Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack stood, staring at the spot where their unicorn friends had been not five minutes earlier.
"Where do you think they've gone?" Pinkie asked, sounding much more normal than usual.
"Maybe something awful has happened!" Fluttershy said quietly. "Are they supposed to take this long?"
"Not when I saw Twilight do it a few weeks ago, or when they went to the waterfall and back." Rainbow answered.
"What are we gonna do y'all?" Applejack panicked. "What would Twilight n Rarity do?"
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" They cried in unison.
The four of them raced to the treebrary.
"Spike! Spike! We need you, it's urgent!" Pinkie Pie called as they flung open the front door.
Spike raced down the stairs. "What's happened? Where's Twilight?" He questioned.
"Oh it's awful! Simply dreadful!" Fluttershy cried, "Rarity winked out but took a long time to get back, then Twilight winked out to go get her, but they haven't come back!"
"Oh no! What are we going to do!" Spike worried.
"We need you to write a letter to the Princess, pronto!" Applejack instructed.
"Of course." Spike answered, reaching for some parchment and a quill.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.
"Dear Princess Celestia," She began as Spike began to write,
"Something awful has happened to Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. Twilight recently learned how to wink out, and taught the spell to Rarity. They performed the spell about twenty minutes ago and haven't come back. We're really really worried. Is there anything we can do? Yours sincerely, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy."
"There, done." Spike said, breathing out a green flame to send the letter.
The ponies stood around, awkwardly silent.
Spike belched, and a reply letter hovered in the air, before he grabbed it and opened it up.
"My Faithful Pony Friends, hold tight. I'll be right there with help." Spike read.
At that moment, a bright flash lit up the room, and there stood Princess Celestia, along with her sister, Luna, Twilight's brother Shining Armour, and is wife Princess Cadence.
The ponies bowed down in their presence.
"Thank you for contacting me regarding your fears over your friends." Celestia said in a worried tone. "I brought along some help." She nodded towards her companions.
"How did you get here so quickly without disappearing?" Pinkie asked.
"We don't use winking out these days," Luna explained, "We use a teleportation spell used by one of the escapees of Tambelon. She conjured up the spell over twenty years ago. It is the safest mode of instant travel, because it's untraceable."
"Yes, and by using the old spell, it has re-opened the portal. We're lucky that nobody else knows the winking spell." Celestia added.
"Hang on," Rainbow Dash frowned, "The book on Tambelon said that it had been predicted that it would return again in the Summer of this year. How could they possibly know that Twilight would learn the spell?"
"Because," Celestia began, "I have a feeling that the spell Twilight learned was in her new book on old and unused spells. Am I correct?"
The ponies all looked at each other.
"Come to think of it, I do remember seeing that title on the book she was reading when we gave her the Tambelon book." Pinkie piped up.
Celestia exchanged worried glances with the other Canterlot Royalty.
"Hold on," Shining Armour spoke up, "Where did you find that Tambelon book?"
"We found it in the Ponyville Antique store..." Rainbow Dash answered. "How do you know about the books, Princess?"
"I was still ruling in 1986," Celestia explained, "As you know, my sister Luna and I do not age. I had already become familiar with the goings-on back then, and read of the prophecy in a front page article of the Canterlot newspaper. The article was written by, I believe, a stallion named Quillius. He was a captive of Tambelon also. He wrote of his experiences and it made front page news."
"What happened to him?" Applejack asked.
Celestia bit her lip. "He was taken to an asylum...Everypony had moved on by then, as it was some years later. They thought he might be...er...unwell." She said quietly.
"So, he's still alive?" Fluttershy asked, feeling really frightened.
Luna stepped forward; "Yes. He might be able to tell us something if we were to visit him. Or at least how to get into Tambelon and rescue the others."
"Good thinking, sister. Come with us, My Little Ponies." Celestia said.
Everypony gathered together by the door as Celestia summoned a large Pegacoach with her horn, and everypony clambered in.
"I still find it weird how we found both books in the same day." Pinkie Pie commented.
"I don't," Shining Armour replied, frowning.
"What do you mean, sweetheart?" Cadence asked, looking panicked.
"I think those books were planted there on purpose." Shining Armour replied, looking out of the window, sadly. "Twiley is a really bright unicorn. A lot of ponies know of her achievements. Someone must have known and done this on purpose to summon her there. Bet they didn't count on gaining an extra though."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, "what would they do with Twilight?"
Shining Armour sighed. "Make her one of them." He answered.
"Uh...Beggin your pardon, but make her one of what?" Applejack raised an eyebrow, quizzically.
Shining Armour opened his mouth to speak, but words failed him. He shook his head as a tear rolled hown his nose.
Cadence nuzzled him sadly. "I think what he means is, Twilight is a very special and skilled Unicorn. And whoever is ruling Tambelon now wants to make her the next heir." She whispered.
Everypony's heart plummeted, and their eyes widened as the truth hit them.
Tambelon had claimed Twilight as the next ruler...The next ruler of pony hell!