Resent.

"That… is quite a tale." Luna said from her couch. "How come I didn't found about this?"

"I don't know…" Celestia replied, looking out the window. The sun shone brightly and the land was there for all to see. The only spot was Ponyville. Celestia did her best to not look at it. "You were probably in a dream at the time."

"And Spike is responsible for this." Luna spat. "Treachery is not lightly punished sister."

"I know."

"So what are we going to do?"

Celestia turned to face her sister, her mind already processing a solution. Spike and his accomplices were already gone. Twilight and her friends needed to rest and Ponyville was still in dire need of aid.

"Lets take care of what we can take care of at the moment." Celestia answered, walking towards the door of her study. "Walk with me Luna. We're going to have a talk with the guards.

"And you need me because…?"

"Because you are going to lead a team to Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. The light of the window was glowing like a white candle, slowly bringing her out of the darkness. She blinked, slowly but surely getting her bearings back.

Thats when her headache returned with a vengeance. Actually, forget the headache. Her entire body was sore beyond imagination. Every single part of it. As if she had crashed a concrete wall at sonic boom speeds. Even breathing hurt.

"He…hello…?" she managed to croak. Barely. The only answer she received was the soft murmur of Pinkie's snores. Other than that, the entire room was deathly silent.

Against her better judgement, she tried moving one of her legs. Pain instantly shot up through it. She winced, not wanting to look weak by whimpering around.

"I see you are awake."

Moving her head to the left as much as she could, Rainbow Dash looked to the door of the room. A nurse was standing there, using her magic to carry a tray with bandages.

"How long was I out?" Rainbow groaned.

"Form what I've been told…about twelve hours." the ruse answered while setting the tray in a table by her bed.

"What?! What about Spike! Ponyville! Where are-" Rainbow's rant was cut short as a spasm of pain racked her body.

"You shouldn't move. Most of your body is bruised." The nurse commented sadly. "That and a few of your joints are sprained, along with a couple of broken ribs."

Dash was shocked. That beat up was a lot worse than she remembered. Then again, she didn't remember a lot of things. She did remember Spike watching while the town ponies mashed her into a pulp. An intense anger began settling inside of her.

"What about my friends?"

"Applejack was a little hurt, but not as much as you. The rest fine too." The nurse answered, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Rainbow Dash looked at the ceiling. It was marble white.

"How long do I gotta stay here?" she asked.

"I'd say about week."

"What?! I can't sit here for a week! My friends need help! Spike needs help! I gotta save every pony!"

"We already applied a healing spell to you. You should be happy its not a month. You should be happy your friends alright. Twilight manage to rescue them and their families."

Rainbow Dahs opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out of it. What could she say?

"Families…I don't have family in Ponyville…" she said without thinking. Until it hit her. "Except…"

"Except who?" the nurse asked.

"Scootaloo." Rainbow said. "Did they get Scootaloo out?"

"Scootaloo?"

"Yeah! You know, orange and purple, small, all around awesome for a kid?"

The nurse tapped her chin for a few seconds, seconds that seemed an eternity for Rainbow Dash. The fact that the nurse wasn't showing much concern while taking so long to remember only served to increase her worry.

"I remember seeing two little fillies within the group. But they were white and yellow, not orange."

A cold stone dropped in Rainbow's battered stomach. Scootaloo wasn't here. That meant that she was still in Ponyville. Alone. With all the zombified adults and the fog and the danger and the risks!

"I have to go." she said sternly while trying to pry herself free from the bedsheets. The nurse, seeing what her patient was trying to do, used her magic to gently forced Rainbow back on the bed.

"What are you doing?! Let me go! I have to rescue Scootaloo!" the pgeasus trashed on her bed in vain.

"You are in no condition to move, let alone go in a rescue mission." The nurse began walking towards the door. "Please, try to rest now."

And with that, Rainbow Dash was left the only awake pony in the room. Her mind was in complete turmoil. Most of brain was screaming at her, ordering her to get up, zoom to Ponyville and rescue her number one fan. Her body was screaming in return, begging her to stay in bed and rest.

The fact that she was even paying attention to her body was proof of how much it hurt.

"They save every pony except Scootaloo…" she thought bitterly. "Why? They know she's like my sister!"

However, deep inside, she knew she couldn't blame them. All it took was one glance at their sleeping forms to see just visibly batter and tired they were. Although she wanted to, she couldn't really blame for being able to save Scootaloo.

"But then who will?" she thought bitterly.

Twilight carefully placed the quill on the desk, making sure that it was aligned with the research papers next to it. The library was completely dark, save for the humble light that came from her candle. She blew out the candle, having finished with her work and lighting her horn to show her the way upstairs.

As she reached the second floor, soft snoring reached her ears. Her eyes wondered down, finding Spike drawled on his bed, deep in slumber. Smiling, she used her magic to lift his blanket, placing it over him.

"Good night Spike." she murmured as she climbed on her bed.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. It was dark around her. Wherever she was, it was soft and quite. The perfect place to sleep. She snuggled on the soft blanket that was below her. For a few seconds, everything was right with the world. She was back in the library and everything was okay.

Thats when the memories returned.

Twilight sighed and sat up. Looking outside through the curtains, she could see orange glow of the sunset. Alarm briefly ran through her before she took a deep breath to calm herself. Rushing would not help things.

"I need to find the princess." she thought. Using her magic, she illuminated the room, allowing her to see herself on a mirror. She remembered that the princess had fixed her mane and all the scratches on their way to the room, so she didn't bother too much with it.

Leaving the room and making her way downstairs, many guards saluted her, but she didn't give them a glance. She was too focused with the matter at had. Now that she had rested and her mind was free from the adrenalin, she could actually do something.

She was still worried about Spike though.

She had to hurry.

Twilight knew the palace by memory, so finding the throne room was easy as pie and, just as she expected, she saw Princess Celestia there. What she didn't expect to find there, was Princess Luna, along half a dozen night guards.

"Don't you think you'll need more guards?" Celestia asked. "You are facing an entire town, remember?"

"Too many guards could end up causing a battle to break out." Luna answered. "And I think violence is something we want to avoid at the moment."

Celestia tapped her chin for a few seconds before placing her hoof in Luna's shoulder.

"Alright sister. I trust your judgment. Be careful and remember: These ponies are not in their right minds. Do not use force against them."

Luna nodded before walking towards the open window of the room. With a quick hoof sign, she motioned her guards to follow her before taking flight. Celestia saw the seven figures disappear in the darkening sky before turning around, finding Twilight standing right in front of her.

"Twilight…" Celestia began. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore. Where is Luna going?"

"To Ponyville. To rescue the foals and, if we are lucky, the adults as well."

"What about Spike?"

Celestia didn't answer, instead walking by her student and heading to the door, making a signal for Twilight to follow her.

"I wanted to wait until you and your friends were awake. This is a problem that concerns all of you, so all of you need to decide what to do." Celestia answered as the two princess made their way to the royal clinic, where the bearers of harmony were staying. "In the mean time, is there anything you could tell me about Spike's plan? Anything you might have forgotten?"

Twilight negated with her head.

"In that case we might be in a bit of a pickle here…" Celestia said just as they entered the clinic. It wasn't long before they reached the room where their friends were staying. They could hear voices as they approached. Loud voices.

"Why couldn't you get Scootaloo?" Dash asked from her bed, her sore chest keeping her from shouting.

"Ah' told you, we didn't have the time! We would have gotten caught! We barely managed to get Sweetie Belle out." Applejack answered. Rarity didn't answer, not knowing what to say. Pinkie was looking from pony to pony, following the argument with worried interest, as was Fluttershy.

All voices became silent as the two princess entered.

"Princess! We just woke up!" Pinkie started. "And then Rainbow Dash asked us why we couldn't save Scootaloo, and the Applejack said we weren't able, but Dashie kept asking and Applejack kept answering and Dashie-"

"Thats enough dear" Rarity said, placing a hoof on Pinkie's mouth. It helped that their beds were right next to each other.

"I understand your worry Rainbow Dash." Celestia said, approaching the bed of the pegasus. "But you need not to fret. Luna is dealing with the situation as we speak."

The information, while not exactly cheerful, visible made Rainbow Dash relax, which in turn helped to defuse the tensing atmosphere.

"Now, I think we need to discuss about the current situation." Celestia begun saying. "Twilight has put me up to date with what she knows and, from what I can tell, it is little different from what any of you could tell me, correct?"

"We're sorry…" Fluttershy whispered.

"No need to be sorry dear. Given the circumstances, I would be surprised if we had more information to go along with. Spike and his helpers planned this well."

"I didn't know Spike liked to plan things." Rarity noted

"He always went along with what I planned. I don't think its much different here." Twilight replied. "I never really asked him…"

"Then what do we do?" Applejack asked. "We don't know where to go, when to go or whatever!"

"For now, there is little we can do apparently." Celestia answered. "I shall have the remaining night guards scout the nearby area of Ponyville and Canterlot. As for us, we are going to wait for Luna, and hope she brings some more information."

"Princess, if I may ask a question?" Rarity asked.

"Certainly."

"While Princess Luna was…while she was waking Sweetie Belle, you mentioned that you knew the spell that was used on her…"

"Yes. Its an advanced form of mind control."

"But thats not all, is it?"

Celestia staid quiet for a few seconds. She sighed wearily.

"No. No its not. However, I'd rather not jump to conclusions yet.  Let us wait for Luna to return tomorrow morning. There's not much that we can do anyways. Get some rest, all of you." Celestia turned towards the door. "I believe tomorrow will be a long day."

"Princess…" Twilight said, her eyes looking straight at Celestia.

"Don't worry Twilight. As soon as Luna returns, answers shall be given." She nuzzled her student. "And everything shall be fine. I promise."

As she pronounced this words, the final rays of the sun vanished in the horizon.

A group of flyers headed towards Ponyville with haste, ready to fulfill their duty. At head of this group was Princess Luna, stern and decided.

One night guard approached her inflight.

"Princess, may I ask what is the plan?" he asked.

"Ponyville has fallen under some sort of mind control. From what I gather, all the adults are being controlled, while the foals are asleep." the night princess answered. "We are going to save the foals and, if possible, the adults."

"But Princess…there is only six of us, not counting you. How are we going to do it?"

"I have something in mind. It is simple and I'd rather have your full attention, so we shall discuss it once we land in the outskirts of the town." Luna smiled. "Don't worry about the mind spell. I shall cast a counter spell once we land."

On the distance. The dark figure of Ponyville slowly approached them.

Meanwhile, far from there, Four figures stood in in a small alley, all their attention locked in the building in front of them. Said building was none other than Fillydelphia's City Hall, know for being active until late hours at night.

And that was exactly what they needed.

"This is the closest I could find." Derpy said. "Is it good?"

Snowdrop eyed the building. Although there weren't exactly a lot of ponies coming and going, it was clear that the place was still going full throttle.

"It will do." Snowdrop looked at Tiara. "Are you ready?"

Tiara nodded and walked out of the alley in direction of the City Hall. Derpy eyed the filly as she walked with firm steps.

"This is not going to hurt them is it?" Derpy asked.

"You don't have to worry about a thing Derpy." Spike said from besides. "Snowdrop knows what she's doing."

Derpy was a little surprised when she had stop looking down to talk to Spike, who was now almost at eye level with her. His eyes had gone from their usual gem green to an almost white green, with the irises almost completely gone.

Diamon Tiara, meanwhile, had reached the City Hall and entered it. Following a small group of stallions, she quickly reached the center of the building. Nopony seemed to be curious as to why a filly was there a night time. Nopony was paying attention to her.

Well, that was going change.

"Excuse  me…." she asked a nearby guard. "Could you help me please?"

"Sure. What's wrong girl? Did you lose your parents?"

"Something like that…" Diamond Tiara murmured. "Are you paying attention to me?"

"Eh, yes I am…" the guard replied. Diamond Tiara looked at him in the eye. Her eyes began to glow pink, completely taking over the usual blue.

"Are you really paying attention to me?"

"I am princess." the guard said, completely oblivious to the world around him. Or the fog that was slowly rising around them.