They Walk Among Us

What a day. In the small time period of less than twenty four hours, Twilight had gone through a whole battle, beat up one of her best friends, got cast away by her other friends, and not to mention go through thousands of near-death experiences. If that wasn't enough, there was now another group of enemies invading the Resistance Base. She must really have the worst luck in the world.

But now was not the time to contemplate her misfortune- it was the time for war! Twilight quickly ran down to the Resistance defenses to help.

"How are the defenses?" she asked loudly, waiting for someone to answer.

"Oh, THERE you are, Twilight!" said Rarity, squeezing out from the middle of the large crowd of ponies and people. "What took you so long?"

"There were... complications." said Twilight. She couldn't bring herself to tell Rarity what he did to Steven. In fact, she was surprised that none of her other friends have told Rarity about what happened between her and Steven.

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but ultimately decided not to ask anything about it. This surprised Twilight, who knew that Rarity had always been very nosy about other ponies' lives. The situation must be really bad.

"It's not good." said Rarity. "Not good at all! We're barely holding up against those soldiers."

Twilight then felt a vibration in the ground. She saw a large barrier in front of the relatively small group of Resistance forces trying to hold back the oncoming attack by Black Wesa. She knew instantly from how colorful it was that it was maintained by more than fifty-no, maybe even a hundred unicorns. But even that wasn't enough.

The shield was fragile. Twilight could see cracks and little holes everywhere around the shields. In less than ten minutes time, that shield will be completely destroyed.

If only Steven were here... thought Twilight. His power would've held up against those shots.

Twilight shook her head. Steven wasn't there. And she had to do her part to help defend herself and her friends!

"Stand back, Rarity." said Twilight.

Rarity didn't question her. She immediately backed away from Twilight, knowing without a doubt that Twilight's magic will help reinforce the shields.

Twilight closed her eyes quickly gathered all her magic into the tip of her horn. As her magic grew brighter and warmer, Twilight began to direct it towards the shield itself. She daren't open her eyes for fear of losing her concentration, but it was clear from the voices of praise that she was indeed doing her job.

Twilight sneaked a peek at her handiwork. The entire shield was now coated with a deep, thick purple aura, keeping it together strongly. The shots fired by the soldiers of Black Wesa had entirely no effect on it. In fact, it seemed to have begun to bounce back on them. And even after more shots were fired, the new-and-improved shield showed no signs of decay.

"My dear Twilight!" said Rarity, gasping in surprise. "This can last us the whole night!"

And it did seem to be able to do so. The soldiers just kept on firing and throwing explosives at it, but the shield remained intact. In fact, it seemed untouched. They can use this time now to heal and plan their strategy to follow up the attack. They were sure to win now!

But of course, the Resistance's (or rather, all heroes in every possible story's) bad luck had finally struck again. In the midst of the whole human-superior force came something rather unexpected. Something no one could have seen coming.

A pony.

And this wasn't just anypony- Twilight had seen this pony before. But where?

That costume... She was sure she had seen it somewhere before...

Of course! Back at the Canterlot Palace! The only pony who single-handedly managed to make Steven seriously hurt in a single hit. What was she called back then?

The Roper-Mare?

The appearance of a pony among the ranks of humans like those of Black Wesa surprised the Resistance. Hay, it even surprised some of the soldiers.

"What in the hay...?"

The Roper-Mare calmly waked toward the shield and looked at it. The mysterious figure then stayed still for a couple of seconds, and then began to go back.

Twilight turned to look at Rarity. Rarity shrugged.

But the Roper-Mare didn't go back. He (or she) just turned around and stayed there. Only then did Twilight begin to notice air gathering underneath the Roper-Mare's hooves, forming a whirlpool of air under them.

What is going on?

Luckily for Twilight, her anxiety soon disappeared. Unfortunately, it was in a way that made Twilight want to jump off a moving train.

The Roper-Mare easily used both hind legs to kick the barrier, shattering it into a million tiny shards. And it didn't even look hard. Her covered face and body showed no sign of weariness whatsoever. Was the breaking of the barrier even touch the surface of the Roper-Mare's true power?

Sadly for the Resistance, it didn't. As Twilight had seen the Roper-Mare do before, the newfound villain quickly shot long pieces of black ropes from the tip of her hooves, entangling into members of the Resistance. Some were shot down as they were held in place, some were strangled, and some were even thrown aside with such a force that their bodies made dents in the walls of the base. Things weren't looking very peachy,

"Yer back." said a deep, familiar voice. Twilight turned to see Big Macintosh, along with the rest of the team, walking towards her and Rarity.

"We can't stay in one place." said Twilight. "We'll be made easy targets for the Roper-Mare."

"Only me, Steven, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the ponies under Celestia's service know." said Twilight. "She's really dangerous."

"You don't say." said Bush, sounding bitter. What Twilight said and did must have affected him very badly. Rainbow Dash looked the same way too, if not worse.

"Look, I'm sorry, guys." said Twilight. "I know what I did was wrong, but-"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it, Twilight." said Bush. "What you did to Steven was beyond forgiveness."

"I'm sorry, but-"

"But now is the time to transcend all limits, even those of forgiveness." said Bush. "It's the time to work together and fight back. And we're going to need your help to do that, Twilight."

Rainbow Dash scoffed.

'I'm not going to do whatever she says." said Rainbow Dash, turning away. "And if you all want to follow her, that's fine. But just leave me out of it."

She then began to run towards the battlefield, leaving the rest of them behind.

"She's still angry at you, Twilight." said Fluttershy. "But she's going to get over it. We all will."

Fluttershy then rubbed her cheek against Twilight's. Shocked, Twilight stood still.

"So what do we do now?" asked Berry Punch, looking towards the battlefield. "We can't let them die."

Twilight looked at all of her friends' faces. Rarity looked genuinely confused, and Fluttershy was smiling, but all other faces were those of seriousness, mild anger, and bitterness. But behind all of these faces lay a determination to fight. And it doesn't matter if they die fighting, as long as it was for a cause.

"Now we fight."

To Twilight's surprise, Fluttershy was the first out of all of them to run towards the enemy. She was flying very fast- faster than even Rainbow Dash at her pegasus prime.

"You mean bullies!" shouted Fluttershy, in a voice much like a battle cry. "Come bring your pretty faces to my axe!"

She then began to hack and slash at the soldiers, throwing them aside with each powerful swing. Taking that as a signal to attack, the rest of the group quickly followed suit. Bush and Rarity quickly went to find high ground, and the other three charged.

Twilight immediately began to magic up a few soldiers and bowling them into other soldiers. Her magic was never an offensive type of magic, and she normally used the Elements of Harmony to fight strong opponents. And she couldn't unlock her magic's offensive potential without Pinkie Pie, so she had to make do with some improv.

"Come get some!" shouted Twilight, who began to sweep the floor of soldiers, making them fall over everywhere. And with their heavy armour, they couldn't easily get up.

"Good going, Twilight!" shouted Berry Punch from her right, punching and kicking the soldiers into oblivion.

"Eeyup." said Big Macintosh.

All of a sudden, a black rope shot up between the three of them, tying itself around Twilight's leg.

"Ah!" shouted Twilight as she tripped, letting a powerful force began to drag Twilight toward the heart of Black Wesa's Army.

"Twilight!" shouted Berry Punch, who jumped down onto the black rope and began to push into it as hard as possible, so as to not allow the black rope to move Twilight deeper into enemy lines.

However, her plan backfired on her- The ropes disentangled around Twilight and wrapped themselves around Berry Punch's body instead. It then began to pull her inwards.

Twilight immediately began to pull back the rope with her magic, but the force pulling it was just too strong. Twilight fell back from the sheer power of the pull, but she quickly recovered and ran to stop the rope. As soon as an exposed piece of rope was in sight, she jumped on it... only to be stopped by Berry Punch herself.

She quickly raised a hoof to stop Twilight's jump in mid-air, making Twilight fall back. Berry Punch then banged both her hooves on the ground, releasing such a powerful shockwave that destroyed the floor itself. The rope that was tied around her quickly disentangled itself, slithering away.

"That was amazing, Berry!" said Twilight, grinning from ear to ear. "How did you do that?"

"I might not have magic, but all my hooves are strong from squashing berries all day back in Ponyville." said Berry Punch, not looking at Twilight. "But we have bigger problems to worry about now, Twilight."

Only then did Twilight begin to notice that they were, once again, surrounded by soldiers. It was starting to get annoying, and Twilight is usually very patient.

The only difference was that this time, there was no Steven around to come up with a plan or to beat them up, and no huge army to drive them away. They were deep behind enemy lines, and there was no one around to save them this time.

"We can't fight all of them." said Twilight. "There's too many."

Berry took a look around, and then she turned to look at Twilight.

"If we can't fight them all, then we obviously don't need to." said Berry Punch. "We have to charge out of this circle. Do you think your magic can help with that?"

Twilight thought for a while. She had a bit of juice left to fight a small group, but it was going to be hard for her to cut open a whole new path with her magic from this deep within the enemy. But there was no other choice- the soldiers had already begun to take aim.

Here goes nothing...

Twilight immediately fired a beam of her magic in that direction, throwing aside soldiers everywhere. As soon as she opened her eyes, there was only one thing that she noticed:

Her magic had worked.

"Come on, Twilight!" shouted Berry, who was behind Twilight at the time.

"Right!"

Twilight began to run as fast as she could. It was still a long way to a safe zone, and she was pushing herself to reach there as quickly as possible. Berry Punch was behind her all the way, shouting words of encouragement to the already strained Twilight Sparkle.

The soldiers, of course, did not stay dazed for long. They themselves recovered quickly enough and began to shoot at the two escaping ponies. But they were too fast- none of the shots touched them. Instead, their shots hit the soldiers on the other side of the small path.

"Almost there!" screamed Twilight.

"Almost there." said Berry Punch, still behind her. Both of them were now gasping for air.

Twilight could see the end of the path right in front of her. The Resistance forces were still locked in battle with the soldiers, but at least they would be surrounded by allies for a change. Of course, they would have to steer clear of that annoying black rope.

Twilight and Berry kept on running, no shots hitting them at all. Twilight had to keep using her magic to keep the path clear, as soldiers would begin to try to block it every few seconds, but in one last jump, they were there. They had reached their own lines, where they could rest up a bit before joining the fight again.

"Come on, Berry!" shouted Twilight. "We're there!"

Berry Punch didn't answer. She just laughed, very softly.

"Berry?" asked Twilight, turning around to look at her.

Berry Punch was standing still in the middle of the battlefield, looking down at her hooves.

"C'mon, Berry!" said Twilight, straightening up Berry Punch's face. It looked dazed, much unlike her energetic face just a few seconds ago."Let's go and rest up, then we can join in the battle again!"

Berry laughed again, in an even softer voice.

"Sorry, Twilight." said Berry Punch, giving her a weak smile. "But it looks like I won't be able to take that rest."

"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight.

Berry Punch didn't say anything. She began to stumble, however, and Twilight quickly ran to help her up.

"What's wrong?" asked Twilight. "Is-"

Twilight didn't wait for the answer to that question. There was no need to.

Blood covered Berry Punch's plum coat, and it was still flowing. Twilight's eyes hesitantly turned to look at her chest.

Piercing right through Berry's chest was a sharp, black lance.

Twilight shrieked in terror and jumped backwards. Berry was trying to give her an encouraging smile, but Twilight was at a loss for thoughts. It seemed as if her mind had just shut down completely.

"No..." whispered Twilight, shaking her head in a futile attempt to wake up from this horrible nightmare. "No no no no...."

"Twilight..." said Berry. She began to wheeze painfully. "Hah hah... It looks like my time is u-up..."

"No!" said Twilight, grabbing Berry's body into her own two hooves. "Not like this. Not like this!"

Berry didn't say anything. All she managed to do was smile.

"Please..." said Twilight. "Please, stay for a while longer! I can save you!"

"N-no... Twilight." said Berry, coughing violently. "Leave me. Run."

"What's going on in here?" asked a deep voice from behind Twilight. "Ya should know better than ta stand around in the middle of a-"

Twilight was immediately joined by another pony- a red coated stallion.

"Berry!" said Big Macintosh, taking her in his hooves. "What happened?"

"Hi, Macky..." said Berry. Her eyelids were half closed, and her powerful aura seemed to be fading.

"We've gotta get ya back." said Big Macintosh. "Twilight, can you carry her back? If ya hurry, we might-"

"It's over, Big Mac..." said Berry, her voice barely in whispers now. "Once this thing is pulled out of my body... It'll be all over..."

Both Big Macintosh and Twilight was in tears. Only Berry seemed to be smiling at the time.

"Don't..." said Big Macintosh. "Don't say that..."

"I can't say otherwise." said Berry, her voice weak but full of resolve. "Because it's true. But that's not the only thing that's true."

"Don't die, Berry..." said Big Macintosh. Twilight was no longer able to speak. "Medic! We need a medic here!"

"Listen to me, Macky..." said Berry, holding Big Macintosh's hoof in her own. "I love you. And that is true."

Just as she said that, the lance that pierced through Berry's chest seemed to shrink... until it turned back into a thick, black rope. With a final gasp, Berry's breathing stopped, letting her fall back, lifeless, into Big Macintosh's hooves.

"No..." said Big Macintosh, sadness and anger in his voice. Twilight had never seen the usually calm and collected Big Macintosh so full of emotion before.

Berry Punch had died for her. This was already the second pony to have done so. And Twilight knew that she didn't deserve them. She didn't deserve their lives. If they never knew Twilight, then maybe they would still have been alive. Twilight couldn't have hated herself more at this moment.

"It's my fault." said Twilight. "it's all my fault."

"It's not yer fault." said Big Macintosh, not looking at her. "Ya have to learn to stop blaming yerself all the time. Berry died for ya. Ya should respect that."

Twilight didn't say anything. She kept staring down at her hooves.

"Berry gave her life to save yers." continued Big Macintosh. "The least ya could do is avenge her. And what better way to avenge her than by doing what she wanted to do- bring peace to this war-ridden world?"

"But-"

"No buts." said Big Macintosh, standing up and looking at Twilight. "Now ah'm going to bring back Berry's body back to the control room, to be given a proper burial later. Ah owe her at least that much. What are ya going to do now, Twilight?"

Berry Punch was dead. Sure she wasn't as close to her as the other Bearers of Harmony, but they were still friends. They talked, they helped each other out... And now she was gone. But Big Macintosh was right. She cannot just sit there, feeling guilty for herself while everyone was doing their best to fight off the enemy. She had to help. And if she had to give her life to  bring peace, then she would gladly do so.

"I'm going to fight." said Twilight.

Big Macintosh nodded, and then walked away.

Twilight was not going to let another of her friends die. She would go to heck and back before that would happen. SHe quickly scanned her surroundings to find someone that needed her help.

There were four ponies around her: Fluttershy (who surprisingly seemed to be mowing down loads of soldiers without any help), a mustachioed man wearing a sombrero and using maracas to fire musical notes at the soldiers (Strange. Definitely strange), a human clad in silver armor and wielding a fiery sword (Looks good when doing it too), and an orange pony wearing a turban and struggling to break free out of soldiers surrounding him.

What was with these soldiers and their tendency to keep surrounding their victims? thought Twilight, knowing that it was a question worth answering.

But for now, she needed to help the turban-wearing orange pony. She immediately summoned her magic, firing beams of them onto the surrounding soldiers, covering them in inescapable purple bubbles, and throwing them down the railing into the abyss down below.

"Hi." said Twilight.

"Hi." said the turban-wearing pony. "Thanks for the help."

His accent sure was strange. It wasn't extreme, but it was certainly very... fascinating. The pitch of his voice kept going higher and lower, and his 'r's were very pronounced.

"You're welcome." said Twilight. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"I am Adya Ramayan Agarkar." said the turban-wearing pony. "Hailing to you from the great subcontinent of India."

"India?" asked Twilight. "I've never heard of that place before."

"You must be a native of Equestria." said Adya. "India is a country on Earth."

"Earth, huh?" said Twilight. "A pony of your appearance and, um... accent comes from the Equestrian nation of Tattu, actually."

"Wait." said Adya. "I think you should stop talking now."

"What?" asked Twilight, surprised about how rude this pony was despite the fact that she had just saved his life.

"Look." said Adya, pointing behind Twilight.

Twilight immediately turned around. A whole squad of soldiers were coming their way. And not only that, but there were soldiers coming from behind Adya as well. Both of them immediately ran at the soldiers in front of them.

Adya quickly charge into the group of soldiers, bowling them over onto the ground, where Adya quickly started to beat them up using as many hooves as he could spare. Twilight decided that she didn't want to lose yet.

Twilight quickly banged her horn onto the ground, creating her magic in a straight purple line in front of it. The soldiers stopped in their tracks as they looked down at the strange purple line, but this proved to be a great mistake. Seeing a window of opportunity, Twilight immediately released her magic, allowing the purple line to come out of the floor and grab every soldier's hands and feet, locking them in place and dropping their guns.

Quickly turning around, Twilight found Adya still locked in battle against even more soldiers.

"Doesn't that turban bother you at all?" asked Twilight. "I mean, I understand it's part of your culture and all..."

"Why would I want to get rid of something as useful as this?" asked Adya.

The turban then began to glow a bright yellow, and it slowly untied itself around Adya's head, revealing a glowing horn. The turban then began to whip at all of the soldiers around Adya, making all of them fall down onto the floor, with very large cracks in their armor. According to the moans and groans of the soldiers, the whip/turban must've hurt them much worse than they thought.

"And I find the fact that you stereotyped my race with the turban to be very offensive." said Adya, looking back at her with a mock-stern face.

"You're a unicorn." said Twilight, pleasantly surprised.

"That I am." said Adya. "Now, we have an army to fight."

Nodding, Twilight and Adya quickly ran towards each and every enemy soldier. Lots of the Resistance were fighting bravely, but they were outnumbered seven to one. They quickly fought off the soldiers that were grouping up against the Resistance, and quite easily so.

All of a sudden, however, something strange caught their eyes.

It was the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"YAAAAAAGHHHH!" they shouted, running towards the soldiers.

Panicking, Twilight immediately teleported in front of them.

"Oh! Hiya, Twilight!" said Apple Bloom.

"Three of you!" said Twilight sternly. "Go back to the Control Room!"

"But they called us out to fight!" said Sweetie Belle.

Twilight immediately turned back and threw a soldier up in the air, letting go of the soldier and making it come back down with a crash.

"This is no place for a child!"

Scootaloo immediately unsheathed her sword and slashed at something behind Twilight, followed by Apple Bloom knocking it down and Sweetie Belle landing the blow that knocked out the soldier that was creeping up on Twilight.

Twilight was stunned.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders indeed." said Twilight, impressed. "But you have to go back now!"

The three of them sighed together.

"Fine." said Scootaloo. "Let's go, girls."

"What nice kids." said Adya.

"Nice?" asked Twilight.

But something else caught Twilight's eye at that time.

A short man wielding nothing but a long stick was running, only to be chased by what seemed to be a whole battalion of soldiers. It was truly a strange sight, but it looked almost comical. But the man stopped running, apparently tired, allowing the large group of soldiers to surround him where he stood.

"What do we do?" asked Adya.

"We make a distraction." said Twilight. "Do something to divert their attention from the man to us."

"But-"

Just then, a large explosion appeared from in the middle of the large group, causing a large dome-like wave to appear, sending all of the surrounding soldiers flying in a perfect formation. Right in the middle of the explosion was the man, eyes closed, both hands holding the long stick, doing a strange but magnificent pose.

The man immediately opened his eyes, which then widened. The man's mouth dropped.

"H-How did you do that?" asked Twilight, approaching the man.

The man looked around before resting his eyes on Twilight. There was a genuinely confused face on the man's face.

"Hello?" asked Twilight. "Is anything wrong?"

"N-No, nothing's wrong." said the man. "it's just..."

"Just what?" asked Adya.

"Well..." said the man. "It's just... Well.. I, uh, I didn't know I could do that."

Twilight and Adya jumped back in surprise.

"What?" asked Adya. "But-but you just... You just did... You just went like.... WHAT?"

"Anyway..." said Twilight. "I'm Twilight. And this is Adya."

"I'm Chen." said the man. "Hi."

All of a sudden, however, a large 'BANG' was heard. Twilight immediately cocked her head up., only to see a most terrifying sight.

A barrage of red beams of light were shooting towards her. She immediately conjured up a shield in front of them, but the surprise and the intensity of the attack was just to much for the shield, which easily broke apart. Chen then moved to the front of the group, and he began to twirl the stick around, deflecting all of the beams of light that hadn't been absorbed by the shield. But the soldiers kept on shooting, and all of it was just too much for the wooden stick, which was destroyed completely.

But then, the strangest thing happened.

There was a blinding flash of light, followed by the beams of light beginning to bend in the middle. As Twilight's vision came back to her, she saw that the flash of light was indeed a sword, and that it's wielder was...

Rainbow Dash.

The rainbow-haired human was pushing her sword down against the beams of light. Just as soon as the beams of light seemed to almost break, however, Rainbow Dash quickly turned her sword so that the beams were facing them. And with a small twitch of her hand, the sword released the beams of light, which then shot at the soldiers at an even faster speed than before.

Just then, Twilight noticed that the beams of light were getting bigger. Getting bigger and changing shape. What used to just be a straight, red line quickly turned into a cone. And all of a sudden, there was a huge explosion, followed by small rainbow-colored sonic booms which came from each and every one of the beams of light, followed by a rainbow trail that followed them from behind.

The soldiers realized what was happening too late- the beams of light pierced through them like they were nothing. And not only that, but the beams of light also struck all of the soldiers behind them, knocking all of them to the floor, dead. As soon as the rest of the soldiers saw this, they all began to retreat, regrouping right in front of the Base's Main Entrance.

"A Sonic Rainboom..." said Twilight.

Rainbow Dash landed on the floor on two feet, and began to walk away.

"Rainbow Dash!" said Twilight, chasing after her rainbow-haired friend.

Rainbow Dash ignored her and kept on walking.

"Rainbow..." said Twilight, stopping in her tracks. "Why? Why did you save me? After what I have done?"

Rainbow Dash stopped walking.

"What you did..." said Rainbow Dash, looking down. "What you did back there was very bad, Twilight. Unforgivable. Actually, I think that you might have deserved what was coming for you back there."

Twilight looked down, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She had beaten up an innocent pony near an inch of his life. And now she lost a friend because of that. One of her best friends. Rainbow Dash must've hated her. Even she hated herself.

"But I don't hate you." said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight, confused, looked up at her.

"I don't hate you, Twilight." said Rainbow Dash. "I wanted to, but deep in my heart, I knew that I couldn't. We're friends. All of us are bound to make mistakes. Celestia knows how many I've made."

"But friends forgive the little things. And the not-so-little things as well. And even when those mistakes seem beyond forgiveness, friends will find a way to forgive their friends. That is what makes having friends totally awesome. The bond that friends share... The bonds we share, they're just too strong to be broken so easily. That's something my friendship with you taught me."

"Rainbow..." said Twilight.

"And I am your friend, Twilight." said Rainbow Dash, slowly approaching Twilight until they were nose-to-nose. "I will always be your friend. The question is... will you still be mine?"

At that question, Twilight looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes as she had never done before.

It was then that Twilight realized that up till that moment, she had never truly appreciated Rainbow Dash's loyalty. Despite what she had done, Rainbow Dash had forgiven her completely. And now she was asking Twilight to forgive her. Touched by her best friend's words, Twilight quickly hugged Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was surprised, but hugged back with an equal amount of ferocity.

"Always." said Twilight. "Always and forever."

After sharing the hug for a couple more seconds, Rainbow Dash quickly pulled back, smiling excitedly.

"Oh, and did you SEE that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I made not one, not two, not even three, but around THIRTY Sonic Rainbooms! And then BAM! All the soldiers were gone. Wasn't that just... so... awesome?"

Twilight hugged Rainbow Dash again. She was glad that she was back to her normal self so easily.

"It really was awesome, Rainbow Dash." said Twilight. "Very awesome indeed."

Twilight could feel Rainbow Dash beam at her as she hugged back.

"Rainbow Dash?" said Chen from behind Twilight. "You're Steven's girlfriend, right?"

Rainbow Dash let go of Twilight and nodded.

"You two know each other?" asked Twilight.

"I was just about to ask the same question." said Chen. "But, well... i just wanted to apologize for my friend Bill's behavior back there, Rainbow Dash. You see, a friend of ours died because of some ponies, and Bill blamed all of ponykind for it."

"It's fine." said Rainbow Dash. "It's a better first impression than trying to drown me by dunking my head in a lake anyway."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash laughed. Only they knew what Rainbow Dash had meant.

"Um... girls?" said Fluttershy.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" said Rainbow Dash and Twilight at the same time.

"If it's not too much trouble..." said Fluttershy, whose voice was getting smaller. "Please turn around."

Rainbow Dash and Twilight noticed how there was suddenly a large crowd behind where they stood, and all of them were again preparing for battle. They then looked towards the main entrance, where they saw a still very large amount of soldiers gathered there. In fact, it seemed as if they had done nothing to stop the army in the first place.

"No..." said Twilight.

Rainbow Dash put a hand on Twilight shoulder.

"Don't worry, Twilight." said Rainbow Dash, smiling calmly at Twilight. "We can do this."

The rest of her team then moved up so that they were standing next to her.

"We'll get through this, Twilight." said Fluttershy.

"Besides, well..." said Rarity. "We've been through much worse."

Twilight stood up. Her friends were by her side. This thought alone encourage Twilight to keep on fighting.

"Then let's do it." said Twilight. "We'll fight them. And unless I miss my guess, we're in for one wild night."

"That's our Twilight!" shouted Bush, smiling. "Now let's go kick some Black Wesa flank!"

Twilight and the rest of the unicorns immediately conjured up a large shield again. But this time, it wasn't for defending. Oh no, it was for attacking. Attacking relentlessly.

"You know that we might die tonight, right?" asked Twilight.

"Who cares?" asked Rainbow Dash. "As long as we die well, then I'm satisfied. Except, well..."

"Well what?"

"Well..." said Rainbow Dash. "I just think that it would be nice if Steven was with us right now."

"Rainbow Dash!" said Rarity. "I never took you for a romantic!"

Rainbow Dash immediately blushed.

"No!" said Rainbow Dash. "I mean, yes, but... Look, the bad guys are right in front of us!"

Rarity stared at Rainbow Dash, her smile growing wider by the second.

"Fine!" said Rainbow Dash. "I read about those things in Twilight's and Steven's library, and I guess it affected me. Except for well, the Twilight books."

"Twilight books?"

"Otherwise known as pieces of trash." said Rainbow Dash. "Anyway, don't tell anybody."

"You're secret's safe with me." said Twilight.

"Pinkie promise?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight immediately felt her gut wrench. She had to find Pinkie Pie after all of this. Because of all her guilt, she had forgotten that Pinkie Pie was still alive. So it was her duty to find her. That is, if she was alive after this.

Almost immediately, the huge shield collided with the front lines of the soldiers, knocking them backwards.

"Push forward!" shouted Twilight.

The shield kept moving through enemy forces, knocking them down to be trampled by the whole crowd of Resistance forces as they fell.

"Keep pushing!" shouted Bush. "Don't stop!"

And that they did. The whole group kept on pushing the shield, knocking out most of the enemy soldiers along the way.

"The shield is breaking!" shouted one unicorn.

"We can't hold it much longer!" said another.

"Okay!" said Twilight. "All who cannot teleport retreat and prepare for the enemy attack. Those who can stay behind and keep the shield alive as long as they run, and then teleport afterwards!"

Almost immediately, most of the Resistance scattered, save for only five unicorns, including Twilight herself and Adya.

As soon as all the Resistance forces were ready, Twilight began counting down for the five unicorns to teleport.

"Now, when I count down to zero, all of you immediately teleport, okay?" said Twilight. "Don't bother with switching off the shield, just teleport. So, five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

"One..."

Twilight gulped.

"ZERO! RUN NOW!"

Twilight and the others quickly teleported away, back to behind their own forces. Luckily for them, all of them managed to get back safely. That was when the problems began to start again.

"Most of our artillery is broken, do you guys-"

"The explosives are all gone too! What-"

"We're almost out of magic after making that shield! Should we-"

Twilight sighed. She had expected this. Knowing that almost half, if not more, of these unicorns were recently humans, most of them wouldn't have learned how to minimize their magical output and maximize their effectiveness at the same time. But without any ranged weapons that can kill more than one at a time, all they can resort to was...

"Open war." said Twilight.

Almost immediately, the whole area of the Resistance fell to silence.

"What?" asked Bill Gates, who was fighting along with the rest of the Resistance the whole time.

"Open war." repeated Twilight. "It's the only way."

"I will not risk open war!" said Bill Gates sternly.

"Open war is upon us whether you would risk it or not." said Twilight. She then turned to talk to the rest of the Resistance, who were all in stunned silence. "Now! This is it! Die and be free of pain or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape our stories! Your fate is in your hands!"

Bill Gates looked at Twilight, looking as if he was deep in thought. At the corner of her eye, she could see the then-stunned army begin to recover. But they cannot do anything without the approval of their leaders.

"She's right." said Donut Joe, whose baked goods were actually small killing machines.

"Right as a Piccafilly Pineapple." said Granny Smith, whose cane turned out to be a huge sniper rifle.

The last leader then turned to look at the other two leaders, and then back at Twilight. He nodded.

"Very well, then." said Twilight. "Those wielding ranged weapons, move to the front! And when I give the signal, immediately switch places with those wielding close-ranged weapons. Now move!"

Both groups were moving now. The Resistance moving to a defensive position, and Black Wesa turning on the offensive. This was to be an epic battle.

"Come, my friends." said Twilight. "The Resistance is going to war. And it is likely that we go to our doom. The Last March of the Resistance."

The whole of what was left of the Resistance fighting force screamed as Twilight ended her sentence. Twilight never thought of herself as a leader of armies, but she might give that job a consideration now. She was good.

"FIRE!" shouted Twilight.

Immediately, arrows and bullets were fired at the soldiers. Black Wesa's technology might be better, but their weapons were equally effective.

"FIRE!"

"FIRE!"

"Now switch!" shouted Twilight. "Quickly!"

Twilight knew that those at the front lines would receive the full brunt of the enemy's shots. But there was no other choice. They could not fight the enemy any other way.

The soldiers began to fire. The beams of light zooming their way.

The faces of those at the front line were not faces of fear, but determination. They were determined to win.

The shots fired were now closing in on them.

They were about to hit them, and most likely kill them. Twilight took a deep breath.

BAM!

Instead of the shots hitting them, however, something most unexpected happened. None of them were dead. All of them were staring, equally shocked, at what was right in front of them and blocking the shots from hitting them.

It was a large, bright blue barrier.

Immediately, Twilight looked up. And on the platform on top of the army was a gray, dark-blue maned unicorn standing determinedly, holding his ground as the shots hit his magical barrier.

Steven?

Steven then began to stand up, struggling to hold his balance as he did so. But as soon as he stood up, he immediately charged up his hooves with his magic, creating his signature magical gauntlets that he used for battle.

The barrier was still up. How could Steven control his magical power so well? But was he planning to charge at the enemy? Surely not! That would kill him!

And Steven didn't charge at the enemy. He held his ground, and held his hooves to his waist. Then, he began to punch the air.

As he punched the air, the magic on his hooves seemed to release itself and began to fly towards the enemy, breaking through his own barrier. As his magic touched the ground, it immediately exploded, sending soldiers flying everywhere. HE kept on punching, followed by various flowing hoof movements that made sure of the continuation of his punching. His body was moving around gracefully, his forehooves and backhooves flowing like gushing water as he continued his movements. He would lift his backhooves up and drop his forehooves at the same time, and perform strange movements here and there, but it worked- the soldiers on the other side were struggling to regroup, let alone attack.

But Steven couldn't continue for long. His movements began to slow down and break in-between, until he finally fell down on his face. Fluttershy and two other pegasus ponies immediately flew onto the platform to bring Steven back down.

"Steven!" said Twilight as Steven was laid down on the floor in front of her. "Why are you here?"

"I thought you needed my help." said Steven, giving her a soft smile.

"You need to rest." said Twilight. "Rest up. You've overexerted yourself already..."

"I'm fine." said Steven. "Fine as day."

The rest of Twilight's team immediately ran to Steven's side, where there were mixed responses from the rest of the group.

"Steven! You're here!" said Bush.

"He shouldn't be. You should be resting." said Rarity.

"He's fine. He said it himself." said Big Macintosh.

"Oh... my..." said Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash, however, was uncharacteristically quiet. She immediately ran to Steven and picked him up with her hands (he was lying down), scanned his face, and hugged him.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash." said Steven, who didn't even have the strength to hug her back.

"I thought... I thought..."

"No, those injuries were far from fatal." said Steven. "Luckily, Twilight had it in herself to not kill me."

Twilight was taken aback. She was definitely sure that one more punch would've killed him. Steven's wink at her as he said that was proof that she did. Was Steven trying to help her regain the group's trust?

"I'm sorry, Steven." said Twilight. "Really sorry. I should've known better than to accuse somepony without proof."

"It's fine, Twilight." said Steven, who was now struggling to sit up. "Anyway, the bad guys are still far from defeated."

Steven was right. A lot of soldiers were still alive and well. But none of them were moving towards them. None of them were even preparing to attack. They were all standing still,k not attacking, and not retreating. However, one of the soldiers was running towards the Resistance side.

"Parley!" said the soldier. "Parley!"

"Parley?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Why would they want to parley?" asked Steven.

"What should we do?" asked Fluttershy.

"We can't parley with them!" said Bush. "Who knows what trickery they are hiding under their sleeves!"

"What's parley?" asked Rainbow Dash

"But we've got to listen to what they have to say." said Rarity. "It might be something important."

"But they might-"

"I think Rarity's right." said Steven. "We should listen to them first, at least."

"Hellooooooo...." said Rainbow Dash

"But they might-"

"Everyone should be bound by honor to respect the rules of parley." said Steven. "Especially the ones who asked for it in the first place."

"Guys..." said Rainbow Dash. "Being ignored here..."

"Gah!" said Bush. "Damn to the depths whatever man thought of parley."

"That would be the French." said Fluttershy.

Twilight thought for a moment.

"Allow him in." said Twilight. "Let us parley."

The soldier immediately went in front of the Twilight and bowed to her.

"They think I'm the leader!" whispered Twilight.

"It's fine!" whispered Steven urgently. "Just listen to what the man has to say."

"Leader of the Resistance..." said the soldier. "We cannot offer you peace. But we can offer an end to this bloody battle."

"And that would be...?"

"If you, as the Leader of the Resistance, would fight against our commander. The one you know as the Roper-Mare."

The whole of the Resistance was shocked.

"So now that you know that you would lose, you offer us a way out?" asked Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have a much better understanding of 'parley' already.

"Au contraire." said the soldier. "We still have a lot of soldiers left. And you only have about 300 of your original fighting force left. And if we win... All of those left inside the Base will be utterly destroyed. Including the children."

"Why, you..." said Rainbow Dash, who moved to attack but was held back by Fluttershy.

What he said was true. There was no surviving the battle against their forces.

"However, whether you win or lose, we will not utterly destroy your base." said the soldier. "We will leave. We only request that you fight to the death with our commander."

"Please, Twilight..." said Rainbow Dash. "You can't listen to him! We can fight."

"No..." said Twilight. "No, Rainbow Dash. I cannot allow any more of you to die."

"Then I'll go!" said Steven. "I'm the Leader of the Resistance! I will go."

"No!" said Rainbow Dash. "I'm the Leader. I will fight them!"

"No!" said Twilight. "I will go. I... I have to avenge somepony. I cannot allow other to do this."

"Very well." said the soldier. "Please come with me."

"I guess I'll see you guys later..." said Twilight, moving to follow the soldier.

"Twilight..." said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight quickly turned away and looked forward, where a large glass cube had been set up for Twilight and the Roper-Mare to fight in. The soldier opened a door in the glass and let Twilight in. The Roper-Mare was already inside.

"It's a fight to the death." said the soldier. "Only begin when I say it."

The Roper-Mare bowed to Twilight as the door adjoined itself to the rest of the glass cube. Twilight awkwardly bowed back. She had so much hatred for this one pony inside her right now, and she wanted desperately to take it out. And even if the Roper-Mare had any respect for her, that respect was not returned at all.

"Begin!"

Twilight immediately used her magic to trap the Roper-Mare in the near-indestructible magic bubble that she used to trap Steven in earlier. The Roper-Mare tried to break free, but the bubble was intangible- there was no breaking out of it.

Twilight then began to suck out all of the air inside the bubble, in the attempt to suffocate the Roper-Mare. She was intending to kill that pony right then and there.

But the pony didn't move at all. The Roper-Mare just sat down there, as if waiting for something. Twilight held the bubble firmly in place, but the Roper-Mare still didn't move.

And all of a sudden, the Roper-Mare held up both her forehooves, allowing ropes to come and burst out of Twilight's bubble. Surprised that her bubble could be destroyed so easily, Twilight dropped the Roper-Mare and began to think of another strategy.

Twilight picked up the Roper-Mare with her magic and immediately bashed the pony onto the sides of the cube. It didn't break, but the vibrations of the impacts were easily felt by Twilight. That should leave a mark.

Only... It didn't. As soon as Twilight let go of the Roper-Mare, the Roper-Mare immediately stood back up, with no evident harm on her body.

Enraged, Twilight decided to switch to the most basic form of pony fighting- hooves. She immediately locked the Roper-Mare in place with her magic. When the Roper-Mare appeared to have no desire to move at all, however, Twilight immediately pounced on the pony, punching, biting and kicking at the pony. But no matter how much she hit, no matter how hard she punched, The Roper-Mare just sprang back into place.

Exhausted and angry, Twilight immediately knocked the Roper-Mare backwards and began to attack the pony's still-covered face. But there were still no results at all. The Roper-Mare didn't seem hurt- in fact, she seemed to welcome the punishment. This made Twilight grew even angrier. She wanted the Roper-Mare to feel her rage. But the Roper-Mare looked like they felt... absolutely nothing.

Growing angrier every second, Twilight continued to bash the Roper-Mare's face in, each punch stronger than the last. Until when Twilight couldn't take it anymore.

She screamed, and she immediately used her magic to tear the cloth that was covering the Roper-Mare's face off.

Behind the piece of black cloth, however, was somepony that Twilight did not expect.

Twilight gasped and stopped attacking. She felt her hooves growing weaker, and her thoughts growing foggier. She began to shake in her hooves, but she was unable to move. All she could do was stare at the face that was looking at her right then. The face of the pony who killed Berry Punch. The face of the pony who tried to ponynap Twilight back at the Palace. The face of the pony who tried, and is trying, to kill her.

The freckly, orange face... of Applejack.

"No..." said Twilight, finding herself to be unable to look away from the emotionless, pupil-less face of her former best friend. "No, that's impossible. Not you, Applejack. Not you..."

Twilight immediately began to panic. She didn't know what to do. She either had to die... or kill her best friend. SHe couldn't do it. She couldn't do any of it. The fact that the Roper-Mare was one of her best friends had struck Twilight's heart where nothing had ever struck before. It was no less than traumatic.

"No..." said Twilight. "No... I don't believe it. I can't."

But as Twilight looked on into Applejack's face, there was no more doubt in her mind. This was indeed Applejack, and she knew it. Only she refused to believe it.

But as quickly as ever, Applejack stood up again and very easily broke the bonds that were used by Twilight to hole Applejack down. Applejack's emotionless face slowly cracked into an evil smile.

"Mah turn." said Applejack.

Applejack immediately unleashed four ropes from her hooves, all of which bound Twilight's limbs to the glass cube. Twilight tried to escape, but the ropes were just too strong.

Applejack then walked away from her, only to begin to run back and tackle Twilight, right in her belly.

Twilight immediately began to spit out blood. The burning pain of the attack had ruptured a few of her ribs and broke her spine. Twilight couldn't feel her lower body anymore. Everything just went... numb. Numb and cold.

"Applejack..." said Twilight. "What happened?"

Applejack didn't answer. She just kept on brutalizing Twilight. Punching, bucking, tackling, and sometimes even using her shapeshifting rope to cut and slash Twilight's body. The pain was beyond anything Twilight had ever imagined. Both the pain  of the attack, and the pain of the heartbreak as Applejack continued to relentlessly attack her.

Twilight was now bleeding very badly from all the wounds in her body. She was also starting to choke up on blood. By all means, she should have died already by now from such injuries, but she wasn't. She was kept alive to feel the pain brought to her by her best friend.

She knew it. And she felt it. If Applejack kept on attacking her like this, then she would die. But before she died, she needed to say something to Applejack. Say what could possibly be her last words.

"Applejack..." said Twilight.

Her former best friend kept on attacking her.

"I...I forgive you." said Twilight.

Applejack immediately stopped attacking her.

"What did ya say?" asked Applejack.

"I forgive you." said Twilight. "Even if you can't forgive yourself."

Applejack stumbled backwards. Twilight saw a small flash of green in her eyes. However, Applejack just straightened herself up and began to attack Twilight again, in an even higher intensity than before. Twilight could feel even more bones break, she felt her body keep going number.

"And... I'm sorry, Applejack." said Twilight.

One of Applejack's eyelids blinked very harshly, but Applejack just kept on attacking Twilight. She could feel herself fading.

"I'm sorry..." said Twilight, breathing very badly as her air intake was severely shortened by Applejack's attacks. "I'm sorry for letting you become like this. I'm so... so... sorry.'

Twilight felt herself begin to cry. But she couldn't feel anything else. Her tears began to stream down her face and it dropped onto Applejack's hooves.

Applejack snapped her hooves back as if it stung, and then stopped attacking Twilight. She dropped onto the floor, her hooves pressing her head in between.

"Shaddup!" shouted Applejack. "SHADDUP!"

"Please forgive me..." said Twilight. "Applejack..."

"SHADDUP!" screamed Applejack, a hint of a sob in her voice. She immediately snapped her hoof back and punched Twilight's jaw, breaking it. Twilight wanted to scream from the pain, but she couldn't. It was just too much. She felt blood fly out of her jaw.

"Please, shut up..." said Applejack, who was now crying along with Twilight. "Get out! Get out of mah head!"

Applejack seemed to be holding onto her head for dear life. Twilight was now unable to speak- she could only watch as Applejack looked to be tortured as much as Twilight herself was. Only Twilight didn't know why.

"Go away!" screamed Applejack, punching the floor. "Go away!"

Applejack immediately turned back to Twilight and aimed a hoof at her, Applejack's other hoof holding up the on that would shoot. Twilight could barely see the hole where the rope would come out from, and she knew that she was going to die... Just like Berry did. But her thoughts and her vision, just like everything else, was slowly fading.

Twilight couldn't do anything anymore. All she could do was wait. Wait for Applejack... to finish her.

Only Applejack wasn't.

Applejack was still standing in front of her, aiming a hoof at her, but she wasn't doing it. Only then did Twilight notice that her left hoof was not there to steady her shooting hoof, but was actually struggling against it. She saw that one of Applejack's eyes had pupils again, and how the expressions on the ends of her mouth seemed to be different.

Applejack's left hoof then began to punch her right hoof, knocking it out of balance. She then fell to the floor, writhing and spasming. Applejack was not fighting with Twilight... She was fighting with herself.

Twilight felt her body crash back onto the ground. All of the pain that Applejack had brought onto her multiplied tenfold as the impact hit her. She knew that she was going to die. That much was certain. But she had to save Applejack first.

Twilight very slowly, and very painfully dragged herself to Applejack. She felt as if her whole body was on fire, which was doused by freezing cold ice, only to be set on fire again, repeating the cycle. But she wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to succumb. Applejack needed to break free of whatever was controlling her, and Twilight was going to do whatever it took to help her do so.

Twilight slowly managed to crawl and lie down beside Applejack. She felt her horn touch Applejack's forehead, and then summoned the last of her energy to summon magic. Knowing that Applejack was now sharing the same thoughts as she was, Twilight quickly began to remember all of the moments that they had shared together. All the moments...

"Good afternoon." said Twilight, hesitantly approaching this strange, energetic orange pony. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Almost immediately, Twilight felt her hoof being shaken up and down violently by the orange pony.

"Well howdy do, Miss Twilight!" said the orange pony, grinning happily. A pleasure makin' yer acquaintance! I'm Applejack, and we here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!"

Twilight felt Applejack's writhing begin to soften up. She needed to continue if she was to free Applejack.

"Hold on!" shouted Applejack, as she descended to save Twilight from falling down the cliff. "I'ma comin'!

"Applejack!" said Twilight desperately, her fronthooves holding onto Applejack's but her backhooves standing on nothing but thin air. "What do I do?"

Twilight saw Applejack hesitate to give an answer, her face screwed up to gather her strength to save Twilight. But she glanced up for a while, and immediately gave an answer.

"Let go."

"Are you crazy?" asked Twilight. Was Applejack trying to kill her?

"No I ain't." said Applejack, in a soft, reassuring voice. "I promise you'll be safe."

"That's not true!"

"Now listen here." said Applejack. "What I'm sayin' ta you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe."

Twilight looked deeply into Applejack's eyes. There was no lie in there. Was Applejack telling the truth?

Only one way to find out... Here goes nothing.

As Twilight let go, she screamed all the way. Until, of course, she felt four hooves hold her up in the air.

"I'm sorry..." said Fluttershy as she struggled to hold Twilight. "I'm not used to holding anything heavier than a bunny or two."

Twilight turned her head to see Applejack descend the cliffs. She couldn't have been more grateful to Applejack, who had saved her life. It was then that she first realized the true beauty of friendship.

Twilight began to cry, and she saw that Applejack was beginning to cry too.

"And now our bodies will become as cold as our hearts, just because we were foolish enough to hate." said Twilight, who was then Clover the Clever.

Fluttershy (Private Pansy), Applejack (Smart Cookie), and Twilight then began to gather together as the ice began to slowly come to them.

"Actually..." said Private Pansy. "I don't hate you. I actually hate Commander Hurricane a LOT more than I hate you guys."

The other two ponies then began to laugh sincerely at Private Pansy's words, and Private Pansy began to smile.

"Actually, I don't really hate her." said Private Pansy, whose body was already starting to get covered by ice. "I just really really really really REALLY really really really REALLY REALLY really dislike her."

The three ponies then laughed together again, knowing full well that this might be their last laugh.

"Well, I don't hate ya guys either." said Smart Cookie, smiling sincerely.

"Nor do I" said Clover the Clever.

"No matter what our differences..." said Applejack. "We're all ponies."

Applejack had now stopped moving completely. She already returned to full control of her body, and she was now staring, with tears in her soft green eyes, at Twilight. Twilight put a hoof on her mane and brushed it, but it was not over yet. She still had one last memory to show Applejack. One last memory... One last message.

"Now you wanna fight!" said Applejack, who stood up and began punching the air. "Where were ya when I was battlin' Discord?"

Twilight immediately tackled Applejack, knocking her to the ground.

"Snap out of it!" said Twilight, determined to fight for Applejack. "This isn't you! You're not a liar."

Twilight then descended her horn onto Applejack's head, and into it she poured all of her gratitude, determination, kindness, and love. Applejack then began to remember- remember all about what friendship truly was. That time during Applebuck Season, the time when they realized that they were always meant to be friends, the time she saved Twilight from falling off a cliff, the time at Winter Wrap-Up when Twilight helped them clean up on time, the time when she first developed feelings for Rainbow Dash at the Running Of The Leaves... All of it came flooding back to her head.

"Twilight!" said Applejack, shaking her head. "What happened?"

" I saw a vision of ourselves fightin'..." continued Applejack, who immediately took off her favourite hat. "And I couldn't face the truth, so I started tellin' lies... can ya ever forgive me?"

"I already have." said Twilight.

Twilight then let go of her magic, dropping her head down onto the floor. Applejack immediately stood back up and held her in her hooves.

"No!" said Applejack, whose tears were now streaming down her face. "Twilight, please! Please don't die! Oh... I'm so very sorry, Twilight... Please, don't die... Don't die because of me..."

Twilight's face turned into a soft smile. She was dying. She could feel it in her heart.

Applejack then let out a scream, enraged, and immediately shattered the glass with a single buck. She then ran out and started to attack the soldiers, and Twilight could barely hear the soldiers bang against the walls of the Base, or hear their faces caved into the ground.

"Retreat!" shouted one of the soldiers. "Subject Jack-117 has defected! Retreat!"

The calls for retreat were then followed by cheers from the members of the Resistance, applauding Twilight and Applejack.

Applejack quickly ran back to Twilight, and attempted to carry her back to the main Resistance force. But Twilight knew that this was futile. And before she passed on, she still had something to say to Applejack.

"Applejack..." she said, through her broken jaw.

"Twilight!" said Applejack. "Stop talkin'! Ah'll get somepony to wrap you up nicely! Y'all don' need to worry... Please..."

Twilight felt even more of her tears stream out of her eyes as she felt time slow down around her. Her heart was slowing down. She was no longer able to see, hear, or think. But she still had one last thing to say to Applejack. One last thing to say to everyone. One last thing to say... ever. And she didn't care that she was going to die after. She had lived her life just as she wanted to, and she was going to pass on happily, her only regret being not able to see everything through to the end.

"Applejack..."

"We won."