Resent.

Sweetie Belle laid still as Twilight's magic covered her body. Tense minutes passed while the magical scan was in progress. Rarity stood besides Applejack, almost holding her breath while the exam was in progress. After a few more minutes, the glow vanished, but Sweetie Belle was just as still as before.

"So? Whats wrong with her?" Applejack asked.

"I..I don't know..." Twilight sighed. "I searched her body for any spell or curse, but theres nothing. Its like she just...went to sleep..."

"But you can heal her right? You have to heal her!" Rarity exclaimed. Twilight glanced at Sweetie Belle.

"I don't whats wrong with her, nor how its doing this. I doubt I can heal anything. I might even make it worse!" she answered. "I'm sorry Rarity, but I can't take that chance."

"But...but then what do we do?! I won't leave my sister here, especially like this!"

Twilight lifted Sweetie Belle, rolling her in the blanket and placing her on Rarity's back. All that could be seen of the filly was the point of her horn.

"I can't fix it right now, but I will when I have the time and magic. Rarity, you go with Applejack to her farm and wait there. The the fog shouldn't have reached the orchid yet."

"Ain't happening."

"What?!" Twilight questioned. "Why not?!"

"I have to agree with Applejack dear." Rarity answered. "I want to save my sister, but I won't leave you here alone in here. What if they catch you again? You wont escape twice!"

"Besides, what if you need some raw muscle? Ah'm not at my best right now, but Ah' sure can put some push if needed."

"No you can't" Twilight said.

"Wha-yes Ah' can!"

"Applejack, you've been limping all the way from the town hall. And Rarity, you're going to be carrying Sweetie Belle. If you two stick together, you should be just fine. Besides..." she pointed to her horn. "I can do magic now. I'll be fine."

"Ah' still think you shouldn't go alone." Applejack said.

"And you're right. Its dangerous and I have to be careful if I don't want to get caught, but I'll be a lot more focused if I don't have to be worrying about you two as well."

"But-"

"Please Applejack." Twilight asked. Applejack looked at Rarity for support, but the she was just was doubtful as her. Between Twilight's stare and her own indecision, Applejack eventually relented.

"Alright. We'll go. But don't take too long ya hear?" Applejack said. "Or we'll go looking for ya."

"I will." Twilight walked to the door. "Now go. I'll be back soon."

Peering through the window, Twilight saw the stallion returning from his investigation. He would probably be on high alert now, which meant that the same trick wouldn't work twice. But there was a difference from before. A difference that right now meant the world to Twilight.

She had her magic.

"Hold on a second..." her horn started glowing. A few seconds later, the stallion fell over to his side, completely asleep. Twilight however, fell on her haunches visibly tired.

"Wow hey, are you alright?" Applejack asked.

"Its the leftover repellant. Its like pushing my magic through clay...I hadn't realized earlier because I still had some adrenalin in me."

"Oh dear. Then we should stay with you now shouldn't we?"

"No." Twilight said firmly. "I can do this. You two get going. I don't know how long I was out, but we have take advantage of the dark."

Applejack and Rarity gave each other one final worried glance before walking out the door, leaving Twilight alone in the boutique. Darkness and silence overcame her.

"Maybe I should have let them stay..." she whispered as she left the Boutique. She shivered when a cold mass of air surrounded her, which was odd, considering that it was summer, but ignored it. She had more important things to worry about, like how to find her friends.

"Lets see..." she thought, hiding behind a haystack. "Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are pegasi, and if this ponies aere smart, then they are locked up somewhere where they can't fly away. Since that could be any house in the town, to look for them would be nearly impossible, which leaves me with..."

"Pinkie Pie..." she whispered.

How was she supposed to find her?! Pinkie Pie was an earth pony, which meant that she could be anywhere! At lest with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash she knew they would be under a roof. Pinkie Pie could perfectly be tied in the middle of a street and Twilight wouldn't see her in all the darkness.

"How am I supposed to find a sugary obsessed...sugar. Thats it!"

Her horn started glowing, and before long, a small, purple three dimensional arrow popped into existence in front of Twilight's face, already pointing away. Twilight however, was too stunned to be happy.

"I can't believe I'm using a cupcake tracking spell...and thats its working!"

The town had not changed much in the short while when they were at the boutique. The night was still heavy on the land, and the omnipresent fog was just as thick as before. Since there was no way to contact the princess, there was no way to ask for help. Applejack and Rarity would be getting to the farm soon, since they would be of little help in their condition.

"I'm alone for this one."

While Applejack's words still rang in her head, she still couldn't feel at ease with either herself or the situation, even more so after finding Rarity. Applejack had been hurt in the struggle, but Rarity had been deliberately thrown into a dumpster and messed up. Spike had gone from simple insults to physical threats in just a couple of days.

It made her shiver as thoughts Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie passed through her mind. If Applejack and Rarity were bad, how would the others be?

Silence was her only response.

The arrow floated in front of her, occasionally pulsing with purple magic, too faint to be seen from afar but bright enough for Twilight to follow it. It wouldn't last long though. She could only use so much magic with the dampener. The arrow would eventually fade away, leaving her in the dark, alone and tired.

"Better hurry..." she thought.

Minutes of walking eventually led her to sudden turn, which lead her to a small street, which on a normal day, would have been hidden away by the houses. Twilight could swear she had been there before, but the already thick darkness, intensified with the houses, made it impossible to do any recognition.

"Now...where are you Pinkie?" Twilight whispered. The arrow was becoming increasingly still, signaling the end of her search until, with one final pulse of purple energy, it vanished, leaving Twilight in dark.

"Wha-No, no!" she tried casting the arrow again, but it was now use. She was too tired to push the magic out. Her attention was diverted as hooves started approaching her direction. Twilight frantically looked around, desperately searching for an exit. Meanwhile, the hooves, kept getting closer, now distinct enough to recognize three.

Running out of time and options, Twilight made her magic flash for second, allowing her to spot a door that was ajar. She promptly ran inside, careful not to slam the door afterwards. A single drop of sweat ran down her face as the hooves waked right besides the door, slowly scanning the whole street. Door after door was heard slamming opening. Twilight realized they would find her if she staid there, and quietly distanced herself from the door, careful to not trip on any invisible object. Hiding behind what felt like a large couch, she made herself as small as possible.

Thats when the door slammed open. Heavy breaths and clopping hooves were all around her as three ponies searched the area. Twilight held her breath as they started to get closer.

"Do you see anything?" one male voice asked. It was just as robotic as the mares in town hall.

"No. Whatever it was, its not here."

The third pony didn't say anything, but approached the couch, its glowing eyes squinting to peer through the darkness. Twilight waited for the inevitable.

"Lets go." Cheerilee said, turning around and leaving. Twilight didn't stop holding her breath until she heard the door close and the hooves leave. She gasped for air, not daring to move until the ponies could no longer be heard. She stood up, shaking like no tomorrow.

"Too close..." she thought. "Better hurry before they decide to come back."

The arrow was pointing towards somewhere in this street, which meant that Pinkie had to be in one of the houses. Four entire houses to search. Perfect.

"Well... she isn't in this house at least..." she told herself as she gave a quick glance to the second floor. Her horn glowed with with dim magic, allowing her to see a little. Twilight peered out the windows before walking out of the house, nearly running inside the one in front. To her surprise, it was empty. No stuff, no couches, no Pinkie. Just a barren wooden floor.

"Well, that simplifies things."

The third house was the same thing. Barren, empty and quiet. But with one difference. It had stairs. Twilight took a deep breath before walking up. The second floor was just as empty, except for bundle of blankets that was piled on a corner. Twilight paid no attention to it.

Until it shivered under the light.

"What the..." Twilight whispered as she approached it. Biting on the blanket, she pulled away hard. And then she froze.

Tied, gagged and bounded on her eyes was Pinkie Pie. All of her legs were tied, as was her muzzle, her neck and body, all this in such a way that it would be impossible to move a muscle. Her mouth was gagged, as were her eyes. Twilight even recoiled a bit at the disturbing sight.

"Mmmh-mmph!" Pinkie started twitching in fear, trying in vain to escape the ropes that trapped her, not caring how they were starting to break her skin. Twilight quickly used her magic to pull the cloth around her eyes. But Pinkie was still trashing away, forcing Twilight to cup her head.

"Pinkie! Its me! Calm down!" Twilight said sternly. Pinkie's blue eyes found her friend, and immediately started tearing up. Twilight tried prying the ropes, but a muffle gasp of pain from Pinkie stopped her. She tried using her magic, but the ropes were just too tight and she was just too tired to do anything. With one final push of magic, she tore the gag from her mouth.

"Twilight..." Pinkie sobbed. "It hurts...and not in a fun way."

Twilight racked her brain trying to figure out a way to free Pinkie without hurting her, or at least carry her without being discovered. But nothing came up. Pinkie was the only who could find Dash and Fluttershy with her...sense. She knew what she had to do to release Pinkie.

And she hated it.

"Pinkie... calm down. Pinkie. Pinkie, listen!" Twilight said. Pinkie stopped sobbing doing her best to look at Twilight. "I can't pull the ropes from you, so I'm going to have to cut them. They are going to get tight and its going to hurt, but I need you to be brave and stay quiet, do you understand me?"

Pinkie hesitated, but nodded. Twilight took a deep breath andfocusing what was left of her magic on her horn.

"Here it goes..." she whispered. The knots around Pinkie's neck started glowing, visibly straining and breaking, strand by strand, until they snapped. Pinkie coughed as the pressure around her neck ceased. Twilight then moved to her legs, following the same process. Pinkie silently whimpered as the ropes tightened, pinching her skin red. Twilight repeated the process two more times with Pinkie's body and flanks, doing her best to ignore the small gasps of pain that came from Pinkie each time a knot tightened.

"One more Pinkie..." Twilight whispered. The final knot that bounded Pinkie's legs together glowed, tightened painfully and snapped, finally releasing her. Pinkie wasted no time, immediately hugging Twilight.

"It was horrible Twilight!" she sobbed. "They pushed me and bound me and threw me around! It was like that pushing game that the crusaders like, but it wasn't a game because it wasn't fun at all!"

Twilight rubbed her friends back, letting her get it out of her system. Pinkie didn't have injuries or bruises like Applejack, which meant that she wasn't beaten or roughed up. But the ropes had done their share, leaving marks on Pinkie's skin, not as severe as the ones on Twilight's wrists, but definitely bigger.

"Pinkie...can you walk?" Twilight asked, standing up. Pinkie stumbled a little, but soon followed her example.

"Good. Do you know where Fluttershy and Dash are?"

"Dash is locked inside the Quills and Sofa's store and Fluttershy is with her. I know because I felt my left eye lid twitch, and that meant that somepony I know is inside somewhere they hate, and I know that Dash hates that store, I wonder why though. Do you know why? I'd love to-"

"Pinkie." Twilight placed a hoof on her mouth. "Not now. Look, are you absolutely sure they are there? Completely sure?"

Pinkie nodded fervently, completely forgetting about the pain that came from the rope marks. Twilight breathed deeply. Finally something was going their way.

"Rarity and Applejack are on their to the farm. They should be there by now. You and I are going to search for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." Twilight noticed Pinkie's determined look. "And we're going to do it quietly."

"Uh? Why?"

Twilight sighed and proceeded to explain what had happened to her friend, a task that proved to be more complicated than it should thanks to Pinkie's puppy dog's long attention span.

"Okay. Quiet and stealthy, like when we went to the library in those sneaky suits!"

As soon as they left the library, Twilight noticed something about the darkness that surrounded them. It wasn't that dark anymore. She could see vague ponies outlines in the fog around that, while barely visible, were still there. Alarms ranged inside of her as she realized what was happening.

"Its dawning." Twilight said. "We have to hurry!"

They walked as fast as they could through the streets, doing their best to avoid making noise with their hooves. It wasn't long until they arrived at the shop which was, to Twilight's surprised, unguarded. Twilight and Pinkie walked in, eager to leave the streets. Nopony was inside. At least, not in the first floor.

"There's nopony here...are you they are in here Pinkie?"

"Super duper extra sure!" Pinkie exclaimed. Twilight sighed and proceeded with the search. The first floor was filled with, surprise surprise, bags of quills and sofas, but there was nopony on them or behind them. The counter was bare of life.

"Nothing here...lets go to the second floor."

The second floor consisted of a hallway with two doors, on front of the other. Twilight slowly walked it, followed by Pinkie Pie. She placed one of her hooves against a door. It opened easily. The room was filled with boxes of quills and sofa building materials. Not even the squeak of a mouse could be heard over the silence that reigned in the room.

"Nothing here either..." she pushed a small pile of box, sending the top box tumbling down. As soon as the box landed, quill and empty ink bottles spilled on the floor loudly. Both Twilight and Pinkie froze, fearing the worst. But nopony came. All that could be heard was their breathing and shuffling. Very loud shuffling.

Shuffling that came from the other room.

Twilight motioned Pinkie to stand behind her. Slowly and carefully, Twilight pushed the door open. There was no light except that which came from a small window., which forced her to use what little magic she had left to make her horn glow. The only two things in the room were a closet and an empty bed.

"Nopony here either..." she whispered.

"Look at that bed! Somepony was having some fun it." Pinkie said. And indeed, the covers were tossed over it and the mattress was wrinkled from the whatever force was on it. Twilight placed a hoof on it.

"Its warm..."

The shuffling was heard again, much louder this time. Twilight and Pinkie glanced at each other, then at the source of the shuffling sound.

"Somepony is in the closet..." Twilight said. Pinkie stood behind her, ready for anything. Twilight grabbed the handle of the closet and, counting to three, brusquely opened the door. Her magic went out as a large lump body fell on her. A small scream followed by more shuffling was all that was heard before Twilight managed to turn her horn back on.

"What was that?" She asked, pushing the lump off her. But Pinkie didn't answer. "Pinkie, what s is wrong?"

Pinkie didn't say anything, instead pointing a hoof towards Twilight. More specifically, Twilight's side, where the unmoving body of Rainbow Dash laid, heavily bruised and beat up.

"Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight started shaking her. "Dash! Wake up! Say something!"

But Dash didn't wake up. If Applejack was bruised, the Dash was completely beaten up. Scratches and blows were visible all over her body and her breaths were shallow and slow. Applejack had said that Dash had put up a fight.

She didn't say how she fared.

Twilight pulled Dash into a hug, more out of protective instinct than anything. Dash moaned out of unconscious pain, but didn't wake up.

"Twilight...the bed is shaking." Pinkie said.

Twilight looked to bed. Just like Pinkie said, the bed was trembling a little. Twilight carefully, hesitantly placed Dash on the floor. She slowly peered under the bed. The lack of light made it difficult to see. She could a pale yellow body. It was shivering and whimpering. Some feathers had fallen from it.

Feathers?

"Fluttershy?" Twilight called. The bundle shuffled and before long, Twilight was blown from the bed, completely trapped by the form of Fluttershy, who was sobbing freely. Twilight tried pushing Fluttershy away, but it was no use. Fluttershy was crying away and would not let go.

"She's not scared or nervous..." Twilight thought. "She's terrified."

It took a whole ten minutes for Fluttershy to calm down. In the mean time, Pinkie placed Rainbow Dash on the bed, glumly keeping watch over her. Twilight did her best to console Fluttershy, who was slowly calming down.

"Fluttershy..."Twilight started. "What happened?"

"Twilight. It was horrible. All this ponies came and tried to grab us. Pinkie Pie and Rarity tried pushing them away, but it didn't work, and when they grabbed them, Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried fighting them off. Twilight, you weren't there to see it. Applejack was knocked over with a stick and Rainbow went ballistic. Thats when they..." Fluttershy didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to.

"And you? Did they do anything to you?"

"N-no...I...I tried to push them away, but I didn't manage too...They didn't do anything to me."

Twilight didn't say anything, instead focusing her gaze on Rainbow Dash. Her friend laid there, unmoving. She looked out the window. The fog was no longer black. It was a very dark gray, which would soon go lighter. She looked at Dash again.

"Fluttershy, can you fly?" she asked

"Y-yes. Yes I can."

Twilight opened the window.

"Because we are getting out of here." Twilight used her magic once more and snapped the ropes around her body, ignoring the pain that came from her wings. She flapped them a couple of times. "Grab Rainbow Dash. We're going to the farm?"

"What about me?" Pinkie asked.

"I'll take you." Twilight flapped her wings harder. "Now lets go. First to the apple orchid to rest a little. Then, we head to Canterlot."