Join The Party

Pinkie hopped up and down in enthusiasm. She had convinced her friends to return to the unicorn's house. They had their doubts, yet they also had hopes. Perhaps today he would explain why he acted strange during their first encounter. Learning his name would help too, they didn't want to keep referring to him as "the unicorn" or "he".

They trotted up to the door. Pinkie knocked three times, to no answer. She knocked another three times. Still, no answer.

"That's odd. I thought for sure he'd be home right now," Pinkie said, puzzled.

Fluttershy responded, "Maybe he fell asleep studying. He said before that we interrupted him."

"Fluttershy has a point. Maybe we could come back later."

"He has to be here. I sent him a letter two days ago saying that we would be coming!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"You sent him a letter two days ago? You convinced us to come yesterday!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Now isn't the time to argue. Pinkie, if he is in there, then he might be busy. I'll use my magic to scan for any heartbeats." Twilight lowered her horn and aimed it at the house. She moved from left to right, up and down. "There's no signs he's here. I've scanned the whole house," Twilight told them.

"He has to be here. He sent me a letter replying that he, and I quote, 'I have no plans this afternoon. You and your friends are welcome to stop by.' See? He is home," Pinkie countered.

"All right. I'll try something else. Hopefully he hasn't defended against simple mapping spells," Twilight answered, aiming her horn at the house once more. This time, though, she lowered it lower than the other time. "There's something underground. It seems like he built a hiding place."

"Now why would he build something like that? If he didn't want us to find 'im, he could'a played possum. I reckon something's amiss. We should see why he's more cagey than a pigpen."

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy? We should wait until he allows us in," Fluttershy suggested.

The others were already inside, not having heard Fluttershy's last comment. Hesitantly, Fluttershy trotted into the foyer. Just as Pinkie Pie told them, his house was not what they expected. All were in awe, forgetting why they were in there in the first place.

"I had the same reaction. We can see the rest anytime, but we should look for a way down."

They searched and searched, but couldn't find the path downwards. Only Twilight was looking at, or rather studying, the walls. She seemed weirdly intrigued by the way they were. One wall caught her attention. It had what seemed to be a family portrait hanging on it. One of them being the pony they were trying to find. The other five were unknown to them.

"Who are these other ponies, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"He never told me. The only thing he would say about them was, 'They are not here, therefore, they are not important.' It was really weird, but I didn't ask any more questions," Pinkie elucidated.

The picture seemed to have been placed in erratically. One corner was folded inward, revealing some writing. Twilight levitated the portrait to the ground, and started removing it from its frame.

Fluttershy whimpered, "I don't think we're allowed to do that, Twilight. Maybe you should put it back."

Rainbow Dash rebutted, "Fluttershy, stop being scared of the unknown. It could help us find him." Fluttershy whispered something about how it might not help them, but remained silent and didn't stop Twilight. After being removed from the frame, the writing became more clear. At the same time it was mysterious, it was also unnerving. It read:

"I once was one, now I'm three
Us three are one, a rare pony
the First, awake at the time he is named.
the Second, no longer is he sane.
the Third, thinks dreams a childish game
Unwanted, the Sleeper's bane.
Choose the one you wish with which to speak.
Choose the Third, and your sleeps shall be bleak."

All six mares stood still, in shock, each confused about the message. Soon, they recovered from the wonderment. Twilight started pacing back in forth, trying to figure out the riddle. Rarity, AppleJack, and Fluttershy in deep discussion about how he has described his family. Rainbow Dash went over to Pinkie, who seemed to be in deep concentration.

"Pinkie? Do you have any idea what it means?" Rainbow questioned.

"Not really. He never said anything about this riddle. I want to talk to him, but it says speaking the Third's name would mean bad dreams," Pinkie stated. Just then, Pinkie figured out the Third's name. ... the Sleeper's bane ... She couldn't tell her friends. Not aloud here anyway. "Now that I think about it, he did say he had trouble falling asleep. And the riddle does mention the First being 'awake at the time of his name.' I could try it," she said.

"Really, darling? You solved the conundrum already? Well, out with it then. If we plan on saving your friend, we need an answer," Rarity said.

"There's just one problem. The part about finding a way to him. We should do that first, then I'll say his name," Pinkie suggested. Shortly after, Twilight discovered a passage way hidden under the stairs. A ladder led downwards, to the underground hideout and, hopefully, their friend. It had no room to allow pegasi to fly downward, and enchantments prevented unicorns from using teleportation to reach the bottom, so all six mares had to climb down one-by-one. Pinkie Pie was the last down, telling the others she had to calm down from excitement. In actuality, she was nervous. Should any of her friends even breathe the Third's name, dreams wouldn't be all sunshine and lollipops anymore. Taking a deep breath, Pinkie glanced once more at the writing. "I hope your down there. I hope his name hasn't been mentioned, for all our sake's," she said to herself before descending the ladder.