"i don't need your help!"

Icy slept peacefully in her bed since it had been a while since Shining armor and the princess stepped out and she eventually got tired of waiting and decided to go to sleep but then her sleep was disturbed by the noise of hooves running through the hall and also shouting voices so she got out of her bed and made her way to the door where she cracked it open and saw multiple ponies run past her with two beds and she also saw that the beds each had a filly and one was a bat pony but before she was able to step out of her room one of the nurses saw her and quickly blocked her view

"Sorry, little filly, but you'll have to return to your room, don't worry about what's happening here, just get some rest." she said and after Icy stepped back the nurse quickly closed the door and followed after the others

'Who were those two? and why do I feel like I should know this?' Icy thought as she trotted back to her bed and laid back down

Elsewhere Shining went to check up on the two fillies and made his way to one of the doctors

"How are they?" Shining asked

the doctor turned to him "The earth filly is suffering from a bad case of hypothermia but as long as we keep her warm she should come through, the bat filly is a bit more confusing but from what our information tells us, once it becomes night her injuries will heal and she'll be good as new." he explained

Shining nodded "Keep me informed on their condition, if anything happens I want you to inform me immediately." he said and the doctor nodded then Shining left the room and joined Cadance outside

"Shining, how are they?" Cadance asked

"We were able to rescue them and the doctors are doing everything they can to help, they'll be fine." Shining said

Cadance let out a breath of relief "That's good, I don't want to think of what would have happened if we didn't rescue them in time." she said then she looked back at Shining "By the way, earlier when you used your memory spell on the filly from before, you said you saw something you didn't mean to, what was it?" she asked

Shining looked around making sure no ponies were around and after confirming they were alone he got close to Candance's ear "I accidentally saw how her horn got broke and it wasn't pretty." he said

Candance gasped "Really?" she asked and Shining nodded "How did it happen?" she asked

Shining trotted past her "We need to talk to the filly about this to, it might help to restore her memories, even though this memory isn't a good one." he said then he and Cadance made their way to Icy's room

Icy couldn't sleep, after she saw both of those other fillies that's all that's been on her mind ever since and she couldn't stop thinking about them, she felt she should know them but doesn't then Princess Cadance and Shining armor came into her room which made her instantly sit up

"Hello, little filly, sorry for taking so long, we had to deal with something." Cadance said as she and shining trotted to her bed and stopped once both were standing right in front of it

"It's alright, I was able to get some good rest while you were gone so now I'm full of energy." Icy said with a bright smile

Shining looked at Cadance then back at Icy "Little filly, I just want to ask, are you sure you don't remember anything?" he asked

Icy looked at him confused "I've tried to remember something from before but nothing seemed to come to me, why do you ask?" she asked

"I was just wondering if you remembered something, like how your horn broke." Shining said and he could see Icy flinch at that

"I don't know how my horn broke, but something tells me that how it did break was very painful." Icy said as she touched her horn

"It was." Shining said and Icy looked back at him "From what I saw in your memories-."

"You saw how my horn broke?! you weren't supposed to see that! you said you wouldn't go too deep in my memories!" Icy nearly yelled at him which made him shut his mouth then Icy gasped "W-why did I get so mad? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, it just happened." she said

Shining waved his hoof "It's fine, I should be sorry for looking at your other memories when I said I wouldn't, as I said from your memories I saw that this happened a few years ago, you were five years old, you were desperately seeking out help from anypony who would give it, two stallions came up to you and offered to help-."

"They lied." Icy said and cut him off "They just wanted to get me somewhere alone and where no pony could hear me scream, they locked me in a room and cast a sound dampening spell on it and that's when it happened, one held me down while the other tore my horn off." she said as she gripped her sheets tighter and had a scowl "the result was bigger than they thought, a magic explosion happened and both of them died and I was left without a horn, from that day forward I wouldn't take any more help from anypony else and I would take care of myself, by myself, broken horn or not." she said then she suddenly put her hoof to her head in pain as all of her memories came rushing back into her head and after it was done she laid her head on her pillow while covering her eyes

Cadance immediately went to her side "Are you okay?" she asked

"Leave." Icy said and before either of them said anything else Icy gave Cadance and Shining a glare "Leave. now." she said then both of them left her room and left her to her own hatred and anger 'Damn it, Celestia damn it, we're supposed to be our own independent group, yet here we are getting help from a bunch of random ponies, this isn't how it was supposed to go, DAMN IT' she thought

Cadance looked back at Icy's door "Do you think she'll be alright?" she asked

Shining put his foreleg around Cadance's shoulder "She just needs time to cool down, we'll have to talk to her later though, we still have our own duties to attend to." he said and Cadance nodded

"I still can't believe there are ponies out there who would harm a unicorn filly just to get her horn." Cadance said as she and Shining left the hospital

After Icy had finally calmed down she got out of her bed and slightly opened her door to make sure no ponies were around and after confirming there weren't any she snuck out and made her way to Middy and Cherry's room where she saw both of them in their own beds then she made her way to Middy's bed and got in it with her

"Middy?" Icy said as she slightly shook her "Middy, wake up." she said then she saw Middy slowly open her eyes

Middy looked at Icy "Icy? is that you?" she asked

"Yeah, it is, are you and Cherry alright?" Icy asked

Middy sighed "Not really, the sun did a good job hurting me, I don't know how you ponies like it so much, it's way too bright for my tastes." she said with a small smile then she looked over at Cherry "Cherry was out there for way longer since she didn't have my type of fur she didn't have as much resistant to the cold as I did, she's in bad shape." she explained

Icy shook her head "This won't do, I was hoping I could do my plan much earlier than this." she said

Middy looked back at her confused "Wait, what? what plan are you talking about?" she asked

"I was going to have us escape from here at night and hitch a ride on the train, once on the train we would get as far away from here as possible." Icy said

"We wouldn't make it, Cherry is in too bad of shape to move and I still need to heal, you're the only one who could make it." Middy said

Icy nodded "I know but I'm not leaving either of you to whatever these ponies have planned for you two." she said

"You may have to, we won't make it." Middy said and before Icy could respond Cherry was heard coughing so both of them turned their heads to her and saw she was awake now

Cherry turned her head to where she heard Icy and Middy "No, I can make it." she said

Icy left Middy's bed and went to Cherry "Are you sure? as Middy said you're not healthy enough to move." she said then Cherry put her hoof on Icy's shoulder after feeling for a bit

"Icy, I can make it, we can leave tonight, trust me." Cherry said

Icy smiled and nodded "Alright, if you say so, we'll leave tonight under the cover of darkness, be ready." she said then she left the room and made her way back to her room where she got back into her own bed and went to sleep

After a few hours had passed Icy opened her eyes and looked around only to find that where she was didn't look like her hospital room at all so she got out of her bed and trotted around only to find darkness then she heard hooves behind her so she turned and saw a pony made out of darkness

"Who are you?" Icy asked

The shadow pony laughed "Don't you remember? we're the ponies who're gone help you and all you have to do is sit still." he said

Icy went wide-eyed and quickly backed away from him "No, not again, I won't let you have my horn this time." she said then she was pushed down and held down by another shadow pony from behind her

"That's too bad filly, we're taking it anyway and there's nothing you can do to stop us." he said as the first shadow pony trotted closer to Icy who struggled to get the shadow ponies hoof off of her

"No, no, no, no, no, stop." Icy begged then she felt his magic tug at her horn "STOP! PLEASE STOP! SOMEPONY HELP ME!" she yelled then a bright light appeared next to them

"Away with you!" a voice said then both of the shadow ponies were blown away and once Icy looked up she saw the princess of the night, Princess Luna

"Princess Luna? what are you doing here?" Icy asked

Princess Luna trotted to Icy "It is my duty to ensure all of my subjects have a peaceful dream, no matter the pony." she said then she got a closer look at Icy "I know of you filly, you are the one Twilight told me about, the orphaned filly who denied her assistance to have a better life, Icy jewel." she said

Icy glanced away then back "I don't need any help, I'm doing perfectly fine on my own." she said

"You may say that filly but I know that you only deny help out of fear and anger." Luna said then Icy turned away from her "You fear that once you accept somepony else's help, they will then take advantage of it and hurt you as those two did." she said

"I'm not afraid besides don't need help anyway, I'm able to take care of myself." Icy said

"Then, was that not you screaming for help earlier as your nightmares came to haunt you?" Luna asked

Icy glanced at Luna then turned her head away "No it wasn't, that wasn't me but the old me who believed she needed help from other ponies to survive, this is the new me who knows I don't need help to survive." she said

Luna sat beside Icy "You may believe that now little filly but there will come a day where even you will ask for help, just as your friend did to save her friend." she said

Icy looked up at Luna "What are you talking about?" she asked but Luna stayed silent "You're talking about Middy, aren't you?" she asked and when Luna didn't answer that was all the confirmation she needed "That traitor! she knows that we're an independent group who doesn't ask for help from the outside and she just went ahead and broke our number one rule!" she yelled

"Please Icy, calm yourself, if she hadn't risked herself to get help then you would have lost the other filly Cherry candy." Luna said

Icy sighed "You're right, if she didn't act then Cherry wouldn't be here but that doesn't mean I'm gonna forgive her for breaking our rules, I'm gonna have a talk with her once we're gone." she said

Luna raised an eyebrow "What do you mean "once you're gone"?" she asked

Icy stood up "I'm not telling you, if I do then you'll just alert the Princess." she said then she began trotting away

"Wait, where are you going?" Luna asked

Icy turned her head and looked at her "hopefully somewhere where you won't find us, goodbye Princess." she said then a door of light appeared and Icy stepped through it and woke up in the real world

Icy quickly got out of her bed and checked outside the window to see night has fallen so she quickly and quietly made her way to Middy ad Cherry's room and once she entered she saw Middy stretching her legs and wings with her injuries barely visible

Middy looked at Icy "Hey Icy, I'm healed up enough to move around now, and since it's night I'll carry Cherry." she said then she went and picked up Cherry then put her on her back and while doing so she made sure to be as gentle as possible "Do we have a destination by the way?" she asked

Icy nodded "Yeah, the train station if we can make it there and sneak aboard then we'll be home free and far away from the crystal empire." she said then she went to the door and slightly opened it

After making sure no ponies were near Icy made her way out and Middy made sure to follow closely to keep up and so Icy didn't have to slow down for her sake, once they had finally made it to an exit Icy made sure to check outside the door and found a guard standing next to it but he was asleep so Icy gestured for Middy to follow but to stay silent so both of them silently left the building and stayed as silent as possible then Cherry felt a sneeze come on so she inhaled multiple times and before either Middy or Icy could stop her she sneezed loudly which woke the guard and he saw all of them

"Hey, you three, what do you think you're doing?" he said

Icy chuckled nervously "Um, we can explain." she said but the guard started trotting to them so Icy inhaled deeply "RUN!" she yelled then she and Middy made a run for it and the guard chased them so once they passed an apple stand Icy was able to find an extra apple on the ground so she picked it up and threw it at the guard hitting him in the face and making him run into the stand then Icy ran into a nearby alleyway and stopped to catch her breath

MIddy stepped next to Icy "Now what? no doubt that guard will tell others and we'll be caught." she said

Icy waved her hoof "Don't worry, all we have to do is get to the train station then we're home free." she said then she stood back up and continued making her way through the city while Middy followed

After only a few minutes of trotting, Icy and Middy stopped on a corner and watched as two guards trotted by then she saw one of them pull out a piece of paper which had her face on it and Icy understood that now they were being looked for which meant they had to be careful so now they made their way through the city as silently as possible

"It's this way now, we're almost there." Icy said but once she stepped out she instantly stepped back in after seeing there were two groups of guards standing on each side "Looks like we need to find a way around." she said then she made her way to the other side but had to step back again after seeing another group of guards making their way to the alley they were in

"Icy? what's wrong?" Middy asked

"We may be trapped between two guards with no way to go." Icy said with a nervous smile

"Oh no, what'll we do now?" Middy asked

"I...Don't know, we're trapped." Icy said

"Then why don't I give you a hoof?" a voice said and once both Middy and Icy looked at where it came from they saw a stallion who had a white coat and a green mane and tail and he had saddlebags on as well

"Who are you?" Middy asked

the stallion stepped forward "I'm the only one who can get you out of this mess but it's up to you if you follow me or not." he said

Icy moved close to MIddy "I don't think we should trust him, he's up to something." she whispered

Middy looked at Icy "We don't have much choice, we either go with him or go back to the hospital and face the prince and princess." she said

Icy sighed then stepped forward "We'll follow you, how will you even get us out of here?" she asked

the stallion reached in his bags and tossed some hoods at both Icy and Middy "Put those on and follow me, we'll be out of here in no time." he said and both of them did as told and followed the stallion out of the alleyway and past the guards until one stopped them

"Hold on, what are you doing out this late?" the guard asked

"Oh me and my fillies were out playing a little later than we planned, we're heading home right now." the stallion said bt the guard still wouldn't let them through

"Sorry, but we need to take a look at your foals to make sure they aren't on the paper." the guard said

"Oh, there's no reason for that." the stallion said then he reached in his bag and pulled out two big gems then gave them to the guard "Especially when you never saw us in the first place." he said as he winked at him and the guard looked at the gems

"Hm, I don't know, my eyes are pretty bad right now but I think I still see a stallion and two hidden fillies." the guard said then the stallion gave him another gem and the guard nodded "Oh well, looks like I'm as blind as a bat, I can't seem to see anything tonight." he said and allowed the stallion and the fillies to walk right by and arrive at a carriage where the stallion removed the hoods from the fillies "Get on in and we'll be out of here in no time." he said and both of them did as told and got in the carriage then the stallion got on the front and began driving

As soon as Icy entered she saw a unicorn mare who wasn't a crystal pony and had a purple coat and a red and black mane and tail sitting on the other side of the carriage as she and Middy sat on the opposite side and Middy set Cherry down beside her

"Okay, I think it's time we got an explanation." Icy said

The mare chuckled "I'll explain everything after we get on the train." she said

As they made their way through the city none of the guards seemed to stop them and just watched as they passed right by until the had finally arrived at the train station and once all of them left the carriage the unicorn mare paid for the tickets and boarded the train along with the three fillies and entered a private train cart

Icy climbed up in one of the beds "Alright, time for an explanation." she said

the unicorn mare sat in her own bed across from Icy and Middy "Alright, what do you want to know?" she asked

"First, your name." Icy said

"My name is Crystal rose." Crystal said

Icy nodded "second, how did you conveniently find us in an alleyway while we were being searched for by the guards?" she asked

Crystal chuckled "Oh, I've been keeping tabs on you for a while now." she said then the train began moving

"Wait, what? you've been watching me? why?" Icy asked

"I was told to." Crystal said which surprised Icy "Don't look so surprised, you should have known that Jade night wouldn't let two new moneymakers go so easily." she said

"Who's Jade night?" Icy asked

Middy thought for a moment "I think she's talking about the stallion that chased us that night along with his friends." she said then she looked back up at the smirking Crystal "Oh no, she's taking us back to him, we need to leave." she said but before either of them stood up Crystal used her magic to grab Cherry and have her float next to her

"Now, I'm not one to hurt a defenseless filly like your friend here." Crystal said then she focused some magic on Cherry's neck "But I will if both of you don't stay where you are." she said

Middy glared at her "I won't let you hurt her." she said

Crystal chuckled "And she won't be hurt as long as both of you sit still and enjoy the ride." she said then she clapped her hooves and multiple ponies came into the cart and Crystal gave them Cherry "And before either of you think of escaping if you try then you'll never see your friend again and that same goes for if you hurt me, so let's enjoy the ride, shall we?" she said then the ponies left the cart with Cherry and both of them couldn't do anything without risking their friends' life so they stayed in their seat during the rest of the train ride

After a few hours, they had arrived at their stop and Crystal had the fillies follow her out of the train and also made sure to have an escort to make sure Icy and Middy didn't try anything and after a bit of trotting they had finally arrived at the town and saw the same stallion standing there with his own group of ponies

Jade stepped forward "Hello there my little moneymakers, bet you didn't expect to see me again so soon." he said

Icy looked around at the other ponies then back at him "How did you even know where we went? Equestria is a big place, we could have teleported anywhere." she said

Crystal chuckled as she stepped forward "I simply used a special locator spell, by going off of your last magic trace I was able to pinpoint your exact location and headed there right away and kept tabs on you since." she said then she looked back at Jade "You can go ahead and thank me now." she said

Jade rolled his eyes "yeah sure, good job, now I want the rest of you to cuff these fillies and take them to the others." he said then the unicorns all floated cuffs to both of them and cuffed their hooves "Oh, and make sure to put a magic dampening ring on the unicorn, we don't want her to go and teleport somewhere else again." he said and one of the unicorns secured a magic dampening ring on Icy's broken horn "Now come this way my moneymakers." he said

"Wait." Middy said which made Jade stop in his tracks and turn around "It's our friend, she's sick and very ill, she won't be able to do any work for you, can you at least spare her?" she said

Jade rolled his eyes "Ugh, fine, one less moneymaker won't make much of a difference, now come on, you need to see your new living quarters." he said

He and the other began trotting and both of them followed until they arrived back at the cave where Middy escaped from last time then Jade brought them to a door that was very deep within the cave and opened and allowed the fillies to enter while Crystal levitated Cherry into the room and next to them then Jade closed the door and left

"Well, just when we thought we were home free, we got caught all over again." Middy said as she caressed Cherry's mane

Icy shook her head "We probably should have stayed at the hospital, at least until Cherry was in good shape to move so we wouldn't get caught like this." she said

Middy looked at Icy "Are you saying this is Cherry's fault?" she asked

"What? no, I'm just saying that if she was awake then we could've gotten away together." Icy said

Middy sighed "Sorry for accusing you, and you're right, we should have waited until Cherry was better." she said as she looked down at Cherry and continued to rub her head

Icy suddenly heard some hoofsteps from behind her and quickly turned around "Who's there?" she asked

Icy saw a strange pony who seemed to be all black and his hooves seemed to have multiple holes in them and he also had sharp fangs and once he came closer to the only light that was coming out of the door Icy saw him fully and gasped

"A changing colt?!" Icy said

"Ah, another pony, seemed like I really am the last of my kind since I haven't seen any other changelings here since I got here." he said

Icy looked him over "Hang on, you're not like those reformed changelings I heard about, you look like the old ones that used to exist." she said

The changeling looked at her confused "Reformed changelings? what happened when I was kicked out of the hive?" he asked

"Kicked out?" Icy said

The changeling nodded "I broke some rules and queen Chrysalis removed me from the hive and banned me from returning, I left a long time ago and eventually got caught then wound up here, now what's this about reformed changelings?" he said

Icy thought for a moment "I don't know much but from what I read the old queen was dethroned and the changelings learned to share love instead of taking it." she said

The changeling was confused "Queen Chrysalis was dethroned? and the others learned to..."share love"? what does that even mean? how does a changeling share love? what in equestrian happened while I was gone?" he said

Icy shrugged "A lot, I guess." she said

the changeling sighed "I guess while we're here we might as well know who each other are, my name is Shifter, and you are?" he asked

"I'm Icy jewel." Icy said then she pointed at Middy who wasn't paying attention to their conversation "That's Midnight amber but we call her Middy and the one who's asleep right now is Cherry candy." she said

Shifter looked at Middy and Cherry "My, that sure is a lot of love, what I would give to have some of that." he said while smiling

Icy moved into his view "I don't think so." she said

"Relax, I couldn't take any of their love, not with this dampening ring on my horn." Shifter said as he showed the ring on his horn "at least they take it off so I can keep myself alive but the amount of love I can get from these other ponies doesn't compare to the amount I'm sensing from those two." he said pointing at Middy and Cherry

Icy looked back at them "that's because we all care about each other." she said then she looked back at Shifter "And I'm not going to let you take our love, even if it's to keep yourself alive." she said then she got in his face "So back up before you get hurt." she said

Shifter backed up and huffed "Fine, I won't touch your friends' love, but when push comes to shove, my hooves may be tied." he said then he trotted away

Icy walked back to Middy "I should get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow as mine workers, fun." she said then she laid down "Wake me up if Cherry comes to, okay?" she said and Middy nodded then Icy laid her head down and went to sleep