The Hidden Student

The sun rose up in Ponyville to give it's denizens another day. The birds were chirping happily, the little ponies were playing; it was what one could call a perfect day. Even Twilight was outside today. Even though she was reading a new spellbook she had obtained from Luna.

“Wow Spike!” Twilight flipped through the pages of a spell book she had recently acquired. The book was mostly black in color with bits of white sprinkled on it and a giant crescent moon on the front. There was no wording on it though. “All of these spells are amazing!”

“Can any of them make gemstones for me?” Spike replied, looking a little annoyed. He hadn’t DONE anything all day! Sure it was beautiful out, but Twilight still knew how to keep it dull.

“Well…no,” Twilight admitted. “but there’s one to change others! Hold still Spike!” Twilight grinned and stood up on all four hooves, her horn glowing and soon shooting a brightly colored purple ray right at Spike.
A purple cloud quickly surrounded him and dissipated to reveal…Spike. He hadn’t changed a bit. Though his cheeks were full and he was trying to hold something back in his mouth before releasing a loud flaming burp. The flames formed a letter that fell in Twilight’s hooves.

“Not what I was after.” Twilight sighed and opened up the note that came from Spike's mouth. “It’s a letter from…not princess Celestia?” she raised an eyebrow and lowered another as she stared at it.

“What’s it say!?” Spike eagerly replied trying to get at Twilight’s height to see even one word.

“Spike,” Twilight looked down at him. “get Rarity and Fluttershy. I’m going to get Pinkie, AJ, and Rainbow. We all need to go to Canterlot- right away.”

It was a quick gathering and a quick travel, Twilight and Spike didn’t even bother explaining anything as they simply gathered up the ponies and stated they needed to go to Celestia’s castle. Sure, Pinkie never stopped bugging Twilight about it, but Twilight couldn’t explain the letter. She had to see it for herself to believe what she had read.

Once they arrived to Canterlot by train, the ponies rushed to Celestia’s castle. Twilight had explained to them on the train that they hadn't had time to admire any sort of beauty in the town. The message she had was an important one, and she didn't have the time to describe it, even if her friends were getting impatient.

“You still haven’t told us WHY we’re doing this!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over the group of ponies, only flying down some to say what she had to say.

“Yeah." Applejack agreed. “we’re friends and all, we trust your judgment completely, but we still want to know what in tarnation is going on!”

“It’s the princess,” Twilight finally admitted. “She’s…” she shook her head. “We’re almost there anyways.”

Bursting through door by door upon reaching the castle, Twilight and the others quickly ran into Celestia’s chambers to find…princess Luna standing by Celestia’s throne as well as two guards dressed in gold. On the throne laid…nothing but a piece of paper. “Where is she?” Twilight asked, not even bothering with introductions.

“Gone.” Luna replied, shaking her head. “We have guards searching all over Canterlot and the outskirts for her.”
“Wait! The princess is…” Rainbow Dash started- and the ponies said in unison “Gone?!”

“Yup.” One of the guards said, plain and simple.

“Hold on...isn’t it your jobs to watch over the princess constantly?!” Twilight glared at the guards before the throne.

“Yup.” The same guard stated, not giving much in terms of conversation.

“Ahem…” the other started. “We do. However…we were unable to for a short period of time.”

“What do you mean by that?” Applejack asked.

“You see, the princess asked that we leave her chambers due to a special visitor, a student that was supposed to arrive. We didn’t see any student come in, but all we do know is that when we checked the chambers after giving her quite a bit of time alone, she was missing.”

“Oh! Detective Pinkie is on the case! Where are the clues?!” Pinkie jumped up and down eagerly, putting on a Sherlock Holmes hat on her head from seemingly nowhere.

“None.” One guard said.

“Besides the note.” The other guard added.

“Let me see that.” Twilight used her magic to surround the note in a purple glow, pulling it in front of her where she could read it.
“Dear citizen of Equestria, while I am sure your princess has various matters to attend to; I’m afraid to inform you that she has a promise to fulfill elsewhere and cannot perform her duties until she keeps her promise. I assure you that she is unharmed and will return- however I can not say when that day comes.”

“What does THAT mean?” Applejack asked, confused by the various words.

“She’s been…ponynapped. And there’s no name here- just a hoofprint.”

“A hoofprint!” Pinkie Pie suddenly snatched the note from Twilight and pulled out an extremely large book, again from seemingly nowhere, and opened it up. “I have all the hoofprints of all my friends! I’ll compare them and we’ll see who wrote the note! No…no…no…Oh I like that one! But no.”

“Pinkie, that will take FOREVER!” Rarity cut in. “Surely there’s another way.” Rarity wasn't the patient type. She also had her suspicions that Twilight wasn't either in such a special case.

“Wait, didn’t you two say a student visited her last?” Twilight looked over at the guards.

“Yup.” Both guards replied in unison. “But we never saw them.” one added.

“They may have entered with magic.” Luna replied. “Teleportation- something even YOU know Twilight.”

“I suppose.” Twilight nodded. “Alright, I’m going to need a directory of every student that Celestia has.”

“Why on…would you want that?” Applejack asked, watching the guards race off together.

“Well, we know a student visited her last, and we have a hoofprint.”

“No…no…oh!...no.” Pinkie mumbled, reading through her list of hoofprints.

“So?” Applejack replied.

“So…if we get a list of students and know where they live, we can visit them all.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Even if we DID know where ALL of her students live, even with MY speed, it would take a LONG time.”

“We’ll keep our search in, and nearby, Canterlot. Surely if they used magic, they couldn’t be far. I mean, not even the most skilled pony can teleport such a great distance. Plus, we’ll split the job.”

Just as Twilight finished talking, the guards returned with a large book that they set down on the floor.

“Ah, good timing.” Twilight opened up the book. “Every students name, and address in here. Applejack, you take A-D. Rarity, you take E-H. Rainbow Dash, you take I-L. Fluttershy, M-P. I’ll take Q-T. Spike, U-X. And Pinkie…” she glanced at Pinkie still seeing her read hoofprints. “When you’re done with that, take Y-Z. Meet with them and make sure to get their hoofprints. We’ll meet back here when we’re done!”

Twilight started writing the addresses and names down on separate sheets of paper to give to the ponies and handed them off when she was done. “Ready girls?”

The ponies nodded and, even Pinkie, went up to the group as the formed a circle, putting their hooves in with spike’s claw at the top. “Let’s do it!” they shouted together, taking their papers and rushing off, with Fluttershy walking slowly behind the rest of them.