"Octavia?"

Octavia coughed, hearing the high-pitch voice call her name. Her eyes cracked open, her head still spinning and aching. She looked up through her blurred vision and saw three small faces staring at her.

"Ohhhh what a relief!" Said Sweetie Belle, "We thought you were dead!"

"We did not!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"You were the first one to scream, she's dead!" Apple Bloom argued.

"Nooo... That was Sweetie Belle!"

"Was not!"

As the three fillies argued, Octavia sat up. Her brain felt as though it was slamming against her skull; her headache the worst it had ever been. She felt sick to her stomach when trying to recount what had happened. Looking around, she discovered that she was in a small jail cell with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The walls were covered with senseless graffiti, and the floor was damp and uncomfortable. Across from her cell was a wingless, hornless Rainbow Dash, staring at her with worried, magenta eyes.

"What... What happened?" Octavia asked Rainbow Dash.

"We don't know," The cyan pony replied, "Discord came down here and threw you in the cell you're in now, then left. That was about an hour ago."

Apple Bloom smiled, "But it's good to know you're okay, Miss Octavia!"

"Even if you didn't beat Discord!" Sweetie added.

Octavia's heart skipped a beat, "Wha... I didn't beat Discord?"

"Uh, duh!" Scootaloo replied, "Or else we'd be outta here!"

Trying to recount what had happened only made Octavia's headache worse. How had she been defeated? She was keeping her guard up and being smart just like Philomena had advised. Did she let her guard down by accident? She just couldn't remember.

"Well, now that you're here," Rainbow said, "We don't really have much hope. I was hoping you could stop Discord and free us."

Octavia cocked her head, "Why would you say that?"

Rainbow stared at her, "Because... I was hoping you could stop him, since you stopped Nightmare Moon."

Octavia seemed a bit lost, "You expected me to stop him?" She laughed, "That would never happen! I might as well been attacking a steel wall and hoping for it to fall!" She covered her mouth, gasping in surprise. What had she just said? That had come out completely by accident. That wasn't even what she meant to say!

"...What?" Rainbow asked.

"You heard me," Octavia began again, "I knew I couldn't stop him. I had no hope for it!"

"Miss Octavia, are you-?" Apple Bloom started to ask.

"I'm fine!" Octavia interrupted. She started to pace the cell, "Except for the fact that we're all gonna die in here, I'm peachy-keen!"

"Wha..." Sweetie started, but Octavia promptly poked her in the chest.

"That's right, Squeaky Belle!" The gray mare growled, "We'll all be stuck inside here until the day we die! We'll never see Ponyville again, nor will we see our family!"

Sweetie Belle's green eyes started to tear up. She then bursted into loud crying, throwing her head back and wailing to the ceilings.

"Octavia!" Rainbow exclaimed, "What in the world has gotten into you?! Why are you such a downer-?!"

She stopped abruptedly, magenta eyes meeting once-violet eyes. Those same eyes started to tear up before the gray mare collapsed on the floor, joining Sweetie Belle in her weeping.

"Oh no..." Was all that Rainbow could sputter out.

---

"Vinyl."

Vinyl pushed the prodding hooves away from her, rolling on her side and cuddling something soft.

"Vinyl!"

"Whaaaaat?!" Vinyl whined, her eyes cracking open and looking at the pony who was bothering her.

Thorn glared at her, "We have to get going. I've let you lay here long enough."

Vinyl sneezed. She checked her surroundings, noticing the sweet-smelling liquid lapping at her hind hooves. She was laying in a mound of blue-colored dirt with Thorn sitting beside her. Above her, the dam toward high, the rapids rushing down the side of the mountains at high speeds.

"You hit your head on the way down," Thorn explained, "You might have sustained a minor concussion, but I think the revival seed cured it. You might be a little loopy, but you should be good in about an hour or so."

"Sunset..." Vinyl said, "She pushed me over and left us... She's working for Discord?"

"No," Thorn replied, "I heard her. She said something like... It's my time to be the hero. When she blasted us, I was stunned for a couple seconds, but I managed to get up and save you before you hit the rapids. Like I said, you did hit your head on the way down, but I think I cleared that up."

Vinyl smiled, "Thanks Thornster." Slowly, she stood with the help of Thorn. She looked to the dam above, her face forming into a frown.

"I don't know if we'll have time to walk back up there," Thorn said, "But I've got an idea."

"What's that-?" Vinyl asked. She was cut off when Thorn grabbed her front hooves and took to the air with Vinyl dangling under him.

"Thorn! What are you doing?!" She shrieked.

"Flying us there," Thorn explained, "And hey, do us both a favor and cut back on your dinner portions next time."

With ease, Thorn propelled them both back to the top of the dam. They landed at the place where Sunset had broken the dam wall with her magic.

"I can't believe she would do this," Vinyl spoke, "She saved my life and turns around and nearly lets me die. She's still the regular demon spawn I know and hate."

"We can't let that bother us," Thorn advised, "We still have to save Octavia and the rest of them. I doubt Sunset can stop Discord on her own. She's strong, but she's not that strong."

Vinyl smiled, "If there's one thing I want Discord to succeed in, it's whipping Sunset's flank." She looked down, "I know it's wrong to wish something like that on somepony, but she's such a jerk!"

Thorn squinted at her, "Why don't we just keep going and worry about Sunset later? Karma will get back her."

Vinyl sighed, "Let's hope you're right."

---

Sunset Shimmer found herself smiling as she approached the castle. The deformed palace had some of the strangest architecture Sunset had ever seen. It was difficult to describe, being that the castle seemed to shift and distort itself constantly. It was a pain to look at, but Sunset concentrated on finding a way in.

The orange unicorn immediately found a small, wooden door on the side. She rushed after it, but upon approaching it, the door disappeared and was replaced by something sticky that Sunset crashed into. She looked down to discover she was now stuck to a giant piece of flypaper. Now she started to get less cocky. Struggling against the flypaper was painful, since it pulled at every piece of her fur and her mane. Trying to rip herself off only proved to get herself stuck further and was still painful.

I'll just jerk back really fast, The unicorn thought to herself, It's gonna hurt... But it'll just be like ripping off a band-aid.

Sunset took a deep breath. She put a free hoof on the wall. Using all of her strength, she ripped herself off the flypaper wall.

As soon as this happened, a painful scream escaped from the orange mare's mouth that echoed across the land.

---

"What was that?" Thorn asked.

"I dunno," Vinyl said, "Kinda sounded like Sunset."

Thorn cocked an eyebrow, "She might be in trouble."

Vinyl smiled, "Nah. I think karma might have gotten its revenge."

---

The stinging pain that shot across all of Sunset's body was enough to cause her eyes to tear up. All of the fur on her belly, neck, and face had been ripped off, revealing the pale pink skin underneath. Half of her fiery mane and tail were missing. As she tried to walk around the castle, her limbs were stiff from the stinging pain of having half of her fur ripped off.

It's okay... Sunset told herself, It's Discord, it's to be expected. I just have to be more careful...

The orange mare found another door. This time she took extra precaution and approached it very slowly. Reaching for the door nob, she heard a bell ring slightly upon touching it. At that very moment, something poured from the heavens and splattered on the unicorn. A sticky and sweet brown substance now covered her from head to hoof. Lifting her hoof, she licked a bit of the substance off.

Molasses. Yuck.

Another door had appeared a few feet to Sunset's right. Fighting against the molasses, she struggled to get to the door.

Is it even worth it? She wondered.

Sunset wanted to prove herself. She had to stop Discord on her own. So she had to suffer through an unwanted waxing and molasses? It would all be worth it once she saw the ponies back in Equestria cheering her on for saving the world. It would be her, not the cellist and the fraidy-cat DJ this time.

Sunset approached the door and managed to turn the knob without anything happening. Upon opening it, she discovered a small, closet-sized room with a golden-colored pad on the floor.

Jackpot! She cheered, A teleportation pad!

Sunset quickly jumped on the pad. When she did, her face was smashed with something soft, squishy, and sweet. Lifting a hoof to her face and swiping a bit of the mysterious stuff off, Sunset discovered she had been attacked by a cherry pie.

Really? She thought, How much more childish can one get?

It didn't matter now. She had found a teleportation pad that could get her into the castle. She didn't care that she was missing half of her fur or covered in molasses and pie. She was going to confront Discord and stop him dead in his tracks. He wouldn't know what would hit him once she got her hooves on him.

Sunset attempted to charge up the pad with her magic. However, after a few magical blasts, nothing happened. She kept trying, but to no avail. The pad only sat there, as if to say Haha! Not this time, Dimmer!

Sunset slammed her hooves against the pad in frustration. Grinding her teeth, she flopped on the pad and attempted to think of something to do. She had come this far, and she wasn't going to give in to some stupid pad. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard voices outside of the room.

The DJ and her cheeselegs companion!

Without thinking, Sunset sprinted out of the room and jumped into the nearest cluster of bushes. Just as expected, Vinyl and Thorn approached, climbing over the edge of the mountain. Vinyl was panting hard, but Thorn seemed fine.

"Hey look!" Vinyl said, pointing to the teleportation pad in the closet-sized room, "It's one of those teleportation pad things!"

"A what?" Thorn asked.

"There was one back on Mount Magic," Vinyl explained, "It helped us get to the top of he mountain without having to climb it. Maybe this one will take us to wherever Octavia and the others are at in half the time."

They both galloped to the teleportation pad. Sunset watched them, expecting for them to have a pie smashed in their faces or become soaked with molasses. To her dismay, nothing happened to them as they approached the pad. Vinyl tried to charge it up, but as Sunset expected, it didn't work.

"Try again." Thorn insisted.

Vinyl tried again. Nothing.

Thorn rubbed his chin, "How about... We try it together."

Vinyl stared at him, "You think we can do it?"

Thorn nodded, "Of course."

Vinyl looked down, "Thorn, I don't think I'm ready for this."

"Excuse me?"

"I just don't know if I can do this. Not without Octavia."

"Vinyl, we're going to save her. Once we get her back, I'm sure Octavia will understand and you'll be friends again."

"That's not what in worried about. Remember what happened to Dinky and Celestia? What if Discord does the same to Octavia? What if I can never be friends with her again?"

Thorn sighed, "Vinyl, that would never happen. You're best friends. Nothing is going to break that a part."

Vinyl looked down at the pad, "Yeah... I guess you're right..."

Thorn smiled, "Great. Now let's get this teleportation pad activated."

They both started up their magic. By moving their horns closer together, they combined their powers before they both angled the blue and green magic down to the pad below. The pad responded, lighting up in a golden shade. With a quick flash of light, the unicorn and the changeling were gone. Meanwhile, Sunset sat there in the bushes, completely dumbfounded.

...Well... That didn't exactly go as I planned...

---

I apologize if this chapter seems a bit boring. Don't worry though. The next few chapters are going to be epic. Trust me on this one!

I just hope Sunset's "karma" is entertaining enough for this chapter. XD