Nightmare Moon hurriedly flew to see why the spell was breaking apart. If it breaks apart, then the real world time would catch up with the city, the bubble would shrink and causing anything within the bubble to be trapped, just to get crushed into oblivion by the rapidly shrinking bubble. Why did Nightmare do this? She wanted to have a kingdom of her very own, away from the almighty Celestia.
It worked, for about fifteen years according to the outside world, but it felt like she had been there for only two. Oh well, if the bubble breaks, then the Elements of Harmony currently in her possession would be killed along with Princess Luna. But then Nightmare Moon wouldn't exist if Luna died. Nightmare thought about all this as she tried to strengthen the barrier but it was just too huge. She hated to admit it but she needed help from the Element of Magic.
With Applejack …
"Five years?" Applejack asked the young Alicorn Princess.
"Yes. It has been five years since you, Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Aunty Luna have been in the bubble."
"But, we were there for only three days."
"I know that this must be hard to comprehend but maybe you should see your friends back in Ponyville? I'm sure that would help." Cadence soothingly said.
Applejack just nodded and walked out of Cadence's lavish room. She wandered around the Crystal Empire, seeing if anything was different. It doesn't look like anything has changed. The crystal ponies still looked shiny and delicate, the stores still had the same wares. She bought a few gifts for her friends back in Ponyville as well for her family and headed for the train to Ponyville.
In Ponyville …
Applejack hopped off the train and headed for Twilight's library. It seemed the safest place to be at the moment. She knocked on the door and a green and purple dragon opened the door.
"Applejack?" Applejack quickly invited herself in and sat on one of the couches in the living room. It didn't look different. The shelves were all around the house, filled with books, still kept neat and tidy thanks to Spike. "Applejack? What are you doing here? I thought you were dead." Spike nervously looked at Applejack as she held her head and stared into the grains of the wooden floor beneath her hooves.
"Guess what Spike? Ah'm not." She said sadly. "Is Rarity and Fluttershy still in Ponyville?"
"Yeah, why?" Spike asked curiously.
"Don't tell them Ah'm here yet. Okay Sugarcube?" She seemed distant but Spike just shrugged it off and looked for a piece of parchment and quill. She didn't say anything about not telling the Princess.
Dear Princess Celestia…
In the dungeons of Time Castle …
"Twilight? Oh Twilight?" Pinkie tried to bring Twilight back to reality while Rainbow looked for a way out of the dungeons. In the recent tremor all the bars were shaken out of their grooves, allowing Pinkie and Rainbow to try and bring Twilight back. They didn't know that she was stuck inside her head, thinking about the consequences of a time-distortion bubble this size. As far as she has read, and she's read a lot of books on spells, she's only come across this spell once. It was in The Lost Kingdom …
After everypony had left to get ready for the Crystal Empire, she had looked through the book, from start to finish. On the last page, however, there was a note. It looked like it was done recently. The note stated that something had happened to the Lost Kingdom. It was under a powerful time-distortion bubble spell. The spell was so huge, that it encompasses the whole of the kingdom. If this spell were to start breaking down, it would have extremely disastrous side-effects. The side-effects included are:
1. The slow but swift deterioration of the spell would cause the bubble to rapidly shrink, causing everyone caught inside it to be trapped.
2. If they're trapped, there is no hope of escape. The bubble will eventually close in on itself, causing everything inside it to be crushed into oblivion.
3. A final note, it can cause-
There was more but it seemed that the note was torn off at the bottom, probably the pony who put it there in the first place. There was a knock and as Twilight opened it, she was instantly pulled out of the library and hurried over to the train station.
She eventually resurfaced from her introspection and saw Pinkie hurriedly shaking her shoulders. It was making Twilight's head jiggle about and she felt it was in danger of snapping off totally.
"… GO!" It sounded like Dash was calling from a distant place.
"Wha …" Twilight was still in a daze.
"… WE HAVE TO GO!" Rainbow Dash was shouting in her ear. Pinkie was having none of this, so she quickly grabbed Twilight, stuffed her into Pinkie's Party Cannon and shot her out of the barrel, accompanied with streamers and confetti, and straight into Nightmare Moon. There were a couple of resounding booms and two ponies quickly followed after her.
For once Pinkie wasn't screaming with delight or joy. In fact she wasn't screaming at all. She was snoring! Rainbow quickly hugged Pinkie mid-flight and crashed into Nightmare Moon. She hugged them for a brief few seconds and then threw Pinkie and Dash back into the dungeon. She carried Twilight to the barrier and instantly fixed her.
"What do you want with me?" Twilight asked fearfully.
"I want you to help me strengthen the barrier!" Nightmare shouted so that she could be heard over the increasingly high-pitched wind.
"Why?" Twilight was starting to shout too. She looked around and saw that the city was starting to crumble. "What about my friends?"
"Forget them." Nightmare responded to the bookworm's question.
"Get them for me or I won't help."
"Then die!" The way she said it was forceful and cruel.
With Spike and Applejack …
A knock sounded on the door of the library.
"I'll get it." Spike answered the door and who would stand in the door. By the way Spike started to do his weird flying thing Applejack knew it was Rarity.
"Hello Spike. I was wondering if I could borrow a book? I need it to help me learn a few-" She stopped talking as she noticed Applejack on her way in.
"Applejack? Darling, I thought you were dead."
"Yeah, apparently everyone's thinking that these days. It's not like Ah wasn't DEAD or anything." When Applejack shouted the word 'dead' Rarity cringed slightly.
"But, wait, let me-"
"Explain? Why would ya need ta explain anything? Ah can see it clearly mahself."
"As I was saying, Fluttershy and I waited for two years for you girls to come back. Two years. Do you know how hard it's been? Know how hard it's been for your family? They were crying for a whole week straight. The apples didn't get bucked so they had to hire help to do it for them. You missed Applebloom getting her cutie mark. Everyone's moved on." Rarity silently left after that while Applejack just had a shocked look on her face. She forgot her book on new sewing methods.
"Ah missed all that?"
"I didn't want to tell you until I thought you were ready but, yeah." Spike sadly said.
He tried to get Applejack to go to Sweet Apple Acres but it was no use. She wouldn't budge. Spike sent a letter to Applejack's family, to say that he needed to tell them something. Applejack went missing a few hours later, saying that she had to go and look at a watch shop. Doctor Whooves was minding his own business when the bell rang at the front of his store. He sat up behind his desk and greeted the orange mare before him.
"Good afternoon, how may I help you?" He greeted her.
"Ah'm doing fine Doc. Listen, ever heard of a time-distortion spell before?"
"Yes. I actually read about it in one of Twilight's books. I believe it was called he Lost Kingdom?" Applejack gasped.
"How do ya know 'bout that book?"
"It came in the mail for me yesterday."
"Anyway, did it say anything about causing tremors and whatnot?"
"No, can't say that it did. Why?" She couldn't believe that was about to say this,
"The Lost Kingdom is real."