Twilight Sparkle quickly ran towards the castle, a baby dragon following close behind.
"Why are we -huff- in such a hurry, Twilight?" asked Spike, "we just got back from Canterlot!"
"I know," said Twilight, "that's what I'm worried about. Our friends should have been at the train station to greet us. They knew we would be back today, but they weren't there." She looked worriedly at the Castle, whose normally bright exterior is dimmer than usual. Suddenly, the castle became dark, and Twilight let out a small gasp. She teleported herself and Spike to the front door of the castle to asses the situation.
Once she was there, the door was completely open.
"Um, girls? Are you there?" Asked Twilight to the empty living room.
No response.
"Spike, wait here." commanded Twilight as she entered the room.
Everything was pitch black. Twilight was worried. In the entire time that Twilight has been in charge of the castle, never once had it gone out of power. It should have had enough magic in it to keep it bright every night.
Twilight checked every room, and eventually found Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack all huddled together in the East corridor. They seemed to be listening for something. When they looked up. They immediately jumped on Twilight in joy.
"Twilight, thank goodness you're here" said Rarity in whispers.
"It's nice to see you girls," said Twilight, relieved that her friends weren't hurt. "but what's going on? Why is the castle dark?"
"Ah dunno, but ah think we got other things to worry about." said Applejack, "like, the fact that Fluttershy hasn't been seen since yesterday."
"Huh?" Twilight became worried again. "But, where could she have disappeared to?"
"We checked everywhere in Ponyville! Even the Everfree Forest!" Rainbow Dash pointed to the door. "The only place we haven't checked was that room, 'cause it's locked."
"Locked?" Twilight went up to the door and tried to push it. It wouldn't budge. "That's strange, I didn't lock any doors. Have any of you tried calling her name yet?"
All the ponies shook their heads. Twilight leaned close to the door to see if she can hear anything move. She thought she heard some heaving breathing, as if from a hurt animal, but she wasn't sure.
"Hello? Is everything okay in there?" Twilight strained to hear if there was a response. The heavy breathing seemed to quiet down.
"Fluttershy, are you in there?"
Finally, she heard the familiar quiet voice. "Twilight, is that you? I'm in the-"
Then, a loud frightening scream cut through the nearly silent room, causing every pony to jump back in fear. Unfortunately, being in a hallway, this caused every pony to trip over each other and fall down.
Moments later, a bipedal creature charged out of the room still screaming. He saw the ponies on the floor, and screamed even louder. Twilight heard the phrases "need to leave" and "run away" among the mostly incoherent nonsense.
Then he fell on the ground, silent. It wasn't that he simply just couldn't process this information and his brained ceased functioning, but when you start screaming and running around, it's highly unlikely that a unicorn wouldn't try to put an end to it. Especially if that unicorn happens to also be a very panicky alicorn.
Spike came running in. "Is everything okay? I thought I heard-" He stopped when he saw the creature on the floor. He poked at it. "Um, Twilight? Is that thing... you know... dead?"
Twilight casted a spell to lift him up and observed him. "Hmm... I think he's okay. I only casted a knock-out spell, putting him into a deep sleep. If anything, it would probably make him refreshed when he wakes up. Maybe then he'll stop yelling." She let him go, causing him to fall back down with a thud. "Whoops, well, maybe not completely refreshed."
"But what the hay is that thing?" Asked Applejack. "It could be dangerous."
"OOH! I know, maybe it's a Minotaur!" blurted Pinkie Pie, "No wait, he doesn't have horns. Oh, maybe it's a centaur! No wait, that's not right either, it only has two legs." Pinkie Pie continued to ramble on about how the creature on the floor could not be the various creatures she listed.
Fluttershy spoke up. "Um... I don't think he's dangerous..."
"Huh?" Twilight was studying the creature, but Fluttershy's word caught her attention. "How do you know this thing isn't dangerous. Do you know what it is?"
"Um, well... no." Admitted Fluttershy. "But I've seen this thing around the castle for quite a while, and he hasn't caused any harm. He seemed to be more scared, actually."
"Wait, you've seen him for a while?" Rainbow Dash was confused. "Fluttershy, I hang out with you, like, all the time, and I have never seen you with this... thing. How long have you seen him?
"Oh, he started to show up around the castle about five days ago."
"FIVE DAYS?!?" Everypony was shocked. Twilight continued. "Fluttershy, that's when I left for Canterlot! Why didn't you let me know?"
"Well, I didn't want to bother you on your important business in Canterlot, and I didn't want to make the rest of you worried." Fluttershy jumped as the body, still unconscious, rolled over into a more comfortable position to sleep in.
"Fluttershy, darling, you were suppose to inform of any unusual activity during the day so we can fix it!" said Rarity. "What has he been doing all these days?"
"Well, he's just been walking around the castle. He mostly stays in that one room." Fluttershy points to the room, which had books strewn all over the floor. "He seemed to be worried about not being able to get back home. I wanted to help, but I don't know where his home is."
"Hmm..." Twilight looks at the creature more carefully. She couldn't help but think that she has seen this species from somewhere. A book maybe? She needs to study this more.
"Well, there's only one way to find out" Twilight took the sleeping creature and laid him carefully onto a couch. "C'mon, girls, let's get this placed fixed up before he wakes up."