Another day goes by without a word from Twilight.
"It just doesn't make sense..." Applejack spins herself ninety degrees to face Fluttershy, who stands with her before Twilight's front door.
"Maybe she's on a trip to Canterlot and she forgot to tell us about it before hand." The yellow pegasus pulls her reason out of thin air.
"Maybe...Ah just hope she's alraght, sugarcube." Applejack sighs and continues on her way with Fluttershy.
Overgrown branches of the library bar the dusty windows from oncoming sunlight. The lawn in front of the once homey library lies several inches overgrown, sprouting with weeds and tangled, lush grass. All in all, it is a pretty sad sight for the denizens of Ponyville.
*******
"Why in the world would Twilight do that?" Rainbow Dash replies to Pinkie Pie's statement on the affair of the new Princess.
"Maybe she dropped an invisibility potion on herself but she got the mixture all messed up so she turned into a ghost that can't touch anything and that can't be seen or heard or tasted or smelled!" Pinkie Pie quickly cuts to another ridiculous hypothesis.
The two stand in the center of Rarity's shop as the seamstress herself paces in front of the shop's windows.
Rarity spies something out of the window and trots over to the front door where she lets in Applejack and Fluttershy.
"We've been over there and we still haven't seen nuthin'." The farm pony shrugs.
"Well, I simply can't believe that Twilight could leave us for this long." Rarity huffs.
"Maybe she's at Celestia's old castle and we just haven't gotten a letter yet." Fluttershy mumbles.
"Maybe she just went crazy and just locked herself in there." Rainbow Dash gives an implied shrug.
"Whatever it is, it surely isn't for the benefit of her health. I mean, if she were invited somewhere she would invite is to it...right?" Rarity asks.
"Are you sure it's for her benefit and not yours?" Applejack chimes in; Rarity blushes and gives a toothy grin.
"Heck, I haven't even seen Spike in a while, too. Maybe he's with her." A thought finds its way out of Applejack's mouth.
"Yeah, but won't he send us a letter via fire breath, though?" Rainbow Dash suggests.
"Ah don't know, but maybe they're in Canterlot on some important business...or something..." Applejack responds.
"What is she was captured!?" Pinkie Pie shouts as if an epiphany had struck her sideways.
"Come on, Pinkie. Captured by who?" Doubt overcomes Applejack.
"Trixie might have come back and took her to her secret hideaway! Or maybe a marauding group of marauding marauders took her and are holding her for ransom! Oooorrr she could just be on vacation." Pinkie spews quickly.
Rainbow Dash gasps.
"Kidnapped!?" She shouts with a little voice crack.
"Come on, everypony! Let's get to the library and find clues to where she was taken!" The cyan pegasus zooms out of the front door, followed by the rest of her friends trying to catch up to the deluded weather control pony.
*******
The five arrive at the front door to the library; nails from the inside jut out around the frame like a hazardous barrier to anypony from the outside...or a toothed portal to another realm. The downstairs windows are shattered with bits of furniture pressed up against the portals. Six different stones the size of volleyballs litter the front of the yard, each with a strange symbol carved on them. None of the five ponies payed notice to the rocks and approached the door.
"Hey Twilight! Open up!" Rainbow Dash yells.
No response.
"Please, Twilight, it's been weeks!" Rarity spews.
Again, no response.
"We're bucking down the door now." Applejack struts over to the door and turns around.
With a huge gust of raw internal energy, the same energy she uses to knock apples cleanly off of trees, the door tears off its hinges and flies a yard or so inwards, smashing onto a table. Twilight's friends quickly canter into the house as a familiar voice shouts in surprise.
The interior of the library lay lit by nearly burned out candles situated in clusters along the window sills. Dust and vermin gather onto the bookshelves as cobwebs form their signature masterpieces on the pages of encyclopedias. The floor bears deep, unnatural scratches filled to the brim with a sickly grey ooze. The door to the basement lies buried underneath two vacant bookshelves and a magical, semi-spherical shield being projected by a small purple crystal situated in a mug before the barricade.
In a table fort, in the opposite side of the room from the basement door, is the alicorn in question. Her mane is frizzy with small, split strands going in various directions. Her eyes bear the luggage of many nights without sleep. The wings of the princess remain unpreened and covered with uneven lines of feathers.
Twilight's eyes widen as she sees her friends coming to her rescue.
"OH GIRLS!!" She screeches with delight, hopping from her fort and embracing her friends in a hug.
"Um...Twilight, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash awkwardly asks the slightly unstable mare.
"I'm all fine, now that you all are here! Now you can help me contain my experiment!" She cackles like a witch as her pupils spread slowly towards opposite ends of the room before quickly snapping into place after her demented giggle.
"Uh...s-sure, sugarcube. What do you want from us?" Applejack tries to piece together what she's seeing and hearing in her brain.
"In my fort, I have the other Elements of Harmony. I want the five of you to put them on as I go downstairs and deal with my little problem." The princess giggles maniacally as she levitates the necklaces onto the necks of her friends.
"How is staying up here helping you out, dear?" Rarity coos.
"It's just a mode of protection...for Equestria." Twilight's explanation is interrupted by a maniacal giggle. "If anything, anything other than me comes out of that door, I want you to blast it into Hades!"
"Why?" Fluttershy simply asks.
"No more questions!!" Twilight shouts and wraps her hooves around Rainbow Dash's cheeks. "It's time."
Twilight cackles madly as she removes the purple crystal, dissipating the semisphere. She keeps it close as she moves the bookshelves out of the way and opens the door to the pitch black depths of her basement.
"I think she's finally lost it." Rarity whispers to Applejack.
"Ah think you may be right, R--"
Without warning, an incredible, animal-like roar launches itself from the basement as Twilight gives an equally loud war cry of her own. Splashes of water bounce through the ear drums of the other Elements as bumps and bashes rock the floor beneath them. Terrifying, evil screeches from an unknown source bellow throughout the library, as the barer walls act as an echo chamber, catapulting the sound waves across the room. Blasts of magic spells can also be heard ricocheting about, too.
"What are we doing just standing here? We need to help her!" Rainbow Dash tries to speed into the depths of the basement, but is stopped by Fluttershy unknowingly standing on her tail.
She lands and glares at the other pegasus, who grins and blushes.
A final, horrifying roar leaps into the ears of those within the library, nearly deafening them as a massive splash of water signals the end of the fight.
The group stares at the darkened stairwell for a solid five minutes before a pair of steps are heard climbing up the stairs. The Elements get ready, pointing their gems at the door.
What they find, however, is not an unspeakably terrible monster standing before them, for it is Twilight Sparkle holding the now glowing purple gem along with a curled up ball of grey ooze that continuously drips to the floor.
The five Elements let out a great big cheer as Twilight sighs and places the ball of slime on the ground. It unravels into the shape of a baby dragon.
"Oh my goodness! Spikey-wikey, I've been so worried about you!" Rarity rushes over to the small reptile and wraps her forelegs around the ooze covered assistant; she then immediately regrets this decision.
"Don't you ever let me get eaten again...." Spike growls at Twilight, then wrenches himself from Rarity's hug and heads upstairs, presumably to take a shower.
"So..." Twilight's usual happy demeanor returns. "Who wants to help me clean up?"
