Author's Note

About time the main 6 got involved right? lol.

Anyway, this chapter is all safe to read- I hope you all like this chapter and look forward to the next! Also YEESH this book needs a cover art page. I'll work on making that- Promise.

Constructive feedback is always appreciated!

A problem That Can't Be Ignored

Twilight was in the library with the rest of the main 6. Pinkie Pie was zipping along the room, scanning for book titles that could possibly lead to anything related to what they were looking for; but despite her unusual, yet convenient, ability to find whatever she needed at rapid speed, she was unsuccessful in her search.

Rarity and Twilight were quickly skimming through books as fast as possible to try and find something. But just like Pinkie Pie, they had no luck. Rainbow was passing books to Fluttershy and Applejack, who were also helping with reading but neither of them were finding anything useful either.

"Come on Fluttershy, ya need to keep on reading so we can get through these books. If we don't find an answer soon..." Applejack attempted to hurry Fluttershy along, as she had only completed her search through 5 books while Apple Jack had gotten through 20. Rainbow Dash only added more to the pile still waiting for them. Twilight was clearly stressed as she paced and muttered while skimming her books.

"I- I'm trying, AJ. I'm sorry, I just am having a hard time focusing." The shy pony's reply came, and she sounded sad. Sad or scared, either way, she was clearly not happy.

"We all are darling, it's alright to feel that way, but we still need to try to push through if we ever want hope of finding out what is causing this... Ahem, problem." Rarity chimed in, looking upset as well but otherwise keeping her composure. Fluttershy adjusted the pillow she was sitting on and got back to reading, with Rarity continuing her search as well.

Rainbow Dash huffed as she set down another stack of books.

"Any luck over there Pinkie Pie?" She asked while taking a quick minute to relax and rest her wings, she hadn't anticipated on some of Twilight's books to be so heavy. The pink party pony shook her head with a frown.

"Nope. Nothing yet. It's weird, usually I'd find something by now." She sounded concerned.

"Not that this search would be more than helpful if we actually found something, but I don't think we will find anything if we haven't yet." Rainbow sighed with her reply.

"As much as I hate to agree, I think you're right. So far nothing like this has ever happened before. Or at least not on record. And if we can't find anything, it means we'll just have a harder and harder time finding out a way to stop whatever is going on." Twilight placed down the book she had just finished and groaned as she sat down and hung her head. "If only the detectives would make some of the information public... It might make things a bit easier on us."

Pinkie Pie attempted to smile and look for a bright side.

"Well, if this really is a new threat, then I guess it's good that we still have these!" She showed them the picture of the Elements of Harmony in one of the books she found during her search. The others did agree, it was good that they had those still. If worse comes to worst, it was their best means of defense.

"You're right. But there's still an issue that remains, we have no idea WHO is doing this." Twilight pointed out. Fluttershy remained tense and the others seemed to be thinking; All of them also seemed to have temporarily dropped their search to ponder more.

"Got any suspicious figures you've noticed Pinkie?" Applejack asked, the pink mare knew everyone in town, so it made sense to ask her. Pinkie shook her head.

"Nope. But there are some faces I haven't seen recently thanks to many deciding to hide in their homes more often." Fluttershy was definitely one of those less seen faces. It took a lot of convincing to come to the library, being one of the ponies who became more of a recluse and hid inside for fear of whatever was haunting the streets at night. It took a few escorts to get her over to the library to help, but she felt safer once back inside and with her friends.

"Well, that makes sense. Come on Pinkie, you can't tell me that your Pinkie sense isn't telling you ANYTHING about this." Rainbow Dash pitched in again while sitting on top of one of the empty shelves. Pinkie tried to really think and focus, but she frowned and sighed.

"I'm not getting anything Rainbow." Pinkie said, sadly.

"Ya don't think that whatever's doing this is messing with her Pinkie sense, do you?" Applejack decided to question. Pinkie seemed to consider the thought, but Twilight pitched in.

"It couldn't be. I doubt any known magic could do this. Unless... Hold on... what's one creature we've all faced before that could flat out remove our sources of magic and more than likely cancelled out Pinkie's mysterious ability before?" Twilight looked to the group. Fluttershy became horrified at what she was suggesting, and Rainbow seemed to catch on the fastest.

"Wait wait wait, look Twilight, Discord is a pretty reasonable suspect in this, but he's been turned back to stone again. How could he be behind this?" Applejack questioned her friend, letting Twilight explain her reasoning behind the accusation.

"Well, he randomly got out when he first escaped. Who knows if he did it again and is secretly behind this whole thing?" Everypony shuddered and seemed to think about it, Applejack even began to consider it. None of them knew how he actually escaped the first time, so they just slapped a "random cause" label on it for now.

Rarity set down the book she had been holding with her magic and walked closer to Twilight, sitting next to her as the conversation continued.

"I mean, it's not completely impossible darling, but what happens if we assume, find out Discord hasn't been doing anything, and then just end up actually releasing him and making the situation even worse?"
Fluttershy clung tightly onto Applejack, shaking like a leaf in the strongest autumn breeze and whimpering. The poor pegasus was on the verge of tears and more than likely a panic attack at the idea. Pinkie and the others noticed, and she attempted to comfort the mare while Applejack tried to not get her ribcage crushed. For as physically weak as Fluttershy could be, she had an iron grip.

"It's at least worth looking into... Princess Celestia has no clues yet as to who it would be because otherwise, she would tell me. And with what I saw at the crime scene myself... we could be dealing with a very powerful enemy. And at the moment, Discord is the only one who comes to mind as to who could be behind this." Twilight tensed and shuddered.

Rainbow Dash sat up and looked down at Twilight.

"Hang on, as much as I'd love to jump out at the chance to punch some sense into that Draconequus, I don't think Celestia ever mentioned him doing something like this." Rarity was about to reply but paused and thought about it. Rainbow Dash was right.

"It was probably to help us remain less scared of him so we could actually turn him back into stone." Applejack replied as she sighed and held Fluttershy close. Spike walked into the room with some freshly baked muffins and 6 glasses of lemonade.

"You guys have been working so hard. Take a break, I made us a tasty treat for lunch!" He smiled proudly as he held out the baked goods. Though Spike was also afraid of this threat, he wanted to try and remain optimistic for the sake and sanity of himself and his friends. Rarity did smile a little as the smell filled the room and she thanked the purple dragon with a gentle pat on the head before taking a bite.

"Spike, once we're done eating, I need you to take a note, please." Twilight spoke as she brought over a muffin and glass to herself with her magic. Spike nodded and placed the tray down on the table before running to go get a quill and paper.

Princess Celestia was pacing in the throne room. She was lost in thought, using up her free time to try and figure out a way to help more than she could to help calm the panicked citizens and catch whoever was murdering her subjects. She stopped in her tracks as she saw the letter from Twilight form in front of her. She quickly opened it and began reading.

Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I believe that we have come up with a possible suspect for this whole situation. We feel it is best for us to come to Canterlot and if not retrieve, at least check on the Elements of Harmony. We suspect Discord may have something to do with all of this and, with your permission, we want to come and have a talk with him. Or at least check on his current state in his stone imprisonment. We await your response.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia was about to ponder this, but her train of thought was interrupted when a pegasus guard entered the room in a hurry.

"Your Highness! I'm so sorry to rush but a message has arrived from Cloudsdale!" The princess perked up and made her way over to him, he held out the note for her with his wing.
Her magic coated the letter as she unfolded it and brought it closer to read. Her eyes slowly widened, and her face became an expression of horror.

"Send a group of guards with detectives from the Canterlot Police station to Cloudsdale immediately." Her order was quick and to the point, the guard nodded and ran off to gather some other pegasus guards. While he did that, Celestia teleported to her room and found a scroll along with a quill to write a response to Twilight and inform her about the situation.

She felt she could trust Twilight with this information... She didn't have many others to share her concerns with, especially since her sister was often asleep whenever she was having these issues. Yes, they had talked about it before, but poor Luna was already having trouble sleeping as it is. The last thing her dear sister needed was for Celestia to wake her up and do nothing but talk.

Orchid awoke that morning and felt a little more tired than usual. She sat up and paced around her room to get her body up and awake. Orchid did as she usually did, heading downstairs to make breakfast, and then figuring out what to do that day. She didn't exactly have to go shopping yet, but she had nothing better to do for now. After grabbing her basket and pouch of coins, she went outside and made her way to Ponyville.

As she entered the town, she noticed a group of 6 mares, accompanied by a small purple dragon on the back of the purple unicorn. A certain pink pony seemed to temporarily lock eyes with her for a moment. Everything seemed to go slow for a few seconds as their heads turned to look at each other as Pinkie and the rest of her friends passed the mare with the black eye. No one else paid attention to Orchid, so, after a short while, Orchid just shrugged and continued on her way to make her usual purchases in the market. Pinkie Pie didn't mention Orchid to her friends for a while as they all continued on their way to the Friendship Express.

The group was soon enough, on the train and waiting for it to start moving. Applejack seemed lost in thought, as did Twilight. Rainbow Dash sat by herself and was impatiently tapping her hoof against the seat since she wasn't allowed to pace around the cart yet. Fluttershy was a shivering mess who was being comforted in the arms of the pink party pony. Rarity was attempting to distract herself but to no avail. Everypony was silent, aside from the occasional groan or sigh from frustration; or whimper if you count the very faint sounds from Fluttershy.

The conductor soon shut the door and the train jerked a little as it started. Rarity watched the window, while sitting next to Spike, as the town passed them and soon became nothing but plains. Spike was nervous. Not exactly because of being next to Rarity, but also because he was concerned about this whole situation as well. A short while into the ride, Spike took a deep breath and decided to break the silence with a question.

"So, what do we do if it actually IS Discord?" he seemed a bit hesitant to ask as it snapped a somewhat frustrated Twilight from her thoughts.

"Well, uh... I suppose we'll have to just use the elements of harmony to turn him back to stone again. Or... perhaps Celestia will have a better containment spell for him. I'm not too sure." Twilight replied. Almost as if on cue, Spike felt rise in his throat as Celestia's reply had been sent. Twilight quickly opened the letter and read it silently to herself. Thankfully, because of so few ponies wanting to, or not being allowed to travel in certain areas, nopony else was in the cart, so Twilight was free to share what the princess had said.

My faithful student,

I have just received news that another victim was found this morning in Cloudsdale. If this really is Discord, as you and your friends believe, it is urgent that we figure out a stronger spell to contain him. I believe I have a solution and have more to share regarding this situation. I hope that you and your friends have a safe journey to Canterlot, we have a lot to discuss.

Yours, Princess Celestia

Twilight sighed and closed the letter. The others were still quiet, except for the occasional grumble from Rainbow Dash. No one was sure what to say at this point.

"Is... -" Applejack tried to speak but she couldn't find the rest of her words. She folded her arms and stared at the floor, her body slightly shaking. She couldn't tell if it was fear or just the train. Rarity hesitantly rubbed her arm and occasionally looked at the others with concern but said nothing. Pinkie Pie was quietly comforting Fluttershy who was now even more terrified than before. Rainbow Dash was angry. She paced around the train with a huff as she thought about what happened in Cloudsdale. They really began to ponder hearing all of this... So far, this creature had gone after, well- just about anypony. But none of them knew why. And there could definitely be more victims, but they hadn't heard any word of it. It must've been from outside of Ponyville no doubt. Perhaps Celestia could reveal more when they saw her.

After however long it takes to get to Canterlot, the six mares stepped off the train and trotted towards the palace while Rainbow Dash flew, and Spike rode on Twilight's back. They were silent as they made their way to the palace in the center of the city and once inside, a guard led them to Princess Celestia who was waiting for them patiently.

"Your Highness, Twilight Sparkle and her friends are here to see you." The guard called out. Celestia gave him a nod, before he opened the door wider for the group to enter. Spike hopped off of Twilight's back but stuck close to her, not wanting to speak yet either.

"Twilight, I'm very glad you all are here. I thought a little more about what you told me in your letter. I'm beginning to suspect you may be right. However, a thought came to me about what we should do IF Discord isn't guilty like we think"

"What did you have in mind, Princess?" Twilight asked as she took a step closer, curious about what she had in mind.

"Discord is extremely powerful and can find out much that we ourselves don't know with just the snap of a claw. I think that if he isn't behind this, he could be the one we need to find out how to stop this." She was completely serious, all of them seemed to look to each other before nodding and looking back to the Princess.

"It seems we all agree with the idea, Princess." Twilight spoke for the rest and Celestia nodded, leading them to where the elements of Harmony were kept.

Once the door was unlocked, she took out the chest that contained the enchanted necklaces and crown and passed them out to the correspondent wearer with her magic.

"Discord is in a different location this time. Meet me in the Castle Sculpture Garden. We can have a discussion with him there. I'll be there with you in case he decides to be uncooperative." With that, Celestia began to walk away from the group, nonverbally telling them that they needed to make their way to the garden.

"Come on ya'll. Hopefully we'll get some answers soon..." Applejack spoke up and the group nodded before following her outside. Twilight was hesitant but soon followed them outside as well. Hoping that this would all be over soon...