What happened to my friends

by bryonyTheWolf

what happened to my friends? - chapter 1

It had been about 5 years since Twilight was crowned as ruler of Canterlot. The throne room of Canterlot Castle being redone to accommodate herself and her dragon companion, Spike.
As per their agreement, the elements of harmony would also come to meet up in the throne room every now and then, to catch up, spend time together and continue with being the best friends they can be.

But something was beginning to feel strange.
Slowly, one by one, her friends began to not show up to their monthly canterlot meetings. It started with Applejack not being there. The others were not too sure where she went, or what to think of it. Rainbow Dash was the most worried about her farmer girlfriend.
But they eventually assumed that she had got caught up with farm work, seeing as Big Mac had informed them previously, that Applejack will be late, due to doing her chores. So the Elements of Harmony agreed that Applejack would simply miss that initial visit.

But soon after that, her friend group began to thin out, until only Pinkie and Fluttershy came to visit. But about 3 months after Rainbow Dash went missing, Pinkie and Fluttershy stopped coming too… And she hadn't heard from her friends since that day.

This made the purple Alicorn feelings worry stir, slowly growing in strength in her mind, to the point she was constantly pacing through the throne room, her ears folded flat against her head as she thought of where her friends might be.

“Spike, i'm going to Ponyville for a few days. If anyone asks for an audience with me, please tell them to come back at a later date. This is important, i need to find out what’s going on with my friends…”
Twilight mentioned to Spike, her tone riddled with worry and confusion.

The dragon gave a nod and, after a few days of preparing for Twilight’s trip, as well as doing simple things such as informing the royal guard where she was going and packing supplies for the trip.
The purple dragon saw Twilight off. Waving goodbye as she gracefully took flight, toward her old home of Ponyville.

The wind in Twilight’s mane, and the gusts of air flicking through the gaps of twilight’s wing feathers, was a welcomed feeling from the alicorn. It gave Twilight a sense of freedom. Now she knew how Rainbow Dash felt whenever she randomly went flying across town at high speeds.
It brought a smile to the alicorn’s face, and for a moment, her worries washed away, as she enjoyed the freedom of flying through the skies of Canterlot on the way to Ponyville.

Flying through clouds and around flocks of birds, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary so far.
The journey itself was rather uneventful, nothing interesting happened aside from seeing the odd Breezy fly by. But there wasn't anything that stood out to her.

The alicorn thought back on her friends and where they might have gone. Big Macintosh had already explained why Applejack was gone so much

Discord had informed them that fluttershy had got caught up with always trying to save animals, and could be seen wandering into the Everfree Forest.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle explained that they saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash leave ponyville on multiple occasions for business.

And Cheese Sandwich told her that Pinkie had become known all across equestria for her parties, and was now going out of town all the time to plan and host parties a lot.

Was twilight worrying over nothing again?

“Now come on Twilight you’re getting too worked up again. Maybe they just got caught up in their work and forgot to mention about skipping visits! I know I've done that before” Twilight said to herself in a hopeful tone. Trying to ease her growing nerves as got closer to her old town home.

But upon arriving she knew something was wrong.
The town looked like its usual self, the bakery had not changed, and neither had carousel boutique. Sweet Apple Acres still stood proud at the edge of town and even her old castle didn't seem to have anything wrong with it.
But it was quiet…
Too quiet.

Landing by the town hall, in the center of Ponyville, Twilight looked around for anyone who may be nearby. But no one was around. Had they gone back to their old ways of hiding from Zecora again?
With a soft sigh, she slowly made her way around town, looking through any windows with their curtains open, looking for any signs of life. But no pony could be seen.
It was almost like a massive evacuation had happened without her knowledge.

“What… Happened here?” Twilight asked out loud, to no one in particular, her head on a slow swivel as she tried to make sense of what was going on.

Twilight stood, stuck in her own growing thoughts of confusion, worry and a sense of being watched.
Continuing to look around, she laid her eyes on the clouds above her, where Rainbow Dash’s house resigned. Giving a soft gasp, a memory crossed her mind.
A memory of what Rainbow Dash said to her before she vanished.

“Yeah, everypony has been acting really off. Staying inside their homes and going radio silent for quite some time. Sometimes ponies will return to their old lives like nothing happened. Others will stay in their homes for good and we’ll never hear from them again. I thought it was some kind of town wide prank Pinkie was planning… But now I have no idea what to think…”

Could this be what Rainbow meant?
Did Rainbow Dash know about what was going on?
Well, it was too late to ask her now.

Looking through the houses she passed, she could see a heavy coating of dust on everything, almost like the town itself had become some kind of antique. The alicorn’s ears folded back flat as she looked around, before eventually coming up to the entrance steps of her old castle.

Her crystal palace she called home when she first became an Alicorn.
Tears began to well up in her eyes as more memories of her friends came to mind, making her way up the steps toward the castle doors.
She remembered how the castle came to be, and how they defeated their first foe without the elements of harmony attached to them.

As well as all the meetings and that odd feeling of their cutie marks pulsating if the map called them on a mission. That was a sensation she strangely missed. Now that she was no longer connected to the map or this castle.

Putting her front hoof to the door, she opened it slowly, it wasn't locked, and it slid open, quiet as a mouse.
Twilight slowly peered inside, lighting up her horn to create a light source to see through teh castle with. It had been a long time since she had been here, but she still remembered the layout like the back of her hoof. Making her way through the long, sparkling hallways, she came to the throne room, where the map was. As well as the chairs that had her friends cutie marks on them.

Hoofsteps echoing along the walls, she made her way into the room, looking at the centre table where the map would be. Laying on top seemed to be a frame, in said frame was a photo of her friends, all of their faces having a big red X drawn across their faces, all except for twilight.

“Is this some kind of sick joke…?” Twilight spoke aloud through gritted teeth. Her expression changed from worry to anger as she looked around the room again, noticing that each chair had an item on them.

Lifting them slowly with their magic, she saw that the items represented her friends in one way or another.
She found Applejack’s hat, Rarity’s head scarf, Fluttershy’s flower hair clip, Pinkie Pie’s hoof buzzer prank and Rainbow Dash’s flight goggles.
As the items floated in front of the alicorn with the use of her magic, along with the photo, twilight couldn't help but tear up again.
Where were her friends?
Would she ever find them?
And if she did, were they hurt?

All these questions circled through twilight’s mind, before a small glint caught her eye. Looking over at her own chair, a small golden shimmer could be seen. Walking over, she saw it was some kind of relic. In the shape of a Raven.
She also lifted that with her magic and raised an eyebrow.
A raven shaped relic? Where did this come from?

More questions were made before the previous questions could be answered.
The purple alicorn gave a soft sigh, taking the items with her as she continued to look around the castle. Looking for more clues on where her friends might be and what might have happened to them.

As Twilight left the room, the door slammed shut behind her…