Rainbow Dash flew to the Wonderbolt Academy, eager to see if Spitfire would be willing to help her. It had been a while since dash had been to the academy, but all remained as she remembered it. She flew to Spitfire's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Spitfire called.

Rainbow Dash entered the office, and saw Spitfire sitting at her desk.

"Rainbow Dash? What a surprise. I thought you had quit on us."

"No, I'd never quit from something like this, but I do need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I am going back to the everfree to finish what started a year ago, and I'm gonna need some backup..."

"Let me guess, you want me to help you?"

"You got it."

"Well, I'm not one to turn down a challenge, so sure, I'll help you."

"You will?" Rainbow asked, getting excited.

"Yeah, just tell me when we leave and where we meet and I'll be there."

"Thanks, " Rainbow said as she turned to leave, "this means a lot to me, and I'm glad to have you aboard."

"On one condition." Spitfire said, stopping Rainbow Dash in her tracks. "As soon as this is over, you come back to the academy."

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow replied happily.

With a final salute, Rainbow Dash headed back to Ponyville to see how Night Rain had fared in getting Blade Cutter and Vinyl.

Night Rain flew to Blade Cutter's house, and found the light blue earth pony doing her usual sword exercises in her back yard.

"Blade Cutter!" Night Rain hollered, swooping down over her friend and then landing in the yard.

"Hey Night Rain, what's up?"

"Oh nothing special, just got Dash to come out of hiding."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah I got Dash to come out of her house."

"Tha- that's awesome! Where is she now?"

"Should be at the Wonderbolt Academy now, she's got a lot on her mind."

"Such as...?"

"Well for starters, she wants to go back into the forest to kill the alicorns that murdered our friends."

"She wants to WHAT???"

"Yeah..."

"Well she's not going in there alone! I'm going with her."

"That's exactly what I said to her when she first told me, and it's actually why I'm here in the first place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she knows that she won't be able to get rid of the alicorns alone, so she's gathering a group of friends to go with her."

"Well, count me in."

"Alright, now all we need is Vinyl."

"Why are we taking the DJ?"

"Trust me, we'll need her help."

"Whatever you say, Night Rain."

"Hey, don't think I don't know what I'm doing! Vinyl Scratch is one of the most awesome ponies I know, and she can handle herself pretty well in a fight."

"And how, exactly, do you know that?"

"Well one time, while me and Vinyl were leaving a party, we got jumped by this big, ugly bucker and a couple of his friends. There were four of them including him, and I managed to take out his three buddies and Vinyl somehow managed to knock him down. I still don't know how she did it, but he must've had at least two hundred pounds on us, and she still gave him the knockout."

"Remind me never to doubt who you pick for friends anymore."

The two friends arrived at Vinyl's house, and Night Rain knocked on the door. Within a minute, Octavia answered.

"Yes?" Octavia said, seeing the two mares outside her house.

"Hi Octavia, is Vinyl here?" Night Rain asked.

"One minute." Octavia left the door open as she went to retrieve Vinyl Scratch.

After a minute or two, Vinyl stuck her head out the door.

"Hey Night Rain! What's up?" She said.

"Nothing much, I just got Dash to come out of her house."

"That's great! So what can I do for you?"

"Well, you see, Rainbow wants to go back to the Everfree and kill the alicorns that murdered Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. And she wants help. We are already going." Night Rain gestured to Blade Cutter, who nodded her head. "And we need one or two more brave souls to come with us. You in?"

"That depends on when we're going, I have a few gigs that I have to get to on the weekend, but after that I should be free to go."

"Well, we'll probably be going within the next few days, it's all up to Dash. I'll let you know once I find out."

"Sounds good."

Night Rain and Vinyl knocked hooves, and Vinyl closed the door, and Night Rain and Blade Cutter went on their way.

"So," Blade began, "will we be needing anyone else?"

"I don't know, we'll have to ask Dash when she gets back." Night Rain replied. "But for now, we have everypony we need. I only hope that Spitfire was willing to help us..."

"Well, it looks like we're going to find out, look."

Night Rain followed Blade Cutter's gaze, only to see Rainbow Dash flying back to Ponyville. When Rainbow landed, Blade Cutter tackled her in the biggest bear hug ever. Rainbow was happy to see Blade Cutter also, and returned the hug.

"It's good to see you Dashie." Blade Cutter only called Rainbow by that when she knew that Dash had been through a lot.

"Good to see you too Blade." Rainbow said.

They separated, and then Night Rain joined in, making it a three-pony group hug, with Rainbow Dash at the center.

"So," Blade Cutter began as the trio finally broke the hug, "what's the plan Rainbow?"

"We leave in one week, I'm going to go tell Spitfire that tomorrow. Did Vinyl say that she'll help?" Rainbow said, turning to Night Rain.

"Yep." Night Rain said. "I'll tell her as soon as I can."

"Good, now if only we could find one other pony to come with us."

"Maybe Wither or Scrapper would be willing to help?" Blade Cutter said.

"Wither is out of town, and I don't trust Scrapper." Night Rain said.

"Nopony trusts Scrapper." Rainbow added.

"I don't know then..." Blade Cutter said, out of ideas.

"We'll figure it out tomorrow." Rainbow Dash said, tired. "It's been a long day, we should get some sleep."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow guys." Blade Cutter said as she headed for home.

"Bye." Night Rain and Rainbow Dash said together.

"Well, I might as well go, see you tomorrow Dash." Night Rain said as she prepared to leave.

"No, Night Rain, come spend the night at my house." Rainbow pleaded.

"What's wrong?"

"The same thing that happened between my first escape and killing that first alicorn. I have these terrible nightmares, and I can't sleep. I need somepony with me, to calm me down when I wake up screaming."

"Alright. Lead the way."

The two flew to Rainbow Dash's house and entered, avoiding all the broken pieces a=of furniture as they made their way to Dash's bedroom. They got comfortable, and Rainbow Dash fell asleep. Once the first nightmares started, Night Rain was right there to comfort Rainbow Dash. She whispered soothingly into Dash's ear until she fell asleep again, only to be woken again after a few hours by the nightmares. No matter what though, Night Rain was not going to let her friend suffer through this alone.