Chapter 1: "But that's impossible!"

Spitfire flew as fast as she could from Canterlot to Ponyville in order to find the one pony that could help her right now. She mostly stuck to above clouds whenever necessary in order to avoid getting spotted by some fans below. Being the captain of the Wonderbolts, if she was spotted there would be a lot of commotion below not allowing her to get help quietly.

Spitfire saw Ponyville up ahead and flew into it. Whenever Spitfire see's Ponyville she is amazed. Six years ago, Princess Celestia sent her prized student to Ponyville, and since then the town has had a multitude of things happen to it. Yet even after all of the things that happened to it, Ponyville still remains a quiet town, somewhat unnoticed by everypony in the big cities. And it's even stranger when you realize that Equestria's best spellcaster, flyer, chef, and fashion designer all come from Ponyville.

Of course Spitfire is glad it is a quiet town right now. She doesn't know exactly what it was she found, however she is getting a very bad vibe from it. So she wants to ask about it without anypony else eavesdropping on her.

After entering the town Spitfire made it to the library in only a few seconds. She landed in front of the library, and proceeded to walk inside. A bell rang as soon as she opened the door, alerting the librarian who was reading a book in the center of the library to her presence. The librarian put down her book to see who walked in.

"Hey Spitfire," the lavender unicorn said. "What are you doing here? I would think when Soarin' and Rainbow Dash get back they would check in with you before me."

"Well that's what I told them to do," Spitfire said, "so they better check in with me before going home. But no, that's not why I'm here." Spitfire reached into her saddle bags and pulled out a stone tablet with a bunch of strange runes on it. "Have you seen this language before?" Spitfire asked. "I found this in Soarin' and Rainbow Dash's room, and I'm positive they did not accidently leave it there, since they've been gone for about week we would have already seen it before."

"Hmm…put it down on the table," Twilight said. Spitfire listened to her and put the tablet on the table. Twilight looked down on it and activated her magic causing the glasses she was wearing to change colors as she looked at the runes.

Spitfire was watching Twilight questioningly. "Twilight, what exactly are you doing with those glasses?" Spitfire asked.

"I'm combining my own magic with a spell I placed in my glasses," Twilight said. "This spell allows me to detect the origin of any language that I know of. Afterwards I can use another spell in order to translate it."

"Wow," Spitfire said, impressed. "I never knew you could get glasses to do that. I should probably enlist your help sometime when planning out foreign tours."

Twilight looked at the tablet for a few more minutes before cutting off her magic. "Hmm…this is strange," Twilight said as she turned to Spitfire. "I'm not detecting any language from this. It seems that whatever is written on this tablet is not any Equestrian runes, or anything from any of the known kingdoms."

"So then, what does that mean?" Spitfire asked.

"Well I can't translate it if I don't know what language it is," Twilight said. "So I guess I can't help you right now. But I'll admit I'm also curious of where this comes from. Hmm…just give me a second."

Twilight levitated her glasses on to the table and went into the back room. She then used her magic to open two portals. "This is sort of a shot in the dark," Twilight said, "but I'm going to try asking either Tails or Shadow. They both have traveled through space and might have seen something like this in their travels."

"Ok then," Spitfire said. They both stood there looking at the portals for a while, but the length of time was much longer then Spitfire expected. "How long will this exactly take?" Spitfire asked.

"It really depends," Twilight said. "I've grown better at connecting with their world, but since my magic needs to connect with where they are and I am making two portals it might take a while."

In order to at least do something while waiting Spitfire asked Twilight, "So how is Scootaloo doing? With Soarin' and Rainbow Dash off I don't get to see her much."

"She's doing fine," Twilight said. "Rainbow Dash and Soarin' asked Fluttershy and Big Macintosh to babysit her while they are gone. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering," Spitfire said. "Nothing special."

"I find that hard to believe." Shadow's portal was the first to reach him. "However your business is your business. Anyways, what do you need me for?"

"Spitfire found a tablet with some strange runes on it," Twilight said. "We were wondering if you've possibly seen these kinds of runes before."

"So that explains what you want with Shadow. Now how about me?" Tails' portal was opened next.

"Tails, it's been a while," Spitfire said. "You've grown."

"Thanks," Tails said. After 6 years, Tails has grown a few inches and has gained some longer hair. Where his head used to have three spikes poking out of his forehead now there are several spikes, though they are a bit shorter in proportion to his older body.

"Tails, we also want you to take a look at the tablet," Twilight said, getting back on subject. "If you both look at it, we have a better chance of finding out where it comes from."

"I can't imagine why anything I've seen in my travels would end up in your world, however I will look at the tablet anyways," Shadow said.

"Sure," Tails said.

Twilight used her magic to grab the tablet and show it to both Tails and Shadow. They both stared at the tablet for a few minutes, trying to figure out if they've seen it before. As they both looked at it, they both could tell they've seen those kinds of runes before, but neither one could place it at the moment.

"I can't really tell," Tails said. "I feel like I've seen it before, and it really feels like something I know, but I just can't tell."

"I'm not getting good vibes from it," Shadow said. "Whatever it is, it is bad news."

"So should we destroy the tablet?" Twilight asked.

"No!" Shadow said quickly. "I don't think that the tablet itself is a threat. So destroying it would only keep us ignorant of whatever threat is about to come. But there is still something about those runes…" Shadow's eyes widened in shock, "Tails, I think I know where it is from."

"Well can you help me?" Tails asked. "Because I'm getting nothing."

"Tails, if any of us should know what this is, it should be you," Shadow said. "Think back to one of the worst moments of your life."

"When Cream and Vanilla moved away because Vanilla didn't think Cream was safe around us anymore?" Tails asked. "I don't think this has anything to do with that."

"Earlier than that," Shadow said.

"Earlier than that?" Tails asked. "Then what…" Tails took another good look at the tablet and he suddenly got it. "No…it can't be."

"What can't be?" Spitfire and Twilight both asked.

"I don't…but that's…that's impossible!" Tails stuttered around. "They…they can't possibly be back!"

"Who can't possibly be back?" Twilight and Spitfire both asked at the same time again.

"Tails, do you still have the translator?" Shadow asked. The two seemed to be completely ignoring Twilight and Spitfire for now.

"I would have to really look through all my data for it since I haven't used it in a while and never thought I would need to again, but I don't think I deleted it," Tails said. "I'm not sure though. As I said before, I thought I would never need it again. I thought they were all gone forever.

"Well try and figure it out as fast as you can Tails," Shadow said.

"On it," Tails said as he went to his computer and started typing as fast as he could on it.

"Would somebody mind explaining exactly what is going on around here?" Twilight asked. "Who is back and why do you guys seem so worried about them? Where is this tablet from? What is going on?"

"Listen Twilight, I want you to gather everybody and have them meet up in the library," Shadow said. "I'll be gathering everybody from here and will join you as soon as I can. It'll be best if I explain it there." Shadow walked away from his portal to grab everybody else.

"I still don't understand what is going on!" Twilight called into the portal. Of course because Shadow was gone and Tails was distracted by his work she didn't get any answer.

"Come on Twilight," Spitfire said. "Let's get everypony here. Then we can get the information from Shadow and Tails, even if I have to drill it from them. I'll take the outskirts of Ponyville, and you can get your friends within Ponyville."

"Ok," Twilight said as she ran outside of the library while Spitfire flew out of the library.