Sweetie Belle reaches the meeting place first, hiding inside for shelter, just in case.
About an hour later, Apple Bloom reaches the tower. "Hey! Did you find it? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just want to get back home. I'm missing everypony. I sure hope this works."
"C'mon, Sweetie Belle, Celestia herself told us to do this. It's gotta work!"
"I suppose you're right. Seen Scootaloo?"
Apple Bloom shakes her head. Sweetie Belle's heart sinks. "I hope she's okay." They both sit silent. Sweetie Belle breaks out of anxiety. "D-did you see any creatures?"
"Yeah... I... I chased them and-"
"You chased them? Are you crazy?"
"No... but I was mad... very mad. I wanted to hurt them... But then one got trapped under a tree and I... I let it go... because...because it was so scared..."
"Wow... crazy... I can't believe you chased them... especially just to let them go!"
"What about you? Did you?"
"Kind of... I mean, yeah. They... became like... walls? I was in a big maze, and the walls kept moving."
"These things must be powerful."
"Maybe... I just-Scootaloo!" The two run over and hug their friend.
"Scootaloo?"
Scootaloo doesn't say much at first. She just slumps onto a chair at the table.
"Scootaloo, tell us what happened. You... you don't have to deal with this alone."
"I saw everypony... I even saw you, Sweetie Belle. I'm... I'm happy you're okay, but... I just... I miss them all so much." Scootaloo's eyes fill with tears. "I want them back!"
"Well, we're... we're all ready, and we can go in the morning. It's getting late. We should sleep in here tonight." Sweetie Belle leaves her hoof around Scootaloo's shoulder.
"I-I just miss them y'know?"
"I... I do... and I miss my parents, too... even if I was too young to remember them... But at least I had Applejack and Big Mac and Granny Smith; you..."
"Can we drop it? So, what happened with you guys?"
"I uh... was in this maze... and I almost gave up. Every time I would find a dead end, the maze would move. I-I just sat there, curled up...then I looked at the locket Celestia made me, and remembered my family, and then I uh... I don't know... I just felt like, I had to do this. I mean, even before, I knew I had to do this for everypony, but I just felt... determined, you know? Suddenly it was so much easier to find my way. The maze... I could just feel my way through..."
"Well, we're glad you're safe."
"And you, Apple Bloom?"
"She... chased some of those creatures and let one go!"
"You what?"
"Y-yeah... it was just... so scared! It didn't mean any harm... it was just like a regular bunny... it... it was scared."
Scootaloo cringes. "I... wow... I would have had trouble if I could have caught one. I don't know what I would have done."
"That's what I thought, too. But it got stuck under a burning branch... and I don't know... I couldn't let it get hurt. I just couldn't."
"Well, everypony is okay... or at least, we are..."
"I hope everypony at home--the foals at least, are okay. We'll have to check on them when we first get a chance." Sweetie Belle nods to Scootaloo. "I just wanted to say one more thing" Scootaloo breaks tone, her voice softer, "before we go to sleep, that is..."
"What's that?" Apple Bloom turns to face the pegasus.
"I am... really happy you guys are my friends. Being all alone up there made me realize just how special you guys are."
"I-I missed you guys, too... You guys are good friends" Sweetie Belle nods.
"Aww, I missed you guys, too! Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom shouts.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders to the rescue! Yay!" The three shout in unison, then curl up underneath the table.
--------------------
"You sure you don't want to talk?" Dinky sits next to Rumble.
"It was Cheerilee... and... the whole school. It was so quiet, and... Miss Cheerilee must have gone outside to see what was going on while she was cleaning the chalkboard... it was only have erased... she still had homework from the other day on the desk. It was just... it felt so wrong." Dinky scoots closer to Rumble, and gives him a hug.
"Well... I... Everything will be okay, right?"
"Will it? Do we even know that?"
"We can just hope. I trust Apple Bloom and her friends. Just... cheer up, okay?"
Pipsqueak comes over. "Hey, Rumble, wanna toss the hoofball? I think we have enough space here that we won't bother the little foals. Just a simple catch game?"
"Y-yeah. I-I could do that." Rumble forces a bit of a smile, and hops to his hooves.
Dinky smiles at Rumble who blushes a bit and heads off with Pipsqueak. She turns her attention to Featherweight, who she notices to be curled in a bit of a ball.
"F-Featherweight?"
"She was our teacher. She... she was one of the first people to ever care for me... respect me."
"You heard us, then?"
"Y-yeah. I just... She looked so scared. Do... do you think it hurts?"
"I... don't really want to think about it."
"Y-yeah. --And where's Scootaloo? Where are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom?! They left us here. If they get hurt and we can't--"
"Don't think like that. You know them. They've dealt with some pretty big falls trying so hard to get their cutie marks. I think if anypony our age can handle being on their own, it's that group. I mean, you've hung out with them. You know how tough they are!" Dinky nudges Featherweight. "Trust your fillyfriend. She may be reckless, but she wouldn't leave you unless she knew it was for the better. We both know what she's gone through, if she left this place, she knew she had a job to do."
"I just wish she would have told us what was going on."
"Maybe she couldn't."
"Couldn't?"
"What if like... she was told to keep it a secret. We don't know what creature did this. We don't know what they can do. Maybe she wanted to make sure we didn't have to keep a secret in case... whatever this thing is... found us."
"M-maybe."
"Look, trust them."
"I-I do. I trust them; I'm just scared."
"I'm scared, too."
Bonk. The hoofball beans Featherweight in the head.
"You okay, chap?" Pipsqueak asks.
"Y-yeah... hey, Pip."
"Yeah?"
"Are... are you worried about Sweetie Belle?"
His mouth opens and closes a couple times, finally generating words. "I... I thought I was hiding it pretty well..."
"That's why I asked. You seem so... okay."
"I just don't want to be a downer. Everypony is already so on-edge, I just want everypony to try and be as happy as they can. We have to deal with this either way, and we're kind of stuck. I just don't want to... I don't want everyone to give up."
"You gonna throw it, Pipsqueak?"
"Y-yeah, here!" He hurdles the ball back to Rumble. "Gimme a minute."
"Alright, I'm worn out, anyway. Take five?"
"Sounds good." He turns back to Featherweight and Dinky. "Having that much trouble, eh?"
"I just feel like... I've been trying to play leader so long... I haven't had a chance to let it out, really."
"Let wha-" Featherweight starts crying. Everypony stares. A chorus of "what's wrong"s and "you okay?"s chimes in.
"H-he's fine." Dinky intervenes. "Just keep to what you're doing. He'll be okay."
Featherweight leans onto Dinky. Pipsqueak sets a hoof on Featherweight's shoulder. The two just sit with him, while he pours out a waterfall of tears. Pipsqueak struggles to hold his composure.
"And... on top of it all, I'm sure there's more of us out there, worried, maybe alone."
"We can't just go searching all the time. I mean, Snips and Snails and Truffle and Lily found each other and took care of the Cakes foals without us."
"Yeah, but what if there are other little foals we didn't know as well?" Featherweight's heart is in his back hooves.
"We'll just have to hope everypony is okay. Look, if in two days we haven't heard anything, we'll go looking again, 'kay?"
"What if-"
"We can't do this all the time. I know... it's dark now, and we need a day to just... handle everything, I think. We've been crawling around an empty town. We've been splitting up and having to find each other. We've been going so hard for so long. I really think everypony is about like you. It's been hard on all of us, but we're all hiding our fear so much we're scaring ourselves. I think tomorrow we need to just be there for each other."
"That... sounds like a really good idea, Pip."
"Now, I think you look pretty tired, Featherweight. Curl up over here and get some rest. I think we'll probably shut the lights off before too long."
"Y-yeah... I'll... I'll do that." Featherweight gives a deep, long sigh, collecting himself. Pipsqueak throws the extra blanket over his pal.
"G'night, Featherweight."
"Good night."
"Hey guys, I think we need to get to bed here in a few minutes. It's getting late."
"Aww, just one more round?"
"One more."
Dinky chuckles. Funny to see the tiniest foal making rules. She heads over to Rumble.
"Still worn out?" Pipsqueak joins the two.
"Yeah, I think I'm pretty tired, too. A lot on my mind. The day wasn't as busy as the last couple of days, but I'm worn out. I think it's just all hitting me, now. I think I've just..." He lowers his voice so only the two of them can hear, "I've been so scared I haven't thought about it."
"Why are you whispering?"
"I... I like to be seen as a pretty tough colt."
Pipsqueak chuckles. "You can be tough and scared. Look at me... look at Spike."
"Spike?"
"He hasn't said anything since he got here, but we were talking and he's so worried about Twilight. He was actually sick the first night."
"Wow."
"He's a dragon."
"Y-yeah. I... well, yeah. I'm scared. I just... I've been so worried about my brother and my mom and dad... What if this never changes? What if we're stuck like this forever?"
"It won't happen. Something will change everything. I know it!" Pipsqueak's optimism rushes forward again. He gives a cheery smile. They continue talking until their eyes get heavy.
"O-okay... everypony." Rumble gestures wearily "I-I think we need to shut off the lights." He barely finishes his sentence before he begins lightly snoring.
Lily chuckles. She rocks the little foals a few times and both begin to doze off. She walks over to the various flashlights and shuts them off one by one.