"Are you positive?" Rarity questioned.

"Yes!" I paced back and forth. "Oh, if I could only talk to Princess Celestia about the prophecy!"

Just then the sky darkened. I glanced up half-hoping that maybe Luna had found enough magic to somehow raise the moon.

No such luck.

The dark cloud over Canterlot was beginning to spread. Sombra must have absorbed more magic. His power was only growing.

A strong wind pushed the dark clouds further and further out; thunder rumbled and lightning raked trees in the distance. The dark magic was spreading.

I felt rage swelling up inside me and panicked. Quickly I breathed in and out and counted to ten till I could feel my heart slowing down. After what had happened before, I couldn't let dark magic control me again. But I had to find a way to use the pure alicorn magic without contaminating it. If I could keep the necklace's magic safe, I could surrender its power to the fifth princess when we found her.

If not…

I pushed the thought from my mind. "Come on, girls!"

"Where exactly are we comin'-on to?" Applejack asked skeptically.

I thought about how best to explain it. "Well…we're going to Canterlot…to the dungeon where Sombra's got Twilight locked up."

"Are. You. CRAZY?!" Pinkie demanded in my face.

Rainbow pulled the pink pony away from me. "I'm with Pinkie on this one, Tara."

"Are. You. Crazy. TOO?!" Pinkie screamed at Rainbow Dash.

Dashie backed away slowly. "I'm agreeing with you!"

"Yeah, and how many times have you done THAT?!"

"Just listen!" I pleaded. "Twilight bears the Element of Magic. You all have the other five Elements. I've heard what incredible things happen when all the Elements are used together. Maybe if the six are united again, the seventh—and the alicorn who wields it—will be revealed."

"Yes, or we could all end up in dungeons like poor Twilight!" Rarity snapped.

"This could be our chance to save her!"

Applejack motioned to me with her hoof and I stepped aside with her. The orange Earth pony glanced around to be sure no one was eavesdropping. "Listen here, T'ara," she sighed, "I wanna save Twilight and the other princesses as much as you do. But goin' back to Canterlot seems…dangerous."

I sighed. "Applejack, I didn't want to say anything, but I guess I should to tell you how important this really is. I heard Sombra's plans for Twilight. He's already tortured her, and he wants to…rape her."

Applejack seemed genuinely confused. "I don't know what the hay that word means, but it sure don't sound good. What do you mean exactly?"

I blushed. Maybe only certain ponies knew the word. How could I explain tastefully?

"It's the worst form of torture a mare can ever experience," I finally decided to say. "But at least we know that whatever happens, Twilight will live. She's an alicorn now, and alicorns live forever."

Applejack sighed. "Not exactly. Alicorns don't die of natural causes like gettin' sick n' all. But physical wounds can kill an alicorn just like anypony else."

Uh-oh.

"You've got to help me convince the others!" I begged her. "You're the Element of Honesty. They'll listen to you!"

"Just give me a minute with them alone."

I don't know what she said, but I do know that within five minutes we were headed for Canterlot. The Pegasus ponies and I each carried one of the others, who couldn't fly. (I was still in my anthro form, so I still had wings, along with pony ears and ponytail.) Dash took Rarity and Fluttershy took Applejack. That left me carrying Pinkie Pie.

I will never do that again.

"So Tara, what should I call it? Chimicherry or cherrychanga? Chimicherry or cherrychanga? Oh! Or I could add kumquats to it! And pickles! Pickle barrel kumquat! Pickle barrel kumquat!"

"Somepony wanna give me a hoof over here?" I groaned when Pinkie finally stopped to take a breath.

All I heard in reply were giggles.

We couldn't have flown longer than a couple of minutes, but it felt like hours with me carrying a broken record machine named Pinkie Pie. But soon enough I felt justified in wrapping a hand around Pinkie's muzzle.

We were approaching Canterlot.