“And finally, Greenville is the last location.” Princess Celestia smiled a smile that never reached her eyes and set down her cup of tea as the newest alicorn of the four present finished the list of village names. “Per standing orders, scouts entered the town this morning when the sentry mage failed to respond.” Princess Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. Her eyes glanced over at Princess Luna, listening stone-faced. Her mouth opened for a second, then shut.

She sighed, emptying her lungs, before continuing on. “As before, the town was searched from top to bottom, and nopony was found, despite the existing population of five thousand two hundred and eight ponies.” Notes rose, lifted by glowing light, and shuffled themselves in the air like cards. “Investigators are examining the site house by house, but considering the lack of previous evidence, I deem it unlikely they will find anything."

A town now. Princess Celestia fought the urge to put her head on the table and place her wings over it. Greenville may have been a village hundreds of years ago when she granted the land, but despite her memories it was a growing place and had reached town status decades ago despite its name. “It’s clear then. The disappearances are continuing to escalate, in time and size. ” She looked over at her sister. “Luna, I know you would have contacted us if you had seen any clue last night, but how? Certainly there had to be someone dreaming during those hours.” A faint sweet odor came and went, taunting her with a hint of cake. Cake that she had sworn off until the crisis was solved.

“Nay. It was as before.” Celestia envied her sister’s untroubled looks. She knew the curryists and stylists had worked her over this morning, restoring her to the proper look of royalty, but she still felt haggard and unkempt. The Princess of the Night spoke slowly, holding her emotions back behind an unchanging face. “The normal hopes, fears and delights of slumbering Equestria held last night, until I felt a group of dreamers waver, then disappear within two beats of a turtle’s heart.” She turned her head to the last member of the meeting. “The guards sent out the message almost before I awoke, and the scouts were gone as soon as the sentry list was crossed off. They still hold courage in their hearts.”

Princess Cadance looked up at Luna’s statement, tears threatening to burst from her eyes. “He… he trained them well.” The dam broke, and Twilight Sparkle walked over to nuzzle the sobbing alicorn. Celestia looked away as her student swept Cadence up in a hug and murmured soft words of reassurance into her ears. She carefully failed to point out that no scout had ever faced danger when following up on a disappearance, while volunteers for in-village response squads were scarce since Shining Armor had been swept away along with the inhabitants of Cloversands.

“No one doubts the bravery of the Guard, Luna.” Celestia chided her sister. If anything, they had done more than almost anypony to hold together the frightened populace. Organizing training bridgades to shore up morale, helping with those who were fleeing smaller locations, and making sure that the everpresent fear did not descend into paranoia and witchhunts. “That said, with the latest escalations it is clear we can not continue as we have. It is time to try something new.” Celestia almost drew back as Twilight and Cadence focused their attentions on her with a hungry look. She wished she had something worthy of the hope naked on their open faces.

“I suggest.” She paused for a second, buying time by throwing out her wings as she gathered her thoughts. “I suggest we order the evacuation of all villages below Greenville’s size to the refugee camps in Manehattan and similar sites, as well as those of a few thousand more.” Cadence and Twilight’s faces dropped, and she gestured upward with her horn for attention. “Except one. In that one, full of volunteers, I propose that we establish ourselves, yes, along with your friends, Twilight, as well as the Red Hoof Batallion and selected war mages.”

Twilight was the first to respond, and Celestia tried to look strong as her student rose up, voice edging towards panic. “I’ll go, and my friends will follow me, but we can’t risk you or Luna! There hasn’t been anyone trained in celestial body spells other than you two since the pre-Classical era, let alone the full string of ponies required.” Twilight dropped back down to rest on her haunches, panic subsiding. “I just - we can’t lose you.”

Luna’s hoof struck against the ground, and Celestia felt her heart rise as Luna gave the first sign of emotion for months. “Yes, we shall all go! No more hiding behind walls as other ponies risk themselves for the Herd.” Her tail danced behind her, and a fearce grin overtook the usual thin compressed look. “Withdraw the guards calming the cities, and station reserves near our fellow brave volunteers.” The grin faded, and the thrashing tail calmed. “When the criers tell that they march for victory, the joy it brings will hold the cities together for as long as required.” Luna yawned, and then covered her mouth with a hoof. “My apologies, the interrupted nights have impacted me more than I believed.”

Celestia beamed at her. “No apologies neccessary, sister. These have been trying times for all of us.” She shifted her attention. “Twilight, we must do this. To restore hope if nothing else, even if the village remains untouched. Are you agreed?” Twilight slowly nodded. “Can you coordinate the evacuations and troop orders so we can be present for the next disappearance in three days?”

“Mmm?” Twilight shook herself to attention. “Yes, I’ll take care of it. If I’m properly organized, and I almost always am, we should be ready when it strikes. Or they strike.” She sniffed the air. “When we’re struck. Princess, did you order some cake? I know you promised yourself, but this will be a hoof forward. We should have some tonight at dinner, before we head out.”

Celestia almost wavered, but held firm. “No, Twilight, I swore. No cake until the Herd is complete again, or the criminals punished.” She yawned as well, stretching her forehooves out. “My, they are contagious!” She thought back to a letter Twilight had sent her on yawning infectious rates between ponies as proof of friendship and felt gladdened at the proof of the reapproachment with her sister. A sudden lassitude pulled her mind away from her amused recollection of Twilight’s explanation of the split of the experiment pool into experiment, control and Pinkie. “Well, perhaps tomorrow night, after everything is setup for the baited trap. I will need my full energy to be ready for whatever it is we find.”

“Um, it’ll have to be tonight.” Twilight had almost lost that adorable hesitancy when she corrected Celestia. “We need to move out in the morning so we can be there for tomorrow evening. The period between disappearances is smaller now, as shown by Greenville, remember?” Celestia nodded, ashamed at her poor short term memory. “Well, now that I think about it, if the time from Last Shoe to Greenville was that short, it must mean the escalation is accelerating. We might miss the next one anyways.”

A noise rang through the meeting hall, and Celestia’s blood ran cold.

The thump of her sister half-slumping, half-falling to the floor, peytral ringing as it hit the tile.

Celestia frantically realized she hadn’t heard from Cadence since her proposal to hide in the village. She halted her run towards Luna to turn to Cadence. She was deep in sleep, or something worse. “Twilight! Teleport away from here, now!” Her voice boomed out in a rare tone of command.

“I’m- I’m just to going lie down a little first, mom.” The small purple alicorn was slumping towards the ground, eyes closed. Celestia dragged up painfully won skills in triage and ran back towards Twilight while running through her spells, trying to decide if flashing lights, rude smells or blaring noises held the best chance of waking the other two Princesses.

“Twilight! This is your teacher!” Celestia shook her harder. “Get up or you fail the test!” Nothing. Dithering over, she decided to use one of Luna’s old pranks, and a cloud of sheer foulness filled the room, cutting off all light beyond Celestia’s glowing horn. She gagged slightly, but felt her malaise lift somewhat. She whispered a short apology, and struck Twilight in the face. “GET! UP!”

Twilight stirred, mane pushed back by exposure to the Royal Canterlot Voice at such a short distance. Celestia drew back her hoof for another blow, and then heard a soft pop. A prick of pain on her haunches. She turned her head to look at the wound, and saw a small dart right below her cutie mark. Another joined it, and she swept them off with her magic. She levitated the table to block the direction of the darts. Three darts embedded themselves in its surface.

Celestia stopped her first spell and snapped her wings, tossing her back while the magically boosted wind clearing the cloud almost instantly. Simultaneously she lit up her horn, the bright flare lighting the room with a sharp, painful light. She froze at a strange sight.

She was surrounded by gleaming silver chains writhing like snakes, one end tipped with a small dart and tracking her movement. The other end disappeared into an impossibly flat black circle hovering in air.

Several pops, and Princess Celestia felt the bite of the darts again. A part of her was screaming, but she felt almost calm as she lifted a hoof to brush a dart from her neck. Her other legs folded under her, and she fell to the ground.

Slowly but surely, her eyes closed.

Author's Note

If you want a happy ending for the Princesses, stop reading here, and make one up. Anyone who continues on has been warned.