit to hearing rumours about disappearing unicorns. If the hearsay is to be believed, it's a result of spontaneous pony combustion. I dismissed it as just another urban legend at first, but there may be a grain of truth to it after all.”
“Oh, yeah, Smoulder told me about that,” added Spike. “Now that I think about it, maybe it has something to do with what Peridot described?”
Twilight hummed in thought, connecting the dots in her head. “I think you’re onto something, Spike.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Dash tried not to sound impatient. “We can’t just go around asking about suspicious dragons. Trust me, I’ve worked with the Wonderbolts on crowd control duty, the last thing we wanna do is make a scene.”
“Oh, oh, I have an idea!” Pinkie threw up her hoof, desperate to get Twilight’s attention.
“Just speak your mind, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled. “This isn’t a lecture.”
She cleared her throat and pulled out a laminated card from her mane. “I was already planning to host Trixie’s birthday party this Saturday, and she’s gonna be unveiling some amazing new tricks to all her friends. If this pony-killer only takes out unicorns, this’ll be the easiest trap in the book!”
She then pulled out a thick, leather-bound book called ‘The Big Book of Booby Traps’ and turned to a page somewhere in the middle. Sure enough, under the title of ‘Easiest Trap’ was a simple diagram depicting just what she’d described.
“Of course, I almost forgot!” Starlight exclaimed, blushing slightly. “Not that I usually forget about ponies’ birthdays, mind you, hehe…”
“Anyway,” Twilight continued. “Starlight, you and I will use a simple cloaking spell to hide close to Trixie. So far, the culprit has never attacked in public, meaning they’re likely to strike at Trixie during rehearsals. Spike, you work with Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Smoulder on security. Keep a list of every creature that goes in or out the designated party area.
“Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy; you three will work on the festivities. Make every creature as relaxed as possible, so those with a score to settle can be picked out easily. Once we’ve weeded out our suspect, we can reveal them and finally get the information we need to bust this case wide open!
“If everything goes to plan, we should have enough info to help both Ember and the Dragon Land ponies!”