This morning, the five mares and the dragon were talking to each other in the library.

"Why must something absolutely dreadful always happen here?" complained Rarity. "First a dragon spreads smoke everywhere, then Spikey-Wikey turns into a giant and goes on a rampage, and now this!"

"All things happen for a reason, sugarcube," insisted Applejack. "If the dragon didn't spread smoke everywhere, Fluttershy would not have learned to be braver and to stand up to the bigger beasts who try to harm us, and if Spike didn't go on a rampage, he would have never learned the values of kindness and generosity. Sure, bad things do happen to all of us, but in the end, something good always happens."

"She does have a point," agreed Pinkie.

"But that was within Equestria," argued Rainbow Dash. "Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser are miles away beyond Equestria and who knows where in the world are they?"

Just then, Fluttershy noticed that Spike was looking anxious, even more so than usual.

"Are you okay, Spike?" asked the yellow pegasus.

"What if these three never come back?" Spike asked. "What if they get lost or get kidnapped or die from the lack of natural resources?"

"I'm sure Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser will be okay," Pinkie insisted gently. "Twilight's a smart unicorn and Flitter and Cloudchaser can fly. They'll find a way to live beyond Equestria."

But Spike wasn't convinced at all and before anypony else could say anything, he raced out of the library.

"Spikey-Wikey darling, where are you going?" called Rarity, but the little purple dragon didn't reply.

Discord was just hanging out in Fluttershy's cottage. She had made him in charge of the animals while she was gone for a meeting with her friends at the library. Discord put several bowls of animal food on the floor, and the animals came to their bowls and ate it all up.

"It's not the same without my chaos," he muttered.

Just then a knock on the door was heard. Discord walked to the door and opened it. Spike came into the cottage.

"Why, isn't it my good old friend, Spike!" said the draconequus. "What brings you here?"

"Discord! I'm so glad you're here right now!" cried the dragon. "Do you remember how Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser were banished from Equestria for a crime they did not commit?"

"I remember that," said Discord. "What about it?"

"Do you know where they are?" asked the dragon. "They've been gone for a while and we haven't received any status on whether they are okay." He knew asking Discord for a favor was a bit of a selfish act, but he was worried about the three ponies and didn't care about the consequences as long as the three were okay.

"Well," said the draconequus, "I can't give you a portal to that place, as I'm on temporary magic drain right now. He recalled the time he zipped up many ponies' mouths for saying mean things about Fluttershy a few days ago. The princesses found out, made him unzip the ponies' mouths, and temporarily drained him of most of his powers. "But, luckily, I can gladly tell you what happened to them the last time I checked and that I have the directions to where these ponies are."

"Ooh, please do."

"Well, Twilight is currently in a town beyond Equestria. That town is called Neighborville. The town is full of ponies and talking plants. She's currently residing with one of the residents, Dave and his plants. They are currently under attack by zombies, but they do a good job of taking them down.

"Well, that's good to hear," sighed the dragon in relief.

"And as for Flitter and Cloudchaser," Discord continued, "I hate to say it, but..."

"But what?"

"...they were kidnapped."

"What do you want from us?!" shouted Cloudchaser. She was tied up with Flitter and were being dragged into a dark room.

"Oh, nothing," said a voice. The lights then turned on, revealing a tall figure in a black cloak. "You can refer to me as the PORTAL MASTER!"

"The Portal Master?!" exclaimed Flitter.

"I thought it was a myth!" said Cloudchaser.

"Well, I'm real!" said "the Portal Master", and he dragged the two pegasi to a room full of portals. There were many portals, but they were turned off. "Ever since I was born, I've had the power to create portals from one place to another. This helped me a lot. But I was mocked for that, so I threw these bullies into a portal, and now I'm going to use them to get rid of you two!"

"But why us?" said Flitter.

"Because your parents were the ones who mocked me!"

"They did WHAT?!" yelled Cloudchaser.

"Yes! Your parents mocked me just for my powers!" shouted "the Portal Master". "I was so mad I did something to them!"

"Did you ki- But.. you didn't!" shouted Flitter.

"Yes I did, I killed them last year by throwing them into a portal, and now it's time for you two to die!"

The two pegasi prepared for "the Portal Master" to turn on a portal and throw them in, but he didn't. "Never mind! I'm not in a killing mood right now, so I guess you two can work for me!" He gave out a loud terrifying laugh. He had these two fooled and the two pegasi now thought their families were bullies that were killed by him. "That's a good story." he thought to himself. "I'll just manipulate these ponies into hating their families, work for me, cause disharmony and throw them into the portals when I don't need them, and no more."

"They were what?!" shouted Spike.

"I'm afraid they were kidnapped," sighed the draconequus sadly. "I tried to snap Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser back here many times before, but I don't think my chaos magic works beyond Equestria."

Spike knew he had to tell the others. He ran off, leaving Discord confused.

"Was it something I said?"

Spike ran back into the library.

"Oh, Spikey-Wikey!" Rarity ran over to the dragon to give him a big hug. "We were wondering about you!"

"You girls," said Spike, "I now know what happened to Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser!"

And he proceeded to tell the details of what Discord had told him. From Twilight being in Neighborville to Flitter and Cloudchaser being kidnapped. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack were amazed, but Fluttershy was cross.

"I know you are worried about these three, and I am too, but Discord is our friend, not a tool for us to use to solve our problems!"

"I know..." said Spike. "I knew it was a selfish act the moment I asked him, but I just wanted to see if Flitter, Cloudchaser, and especially Twilight were okay! I'm worried about these two, and Twilight's been like a big sister to me since Day One!"

"Don't put all the blame on him, sugarcube," said Applejack. "Ah would've done it had ah not knew it was a selfish act."

"Me too!" agreed Pinkie.

"Same here," added Rainbow Dash.

"And besides, darling," said Rarity. "You probably wanted to ask Discord for the whereabouts of these three too!"

The yellow pegasus was silent for a moment. Finally, she spoke up.

"Okay, I wanted to, but I'm the Element of Kindness, and using Discord as a tool to see if they were okay was a selfish act, so I decided not to. I'll let it slide this once. I'm sorry and I forgive you, Spike."

"No need for the apology," said the dragon. "I deserved the scolding."

"So what now?" asked Applejack. "Since we now know Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser's locations, should we all start a search and rescue party?"

The four ponies and the dragon were contemplating amongst themselves. Just then, Pinkie Pie bounced to Applejack's side, followed by Spike and Rainbow Dash. Rarity walked over too, and they turned to Fluttershy.

"Umm… I’ll try my best." smiled the yellow pegasus nervously as she walked over. Applejack smiled. Now that she got her best friends on her side to help with the search and rescue party.

"Ah think we should go ask everypony else if they want to help us join the party. The more help the better."

But most of the ponies didn't want to help look for Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser. They still thought these three had committed the crimes involving the attempted murder of Derpy and the bakery bombing. And then there were the Cakes. They wanted to help, but due to their jobs, they had to stay in Ponyville. Discord volunteered to help as he knew the directions, and when Rainbow Dash took to the skies and found Thunderlane and Helia and told them about the search, the former gladly agreed to help with the search as well. Helia was a bit reluctant at first, but when the mares allowed the Crusaders, Rumble, Button Mash, and Pipsqueak to help as long as they stayed close to the adults and didn't wander off too far, she decided to join the search and rescue party so that she could grow closer to Rumble.

That night at the library, it was settled that the team would start the quest to find the three missing ponies tomorrow. Even though the library was where Spike, and more recently, Applejack and Apple Bloom lived, they decided to let their friends sleep with them for the night as tomorrow would be a big day for them and they would become a team to find Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser.

Author's Note

Now that the Mane 5 and Spike have found out about where Twilight, Flitter, and Cloudchaser are (thanks to Discord), and have assembled the search and rescue team, how will the Mane 5, Spike, Discord, Thunderlane, Helia, the Crusaders, Rumble, Button Mash, and Pipsqueak find the way to Neighborville (and also find the whereabouts of Flitter and Cloudchaser)? Find out in the next chapter!

This chapter happens simultaneously with the events of Chill Out.
Next chapter will be happening simultaneously with the events of Plant Food for Thought.