Beyond The Everfree Orb

3 AM in Ponyville. Golden Oak Library was dark except for the faint pink glow of unicorn magic. Twilight Sparkle had exhausted all hours of the night looking for answers to the event plaguing parts of the city. Weary and worn, Twilight flipped through page after page, going through every book on her shelves. Spike, her assistant, was growing exhausted as well, but the dire need for answers or even just a bit of closure kept the baby dragon awake like a caffeine shot.

“Twilight, have you found anything yet?”

The dragon yawned, his lack of sleep showing. “I’m afraid not yet, and I’m getting closedown to the last books I own. There’s just nothing in here that even comes close to what is happening.”

The purple unicorn put another book back and levitated another one to her desk. Princess Celestia had given her a research assignment ever since the strange pink force field appeared around the Everfree Forest, and could even be getting bigger for all anypony knew. Tired to her core, Twilight reached for her quill pen after putting the last book back on the shelf.

“Spike, take a note.”

The unicorn pony began writing her response to the Princess that would be delivered by morning.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have stayed up all night with my number one assistant flipping through page after page, book after book, and still no answer as to what could be going on. Nopony knows what this force field is or where it came, and my studies have shown there’s never been anything remotely similar in history that wasn’t the cause of magic. There are very strange things I have heard talking to the ponies who live nearby, with reports saying that the clouds move on their own, the animals aren’t acting like themselves, even Fluttershy said they’ve been more aggressive and alert lately. There even was light reported before your highness had a chance to raise the sun in the morning. I’m not sure what the next step is, but I will be awaiting whatever it may be. Signed, your faithful student Twilight Sparkle.”

After Spike had sent the letter off in a puff of green smoke, Twilight and her assistant both headed up to bed, hoping to get some sleep before the Princess responded the following morning.