Phantoms of the Past

Canterlot Garden
Royal Canterlot Palace

Princess Twilight Sparkle chuckled heartily, her gaze traveling over the multiple-letters-in-one she'd just received from her friends back in Ponyville.

Dear Twilight,

I understand that it's only been four days since you left for Canterlot on royal duty, but apparently the girls and I are missing you dearly already. It's been rather boring here without your usual liveliness, and we went our separate ways after your departure, but we eventually agreed to meeting at Sugarcube Corner this morning to try to kill the boredom a bit. We tried all sorts of games, and even miniature parties on Pinkie Pie's part, but none of them worked. It was hours later that Fluttershy finally recommended sending a letter to you, and immediately we all brightened up and got to work

Hey there, Twilight! Rainbow Dash here, and I'm just saying how boring everything here is without you. I can't even see if the newest Daring Do books are out yet without your, erm, awesome bookworm skills, I guess? Spike isn't really that much of a help either. So yeah, it's been pretty uncool here

Ahem, I'm sorry, Twilight. As you can see, that was Rainbow Dash, who rudely snatched the letter away from me

Oh, c'mon, Rarity! Get a grip, won't you, and just let me finish my part

HIIIII, TWILIGHT! IT'S PINKIE PIE AND I'M SUPER DUPER EXCITED TO BE WRITING TO YOU

Right, really sorry Ah am, Twi. These ponies just don't know when to calm down, don't they? The whole fussin' over here is gettin' pretty annoyin' too. Anyways, Ah just wanted to say that Ah'm missin' ya as well back here. We all are, to be honest

Heyyy! Stop being a meanie, AJ! O-kay, so I missed you a lot here, Twilight! We're all so bored, and being bored is never a good thing, right? Even my Pinkie-style parties couldn't cheer us all up, and you know how I hate frowny faces! Until Fluttershy suggested writing a letter, like I'm doing right now, we... wait, is this really a letter? I mean, a letter's usually written by one pony, and there's like five writing on this one at the same time! Isn't that cool? Maybe I should come up with a new name for it

Gosh darn it, Pinkie. Ya don't wanna know how fast she can write in just a few minutes, Twi. Pretty impressive work she did above, didn't she? She's an odd one, Ah tell ya. What we've been tryin' to say all along is that we really wish yer trip could be shorter, since Ponyville seems so quiet without ya. Even Apple Bloom an' the others want ya ta come back, and that's a big surprise in its own right. Now that they've got their cutie marks and all, they're all runnin' around like chickens in a coop

Oh, hi Twilight. It's Fluttershy here, and I'd just like to say... um, hi?
You are our only hope, Twilight Sparkle. Do not disappoint us.

And just like that, the letter was brought to an end. Bewildered, Twilight frantically scanned the rest of the parchment to see if her friends had written anything else. It was completely devoid of any other writing, to her disbelief; there wasn't even a proper signature! After two more run-downs, Twilight sighed and gave up. It was then that something caught her eye: at the bottom of the letter were faint words, clearly scrawled in a hurry.

You are our only hope, Twilight Sparkle. Do not disappoint us.

Twilight's eyes narrowed as her brain whirled with thoughts. Did her friends write that? If they did, why would the message be so vague and... ominous?

Unless...

She drew in a sharp intake of breath as the pieces clicked into place. I need to get to Ponyville! Now!

Unknown
Ponyville

"Quick, do it! We don't have much time left!"

"Are they here yet?"

"No, I don't see them yet. With the shadows aiding them, we can't do much but wait—"

"THEY'RE HERE!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm so sorry I failed you all... I thought it would work..."

"Stop blaming yourself for this! None of us wanted this to happen, okay?"

"She's right. It's not our fault and it'll never be. All we can do now is believe in her and hope that she'll make this all right again."

"Guys... if we don't survive this, I just want you all to know that you're the best friends I've ever had in my entire life."

Five mares and a dragon embraced each other in one last hug before their vision gave way to complete darkness.

"YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE ME!"