What if....

Charlie walked down the lighted staircase of the tower. He knew it was going to be a while to the bottom, for the tower itself was at least five hundred feet tall. He started humming a tune to help pass the time, but it seemed that he had no reason to keep humming, for he was already there. He stood at the entrance to the bottom level, but he never opened it, for he heard shouting opposite of the door.

“Vhy vas I never able to achieve it? VHY!!!” Charlie chuckled silently at Heinrich’s ranting.

“He always seems to rant on about something, I just don’t know what it is,” Charlie told no one in particular. He opened the door and found Heinrich on the floor of the dimly lit room.

Charlie smiled “You yelling at the floor again?”

“You shut up Dummkopf!” Heinrich yelled angrily. He took a glanced up and saw that Charlie was staring at him with a suspicious look on his face.

“Excuse me, I got a little angry, that was all.” Heinrich got up and dusted himself off. He then walked over to Charlie. “What are you doing down here?”

“I came here to check up on you.” Charlie said while keeping his suspicious look plastered on his face. Heinrich, however, gave him a dry look.

“How sweet,” Heinrich said plainly.

Charlie crossed over his hands while keeping the suspicious look on. “I do need to ask you one question though. Why were you speaking with an accent?”

“Oh that, I was just practicing for your entertainment… hehe.”

He’s obviously lying, but I really don’t know what he’s hiding from me, so I’m going to have to let him go on this one.

Charlie smiled and uncrossed his hands. “Well alright, it was quite amusing though.”

Heinrich sighed in relief and wiped sweat off his forehead. “Oh good, you believe me. I was beginning to think you didn’t trust me.”

“Of course I do Heinrich, you’re my only friend after all,” Charlie said wryly.

“Shut up, you have that new pony friend upstairs. Hey, maybe even after she introduces you to her friends you can become their friends, then you won’t need any use for me.”

“You’re a good spy Heinrich. I can always use an extra eye,” Charlie added sincerely.

“Oh please, I’m the last thing you want. I steal, remember.”

Charlie put a hand on his chin, “So you have a few rough edges, nothing that can be smoothened out.”

“Maybe,” Heinrich added. “Just maybe.”

A moment of silence passed between them, but Charlie broke the silence. “Hey, I’m going to need your help with something.”

Heinrich thought about it. “I guess, after all there’s nothing fun to do around here.”

“Alright, so we are going to drop off Twilight at her house tomorrow, but…”

“Wait,” Heinrich interrupted. “Not ‘we’, you.”

“Oh come on,” Charlie complained. “You’re the only one who’s been in town, so I’m going to need you to show me the path to Twilight’s library.”

Heinrich sighed, “Alright fine, but I’m going to have to scout it out right now. I don’t remember the path to the library.”

Charlie gave him a look of concern. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? They might see you.”

“Ah Charles, you forgot. The shadow spell, remember.”

Charlie stared at Heinrich before he finally remembered. “Oh yeah, that spell.”

Heinrich nodded before he walked past Charlie to the door. “I’ll be leaving right now. I’ll be right back, don’t worry.”  He opened the door and left. Charlie just stood there, staring at the door, before he shook his head and walked over to another door. He opened it and was greeted by a bright blue light. He allowed his eyes to adjust before he walked in. The light was coming from a crystal in the middle of the room. It is much larger than the one upstairs. It was placed on a pedestal and it glowed brightly.

The base of the tower… I guess Heinrich was right; the power is located in this crystal. Charlie continued to look at the blue crystal in awe, but it changed colors from blue to red tinged with black. Charlie immediately frowned, for he knew what this was.

The corruption of humanity makes this crystal glow red sometimes. I wonder how many corrupted souls were taken when the spell was activated. Charlie turned away from the crystal and walked over to the door.

I shouldn’t concern myself with this... He opened the door and left the room. When he entered the room he walked over to the stairwell door. He opened the door halfway before turning around. His eyes glinted as he looked at an object on the wall.

I can show Twilight this… it’d be better if I could wear it, but I’m a bit short for it… oh well I guess I could try it on.

“Heinrich might be really mean, but he really knows his literature,” Twilight told herself while she read over one of the many books in Charlie’s library.

“Hey Twilight,” she heard a muffled call from outside the library. She moved out of the library and saw Charlie walking in her direction.

“So how do I look?” Charlie asked while he spun around, showing off his armor and cape.

Twilight giggled. “Uh, the armor’s a bit big on you Sir Charlie.”

Charlie placed the helmet on his head, which was also too big for him.

“Yeah, the armor and cape were made for someone way taller than me. The royal guards of the Middle Kingdom were very tall folk though.”

“How tall?” Twilight asked inquisitively.

“Oh, the minimum I believe was six feet tall. I’m only five feet five inches.” Charlie hung his head in false shame. “If only I were as tall as a royal guard.”

“Well, how old are you?”

Charlie chuckled. “Oh don’t worry about it, Twilight, but honestly don’t know. I haven’t kept track of my age, but all I know is that I stopped aging at 18.”

“Well, I do believe…”

“Charles!” She was interrupted by Heinrich, who came in through another door. They both turned to Heinrich, who seemed to be very frantic.

“Welcome lord Heinrich to my…”

“This is no time to be silly.” Heinrich interrupted. “I need to speak to you Charlie,” he glanced at Twilight. “alone.”

Charlie looked down to Twilight. “Twilight, please wait in the library. I need to speak to Heinrich for a minute.” Twilight nodded and walked into the library.

“Alright Heinrich, you have me alone. What did you need?”

Heinrich motioned for Charlie to follow him. “I need to show you something.” Charlie walked with his twin self towards the door. Heinrich opened it and Charlie walked in. It was a tunnel, one that was supported against the dirt around it by wooden beams. Charlie walked with Heinrich towards the exit while he explained what he was frantic.

“Charlie, we have a problem. The ponies of Ponyville have noticed that a certain resident is missing, one of her personal friends I have no doubt. I was near one of the residents when she explained the situation. They found Twilight’s ripped bag, Charlie, in the forest. They have notified the royal guard in the capital, and now the leaders themselves have taken up the situation. They are here in the town.” Charlie opened his to speak, but was quieted by Heinrich’s words.

“What must we do, you might ask. We must take her back to the library when they are all asleep in the night. I have a plan devised already, so we must do it tonight!” They arrived at a makeshift door and opened it. They arrived at the outside and closed the door, which was covered in grasses. “Follow me and see for yourself.”  They walked through the hills in the direction of the Apple farm for a while before they stopped on top of a hill from which the town could be viewed from. Heinrich pulled out a pair of binoculars and gave them to Charlie. He pulled them up to his eyes and observed multiple groups of royal guards march through the town.  He also looked at the library, which had two guards stationed outside of it.

“It’s going to be hard Heinrich,” he said while looking through the binoculars.  “because the library where the princesses are located… wait a minute, what’s this. “ He turned his binoculars towards the right and saw the Princess of the Day walking up to the guards positioned at the library. He also saw a rainbow maned pony and two guards walked beside her. The library door opened and a guard walked out. He said something to the group there and turned his attention to the hill that Charlie and Heinrich were on with the princess, the rainbow maned pony and the rest of the guards following suit. Charlie felt his heart jump as he realized what was going on.

“They’ve spotted us,” Charlie whispered. “let’s get down from the hill slowly.” Charlie turned but saw that Heinrich wasn’t with him. He turned back to face the town and walked backwards slowly. Once he was out of sight he turned and ran down the hill. At the bottom of the hill of the hill Heinrich was waiting. “Why did you leave?”

Heinrich chuckled, “didn’t you see the guard watching us with his binoculars.”

Charlie’s expression turned into a frown.

“No…”

“Ha, you can be so ignorant sometimes Charles.”

Charlie threw his hands up. “You could have at least warned me about the guard.”

“I thought you knew.”

“No…” Charlie put his hands on his temples. “Look, let’s just go back to the tower. I have an idea.”  Charlie began to walk to the tower with Heinrich following suit. No words passed between the two until they reached the door, then Charlie broke the silence.

“Alright Heinrich, here’s my idea, we’re still going to take Twilight tonight, but I’m going to put to sleep with some medication.”

“…hear.”

Heinrich suddenly turned around and scanned the area behind him, but nothing was there. “Do you hear that?” Heinrich asked. Charlie stared at him in confusion, but he looked up and listened anyways. All he heard was the wind, so he passed it off as nothing. He turned back to face Heinrich, who was still facing the other way.

“What was that for?”

Heinrich turned around. “Nothing, anyways, why do that?” Heinrich asked.

“I’m afraid that they might think that I ponynapped her, so they might try and trace her back by asking her.”

Heinrich chuckled to himself. “Hah, good thinking Charles, good thinking. Oh but wait, you might miss out on the chance to make friends, aren’t you sad about that.”

Charlie felt his eyes water up. “Yes, I am, but this is my fault. It’s my fault that Twilight got hurt, therefore it’s my fault that she has gone missing. We have to take her back asleep so she doesn’t know where this place is.” He opened the door and turned to face Heinrich. “It’s seven hours until nightfall. Keep an eye on the town, but when it is nightfall I will meet up with you Apple family’s barn. Understand.”

“Yes sir,” Heinrich spat out the “sir”. He left after a moment, leaving Charlie with his thoughts.

“What, where am I!?” Rainbow Dash frantically jumped up, worried about her location. She stayed in the air for a while before she realized her location.

“Oh, I’m just in my house,” she told herself.

I hope nopony saw that…

She flew down and landed, but when she did a sudden pain hit her head. A sudden memory came to mind, along with it a large amount of fear.

“Oh no, Twilight! I have to find her!” She flew out of the house as fast as she could. She began to fly towards the Everfree Forest, but stopped when something caught her attention.

“Rainbow…” She heard somepony call her name.

“What, who’s there?”

“Rainbow, help me.” She heard somepony call once again, but this time she recognized it.

“Twilight?” She called, looking for the source of her voice.

“Rainbow, over here…” Rainbow’s vision suddenly shifted. She was now looking at Twilight’s library.

“Rainbow please…”

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m on my way,” she yelled before she sped off towards the library. She flew and kicked in the library door. The library was a complete mess, books were strewn on the floor and the statue that stood in the middle of the main room was broken on the floor.

“Wow, what happened here,”  Rainbow asked nopony in particular.

“AAAHHHH!!!!!”

“Twilight!” Rainbow flew up the stairs to the bedroom door. She kicked in the door and turned, but regretted doing so. A creature stood with Twilight in its arms.

She isn’t moving, I hope she’s…

“No! She’s fine, I just know it!” Rainbow yelled. She looked at the creature with anger in her eyes.

“Give me back Twilight you monster!” Rainbow heard laughing come coldly from the creature, but she couldn’t tell because it was cloaked. She saw it reach behind its back with its claws and pull out a staff, but this one had a something very sharp on it.

“A scythe! Hah, go ahead and use a weapon you coward, I’ll still beat you!” Rainbow said with a bit of fear in her voice.

“So be it…” It walked slowly towards her and readied its scythe. Rainbow felt fear build up inside her and she felt the need to flee, but her hooves suddenly felt glued to the ground.

“What! What’s happening!” she yelled while she tried to move.

“Goodbye… Rainbow Dash.” It said as it raised its scythe.

“NOOOO!!!!”

“Rainbow, are you okay!” Rainbow glanced around. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all sat around her with worry plastered on her face. Rainbow looked at each of them with a frightened expression, but she had enough courage to shake it off.

“Oh, nothing girl… just a bad dream.”

“Are you sure dear, it sounded like something more,” Rarity questioned.

“Don’t worry about it, it was nothing.”

Pinkie had a disbelieving look on her face. “Are you sure Dashie?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure it was nothing.” Rainbow shook it off with the wave of a hoof.

“Alright, only if your alright though, we wouldn’t want anything happening to you,” Fluttershy said.

A few minutes of silence passed in between them, so Applejack decided to break the silence.

“Ah know when you’re hiding something Rainbow, so please tell us, we’re your friends.

“Alright fine… I had a nightmare, it was about Twilight, she was… gone.” Rainbow sniffled as she let out the last part.

Each of her friends seemed genuinely concerned with Rainbow, for they all walked out of their sleeping bags and gave her a hug.

“Don’t worry dear, it was just a dream,” Rarity told Rainbow while in a hug.

“I just don’t get why we couldn’t find Twilight right now,” Rainbow growled.

“I’m sorry sugar cube, but we’re all tired, and we still have to get a response from the Princess,” Applejack looked towards the door. “All we can do is hope that she is alright.”

They all settled down once more, each saying their goodnights, but Rainbow Dash remained up. “The library is much more different without you Twilight, please stay safe.”  Rainbow finally lay down to go to sleep.

Upstairs a door opened and a light shown through it.

“Rainbow was that you. Are you alright!” Spike yelled out to Rainbow.

“Yes Spike, I’m fine. Just go back to sleep.

1:00 P.M. Eleven hours later…

Shining Armor stood on a cliff in the forest with two fellow guards and Rainbow Dash with him. 3 pegasi guards flew up to him from the bottom of the cliff.

“Sir, we have found large impressions leading away from the bottom. They appear to be large boot prints, but we couldn’t be sure. We haven’t followed them all the way, but they lead east towards Ponyville. ” Shining Armor nodded.

“Alright, follow the tracks and find out where they lead, we need to find where they lead too. Report to me your findings.” The guards saluted and flew back to the bottom.  Shining armor watched them fly into the forest, and then turned to Rainbow Dash with a concerned expression on his face.

“I have a feeling of what happened to Twilight,” he said.

“I do too; I just hope she’s alright.”

Shining Armor bowed his head. “Rainbow Dash, I need to report to the Princess our findings. She should be at Fluttershy’s house.”

Rainbow Dash saluted, then flew off in the direction of Ponyville.

It was a short time before Rainbow arrived at Fluttershy’s house. She  landed ten feet away from the door, but had no reason to walk up to it. As soon as she landed the door opened and two guards walked out, with the Princess following suit.  The Princess saw Rainbow and walked up to her.

“What were the search party’s finds… have they located Twilight yet?” Rainbow Dash shook her head, and then spoke.

“They haven’t located Twilight yet, but they have found large prints in the earth leading from the bottom of the cliff. The guards said they look like boot prints.”  The princess closed her eyes and hung her head. She lifted it after a minute, and then spoke.

“I have a feeling of what is going on here Rainbow Dash, but I cannot be completely sure.” She turned towards her head towards the east. “Let’s go to the library, I will explain there.” Princess Celestia turned to the guards and motioned with her head the direction of the library. The group of four soon after began their walk towards the library. Nopony spoke during the walk, so the group made it to the library in no time, but when they arrived at the outside of the library, Princess Celestia broke the silence.

“I I think I know what happened too Twilight.” Rainbow nodded, so the Princess continued.

“I think she might have been ponynapped, but I don’t know by whom.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but the door opened and a guard ran out. She closed it as the guard addressed the Princess.

“Your highness, something spies on us from afar. Two creatures watch us.” He turned his head northwest, which caused everypony else to turn their heads in the same direction. There, off in the distance, was a slight glint on top off a hill.

“But I only see one.” Rainbow said while squinting to see whatever was on the hill.

“The other one left… and it appears that this one is leaving too.” He was right, the glint suddenly disappeared. Princess Celestia cleared her throat, and then addressed the group. “Alright everypony, I have an idea of what this is, but I need one last confirmation. I will go and find out what they are and if Twilight is there,” She glanced at the guards. “Alone”

The four guards there suddenly jumped to life. One of the guards in front of the door walked up to the princess. “But Your Majesty, going alone is dangerous, we don’t even know what they are.”

“Do not worry, I’ll be fine. Just stay here.” With that said the princess jumped up and took flight towards the hill.

The princess arrived at the hill in no time and scanned the area. Nothing seemed to be out of place… except for a glint seemingly going north. Her horn sparked to life as she placed an invisibility spell on herself. With the spell on, she once again flew off in the direction of the glint. In minutes she caught up with the source of the glint and flew down and landed silently behind them. It appeared that two bipedal creatures, one cloaked and another dressed up in armor were walking towards a small overhang in a hill. On the face of the hill was grass, but it appeared that they were walking towards a certain section. They stopped in front of the hill and the armored one spoke.

“Alright Heinrich, here’s my idea, we’re still going to take Twilight tonight, but I’m going to put to sleep with some medication.”

Princess Celestia smiled. “That’s what I needed to hear.”

The cloaked one known as Heinrich suddenly turned around and scanned the area near Celestia.

Oops!

She held her breath; she knew that being spotted was the last thing she wanted. The armored one turned around to face Heinrich.

“What was that for?” the armored one asked.

Celestia watched as Heinrich turned around and released her breath quietly.

“Nothing, anyways, why do that?”

The armored one spoke. “I’m afraid that they might think that I ponynapped her, so they might try and trace her back by asking her.”

Heinrich chuckled, “Hah, good thinking Charles, good thinking. Oh but wait, you might miss out on the chance to make friends, aren’t you sad about that.”

Celestia saw the one known as Charles tear up from behind his helmet. “Yes, I am, but this is my fault. It’s my fault that Twilight got hurt, therefore it’s my fault that she has gone missing. We have to take her back asleep so she doesn’t know where this place is.” Charles opened the door. ““It’s seven hours until nightfall. Keep an eye on the town, but when it is nightfall I will meet up with you Apple family’s barn. Understand.”

Perfect.

“Yes sir.” Celestia watched as Heinrich walked to the left and walked up on top of the hill. He stayed there, waiting for Charles. Charles shut the door after a few minutes, so Heinrich walked down to the front of the door and turned to face the direction Celestia was in.

“I know your there, pony. Show yourself know, and I won’t do anything.” He stood there, waiting. Celestia, though, felt the confidence to do something else.

“Sorry, not today.” Celestia’s horn began to glow.

Heinrich laughed. “I knew it!”

She released a long range teleportation spell, leaving Heinrich stunned.

Celestia suddenly arrived in the library with a resounding clap. Standing in front of her were the five of the mane six, Spike and two guards, all stunned.

“Listen everypony,I have found out what is really going on… and don’t worry, I have confirmed that Twilight is safe. Now, here’s what happened.”