Twilight stood from her seat on the train and stretched out her back. She looked out of the window at the afternoon sun and frowned. Still another day until they were home. She figured she would be rather bored with such a long, relatively quiet ride, what with her mentor laying on the cushy bench across from her, having barely said a word the entire ride home so far. She was likely thinking of her subjects, hoping that even if only for a night, Pinkie would show an ounce of mercy.

However, the unicorn's stomach was turning inside her; she felt like she could throw up at a moment's notice. Despite last night being the first time she had dealt with Pinkie Pie face to face, the previous few days hadn't been kind to her either, physically or emotionally. Every time she blinked, she was afraid she'd be closing her eyes for the last time. When the evenings came and fatigue started to take her, she worried that she'd open her eyes to see her old friend standing in front of her, ready to finish her off. It seemed the fear had decided to creep into the waking hours as well.

As she headed to the door to her cabin, a tired voice spoke up. "Heading out for a bit?"

Twilight turned and faced the Princess. Even though she knew the millennia-old alicorn could forgo sleep as long as she wanted, the bags under her eyes could have easily told a different story. No doubt if Celestia wasn't riddled with stress too that she would look at bright and warm as the body she normally guided across the heavens.

"Yeah, I just need to move a little, stretch my legs. May head down to the dining car and get something in me. Something light. I don't know if it's hunger or nerves or maybe a bit of both. Gotta stop thinking about...well, all this."

"Easier said than done, hm?" Celestia retorted.

"No kidding. You want anything? Probably going to eat over there. Maybe if there's somepony there I can just shoot the breeze with for a little while, I can calm down some."

With a gentle smile, the Princess answered, "If you want to bring back a large cup of coffee, I won't say no!"

"Cream, sugar?"

"Two of each, please."

"Sounds good. Be back in a bit."

As Twilight stepped out and closed the door behind her, Celestia stretched her neck out, feeling a couple cracks up her spine. It'd been a while since she was conscious for so long, but she had to remain aware for her student's sake. If she failed to get rid of Pinkie, who knows how far the pink freak would go?

Various ideas ran through her mind as her eyes got heavy. Would Pinkie continue to hunt ponies down as they slept? How would she be able to control that? If something horrible happened to Twilight in spite of her efforts, would that be the end of all this? How would she handle losing Twilight?

Why was this train's bench so comfortable?

She rubbed her eyes and sighed heavily. Celestia looked at the large stack of paperwork sitting in front of her as she adjusted herself in her throne. Another day, another series of boring royal duties. She called over the quill presented to her by her brown-maned unicorn assistant, but for whatever reason, her powerful magic failed her. Odd. Perhaps she'd just been working too hard lately and couldn't focus like she normally could.

The Princess groaned loudly, annoyed that a usually simple task had suddenly gotten monumentally more difficult. She hadn't gone without the use of her magic since she was a tiny filly and goodness knows how long ago that was. The assistant magically lifted the large pile of orders, taxes and ordinances up to Celestia as she took the quill between her teeth and got to work.

One sheet after another after another after another met with the Princess' royal signature. Most of the text she didn't even bother to read. She didn't want to be there and for some reason felt that she wasn't actually supposed to be. Was this a weekend or a holiday? She couldn't remember.

She also couldn't seem to remember how long she had been sitting there signing her life away before she was near the end of the stack. It felt like a few minutes and a few hours all at once. Whatever the case was, she was finally finishing up. As she signed the last sheet, the patient assistant began to walk away with the pile of documentation and quill in tow, only to pause suddenly as she looked over the first few pages.

"Oh no no no, this will never do," the young brunette growled.

"What is it now?" Celestia snapped.

Setting the papers down, the unicorn turned around, grinning maniacally at the Princess.

"You're still alive!"

Quickly snatching the feather between her teeth, she swung her head and launched it at the shocked alicorn. In a flash, Celestia yanked to the side, the quill narrowly missing her neck and piercing through her ever-flowing mane. As her ethereal hair repaired itself, the Princess looked behind her, seeing the make-shift weapon jammed deep into the back of her throne.

"Oh come on! You weren't supposed to move! Don't you know how the game works? For as long as you've been around, I'd have thought you knew how to play it."

Realizing whose voice it was, Celestia gasped and took to the sky, angrily facing her pink attacker.

"You! How dare you come here! Leave at once!"

"No. No, I don't think I will. Even though I was so hoping for this to be over and done with right there, I suppose this gives us a unique opportunity!" Pinkie said, rubbing her chin curiously.

"What are you talking about? What opportunity?"

"Why, to talk with you."

Unconvinced, Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"I know, I know. Totally out of character for me," Pinkie joked, "but I'm completely serious."

"We have nothing to discuss! You been murdering my little ponies! And for what? Because an accident happened?" Celestia snarled.

"That's just it though. I could have easily been gone if I had just gotten what I wanted from the beginning. But then, you came into the picture and...well, let's just say that I had to redirect my frustrations for a little while."

"What you wanted?"

Sneering, Pinkie replied, "I think you know what I'm talking about."

The furious pair stared each other down, neither side about to budge. After a tense moment, the Princess spoke up. "I'll never give you Twilight."

"Oh really? Then why did I find her last time and sense her presence the time before that? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've considered it."

"We were testing something if you must know. I was more than prepared to get her away from you if necessary," Celestia fired back.

The murderous mare shrugged. "If you say so. I have to admit I'm rather disappointed in you. I'd have figured you'd want to keep your little subjects safe, and let's face it, giving her to me would be the best thing for everypony."

"What makes you think I'd ever do such a thing?"

"Because if my last real target were to join me in such a wonderful afterlife, then you'd never see me again!" Pinkie answered, smiling widely and, strangely enough, sincerely.

Celestia paused, subtly lifting a curious eyebrow as she floated high over the earth pony's head. Knowing that Pinkie Pie loved her little games when she was alive, she was reasonably suspect of the killer's intent.

"See? You're thinking about it, aren't you? Be reasonable, Princess! Nopony else would ever be hurt again and I'd go about my merry way! What's one life weighed against the rest of your precious kingdom, hm?"

Perhaps it was because she had practically raised Twilight like a daughter for so many years, teaching and guiding her. It was something she knew Pinkie couldn't understand, what with her never having any children of her own. If she did, maybe Celestia's response would have made more sense to her.

"I know how precious each and every life of my subjects is, including Twilight's and including yours. I do wish that things would have turned out different. But under no circumstances will I sacrifice Twilight to you. How would I even know you'd keep your word?"

"You don't," the pink pony giggled. "But, any chance is better than none at all, isn't it?"

"You've already given me no reason to believe you. If Twilight was all you wanted, you would have never done what you did in Appleloosa or to..." The Princess hesitated, not wanting to accidentally reveal something that could ruin their plans. Though Pinkie wasn't as wise in the ways of magic as she and Twilight were, there was no reason to give the deceased maniac a reason to suspect something.

"Or to what?" Celestia remained silent. "Ah, you probably saw it in the papers or something. What can I say? I needed something to do while I waited for you to slip up. But, if that's your final answer, then I suggest you don't blink. You don't want to miss the fun!"

"What are you talking about now?"

Without responding, Pinkie snatched up the stack of papers at her hooves and took aim. One after another, she rapidly launched the suddenly sharp sheets like razors at the high-flying alicorn. Celestia expertly juked, dodged and spun out of the way of the deadly projectiles, making carefully sure not for her wings to get clipped.

But eventually, the sheer number of blades overwhelmed her, slicing across her side, then a leg, then the side of her neck, narrowly missing her jugular. Each cut made her growl in pain as she tried valiantly to endure the unending assault. Finally, one caught her right wing just enough and she slowly began to fall, fighting against gravity and her injury.

Seeing an opportunity as the Princess descended, Pinkie dropped the sheets and launched herself into the air. However, Celestia saw it coming. Mustering what strength she could, she spun and swatted at her enemy with her good wing, sending her careening through a stained-glass window. The menace screamed as she was thrown from the room, her voice trailing off as she plummeted away.

Sighing heavily in relief, the alicorn landed softly and stretched her wing, assessing the extent of the damage. She should be fine, but it still stung nonetheless.

"Hey," a voice echoed in the long hall. Celestia gasped, quickly taking a defensive position and scanning around the room. There's no way!

...Was there?

"You blinked."

When Celestia's back was turned, Pinkie let go off the chandelier high overhead and landed squarely on the Princess' back, slamming her hard to the floor. She tried to stand but a pink hoof dragged aggressively across the wound on her neck brought her to her knees.

A pair of limbs suddenly wrapped themselves tight around the Princess' throat. Pinkie used Celestia's struggling against her and yanked her to the floor, landing her large frame onto her bad wing. She howled in agony as the sharp pain doubled. In that instant, Pinkie reached with both hooves and grabbed onto her jaw, intent on tearing her mouth and face apart.

"Come on, Princess! You always had such words of wisdom for us! Let's see if we can't get one last thing out of you!" Pinkie mocked.

Though the pink mare was an earth pony, Celestia had plenty of physical strength of her own and stood her ground in spite of the stinging, biting pain from her injuries. But the Princess was trapped. If she tried to get up or take to the air again, that little redirection of energy could leave her vulnerable, and Pinkie certainly wasn't going to tire out.

As the slumbering princess fought against her attacker, Twilight, with a steaming hot cup of joe in her magical grasp, approached the door to their cabin and slid it open. She gasped and the cup fell, shattering on the floor.

"Princess Celestia!"

The unicorn popped beside her mentor, panic setting in when she noticed the bloody slices across her body and the way she was convulsing. Twilight hadn't been shown the spell her teacher used to keep an eye on her while she slept. She knew she should have asked her, but she'd just been so preoccupied with everything that had been going on recently!

Twilight violently shoved Celestia, screaming and begging for her to awaken but to no avail. Come on, think! Spike was able to wake her the first time with some of his fire, but she didn't have anything like that around! If only she didn't drop the coffee, she could have doused her with a little!

She darted her eyes around the room, looking for something with which she may be able to jolt the Princess awake with. Ugh, nothing! Frustrated, she started hitting herself in the head, wishing for an idea to come to her. It wasn't until her hoof grazed her horn that she got a crazy idea.

Biting her lip, Twilight magically corralled her mentor's high legs together, holding them in place as tightly as she could. With the way she was twitching and shaking, a stray limb could result in a concussion or worse. She carefully dragged Celestia's flank closer to the edge of the seat, doing her best to make sure she wasn't hurting her or aggravating her injuries.

Once everything was set, Twilight planted her hooves and lunged her head forward, stabbing at Celestia's hamstring. The Princess screamed, the hard jab enough to bring the her back to the waking world.

Celestia jumped in fright as her student wrapped her forelegs around her neck, hugging her so tightly she almost had trouble taking in a breath.

"Thank goodness!" Twilight sobbed. "I-I saw you were asleep and shaking and...I-I thought you–"

A long white leg curled around the small unicorn, holding her close and smiling proudly. "It's okay, it's okay. You saved my life. Thank you, Twilight. Thank you so much."

"It was Pinkie Pie, wasn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. She tried to convince me to hoof you over, that she'd stop doing all this if I did. When I refused, she attacked me," –Celestia looked at her open wounds– "as I'm sure you can guess."

The two looked over the multiple bleeding slashes with only Twilight feeling the need to cringe. Celestia's horn lit up, her magic enveloping the cuts. Little by little, they started to seal, the healing process stinging like iodine. After a moment, the last of the cuts closed and the pain subsided.

Though she was relieved that her teacher was safe, the unicorn looked glum nonetheless. As she turned away, trying to hide her eyes, Celestia asked, "What's the matter?"

"Just starting to wonder again if I should just...y'know. I mean, she told you–"

"I have no reason to believe her after everything that's transpired. Besides, I already told you before that I'm not going to just give you to her like a sacrificial lamb. If the two of us had intended for such a thing in the first place, we would never agreed that the best course of action was to figure a way to banish her to Tartarus permanently, now would we?"

"No. No, I suppose not," Twilight replied, a touch of guilt still remaining in her voice. Her attention shifted, albeit briefly, to the pieces of porcelain on the floor and the stain beneath it. "Err, sorry about your coffee."

"That's alright," Celestia chuckled. "We can go get another. I wouldn't mind stretching my legs too." As she moved to stand up, a hind leg cramped up, making her wince.

"Oh. Sorry about that too," Twilight interjected, grinning in embarrassment. "I may have jabbed you in the back of the leg with my horn to wake you up."

The Princess shrugged. "You did what you had to. Our walk can wait a minute."

"You think maybe you can show me how to perform the spell you use on me just in case you want to take a nap? Honestly, you look, well, terrible."

"Considering we won't be back in Ponyville until later on tomorrow and it could help avoid any unfortunately incidents, of course I can." Celestia stretched her legs, flexing them several times until the soreness was gone. "There we go. Come now, let's go get that coffee. I'll show you the spell when we get back to our cabin."