The New Problem

Luster Dawn walked through the streets of Ponyville, she had known about the council of friendship for a while and she decided on who she would go to. If this pony couldn't cheer Moonlight up, no one else would be able to. She had left alone to do this task, it was something she felt she had to do. The pink unicorn knew that her other friends were with the very irate investigator. She arrived at a bakery shop. Hesitation gripped the student for a brief second, but the door flew open, revealing Pinkie Pie on the other end. "Oh my goodness! Luster, you've come to visit! I should've prepared some sweets for you!" the pink earth pony excitably started yelling out.

Luster was taken aback by this, she knew of Pinkie's energy and excitability, but she wasn't expecting this. "Uh, thanks... but it's really more for a friend of mine, she's lost and alone and confused. I think she's really hurt by something in her past and I remember Princess Twilight telling me stories of how you could cheer anyone up. Could you help me?" she asked.

The smile on the pink earth pony grew to an impressive size. Luster was taken aback by this, she had to admit. A gasping breath escaped the older pink pony's mouth. "Of course I can! It sounds like your friend just needs a party!" she exclaimed.

Pinkie grabbed Luster and took her into the shop, where she had the entrance to her party cave. Once in the cave, the earth pony immediately went through her files while the unicorn looked around in awe, "You have to have..." the unicorn started.

"Everypony and creature in Equestria's favorite kind of parties and their favorite foods documented in here!" the earth pony exclaimed always as excitable as ever.

The pink unicorn was taken aback by this, she wasn't expecting any of this to be honest. She heard rumors, but she always dismissed them. There was no way that any pony, not even her own teacher could be this thorough and yet here it was in front of her face.

"What's your friend's name?" the pink earth pony asked.

"Moonlight Gleam," Luster Dawn almost reflexively responded.

Pinkie Pie immediately went to work on trying to find Moonlight's file, but the student of Twilight Sparkle didn't expect her to find anything. After all, Moonlight had come from the human world, not Equestria. There wasn't any way that there would be a file on her here after all.

"Found it!" said the jubilant pink earth pony.

Luster's eyes went wide, there was a pony here known as Moonlight Gleam as well. "According to this, the last time she left her village was when she was brought here for the coronation for Twilight Sparkle. Her favorite sweet is vanilla cupcakes with lemon frosting! She really likes balloons and streamers and her favorite gift is snowglobes!" Pinkie said excitedly.

The pink earth pony ran up the stairs to leave a bewildered unicorn in her party cave. But a voice came up from above, "Oh, and Luster, don't tell her about the party!"

Moonlight arrived in the cafeteria of the School of Friendship, but for some reason it was empty. No one was there despite the fact that it was the middle of the day. She shrugged and grabbed a tray, helping herself to what food she could get and sitting down at a table. It was nice to finally have some peace and quiet for once. She had no qualms about the silence, but it was the fact that no one was there that bothered her.

She tried to eat, but she couldn't. This mystery was nagging at her and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She climbed out of her seat and walked around the cafeteria looking for clues of any sort, but she came up empty other than the food was still warm. Whoever was here was there not too long ago. She tasted the food for anything that could've given her a hint, but nothing. The investigator walked into the kitchen to look around, but there weren't any signs of a struggle or a magic duel. Everything was orderly, it was as if everypony had disappeared all of the sudden.

The unicorn grabbed one of the kitchen utensils off the counter. It was dirty, but nothing suggested any sort of foul play. It was too creepy. Her heart started to race, but she placed the utensil back where she found it. She slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway, keeping her head on a swivel and her eyes and ears open.

"There's nothing out of place in the kitchen or the cafeteria, other than nopony is there," she muttered to herself.

The dark blue mare walked to one of the classrooms and opened the door slowly, making sure to jump behind the door frame in case of a trap of some sorts. She waited and held her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. The door opened all the way, but there was nothing. Moonlight peeked into the room, there literally wasn't a single pony in the room. She grew far more uneasy. The halls were too quiet for her, the fact that there wasn't a single soul around was bothering her.

She rushed to the counselor's office, surely Trixie would be there. Surely someone would be able to tell her what was going on and why the school had been abandoned. Her heart felt like a jackhammer in her chest. She turned the corner into the door and there was nopony there, not even the clothes that Trixie normally wore.

Moonlight wanted to be thorough, so she checked the headmare's office too. Nothing was there either, it was a mystery she couldn't solve. There wasn't a single clue for her to discover, not a single lead for her to follow. There was just nothing. She was used to there being something for her to follow. Her fear started to give way to frustration as she left the building itself.

She wandered the streets of Ponyville, desperately trying to find any signs of life, any clue as to what happened. Her search was in vain, there was nothing. She was angry at herself for not being able to find anything. She walked up to City Hall and slammed a hoof against the door. She had failed everyone here, they were gone and she'd never find them. She slammed that same hoof on the ground and wondered what Sunrise must be thinking right now.

She pushed the door open, expecting to see nothing like the rest of the town. She hadn't seen a single soul since she left her dorm room earlier. The place was dark, not even the sun shone within it. This bothered her, some kind of magic had to be behind this. She refused to enter the building and instead concentrated on a simple spell she knew. It was the most basic spell that anyone could do, but the magic wouldn't flow through her.

"I don't get it... why won't it work?" she asked aloud to herself.

"SURPRISE!" yelled the entire town all at once.

Moonlight jumped back as far as she could with a startled yell and a burst of magic shot from her horn, unleashing the spell she had been trying to cast. A ball of light zipped into the building and a blindingly bright flash forced everypony to avert their eyes. She started breathing heavily as her heart simultaneously raced and slammed in her chest. She had thought that something bad had happened, but all that happened was everyone was planning out a surprise party for her.

She clutched her chest and gave every pony in the city hall a glare that would bring hesitation to anyone sensible. The other ponies rubbed their eyes, but a pink earth pony bounded out. "Wow, that was an amazing lightshow, Moonlight. I didn't know you could do something like that!" she exclaimed.

Moonlight tensed up, she remembered this one from when she first arrived in Equestria, but the smell of food tempered her attitude. Her stomach growled and she walked past the earth pony to help herself to some food. She grabbed something to eat from the party table, noticing a lot of different snacks. From salty to sweet, this table had it all. She munched on a few pretzels and wandered to a corner to be by herself. She was hesitant around parties, but a griffon flew next to her with a glass of punch, "I think you'll want something to drink, those pretzels are a bit salty," she said.

The unicorn grabbed the glass of punch and brought it up to her lips, sipping it gently. The griffon didn't bother to wait for her to thank her, she knew the investigator wouldn't, but a hoof on her tail stopped her. "Ginger, was it?" the unicorn asked.

Ginger looked back and nodded with a slight smile, things were going better than she had thought they would, "Yes, Moonlight," she said.

"Thank you for the punch, it means a lot to me," the unicorn said.

Everything around Moonlight suddenly got a little smaller than it used to be, disorienting and confusing the investigator. She hadn't expected something like this, but then again, she hadn't expected to ever be shrunken down to the size of a filly. She almost fell over, but she was caught by Yarwood, "Yak has Pony, Yak won't let Pony friend fall over!" he boasted.

This confused her deeply. "I had been rude to all of you, yet you're trying to be nice to me still. Why are you all doing this?" she asked.

The voice of the Princess spoke up, "Because they want to be your friend, they want you to stop trying to fight them as if they are your enemy."

Moonlight tensed up as she watched the ruler of Equestria herself walk into the room, a plate of cookies held in a telekinetic grip. "You did this to me," the unicorn said with venom in her voice.

"As you found out, being genuinely nice and grateful to others reverses the effect of the potion. Once you have learned the lesson we are trying to teach you, you will return to your normal size, Moonlight. I didn't want to do this, but you were starting fights with even my friends. Relax for a bit, eat some cookies, have some cupcakes, this entire party is a welcome party for you," the alicorn replied.

A cookie was levitated towards the mouth of the dark blue unicorn. Moonlight sniffed it and then took a bite. Much to her surprise, it was her favorite kind of cookie, white chocolate chip with macadamia nuts. She didn't know how that was possible when no one knew about what she really liked. "I heard these cupcakes are your favorite too," Twilight said to her.

A cupcake got levitated to Moonlight's mouth and she took a bite. It wasn't her favorite, but it was good enough. "Not bad, but I prefer chocolate cupcakes and cherry frosting," she stated.

A loud gasp reached her ears and Pinkie Pie ran over to her, "I was wrong!?" she exclaimed.

The Princess stepped in, "Pinkie, you're right about the Moonlight Gleam in Equestria, but this one came from another world. She isn't the same pony," she said.

Much to everyone's surprise, Moonlight took this all in stride. "Wait, you're not confused or shocked about any of this?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

The unicorn simply shrugged, "I've come from a world where people turn into monsters by giving into dark magic. I have personally investigated the cases where this has happened, I've dealt with a few of these apparitions myself. I've chased one into this world and you've taken me off the case. Not to mention, I've seen versions of all of you in my world. Sure it was weird at first, but I got used to it. There was bound to be another me around here, I just hope she had a better life. Now if anyone needs me, I have a buffet table to get back to," she said in a low enough voice to ensure that only Twilight would hear her.

Luster walked over to her teacher as Moonlight walked away, the two of them shared a smile as they watched the dark blue unicorn return to the party and finally allow herself to truly relax for the first time since she arrived in Equestria.