“ALRIGHT, PONIES! KEEP IT DOWN NOW!” Rainbow screamed at the frightened crowd gathered below her.

“Um…you know…if it would be quite alright…” Fluttershy added next to her.

“SERIOUSLY! ONE WRONG MOVE AND WE COULD ALL BE ANNIHILATED HERE!”

“So…um…if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother…”

“…JUST COOL YER HOOVES AND LET THE PROFESSIONALS HANDLE EVERYTHING!”

“…Not that we think any less of your abilities to…handle yourselves…”

As the pair continued in the sky, the rest of the ponies distributed blankets and supplies from the back of a truck the humans had provided. “Don’t push now,” Rarity said to the line gathering at their hooves.

“There’s plenty ‘nough t’go around.” Applejack added, handing a blanket and a bottle of water to the nearest filly.

“ ‘Scuse me, Miss Applejack?” The filly asked, handing his bottle to the nearest pony.

“Yes, young man?” She replied.

“What are these creatures? Do you know what’s going on, and why they’re fighting?”

“Uh…” she stalled, trying to think of the best way to condense the chaos of the past day into a few sentences. Unfortunately, Pinkie beat her to the punch.

“They’refromawholeotherworldwherehumansinsteadofponieswoundupbecomingtopdogandnowthey’reinvolvedwithawarfromanotherworldwhich…”

“Breathe, Pinkie.”

The Element of Laughter gasped twice before continuing: “callsitselfTheRidchirwhichisafunnycoincidencewhenyouthinkaboutitsincethat’sjustananagramfor…”

“Alraght now, settle on down,” AJ sighed, rolling her eyes before turning to the inside of the truck. “Hey, Twilight! What’s keepin’ those blankets!?”

“Hmm? Oh!” The little violet unicorn perched atop a pile of sacks filled with hayseed quickly grabbed a stack of blankets and levitated them to the rear of the truck. “Here you go, sorry about that.”

AJ offered a sheepish smile to the filly before tossing a blanket over his head and galloping to Twilight’s side. “Twi, what’s up with ya? You’ve been lost in the clouds ever since we climbed outta that fancy-pants cart the humans got!”

“Oh, it’s nothing AJ,” Twilight said, grabbing another wad of blankets. “There’s just been so much to absorb today! Alternate dimensions, bipedal and sentient beings, wars across worlds, and the technology the humans have developed…” She shook her head. “It’s all too much! The things we’ve learned about in the past hour alone could keep Equestria’s top scientists occupied for decades!”

“Twi, Ah know this is all very interestin’, but we got a lotta ponies out there dependin’ on us to stay calm and get through this in one piece.”

“I know, I know…” she said, heading deeper into the truck with a worried look still etched onto her face.

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No,” Twilight sighed eventually. “It’s the name of this town; I know I’ve heard it somewhere.”

“Actually, y’know what? I think Ah’ve…” Applejack figured it out in a second. She would never know why. Maybe it was the fact that she was a more grounded pony: a pony with a mind more based in reality than Twilight’s, and less cluttered with the thousands of different postulations and theories that ran through her unicorn friend’s head every day. Or maybe it was just pure, dumb luck. Either way, she had it, and the moment she did she realized how absolutely devastating it would be to her friend. The Element of Honesty’s lips locked up in fear, trying to conceal the truth hidden behind them.

Twilight recognized the look on her friend’s face immediately. “Applejack? Are you hiding something?”

“N-no! A’course not Twi! Wh-what could Ah possibly be hidin’? Ah mean…”

“Applejaaack, what is it?” Twilight asked sternly.

“N-nuh-nothin’! Ah-Ah…” sweat dribbled down the earth pony’s face as her friend stared right into her eye.

“Applejaaack…”

AJ sealed her lips shut, trying to look everywhere but into Twilight’s eyes.

“Does it have something to do with this village?”

AJ couldn’t help but nod. As the Element of Honesty, she really didn’t have a choice.

“Does it have something to do with why its name sounds so familiar?”

AJ nodded again. Twilight maintained her stare. It kept up like that for almost five minutes as the earth pony’s defenses slowly wore down. Finally, she gave in. “Alraght Twi,” she sighed. “Ah’ll tell ya, but you gotta promise me you’ll keep calm an’ not lose it when Ah do.”

“What? Applejack, why would I…”

“Just promise, okay?” The earth pony looked at her friend with as much desperation and as much seriousness as she could muster.

“Oh, alright,” Twilight said eventually.

“Okay, now Twi,” AJ rested a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Ah’m sorry Ah gotta be the one t’say it, but…remember after the weddin’? With Cadence an’ yer brother?”

“How could I forget!” Twilight exclaimed. “We had to fight off the entire Changeling…”

“No Twi, Ah said AFTER the weddin’. What Cadence and Shinin’ said they were gonna do?”

“Of course I remember,” she replied pridefully. “They said they were going to Coltton to…”

The unicorn trailed off, her eyes widening in horror.

“Now, Twi, we still need yer help around here, and you promised you’d…”

The purple unicorn was having none of it, darting around the back of the truck wildly, as if she was going to find Shining Armor and Cadence underneath a sack of hayseed. “Ohno…ohno…ohno…”
She whimpered, tears welling in her eyes.

“Now, Twi…ya-y’all promised…”

“I-I-I…” she clenched her hooves over her face, hyperventilating as the tears came pouring out, spilling down her face and trickling onto the wooden paneling below. AJ held her, trying her best to calm her as Twilight’s head bucked back and she screamed: “SHINIIIIIIIIIIINNNGG!”

Shining Armor paused in his step. “Hmm? Twilight?” He asked, looking around the stairwell. He could have sworn he’d just heard his little sister’s voice calling to him, from somewhere far off. Of course, that was impossible, right? It was probably just wishful thinking on his part, hoping that his sister could be at his side, supporting her big brother in what had to be his darkest hour. But then again, that was pretty selfish of him. No, it was better that Twilight was safe, miles away from all this.

With a heavy heart, he brushed his memories aside and continued on; heading towards the door that opened to the rooftop terrace. “Goodbye, Twily,” he mumbled sadly, choking back a lump in his throat.

“Twilight!” Applejack screamed as her friend rocketed out of the truck, darting through the crowd wildly. “Consarn it, girl! Y-ya said…”

“Has anypony seen my brother!?” The little purple unicorn gasped, ignoring Applejack. When she was met with blank stares, she started rocketing through the crowd, darting in front of random ponies and asking them about a “big white unicorn with a blue mane who probably came with a pink-colored princess.”

“Y-you mean Shining Armor, right?” A young mare asked.

Twilight leapt in front of the mare, landing right in her face. “You’ve seen my brother!?”

“Um…yes,” the mare replied, blushing. “He and I were next to each other when those…things first started rounding ponies up. He-he was very brave. You’re saying he’s married?”

Twilight instantly cooled and lowered a steely gaze on the mare. “Yes. I’ll have you know that he is happily married to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Oh,” the mare said disappointedly. “I-I should’ve known. Someone like that deserves a…oh no, did you just say Princess Cadence?”

“Y-yes,” Twilight said, now deeply concerned. “Why? Has something happened to her?”

The mare nodded and pointed to the rooftops. Twilight wheeled around, spying on a few enemy soldiers gathered up there, which was weird, since the only thing they’d done so far was some shooting. Why were they just standing there? Come to think of it, why were the other, friendlier humans just standing in the square, keeping their distance yet remaining focused on…

The reason came to her in an instant. “Oh no. Oh nononononononononono…” she whimpered.

“Muh-Mr. Armor ran after her a while back,” the mare continued. “I thought he was just doing his duty, but I guess if it was his wife…wait, where are you going?”

Twilight was already gone, galloping towards the sandbag barricades surrounding the building.

“Hey, where’s she goin’!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, swooping after her.

“Ah dunno,” AJ replied, trotting after her friend. “Ah thought Ah’d keep my distance, but this is gettin’ weird.”

“Wait, what about the ponies?” Fluttershy asked timidly as she delivered another blanket and bottle of water.

“I think the attentions of our friend deserve a bit more of our focus, don’t you?” Rarity replied, grabbing her and taking off after Twilight. “Besides, we’ve done the best we can by now.”

“I-I suppose that’s true,” Fluttershy sighed, gazing back at the crowd in concern as she was dragged away.

“Aww, but I didn’t even get to do my special Pinkie dance!” Pinkie Pie sighed, appearing next to Applejack.

“Tch,” the orange earth pony snickered. “Based on what happened back in Appleloosa, that’s probly a good thing.”