Midnight began to stir, as his internal clock rang its own alarm that slowly but surely roused him awake. He realized he’d fallen asleep on his chair, lying on the desktop. He’d insisted last night to Twilight he’d finish up the last bit of work and all but forced her to bed. Waking up, he yawned and stretched some kinks out of his back from the position he’d slept through when he noticed something was off. It wasn’t very bright outside, and since he was right in front of a window the morning should have been what stirred him. Looking out, he gasped at what he saw!
“Twilight! Spike!”
“Mmph...”
Twilight was roused by Midnight’s shouting, Spike snoring in his basket, still holding his pencil as he snored, “Check, check, check, check, check…”
“Wake up!” Midnight said more forcefully, Twilight and Spike rising but not exactly shining.
“What time is it?” yawned Spike as he stretched,
“That’s the million-bit question,” Midnight said as he gaped worriedly out the window and they both saw exactly what it was that had him worried!
The sky was neither day nor night but rather a split down the middle of both! The western sky was bright and shiny by the sun whereas the eastern sky was starry and gentle by the moon. Both the sun and moon were up!
“Whoa…! That is weird!” Spike commented in awe.
“What could this mean?!” fretted Twilight.
“I dunno, but we have to get to the bottom of this,” Midnight declared, “Come on!”
Meanwhile, in the Canterlot streets, the locals all fretted and worried, confused by the half-day/half-night that had never happened before.
“What is it?” “I’ve never seen anything like it!” “What do you think it means?!”
“Look, the prince and princess!” somepony pointed out, as Midnight, Twilight, and Spike exited her old tower. “They’ll know what’s going on!”
Almost at once, a frightened mob crowded around the three of them, overlapping questions, neither Midnight nor Twilight able to get a word in edge-wise.
“If I could-”
“I’m sure there’s a logical-”
“Your Highnesses!” two royal guards pushed through the crowd, “Prince Sombra requests your presences, it’s an emergency!”
“Make way, make way!” the other guard commanded to the worried crowd, “Their Majesties are required for Royal Counsel!”
“MOVE IT!” an irritated Spike shouted, blowing green fire upwards for good measure, that finally the crowd got out of the way and Midnight, Twilight, and Spike followed the guards to the castle.
Inside the throne room, Prince Sombra was speaking with some guards, the royal aide, Raven, levitating some scrolls for him to look at, when a guard called, “Announcing their Royal Highnesses, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Midnight Blaze!”
Hearing their arrival, Sombra turned to see his apprentice, along with Twilight and Spike enter the throne room. At once, Sombra flared his wings and stomped his hoof.
“Leave us! I must consult with my fellow monarchs, you are all dismissed!”
The guards and Raven bowed and quickly left, and Sombra sighed in relief, “Princess Twilight, Prince Midnight, thank the goddess you’re both still here!”
“Prince Sombra!” Midnight, Twilight, and Spike approached him, “What in the wide-wide world of Equestria is going on?!”
“Why is both the sun and moon up in the sky at the same time?” Twilight added, “Are the Royal Sisters having a quarrel?”
“That’s just it, Twilight Sparkle!” Sombra fretted, “My beloved, Celestia, and her sister Princess Luna… they’re gone!”
The three of them gasped at Sombra’s words, Twilight worrying, “but I don’t understand! Where are they?!”
“I don’t know, nopony does!” Sombra was pacing back and forth in worry, “It’s as if the Royal Sisters have simply… vanished!”
“Vanished?!” Spike echoed before keeling over.
“Which is why I summoned the both of you,” Prince Sombra explained, “With the Royal Sisters missing, and Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor busy ruling the Crystal Empire, the burden of the throne falls to me! …And I am afraid.”
“Afraid? Why” Twilight asked, not understanding.
“After I was corrupted by the Whisperer, I became a tyrant and slaved many of my former subjects in the Crystal Empire to death…” Prince Sombra said shamefully as he gazed up at his fiancée’s throne.
“After I became an alicorn and my coronation, I was and still am hesitant to trust myself with any royal responsibilities! Even so, Celestia told me should anything like this ever happen I must do my royal duties, and I am sworn not to fail her!”
He then turned to face them, “As to why I called you here, as much as I want to get out there and look for my Celestia and her sister, I am needed here, to insure order and security in Canterlot. I must ask of you both to take charge of an investigation into the Royal Sisters’ disappearance.”
“You can count on us!” Midnight swore, saluting with his wing.
Seeing Midnight this way helped Twilight find her own resolve and add, “We’ll have any Royal Guards we can spare to search for the Royal Sisters! We have to find them before ponies start to panic. There must be some clue that can tell us what’s happened to them.”
“Very well,” Prince Sombra agreed, “and should you find something, anything at all, please keep me in the loop.”
The two nodded determinedly while Sombra sighed and smiled at Twilight.
“I understand you too have been rather daunted by your new royal duties lately, Twilight Sparkle. But the way you stepped up just now, I am certain Celestia would be proud.”
Twilight smiled back a little sheepishly, Midnight and Spike nudging her as Spike added, “I know we are!”
At that moment, they heard the doors fly open, a guard running in, “Your Majesties! News from Ponyville! The Everfree Forest! It appears to be, well… invading!”
The three royals all gasped while Spike keeled over again.
“Invading?! What do you mean, invading?” Midnight demanded, Twilight equally worried.
“The reports are sketchy, Prince Midnight,” the guard said anxiously, “It seems that some strange plant is spreading out of control and it originates from the Everfree Forest! There are apparently other concerns as well, like the unicorns in Ponyville are losing control of their magic and the pegasi are unable to control some strange clouds!”
Twilight, Midnight, and Spike shared a troubled look when Sombra said in a pondering tone, “The Royal Sisters go missing and then strange plants and weather assail Ponyville? This cannot be coincidence. Twilight, Midnight, I’ll have somepony else head the investigation – You two are needed in Ponyville!”
“But Prince Sombra!” Twilight protested, only to feel Midnight hold her hoof.
“Twily, right now, we must act on the immediate problems at hoof,” Midnight pressed, “our friends need us, our home needs us!”
“I give you my word, Twilight Sparkle,” Sombra assured, “that if any new developments appear during the investigation I will keep you informed. Now go! I have a feeling that whatever is behind all of this, you will need your friends and the Elements of Harmony to succeed!”
For a moment Twilight considered debated the dilemma further but she realized they were right. She nodded respectfully, “Yes, Prince Sombra. Come on, boys! Our friends need us!”
“Good luck!” Sombra called to them as they ran out the doors.
As they ran through the streets, they passed by the locals and heard worried gossips and whispers.
“I have a bad feeling about this…!”
I heard that Ponyville is under attack by something!”
“Does that mean Equestria is being invaded?!”
“I just heard that the Royal Sisters are missing!”
“Missing?! But I just saw the new prince and princess run by!”
“Then who’s on the throne right now?”
“Surely not Prince Sombra!”
That one comment brought Midnight to a grinding halt, his keen ears picking up a snooty voice saying, “Prince Sombra, on the Canterlot throne?! Ppth, I’d sooner be ruled by a some country hick!”
“Indeed, I still don’t know what it is Princess Celestia was thinking to even consider that barbarian’s proposal.”
Midnight threw an infuriated look in the direction of those voices and saw some familiar faces in Jet Set, his wife Upper Crust, and with them were a couple crystal ponies who looked nervous.
“Wha-what if… Sombra is behind the Royal Sisters vanishing?!”
“He might be trying to take over Equestria!”
“ENOUGH!!!!!”
All eyes and ears in the streets turned to an incensed Midnight as he stomped up to the two snobs and paranoid crystal ponies.
“I will not tolerate any besmirching of my master’s good name! Prince Sombra loves Princess Celestia, and she loved him enough to forgive and forget! It might be his face you saw when you were tyrannized in the empire but he was corrupted by an evil spirit, and so not truly at fault. Not only that, he knows his duties as a prince and is putting all of you before his wish to find the Sisters himself, and so the task falls to Twilight and I! Right now, we’re off to Ponyville to investigate a dangerous phenomenon that is likely connected to the Royal Sisters’ disappearance. Prince Sombra remains to keep order and all of you safe, you ungrateful lot! So shut up, shape up, or ship out!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty!” The ponies whimpered nervously under Midnight’s piercing turquoise eyes as they bowed and scooted away.
Twilight and Spike gave Midnight troubled looks and when he saw them, his ears drooped.
“Sorry about that…”
“I understand,” Twilight assured, “I’d feel the same way if somepony spoke ill of Princess Celestia. Now come on!”
She took off, Midnight and Spike running to catch up.
“The Everfree Forest is invading!”
She then surprised them by conjuring the Crowns of Magic and Faith, placing them on their owners’ heads.
“Whatever’s behind all this, I’m sure we’ll need our friends and the Elements of Harmony to stop it! I just hope we haven’t missed the train…”
“Uh, Twily? You do realize there’s a quicker way for us to get there than the train,” Midnight spoke up.
Twilight skidded to a halt, “There is?”
Spike however misjudged his running speed and almost tripped, only for Midnight to cushion him with his wing. Shaking it off, Spike pointed out Midnight’s wing and said, “You guys can fly!”
“Oh! Right…” Twilight felt like such a ditz for forgetting that.
Midnight pulled Spike onto his back and flared his wings, “Ya ready?”
Twilight nodded in determination and watched as Midnight kicked off the ground, easily rising into the air before flapping in place to await her. She did the same and lost balance as she’d forgot to keep her flaps in sync.
‘Whoa’ing, she felt Midnight steady her and hold her hoof.
“Let’s go!”
With stronger flaps, they went skyward and soared off to their destination!
In Ponyville, Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and Soarin chased after an errant thundercloud that had some weird spikes coming out of it, only to be chased back by more clouds that shot lightning bolts at them. Below, the Ponyville locals were running and yelling as giant weedy tendrils black and thorny, releasing blue spores that messed up the local unicorns’ auras, and the infestation was spreading all over! The weeds grew quicker than the vain attempts to stop them, covering buildings, ensnaring anything unfortunate enough to get too close.
“Something very strange is going on!” Rarity tread lightly around a sprouting weed as she took shelter on the town hall awning where Blueblood already was.
“I'll say!" Blueblood agreed as he tore at a vine with his horn, "I hope somepony can explain what the hay is going on here!”
“All I know is…!”
They looked up to see Rainbow Dash flap down with Thunderlane and Soarin, “The sky is split in two!”
“Yeah, and these whacked-out clouds sure aren’t from around here,” Thunderlane added.
“Neither are all these crazy plants!”
They looked to see Applejack and Big Mac trying to pull some weeds out of the ground as the big red stallion informed, “They’re comin’ from th’ Everfree Forest!”
“An’ try as we might, us earth ponies cain’t do anything t’ get rid o’ them,” Applejack added.
“Eeyup.”
At that point, Pinkie slid along a weed to convene with the rest as Soarin said, “Yo Blue! Ya got any spells that could whack these weeds good?”
“Unfortunately that's a 'no',” Blueblood sighed, “Whatever these miserable weeds are, they’re releasing some kind of spore that negatively affects us unicorns.”
“Indeed,” Rarity tried lighting up her horn but all she got was a flicker, “this whole ‘raging forest’ thing has left our horns on the fritz!”
“Well we have to figure out something, I’m not sure how much more of this Ponyville can take!” Fluttershy worried when a tendril ensnared her hoof.
She cried out fearfully, spurring Big Mac to lunge at the weed, only for it to let go and cause Big Mac to crash into a wall, groaning, “Nnope…”
Fluttershy checked on her beau, whimpering, “I don’t know how much more we can take!”
“Th’ forest is expandin’, y’all,” Applejack stated while Pinkie Pie stomped up and down on a weed fruitlessly.
"And it seems this infestation shows no signs of slowing down," Blueblood pointed out, "I'm afraid that, before long, these weeds could infest half of Equestria!”
Everypony was worried by Blueblood’s words, and the feeling only grew worse as they saw the viny weeds continue to grow, and curl, and coil and spread their troubling tendrils non-stop!
Meanwhile, Twilight and Midnight flew, Spike astride the blue alicorn, and were flapping as fast as their wings could carry them. As they approached Ponyville skies, they dodged the strange thunderclouds, Spike groaned, "Maybe we should've taken the train after all...!"
Feeling nauseous, he buckled himself in, Midnight giving him a look.
“Where’d you get those seatbelts?”
“Huh?” Spike replied in confusion.
“We’re almost there!” Twilight spoke up while Spike turned green in places he wasn’t supposed to be.
Looking down, Midnight saw their home slowly but surely becoming more and more ensnared by the strange weeds and vines. He then saw Twilight’s old library, Twilight saying, “Come on, guys! We have to get the elements and find the others!”
Twilight instantly dove towards her library, Midnight yelling, “Twilight! Pull up!”
Realizing her mistake, Twilight tried to slow down and almost crashed when a little quick-thinking saved her from a very unpleasant crash.
*FLASH*
*FLASH*
“Yaauugh!” Twilight tumbled head over hoof into a pile of books, taking everpony by surprise as all her friends were looking through books.
*Tap, tap, tap*
Fluttershy looked to the window and smiled to see Midnight and Spike waving. She opened the door to let them in as Twilight freed herself of her books, Rarity rejoicing, “Oh thank goodness!”
Fluttershy took an airsick Spike off midnight’s hooves as she said, “I hope you understand, we couldn’t go through Twilight’s books without good reason!”
Spike freed himself from Fluttershy’s hooves and willfully plopped onto the floor, “Sweet ground! Mwah-mwah! Sweet, sweet wonderful ground!”
“OK, I get it!” Twilight frowned, “I need to work on my flying!”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, “Pinkie popped up, “But the Everfree Forest is just a teeny-tiny bit… out of control!!”
At that moment, Pinkie’s tail twitched, warning her to dodge as a large weed jutted out of nowhere, knocking Rarity down, as Applejack and big Mac struggled to close the window form which the uninvited pest had sprung through.
“Guess it turned out y’all wer’ missin’ sumthin’ here in Ponyville after all.”
“Ee… yup!” Big Mac grunted as he forced the window shut, cutting the weed off from its growth outside.
“But maybe the two of you know what's causing all of this,” Blueblood said hopefully to the two royals. “Has Aunt Celestia sent you both to deal with this matter?”
“Not exactly…” Twilight hesitated.
Midnight twiddled his hooves as he also shied, “Y’see… the Royal Sisters, they, uh…”
“THEY’RE MISSING!” Spike blurted out in near-panic, spurring a round of horrified gasps from their friends.
Midnight slapped the back of Spike’s head with his wing, “Ya couldn’t have let us break the ice a little more gently?!”
“We don’t know what’s become of them,” Twilight admitted as she levitated off the display case holding the Elements of Harmony as well the jewels Celestia made for Midnight, Big Mac, and Thunderlane to summon their Harmonic armor.
“But I’ve got a feeling we’re gonna need the Elements of Harmony to get them back!”
While Twilight distributed the Elements, Midnight took his guardian jewel and gave Mac and Thunder theirs.
“Oh yeah, just like old times!” Rainbow got hyped.
“Boo-yah!” Pinkie hoofbumped Twilight.
“Ah told ya we’d always be connected by th’ elements,” Applejack said to Twilight with a smile before sighing, “Now we jus’ gotta figure out who t’ aim these bad boys at so we can get th’ royal Sisters back an’ prevent th’ rest o’ Equestria from becomin’ one big weedy garden!”
“Any ideas?” Big Mac asked while Blueblood and Soarin stepped back, feeling a little bad they didn’t have their own Elements or armor to help.
“Hmm,” Twilight looked out the window to regard the situation.
“Half day and half night…”
Midnight stood next to her in equal consideration.
“Strange weather patterns…”
“Out of control plants!”
They shared a look as Midnight asked, “Are you thinking of whom I’m thinking…?”
“I believe I am,” Twilight turned to face their friends, “I think we have a pretty good idea of who’s behind all this!”
The friends all trotted out to the town square, the most spacious area around, what with all the crazy weeds. The bearers of the Elements stood in a circle while Big Mac and Thunderlane, they and Midnight clad in their Harmonic armor, took their positions in case they needed to summon up the magic-dispelling barrier they as the Guardians of Harmony could conjure together.
Blueblood and Soarin stood by and watched as Twilight and Midnight concentrated their powers into their elements, the powering of them up reacting with the rest as all the elemental jewels began to shine. The bearers rose a few hooves into the air and ribbons of rainbow energy bridged between them, connecting the Elements together, focusing on the Crowns of Magic and Faith!
Larger rainbows spread out, spiraling in drapes of whirling technicolors until they came down, revealing…!
Eris, bathing in a floating tub, her long white mane bunched up into a shower cap as she scrubbed her shoulders, singing, “Winter Wrap-up, Winter Wrap-AUGH!”
She conjured a towel to cover herself when she saw her location was now somewhere less than private, given the several stink eyes she was getting, which she returned with her own, huffing, “Do you mind?!”