At the crack of dawn , Midnight rose from his fake sleep to a barely rising sun, an empty barn, and perhaps most startling of all, an empty orchard. It was then that the events of the previous night passed through his mind. The passing, being discovered, forced to do a mind swipe... really, the previous night was an all around misery fest. Today promised to be even worse, at least for the Apple clan. With that, he got up and went to work. After all, somepony had to harvest the apples, right?
As Applejack woke to the dawn sun, she felt... odd. Like something was wrong with her head. Musta got pretty drunk last night, she thought to herself. As she got up for the day, she took a glance outside to see the new unicorn already at work. "Well, darn. That one sure is a hard worker," she mumbled to herself. It was at this point she remembered how sick Granny Smith had been. Best check on her 'fore I go work, she thought to herself. With this in mind, she stumbled down the hall. When she opened the door, it was obvious something was wrong. There was no movement, and more troubling, the only breathing she could hear was her own. Terrified of what she might find, but determined to check, even in the failing hope she was wrong, Applejack walked up to Granny Smith. "Granny? You ok?" she asked with the smallest voice she'd ever used. When there was no response, she checked the old mares pulse.What she found brought to the ground, sobbing.
Big Mac, hearing the noise, sauntered in. "What is it, sis?" he was in the process of asking when he got a good look at Granny Smith. When the realazation hit him, he too fell into tears.
After checking on the two siblings to see if they had discovered Granny Smith yet, and finding that they had, Midnight decided he should go to town. Before he got off Sweet Apple Acres, he heard Applejack cry out behind him, "Find Applebloom!" He turned, looking straight at Applejack, and then gave a small nod, before setting off. Now he had a job to do, and he intended to get it done quickly.
Two hours later, he still hadn't managed to catch the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apparently they'd decided to be Cutie Mark Crusaders: Fugitives! And they were shockingly good at it. He'd seen the three of them briefly right when he entered town, but the moment he called out to Applebloom, her and the other two had dissapeared. After scouring the entire town, from Sugarcube Corner to the Treebrary, he decided he needed help. Desperately. Which was why he was happy to see the menace to life in general, Rainbow Dash. "Hey, you! Rainbow Dash! I need you're help!"
"What do you need? Want me to make a rainbow? Or how about a cloud sculpture? Wanna watch me do my trick routine?" At this point Rainbow was pratically bouncing up and down in the air.
"No, sorry." Rainbow visibly deflated, starting to head back to ground level. "Wait! I need you to help me find Applebloom! She's needed back at the farm, desperatly, but her and her friends have been running from me for two hours now!"
Rainbow perked back up. "Kid catching? Hah! I'll have those little squirts in ten seconds flat!" Without another thought, she zoomed off into the distance, leaving a rainbow behind her. He knew that if he himself hadn't found them with all his spells and power, Rainbow wouldn't find them anytime soon. Still, it was something to be thankful for, that Rainbow hadn't stopped to ask why he needed Applebloom so badly. Leaving Ponyville general to Rainbow, Midnight headed off towards the only places he hadn't checked: Fluttershy's cottage and the Everfree forest.
After another half hour trot, he arrived at Fluttershy's cabin. Knocking on the door, he hoped urgently that the kids were in there, because if they weren't... well, he didn't want to move off any kids today, that was for sure. When ?Fluttershy peeked her head around the door, she squeaked and disappeared back inside. "Wait! Fluttershy! I need help! Do you know where Applebloom and her friends are?"
"No..."
"Oh gods above. I think they're in the Everfree forest! I've already searched all of Ponyville and a good chunk of Whitetail Woods. Only Everfree's left." Midnight gave a sigh, resigned to tearing the forest apart tree by tree if it became neccesary.
At the very moment Midnight finished talking, a rainbow came crashing down to earth, closely followed by Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Twilight. Rainbow hovered up into the air, angst written across her face. "I couldn't find them! None of us could! They're not in Ponyville, and I don't think they're in Whitetail either..."
"I've already reached the same conclusion," Midnight stated. "I believe they went into the Everfree Forest. I'm going after them, the rest of you should organize a search party. Just in case." With that, he turned and galloped into the forest.
"Fluttershy, go with him! Who knows what he might meet?" Twilight admonished, getting Fluttershy out of her cottage, and sending her off to the forest.