Resent.

A graveyard was more noisy than the library. It was early in the morning, and no sound could be heard, be it the passing of pages, the ticking of the clock or the scribbling of a quill on paper. No disturbance whatsoever except for the quiet crunching sound of Twilight eating her cereal.

Alone.

Spike hadn't come home. Again.

Her friends had to leave when the night came, not wanting to get lost in their way. The fog had been cleared, but a thin mist still remained in the town, blurring the light of the sun. The library was cold. Had it always been like this in the mornings? Had Spike always gotten up with this cold?

"He must be cold..." she thought.

She knew she had some studying to do, along with some paperwork. She would have been thrilled any day, ecstatic even, but not today. She didn't want to work, or study or do paperwork. She wanted Spike to come home. It had been two days already, and she missed him. She missed him a lot.

"Hey Twilight? You in there?" Dash's voice called through the door. Twilight sighed once more before opening the door. The afore mentioned pegasus was standing there, along with Fluttershy and Rarity.

"Yes?" Twilight flew towards them. "What is it?"

"There is something you need see darling." Rarity answered. The three mares lead Twilight to the center of the town. Ponies walked around, slowly trotting through the fading mist. Other than being oddly quiet, nothing seemed really different, something that Twilight quickly pointed to her friends.

"Look again Twilight."

Twilight focused as instructed, placing her attention on the mare known as Berry Punch. Indeed, what she had initially dismissed as a slow trotting caused by the mist was actually a uncanny walk, almost dragging her hooves along the ground. Twilight walked in front of her, firmly planting herself on the way of the mare. Berry Punch merely kept on walking until she bumped on the alicorn. She raised her head, and Twilight nearly fell backwards.

Her eyes were a pale pink, a far cry from their usual dark purple.

If felt annoyed or irritated, she didn't show it, instead choosing to quietly continue her path. Twilight could merely stare as Berry continued her path. Snapping her head around, she saw Caramel and Noteworthy, both with the same disposition as the bartender. Twilight quickly flew towards them, landing right in front of them. Checking their eyes, she found, to her growing concern, that their eyes also shared the paleness that was present in Berry's.

What was going on?

"We were on our way to join you in the library when we found them like this." Rarity explained.

"The whole town is like this!" Dash pointed a hoof around her. "Please tell us whats going on."

"I...well I-"

"Girls! Something really weird is going with Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie Pie ran to them. " I woke up this morning and said hi to Gummy! He's such a sweetheart. Anyways, I went down to get some breakfast, only there was no breakfast! Mr. Cake was walking around the store, like looking for something, maybe a cupcake, because what else would be looking for right? And then I saw Mrs. Cale in the kitchen. I tried to say anything, but she just stood there, eyes all droopy and stuff. I even tried my best jokes, and they didn't work! Not a bit! Why did my jokes didn't work?! They always work! I even-" Pinkie was silenced by Rainbow's hoof.

"Go on Twilight."

"Well I..." Twilight briefly glanced at the the ponies that surrounded them. "I have seen eyes like that before, but something is different..."

"Different? How?" Fluttershy asked.

"Before Spike...before he left, his eyes had the same paleness in them. They were a really light green. Like if something had gotten inside him."

"But Spike wasn't acting like this was he?" Rarity asked.

"No! He was completely normal...for the most part." Twilight cringed, remembering the argument. "No he was completely normal. His eyes were completely normal, but not now." Twilight glanced at the denizens of the town. "Their eyes are dull. Like when you put too much white in a painting. The color pales and dulls. Spike's were almost glowing."

"Then what the hay is going on?!" Dash questioned. "Look at them! Their like zombies or something."

"Indeed. One of them bumped into me when I left the Boutique. It sent shivers up my spine." Rarity commented.

"What about Sweetie Belle?"

"She was sleeping by the time I left. Didn't wake up even with alarm clock. Such a heavy sleeper." the fashionista mused. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen any foal since I arrived at the library with the others."

"The twins were fast asleep too!" Pinkie chirped. Twilight could almost feel the terror in her gut rise. Spike was gone, and last time she saw him, his eyes had gone crazy. Now the town was hit the same thing, but worse. And if her quick mind was right, then the two things were somehow related.

She prayed to all heavens she was wrong.

"Where's Applejack?" Dash asked.

The question was answered not with word, but action. The five friends quickly made their way to the apple orchid. The mist quickly faded as they passed the final house. Twilight felt a bit relieved as the warm light of the sun bather her. Any memory of Celestia helped her relax.

"I hope she is alright..." Fluttershy muttered.

"Of course she is, she's Applejack, remember?" Dash laughed.

And indeed, as soon as they approached the house, Applejack was on sight, reading he cart for the market. It wasn't until they were right besides her that she noticed them though.

"Hey girls! Come to see me off to work? Thats sweet of you."

"Applejack, has Big Macintosh or Granny Smith been acting weird today?" Twilight asked.

"Weird? Eh, I don't think so."

"And Apple Bloom. Is she awake?"

"Dang right, she's been helping me with the apples. Done more harm than good though. Is something going on?"

"Maybe it only affects the ponies in town?" Rarity said. "Or maybe its the mist."

"Girls? Whats going on?" Applejack asked. Twilight quickly explained the events of the morning to her.

"You can't go to the market today." Twilight finished. "Nor can Apple Bloom or Big Macintosh."

"Wow. Now that is weird. What do you think is going on? And if all this is going on, why aren't you five stumbling about?"

"That...I don't know." Twilight answered. She had no idea what was causing it, or when it had begun. All she knew was that the town was acting funny and the five of them were immune to whatever was happening. Applejack too, since apparently only the elements were safe.

"Ok. So no selling today. What now?" Applejack asked.

Twilight was at lost. Normally, she would find a way to fix the situation based on preexisting knowledge, or some sort of hint that would allow her to come up with a solution.

"...always with outside help of course..."

No. Focus. Put it aside. Center yourself on the problem. The town is enchanted, cursed or something, but she had to to the bottom of it. And in situations like this, she would do what she always did.

"Let's go to the library."

Walking through the town was, quite frankly, scary. The ponies were still dragging themselves around, endlessly following a pattern only they could see. In addition to that, Twilight could swear she heard them mumbling something every time they got close to somepony and by the time they had arrived to the library, she had noticed a couple of them staring at them. Not angry, or sad, or anything. Just staring at them through the fog.

The unnerving feeling only diminished once she closed the door.

"What was that all about. They're getting worse!" Dash noticed. Twilight ignored her, instead beginning to drag book after book towards her, flipping pages from each, dismissing them almost as soon as she pulled them.

"Eh, Twi? What are you looking for?" Applejack asked.

"Mental spells." Twilight didn't even glance away from the seven books she was holding. "Whatever is happening here, it has to be a mind confusing spell or something like that. If I can find it, I'll know how to fix it."

"Really? But if you don't find anything?" Rarity noted. "I mean, those mental spells sound very dangerous for such a small library."

"I was studying them for a while, trying to perfect my abilities with them so I wouldn't have another incident."

The search went on for a while, books flying around the library. Twilight was completely unaware of the fact that her friends had to duck as a book flew in their directions. Twilight frowned, intensifying her search and increasing the number of books around her.

"Damn it!" she flung the books aside. "Its not here! Its not anywhere!" she groaned in anger.

"Wow, easy there sugarcube, what'cha looking for? Maybe we can help!" Applejack approached her. Twilight sighed, breathing some the anger away.

"I think I know which books Spike stole..." Twilight growled. "All my mental research is gone."

"You mean he's behind this?!" Rarity asked frantically.

"Not Spike!" Fluttershy denied. Twilight could feel her sorrow, forgotten with the morning events, return, now stronger than before. This was not happening. This could not be happening. The whole town was under a dangerous spell, and Spike was either behind it or had something to do with it.

"Soooo....what now?" Pinkie asked, having staid amazingly quiet the whole time. Twilight sighed. She knew what she had to do. And she knew she was not going to like it.

"I will fly to the library in my castle and look for the copies of the missing books and whatever might help." she started. "In the mean time, you five are going to scout the town and the surrounding area again. We have to find Spike as soon as possible before he gets out of hoof."

"Will do." Rainbow Dash said before peering out of the window. "You better hurry though. Those ponies are starting to look a bit unfriendly to me."

"I will fly as fast as I can." Twilight took out a scroll, quickly applying a spell on it "Be careful. Spike is not thinking right. He might be dangerous."

And with that, she was off, using her horn as a guiding light to leave the misty town. Meanwhile from atop the town hall, two shadowy figures stared intently as the purple lantern faded from sight. One of the grinned. The other merely stared at the place where Twilight had last been seen.

"Snowdrop was right." one of them said with a young female voice. Her pale pink eyes going from pony to pony. "This is amazing."

"Twilight won't take long in finding those books. I've been inside the library of her castle." the other figure replied. "We have to start soon."

"We don't get to play a little bit more? I was starting to have fun with this." Diamond Tiara said as she stallion a glance. The stallion quickly ran against a food stand. Spike smiled.

"Of course you can. Just remember what were supposed to do here.

"Everything alright?"

Both Spike and Diamond Tiara looked behind them. Snowdrop had materialized behind them. She was now perfectly visible. Her tail, her mane and coat were no longer blurry or too shiny. They were there. And they were beautiful.

"So far so good. Whats up?" Spike answered.

"Oh nothing. I'm just checking on you two, making sure everything is fine. I was with Derpy just a minute ago. She said that everything is in place."

"Good to know that. Everypony in town is closing in as we speak. They'll soon be surrounding the library completely." Diamond said.

"And you Spike? Are you up to this? You can still back down." Snowdrop said with a grin.

"Back down?"

"Yes. I mean, Twilight has been quite mean to you, right? But if you don't want to return the favor..."

"I do. You can count me in." Spike answered fiercely. Snowdrop grinned.

Back inside the library, five friends discussed how they would split themselves, doing their best to accept the fact that Spike was the trouble maker.

"I still can't believe that Spike has something to with this. Why would he?" Rarity asked.

"We're gonna have to ask him when we find him Rarity." Applejack answered. "We won't make heads or tails of this until then."

"But, how are supposed to find him?" Fluttershy shivered a bit. "With the fog around, he could hide anywhere and we wouldn't find him."  Dash chuckled.

"Well thats easy. If he does that, all you and I have to do is flap our wings and fog-be-gone. Simple as that.

"And then grab Spike and tell him to stop being a meany pants. And then we can throw a party on how we solved this whole issue and laugh and drink and eat! Cool, right?"

"Not quite Pinkie Pie."

The five mares froze as the familiar voice spoke. None of them dared to move. Between all the talking and searching, none of them had noticed noise, or lack of. It had grown quiet. Too quiet. Not a cricket, not a bird, no nothing. The only sound was their breathing. Applejack was the first to move. She slowly, almost carefully, walked to the door. The others soon followed her example.

"Come out."

Applejack, hesitated for a few seconds before opening the door and walking outside, followed the rest of her friends.

"Hello girls." Spike said. The five mares huddle together at the sight in front of them. All of Ponyville was in front of them. All of them as quiet as stones, all of them darkened by the fog. All of them with pale pink eyes, peering through the mist. And right at the front of this group, was Spike, who was flanked by Derpy and Diamond Tiara, who shared the eye color of the controlled ponies.

"Well girls, what are you waiting for? Cheer, laugh, throw a party." Spike gave a step forward.

"You found me."