Princess Celestia walked through the corridors of her palace. Despite the early hour, (she had only just risen the sun) she had the strongest urge to check on her niece. 'Perhaps it is merely a case of feeling overprotective. I will simply peek in to see if she is perhaps awake. If she is not, I will most certainly see her later in the day.'
"Princess Celestia!" The guards outside her niece's door bowed and then stood at attention as she approached.
"Good morning." Princess Celestia greeted them softly, so as not to wake anypony still sleeping. (if anypony would still be asleep after that loud announcement)
"Good Morning, Princess." The senior of the two responded as his partner still stood at attention. "What may we do for you?"
Princess Celestia shook her head gently, "I was merely checking to see if Princess Cadance was perhaps awake. Would you happen to know?"
The guards looked at each other, as if to confirm before answering. "We have not heard anything and she has not yet left her chambers, Your Majesty."
"Very well. I shall just have to knock and find out." Princess Celestia said with a smile as she stepped towards the door to do just that. But before her hoof could so much as graze the wood, the door swung open and a frantic looking ladies maid appeared. Princess Celestia had to think for a moment before she could place her.
"Oh! Oh...oh...Pri...Princess Ce...Celestia!" The young mare stammered, looking about her frantically, as if afraid something would attack her.
"Good morning, Silver Thread." Princess Celestia said soothingly. No matter how often she saw them, some of her little ponies always seemed to panic when she appeared. It was like they thought they would be banished for any mistake. "Be at ease, my little pony. I merely wish to inquire if Princess Cadance is perhaps awake?"
"Bu..but.. that's just it Pri...Princess! Pri...Princess Ca...Cadance is... is... missing!" At this news, Silver Thread swooned, as if imparting this terrible news had sapped her of the last dregs of her strength and left her utterly bereft. (Which, judging from past experiences with lady maids, it probably had.)
But Princess Celestia wasn't thinking of the weak nature of ladies-in-waiting. She hardly noticed as one of the guards caught the young mare in their hooves. She paid no mind to the other guard sounding the alarm.
The world around her lost focus as her magic flowed through her horn. She ignored the cry of alarm as her magic spread. She knew that if anypony was looking at her, they would see her aura shimmer and her eyes glow in the tell tale magic of one who was not on the present plane of existence. She extended her magic, searching for an alicorn aura. The fastest, if not the most comfortable way to find a pony was to pinpoint their magical aura. Rather than be inundated with every pegasi, earthpony and unicorn aura in the city, Celestia narrowed her spell to search for alicorn auras.
She found Luna in quick regard, pinpointing her location to the far tower where she slept during the days. She must have been very tired this morning, doubtless she had also been expending much energy in the search for Twilight through the dream realms. She had barely the energy to shake her head in answer to Celestia's silent question when they met on the balcony to change night to day. She sent a silent wish for a peaceful rest to her sister and moved on, looking for another alicorn aura to tell her where Cadance was.
When her scan of the castle grounds came up empty, she backed away from the spell enough to make her way to the balcony and fly into the morning sky. She flew above the castle and then entered her magic's realm again and expanded her spell to include all of Canterlot.
Nothing. 'Why wasn't this working? Ok think. Since Cadance wasn't in Canterlot, she must have left Canterlot. She hadn't the time to leave by hoof, so she must have teleported.' Celestia narrowed her spell to the confines of the castle again and this time searched for any trace of an alicorn's spell being cast recently.
'What?' Celestia scanned again, pushing her magic to search harder examine closer, but the results were the same. There was no trace of any alicorn's aura other than Luna's and Celestia's own. This was impossible!
Celestia flew back to Cadance's balcony and scanned her bedroom. There should be something. Some trace of her magic in here. She should find some trace of levitation spell at the least. She knew Cadance used that one daily for her hairbrush!
Nothing. Celestia firmly pushed down the faint sensation of panic she felt rising in her and focused her mind on solutions. Panic wouldn't help anypony. She ended the spell and turned to the guard awaiting her command.
"Inform Princess Luna that I wish to see her in the gardens." The guard bowed and ran off. She felt a pang of sympathy for her poor sister, but she knew Luna would understand why Celestia had woken her up when she explained the situation. Celestia spread her wings once more and flew to the gardens to await her sister.
"Good morning sister. Why have you need for us?" Luna asked, worry bleeding through the weariness in her voice.
"Cadance is missing. I tried to locate her aura, but I could only find yours." Celestia explained her spell to her sister.
"So she is not in Canterlot." Luna said, looking much more alert.
"I don't know. I couldn't find any trace of her magic at all."
Luna's eyes widened, "How is that possible?"
"I don't know sister. I fear something is blocking her magic."
"You believe she was taken."
"I am afraid for her. If you join your magic with mine, we should be able to expand the spell throughout Equestria."
"Such a spell would be taxing, even for us. And neither of us are at our full strength."
"I know Luna. But what else can we do? There has to be some trace of her. Some lead to help us find her. I can't fail her again!"
Luna put a comforting hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "You are not to blame for what the changeling did. Do not blame yourself for the evils of others. Fear not. We will find them both and bring them back.
Celestia bent down to touch the tip of her horn to Luna's. As they both focused on the spell, they felt their senses split throughout Equestria. It was nauseating, but they would endure far worse to find her niece and bring her home. Their magic stretched across Equestria until they found something. There was Cadance, but also something else. Something powerful, but dark. They focused their magic on it, and then retreated.
"Did you feel that, Luna?" Celestia asked.
"Yes sister. I am well aware of that magic. It is darkness."
"This is troubling. I couldn't pinpoint Cadance's position. Could you?"
"No. somepony is blocking us."
"Hiya!" Pinkie Pie popped up between them. Only centuries of experience dealing with party ponies kept Celestia from jumping. Much.
"Are we playing hide and seek? Oh! But who's it? Are you both it? Can I be it too?!" Pinkie asked, bouncing with excitement.
"Pinkie. Why are thou awake?" Luna asked, sounding more confused than surprised.
"I like to be awake! It's hard to play with all my friends when I'm asleep. Although I play with them when I'm asleep too! Gasp! Are my dream friends upset when I play with my awake friends? Oh I hope not! I try to play with them both a lot, but I can't always remember what I dream so I'm not sure." Suddenly Pinkie Pie levitated to Luna's level. Luna fell back in a start.
"But you can see dreams right? Can you tell me if I play with my dream friends as much as I play with my awake friends?"
"Uh..."
"Thanks Luna!"
"Thou are... welcome?"
Pinkie bounced back to Celestia. "And I'm really not sure why I'm awake. I just am! Why is anypony awake? Or asleep for that matter? Oh! I can ask Gummy! I bet he'll know! He's really smart like that. So who are we looking for?"
Celestia and Luna shared a glance. 'Should we trust her? If not her, then who?'
Celestia turned to Pinkie. "Pinkie Pie. May I have your word not to discuss this with anypony else until we tell you?"
Pinkie gasped. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! I never break a Pinkie Promise. Never."
"I'm afraid Princess Cadance is missing. I'm afraid she has been taken."
"Oh no!"
Princess Celestia suppressed a groan as she turned to see the new members of this 'tell everypony the princess had been kidnapped again' party.
Rarity was sanding dramatically at the edge of the garden, her hoof pressed again the side of her face in dismay. "Princess Cadance has been kidnapped, again! This is the worst possible thing!"
"Yes Rarity. Before we tell this story again, I would like to make sure everypony is here. Time is of essence after all. I imagine Fluttershy is around here somewhere?"
"I'm here..." Fluttershy mumbled, looking at the ground as she crept out from behind some bushes. "Sorry..."
"And is young Spike awake, as well?"
"Nope! Spikey's still asleep." Pinkie said, bouncing.
"Spikey Wikey is a baby dragon, after all. He needs his rest." Rarity pointed out.
"And Applejack and Rainbow Dash tagged along with Shining Armor on their super secret mission that I wasn't supposed to know about!" Pinkie said.
"Don't question it." Celestia whispered to her sister. Speaking louder so everypony could hear, she explained again about Cadance's disappearance and her and Luna's spell to try and find her.
"Is it Discord?" Rarity asked.
"It felt similar to his magic, but different. And Discord is not an alicorn." Luna said.
"Luna, you, I and Cadance are the only alicorns. Who else would have that kind of power?" Celestia asked.
That question resounded through her mind as Princess Celestia moved through the halls of her palace. As much as she longed to spread her wings and soar to the skies in the search of those who would dare to attack her family, she couldn't leave her little ponies. She needed to protect them. So she kept her strides even, and her face blank as she traveled to her throne room. Besides, it wouldn't do to alert the party behind this attack before she knew who she would have to destroy. The element of surprise was a powerful ally. One she intended to utilize to its full potential. Just as soon as she had proof. Only then would she unleash the wrath of the sun upon those responsible. Discord would wish he was still a statue...
Princess Celestia frowned as she felt the quaking of the earth beneath her hooves. It was a subtle sensation, leading her to believe that whatever had caused it was occurring far underground. That did not reassure her in the slightest. For what was beneath her hooves, far below the marble floor she stood on, was the crystal caverns.
Her frown deepened.
The same crystal caverns where, if a certain anonymous 'friend' was to be believed, her Twilight was being held captive. The same crystal caverns where her Captain of the Guard and several promising bright young ponies were currently engaged in a stealth mission to find the young mare.