Pinkamena Diane Pie had not set hoof in her rock farm for a while. When she arrived on her family's farm again, with six other ponies who were presumably her friends, her sister, Limestone Pie, looked rather shocked. But soon after, the shock was replaced with her usual irritable expression. "Pinkie Pie? What in the hay are you doing here? Especially with them?"

Before answering, Pinkie hugged her other sister, Marble Pie, and her parents, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz. Her parents kept their neutral faces, as always, and Marble Pie shivered with discomfort and timidity as Pinkie and all her friends got closer to her.

"Sorry to disturb all of you," Twilight announced first, "but we just needed to ask you a small question."

Pinkie turned to Limestone, who groaned. "It better be quick."

Rainbow Dash nodded vigorously. She was just about to ask the question when Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and started to meander. "Of course we'll do it fast, silly! Rainbow Dash here is really, really, really fast! Oh, and I'm fast too, because everypony says I can fit a lifetime of fun into a blink of an eye. OH! And, I'm pretty sure I talk fast too. I'll definitely make this fast. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Honestly-"

"PINKIE!" Limestone shouted at her sister with a glare.

A light, "Oops," was the response from Pinkie Pie.

As Limestone facehoofed and shook her head, Twilight began to ask the question. "Have you seen a lilac unicorn come by here lately? She's got a purple and teal mane, if that helps."

Limestone and the rest of the Pie family thought about it, but the answer that came from all of them, even Marble Pie's silent answer, was no. "We focus on farming, chores, and work. We don't usually pay attention to much else. That includes your unicorn friend who may or may not have passed by."

Twilight sighed. "Okay, thanks anyways." Disappointed, she motioned for her friends to follow her out of the rock farm. She wasn't sure exactly where to check next. A flaw she had discovered during her journey to the farm helped her realize that there was no point in checking nearer areas, as Starlight was skillful with and incredibly reliant on her magic. It was very likely that Starlight had simply just teleported herself somewhere. That made it so there was no point in checking based off reasoning, as with her proficiency in magic, she could currently be anywhere in Equestria, maybe even outside of it.

Applejack could see Twilight stressing out, and decided to intervene. "Why don't we go back to Ponyville and start searchin' again tomorrow? I'm sure we could all take some time to relax and even make a new plan."

Twilight wanted to argue and disagree, she really did, but she didn't have any good reason to. Besides, Applejack had fair points. So she sighed in defeat and led her friends back home.

Everypony had a different definition of "nightmare."

For Rainbow Dash, it was losing a race. For Fluttershy, it was basically anything bad or scary. Pinkie Pie's would be disgusting desserts, and Rarity's, hideous clothing. Applejack didn't like to have a single rotten apple. Starlight was scared of her own past, with good reasons, of course. And Twilight had a good definition of a nightmare: "Anything that could "harm [her] friends, or [her friends] being harmed."

Right now, she was experiencing an in-real-life nightmare, and it fit into the latter category. There was no way to know for sure if Starlight was being physically hurt or not, but they could all infer that there was some mental pain in her. The last time Twilight had seen her, Starlight was a nervous wreck with tears and instability. She'd managed to wave good-bye to Twilight as she left for the train, but Twilight never would have guessed that it was for the last time maybe ever. If only she'd known, there would have been so much she could have done to prevent it all from happening. But the world didn't work that way. So she had to take action and stop the nightmare.

As soon as they arrived back home, Twilight devised a plan. With a map of Equestria, she arranged for them to visit spots near the rock farm they had visited earlier today. Except that wouldn't make any sense, as Starlight was most likely currently moving along, further away from the farm to Celestia-knows-where. So she abandoned Idea Number One and started creating an entirely new game plan. She picked to go to those cities that were a town or so away from the farm. If Starlight was travelling by hoof, that was where she would most likely be.

On her map, she'd marked, using probability and reasoning, Ponehenge, Baltimare, and Vanhoover. Those were the most reasonable Equestrian towns that Starlight would be in. If not one of those, Starlight had used magic or some other thing to take her to some other place, maybe even outside of Equestria. Twilight hoped that wasn't the answer, as she wanted it to be a quick find, where she could just have Starlight back home as soon as she found her, which would be really soon, if it were up to her. But it wasn't, and she had to work hard for what she wanted.

A while later, Spike found that Twilight had tired herself out planning for tomorrow, and softly giggled. He placed her on her bed and joined her to sleep on the large bed.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie also joined Twilight in her room. They all slept on soft carpet on the ground, save for Rainbow, who had brought her own cloud in to sleep on. Although she didn't think so, the carpet was rather softer, and also warmer, than clouds. Spike organized Twilight's plans while everypony else slept; he wouldn't be joining the girls on their quest the next day, meaning that he could stay up and help while the girls were home and sleep on other nights. He finished organizing the plans with a smile.

Not very surprisingly, Twilight had made several plans, so it made sense that Spike stayed up almost until midnight setting out the girls' course for tomorrow. When yawning, he realized something. They could reach Starlight even with the many miles between them!

He rushed to get a quill and scroll, just as he used to when writing to Celestia, and started out the letter a way he had only done once before.

Dear Princess Luna,

I know you're busy consoling everypony in their nightmares, but the girls and I are in a real-life nightmare right now. Our dear friend, Starlight Glimmer, has vanished with an unknown cause, and we were hoping you could possibly reach her through her dreams. Please try and let us know the results as soon as possible.

Thank you so much,

Spike

After rolling up the scroll, he blew it and sent it to Princess Luna. He yawned, knowing he wouldn't get a response right away, and crawled into Twilight's bed, falling asleep right away.

Twilight woke up and yawned while stretching. Blinking a few times, she remembered what was happening in the real world. It was something she never wanted to experience. It was the real-life nightmare of a hurt friend. And it hurt Twilight, if not more than Starlight, just as bad. She realized that she hadn't finished planning from yesterday, and zoomed over to her work table from yesterday, deciding she could rush in the last of her plans for the day. Then, she saw that the plans had been summarized, completed but barely changed. In a perfect way Twilight would most likely have overlooked. The modifications she could see were written in the scribbly handwriting of Spike. With a smile, she glance back towards her bed where Spike lay, sound asleep.

With a giggle, she walked over to him and properly placed a blanket on him. As she did that, she noticed that Spike was holding something. Wriggling it out, she realized it was a scroll. From Princess Celestia, perhaps? She decided to read it.

My great friend, Spike,

I'm so sorry to hear such a thing! I've searched through dreams to find hers since the moment I recieved your scroll, but I have not succeeded in finding Starlight's. It is possible she isn't dreaming at all, or that she is now in a place with a completely different time zone. I will continue to search for hers for nights (and possibly days) to come, and I wish you the best of luck in finding her in real life. Please let me know if she is found.

Best of luck,

Princess Luna

Twilight smiled. Spike was helpful and smart in so many ways; he was the best friend and assistant anypony could ever ask for. And all that help had contributed to Twilight not having to overwork as she did on occasion. With a smile, she packed small bags for the road. She was determined that it would be the last day of searching, as they would surely find Starlight. Of course, you never knew when the world decided to ditch your plans, so Twilight had started thinking of a plan for what would happen if they didn't succeed. It wasn't very strong, but it had a base. Every good plan starts there.

She awoke the rest of her friends and informed them that they should try to leave as soon as possible. After a short breakfast, they did just that. Spike slept in, with a good cause, and would soon wake up to continue what he had started.

The girls, meanwhile, had a long route ahead of them.

Author's Note

Pinkie's tangents