The others heard Pinkie's signature gasp and galloped forward with renewed energy.
"Oh, dear, whatever could have happened?" Rarity wondered aloud.
"In a situation like this, anything," answered Applejack, "I think Pinkie jinxed it."
"Oh come on," Rainbow Dash said, flying alongside them, "you can't be thinking that sort of superstitious junk! I mean, she did say that everything would be fine... but it's just got to be a coincidence."
"Or could have been her gasp of delight," Fluttershy offered, galloping as fast as she could.
"No, Ah'm pretty sure that was her gasp of horror." Applejack cut off.
The ponies heads filled with worrisome thoughts as they galloped faster towards the castle. As they arrived, Pinkie came running out. She zipped to them and fell down before them.
"Oh, its just awful!" she exclaimed, dramatically bringing a hoof to her forehead.
"What is it?" the others asked in unison.
"Simply terrible!" she continued, collapsing onto her back.
"Just tell us, dear!" Rarity pushed.
"The comic book... is gone!!!" The others started to gasp, but Pinkie interrupted them as she hopped up on her hooves. "But that means that we get to go on a big adventure to find a new Power Ponies comic book!" she headed back into the forest. "Come on, lets go!" she said with a wave of her hoof.
The others looked at each other in shock, then at Pinkie Pie.
"Are you sure it was gone?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"What do you mean, are I sure?" Pinkie said as she dashed back to them.
"It's am I sure, and we're just wondering if, perhaps, you went into the wrong room on accident." Rarity reassured.
Smokescreen came through the gaping entrance. "Nope, it's not in there," he confirmed, "I checked all the rooms."
Applejack tilted her head at him. "But how could you get through and check all the rooms so fast?" she inquired.
"He has phaseshifter," Rainbow explained, "it lets him go through things."
Smokescreen smiled at Rainbow Dash, then nodded in agreement. "I just turned it on and was able to walk through the castle as if it was one big floor. And I have to say, that place is full of trapdoors and secret rooms."
"But how did you look through the entire library?" Rarity questioned.
Smokescreen looked at them in confusion. "There's a library in there?"
"Well, there should be," Applejack answered.
Smokescreen gave a nervous laugh. "Maybe I didn't look through it as thoroughly as I thought."
"But why would it be in the library?" Rainbow Dash asked, "we left it on a pedestal!"
"We could just check all the pedestals around the castle," Rarity suggested.
"But I know I checked the right one!" Pinkie protested.
"Let's just make sure," Applejack said as she headed towards the castle.
"Girls!" Fluttershy interrupted, flying into the air. The others turned to look at her. "I know that you are all upset that the book wasn't there, and you want to deny it, but we know Pinkie Pie, and she isn't wrong about these kind of things. We can trust her, it's gone, we'll just have to go back to look for a new book," she said, slowly flying down and landing on the ground.
The others looked down in shame, and Applejack took her hat off. "Ah shucks, here I am, the Element of Honesty, and I couldn't see that you were telling the truth." She swung her foreleg over Pinkie's shoulder. "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie Pie."
"Oh, it's okay," Pinkie assured with a grin, "I understand. You don't want to have come all the way out here for nothing. But now we get to go on a new adventure!"
"Well that doesn't sound so bad," said Rarity with a wave of her hoof, "let's get to it!"
-----
After a distastefully long trek back through the Everfree Forest, the mane five went back to the castle and told Spike about the situation.
"Well, I pretty sure I found it at the... Enchanting Comic Books store in... Canterlot?"
The mane five grimaced. "It'd be good if you could remember exactly, dearie," Rarity said, "do you at least remember anything else?"
Spike's forehead wrinkled as he thought. "Uhh... no, I didn't really think that it would be important in the future. Sorry."
"Oh, it's okay, sugar cube," Applejack said, lightly hoofing him in the shoulder, "as Pinkie's been saying, it means more of an adventure..."
Rainbow Dash pawed the ground in frustration. "Uh, this is just turning out to be a big mystery with most of the clues missing. We're not getting anywhere, and I bet the Autobots are bored out of there minds!"
"What have they been doing all this time?" Fluttershy wondered aloud.
The others nodded in agreement and worry. Fluttershy sighed. "Oh, I just don't know what to do! Without Twilight, we're just so unorganized..."
"Come on!" Spike said enthusiastically, "I've seen you take charge before. Fluttershy, you took care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders for an entire night and did amazingly on your first try at it! Rarity, you made dresses for all of you for the gala and were able to come out with a level head! Pinkie Pie, you babysat the Baby Cakes when they were just a month old!
"You have all been in situations when everything seemed hopeless, but in the end, you came out victorious! All is not over, you can get through this together!"
The ponies smiled at him. "Thank you Spike," Fluttershy said, giving him a hug, "for bringing us back to our senses."
"Where would we be without you, Spike," Applejack added.
"Yeah, that was pretty motivational!" said Rainbow Dash as she flew over to him.
"I definitely feel like we can do this! All thanks to you, Spikey Wikey."
The mane five looked to him. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he asked them, "to Canterlot!"