“Ugh... why is everypony so... quiet?”
A purple unicorn mare with a picnic basket on her back and a purple and green baby dragon were walking down the main street of the small village of Ponyville.
“Spike,” The mare looked down at the tiny dragon, “you know that Princess Luna was kidnapped last week.”
The dragon, Spike, instantly regretted what he said, “Oh, right...”
“You need to learn to be more sensitive, Spike.”
“I'm sorry Twilight,” Spike said to the mare, “It's just... I don't deal well with this negative air.”
Twilight Sparkle had moved to Ponyville from Canturlot about a year before hand. Her and her assistant Spike were assigned by her mentor, Princess Celestia to study the magic of friendship. The task was thoroughly enjoyable though as she had met and quickly befriended five other mares in the small village. Together they had a few adventures and grew close.
Twilight sighed, “I can't say I'm coping very well myself.” She frowned, “I hope they find her soon, The Princess is a wreck.” She thought back to the first letter the princess had sent her to tell her of the news, the ink was smudged with tears and the writing was shaky. Princess Luna, who was recently reinstated to her rightful rank as princess, had been kidnapped out of the castle in the middle of the night, there was no trace of her and she herself had reported an intruder on the grounds eariler that night.
“Let's try to get our minds off of that for now.” Twilight said, shaking her head.
“Yeah, today is our day off from the Library.” Spike said with a big smile on his face, he looked at the picnic basket on Twilight's back.
“Yes, we've been planing this picnic for weeks now. Today is a day for fun.” Twilight smiled and looked up at the clouds.
They were on their way to meet with one of Twilight's friends, Rarity, at her boutique.
“Hmmm, Rarity...” Spike drifted off into another one of his daydreams about his crush.
“Wake up lover boy,” Twilight joked, jarring Spike from his fantasies, “We're here.”
They stood in front of a circular, white and purple building, the Carousel Boutique, Rarity's dress shop/house. Twilight went to knock on the front door, but it opened just before he hoof touched it and a small, white unicorn filly with a purple/pink, cotton candy mane stood in the doorway.
“Oh, hello Sweetie Belle.” Said Twilight to the girl, “Is your sister home?”
“I don't think so Twilight,” Sweetie said, “I've been looking for her all day, she invited me to the picnic with you guys.”
“Huh, maybe she's waiting for us at Fluttershy's cottage.” Twilight guessed, “You can tag along if you want.”
Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up, “Okay Twilight!” She gave a little hop and started to walk alongside.
“We better stop by Rainbow Dash's house real quick,” Spike suggested,” Looks like she might have overslept.” He pointed to the many clouds that still hovered over Ponyville.
“It's on the way to Appeljack's anyway.” Twilight sighed, for being the most loyal friend you could have, Rainbow Dash had a tendency to be unreliable from time to time.
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“Rainbow!” Twilight called up to her friend's cloud house. “Rainbow Dash, are you awake?” There was no response.
A White Pegasus mare with a blue mane walked up behind Twilight with an annoyed look on her face. “Looking for Dash?” She asked.
“Actually yes, do you know where she is?”
“I don't know, but when you find her, tell her that when she skips out on here duties, somepony else has to pick up her slack.” And with an irritated flick of her tail, the Pegasus took of to the sky.
“It's not like Rainbow to completely skip out on her job like this.” Said Spike in a slightly worried voice.
“Hmmm, something doesn't feel right about all of this Spike. Let's get over to Applejack’s as soon as we can.”
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“Applejack!”
“Oh no...” Twilight heard the small voice calling for her big sister. The three rushed over. Applebloom was searching the Apple Family Orchard. “Applebloom!” Twilight called out as she got closer.
The yellow filly with a big, pink bow in her red mane looked over, “Twilight, Sweetie!” A smile replaced the worry on her face as she ran over to greet her friends. “Twilight, have you seen mah sister?”
Twilight frowned, “No Applebloom, We were just coming here to see if she was ready for the picnic...”
Applebloom's smile faded. “Oh, okay...”
“Cheer up Applebloom,” Spike chimed in, “I'm sure shes waiting for us at Fluttershy's!”
Twilight shot Spike a glare.
“Oh, can I go with ya Twilight?” Applebloom bounced happily.
Twilight didn't like this, all of her friends had mysteriously disappeared and she had a hunch Fluttershy wasn't going to be home ether, “Sorry Applebloom, I don't think that will be a good idea.” Applebloom's eyes widened and she fluttered her eyelids. “I... err... uh... Sweetie, why don't you stay here and keep Appelbloom company while we go looking for the others?”
Sweetie Bell and Applebloom both began to pout. “Look,” Twilight said to the girls, “Something fishy is going on here, I'm just looking out for you two. Why don't you got find Scootaloo and play?” Twilight put on her biggest smile.
“Aw, alright Twilight...” complained Appelbloom. The two fillies hung their heads and trotted off toward Ponyville.
“Spike, take the basket back to the Library and meet me at Fluttershy's cottage.”
“So... no picnic?” Spike looked disappointed.
“Sorry Spike, but we have more important things to worry about right now.”
“Aw alright...” Spike took the basket from Twilight's back and headed off to the Library.
Twilight raced off toward Fluttershy's cottage, “Please let me be imagining things.” She thought to herself.
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The cottage was empty. Even the critters were gone save for the the chickens that were fenced in.
“No no no no...” Twilight was stricken with worry, “There's no trace of them, it's like they just vanished.” She looked back at the cottage. It was oddly cold in the area without out the smoke rising from the chimney or the animals playing in the stream.
“Twilight!”
Twilight turned to see spike running toward her, a scroll in his hand. “Spike, what did you find?”
“This letter came just as I was leaving the library.”
“Well, what does it say?” Twilight asked impatiently.
Spike unrolled the scroll, then squinted his eyes, “Uh... Twilight, I don't think the Princess sent this letter...”
“What do you mean? Give me that.” Twilight used her magic to snatch the scroll away from Spike. She examined it closely. Spike was right, this couldn't be the princess's hand writing, it was almost totally illegible. “What is this?” She thought aloud.
She examined the letter again, one word seemed to stand out through the smudged mess, “Everfree”.
“Spike, I want you to go back to the Library.” Twilight said coldly.
“T-Twilight?”
“Now!”
Spike quickly turned to leave, but he then realized what Twilight was about to do, “No Twilight, I'm not letting you go into that forest alone.”
Twilight looked at the stubborn dragon, “Spike, it's too dangerous.”
“That's exactly why I can't let you go alone.”
“You've never been in there before...”
“I'm going with you and that's that!”
Twilight sighed, “Fine, but promise me you'll run at the first sign of danger.”
“Only if you do the same.” Spike grinned.
Twilight smiled, “Alright.” She looked at the Everfree Forest and swallowed. “Spike... I have a bad feeling about this.”
The two of them took off toward the forest.