What's Happened?
It was a nice summer morning when the apple family began getting ready for a day on the farm. They sat down to eat when a knock at the front door caught their attention. "I've got it." Applejack says as she got up from her spot on the table and moved to the front door. She opened it see Derpy, the town mailmare, with a set of thick sunglasses on.
She held out a letter with Twilights royal seal. "Letter for you Applejack." The normally cheerful mare now sounded dull and monotone.
"Thank ya kindly but uh, are you feelin alright? You sound kinda tired er somethin." Applejack never got an answer as Derpy flew away. AJ was about to call out to her but gave up, resigning it to the fact that she was weird to begin with. She ripped opened the seal and began to read.
Rainbow Dash
Something has happened to me that I can't explain through letter. Please hurry to the castle as fast as you can and I'll inform you on the situation. Don't worry about the others, letters will be sent to them as well. Please hurry.
Twilight
"Guess I got Dashs letter. Hey Mac, Twilight got into some trouble and I gotta see what's going on! Don't expect me back for a while!" She heard a hearty 'Eeyup' and set off for The Castle of Friendship.
As Applejack walked toward the castle she thought about what could be so important that she would call her friends together so early in the morning. Halfway out of the orchard a pair of Twilight new Dawn Guards flew towards her house which made her ears cast downwards.
Applejack took in her surroundings and realized that Ponyville was void of life which made her worry enough to pick up her pace. As she reached the castle she met Fluttershy who had received a letter just like hers. They trotted inside and made their way to the Table of Friendship.
Along the way they noticed that nopony had been around; Spike, Starlight, the Dawn Guard or any of the castle staff wasn't heard or seen throughout the castle. The mares grimaced and nearly sprinted down the hall. Soon they came to their destination. They opened door to a normal room with nothing out of the ordinary. AJ took a step inside when she tripped over something.
"Hello girlsss." Twilight, the alicorn turned lamia, slowly descended from the chandelier. Applejack felt part of Twilights tail move under her hooves. She moved out of the way before they wrapped around her. The two mares look to their friend as their pupils shrank and their hearts pounded. "What'sss wrong girlsss. I need your help." Every hiss she gave had been accentuated by her forked tongue.
"T-Twilight?"
"Yesss Fluttershy."
"N-now Twilight, yer acting a might strange. We need ya to back up a bit-" Before AJ could finish, Twilight slithered up to her face at lightning speed.
"Actually Applejack," Twilights eyes swirled with colors, "I think you need to relaxxx." The last few words made Applejack grow limp as her own eyes swirled with those same colors.
"Get back!" Starlight ran in from behind and shot a magic bolt at Twilight who backed off with a furious hiss. Applejack came back to reality as Starlight spoke again. "This way girls! You've got to get out of here!"
Nothing was making sense but the two ponies ran from Twilight down the hall. Before Starlight followed, she cast a magic barrier just in time for Twilight to slam into the barrier. She hissed angrily before Starlight ran off.
"Starlight, what the hay is going on with Twilight?" AJ asks.
"I don't know. I came into the castle this morning and found Twilight like this. The Dawn Guard was already busy evacuating part of the town but not before half the castle was gone. I tried to help but she got the drop on some ponies, brainwashing them like she just tried with you."
"Why don't you just fix her? You're good with all that magic stuff right?"
"I wish I could but she's somehow immune to most magic. I can barely touch her. I'm guessing it's a lamia thing but I don't know first hoof. We need to focus on getting out of here and making our way to the other princesses. Maybe they'll know what to do."
"AAAHHHHH!!!"
The group stopped to see Twilight coiling herself around Fluttershy. Starlight charged at Twilight, her horn flared and ready to strike. Twilight brought part of or tail around and slammed Starlight into the wall, knocking her out cold.
"Fluttershy! Starlight!" Applejack turned to the shout to see Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity.
Rainbow spread her wings and dashed forward. Twilight used her own magic to construct a makeshift wall in front of her. Rainbow rammed face first into the wall before she could slow down. Without stopping, she bucked the wall as hard as she could.
"Fluttershy! Hold on I'm coming! Don't give up!"
"Sugarcube, it's too late."
"It's never too late! We have to help her."
"Rainbow!" Applejack got her attention. "It's ok Rainbow. We'll help them out when we can. For now we can't do it on our own. We need the princesses."
Rainbow down cast her eyes in defeat. "Y-yeah. Ok, let's go." Regret pulled at her heart at the notion of leaving a friend behind.
"Good. Now let's get outta here before Twilight decides to take down that wall."
As the four ponies ran out of the castle Applejack informed her friends about what happened. The more she explained the more Pinkies mane lost its poof. Once out of the castle the group headed for the train station but found that it was abandoned.
"Great. Even the train station is abandoned." Rainbow thrust her hooves up angrily.
"If there's nopony here then the Dawn Guard definitely rerouted the train to go around Ponyville. There's no chance of it stopping here." Applejack scratched her head in thought. "Anypony have any ideas?"
"We could always use my balloon. But we'd have to back to Sugarcube Corner to get it." Pinkie suggested with more gloom than anypony seen from her.
"That's a risk we'll have ta take. Unless anyponys got any other ideas?"
"Not me, darling."
"Don't think so."
"Then let's get a move on, girls."