The world snake let out another mountain-shaking hiss. It made the dust around their hooves rise. The titanic creature actually stretched a little higher- though in this case a little was a quarter of a mile or more. It was sweeping its enormous head around, clearly looking for whatever had disturbed its slumber, though its eyes were obviously not meant for seeking out very small objects at very great distances. “Well,” Dash said, turning to the others, her voice shaking, “now what?!”

“We gotta get outta here!” Applejack cried. “We gotta find another field- another valley- someplace else with Beneviolets and keep lookin'!”

“I found the Beneviolet! I found the one we need, the one that's the right color!” the sky-blue pegasus cried. “It's up on that thing's head!”

“Rainbow, you know it's gotta be gone by now! It probably blew away or the wind tore it apart! Think rational-like!”

“No, I swear! It's stuck in a crevice on the head! It's gotta still be there!”

“Well... I...” Applejack's heart sank. They had looked for quite some time. The Beneviolet of which Rainbow Dash spoke was the only one they had found so far that was the proper color. It was possible that it was the only one they would find in the whole of the Archback Mountains- unlikely, but possible. Even so, looking for another could take hours, perhaps even days, and they were two days away from the two-week limit. “I...”

“NO!”

Dash and Applejack turned their heads. Rarity was tossing her head and stomping her hooves. “No no no no no no NO!” She trotted proudly in front of them, the wind whipping her violet mane and tail, snowflakes landing on her brilliant silver armor. “We have come too far- we have seen and done too much- to be turned aside now!” She stared hard at them, her deep blue eyes sparkling not with charm or delight but with barely-restrained fury. “We are not going to be turned aside! Not after everything we've been through! Haven't we crossed over mountains and plains and through rivers and forests? We have! We've won the praise of the Lady of the Shimmerwood! We'll have our names etched into the Stone of Gildedale!” She fixed Applejack with a glare. “Applejack! You faced down the King of Gildedale in all his pomp, all his pride, and told him he was wrong! And you proved it!” She swiveled her gaze to Dash. “Rainbow Dash! You entered the Dreaming with the pronghorns and you mastered their lightning magic, something only one other pony has done! And you mastered yourself!” She took a deep breath. “And I! I looked into Lady Falalauria's eyes when they burned with fury and I told her to trust me! And she did!” She was panting. “We! Are! Not! GOING!” She snapped a hoof up towards the world snake. “We are going to beat that overgrown garden snake, and we are going to get the Beneviolet right now!”

“YEAH!!” Dash yelled, rearing back and thrashing her front legs, her blood pumping.

“All right, sugarcube!” Applejack stomped her hoof, her own heart pounding. “But how?”

“I have a plan!” Rarity said, posing dramatically. “Dash, you're going to use your lightning on that thing! Hit it in the eyes, in the mouth, in the ears if you can find them! Make it notice you, and make it mad!”

“All right!” Dash said. “What next?”

“When it's got you in its sights, you're going to lead it right over here!” she said, stomping her hoof on the ground. “And you, Applejack, will be waiting for it!”

“Okay!” cried Applejack. Then she blinked. “And what am I gonna do then?”

“You're going to let it hit you!”

Applejack's eye twitched. “Eh, come again?”

“You're going to let it hit you!” Rarity repeated. She flashed a smile. “But! When it hits you, you will dig your hooves into the earth and you will stand firm, just as Ashtail taught you!” Her eyes sparkled. “Didn't he say that when an earth pony digs in their hooves and stands firm, they can't be moved and they can't be hurt?”

“W-well yeah!” the orange earth pony stammered, stomping her hooves nervously. Her ears flattened against her head. “B-but that was when we were facin' komagas! This- This-”

“This is no different!” Rarity said boldly. “You must dig into your spirit, darling, and find your strength! I know it's there! And when that world snake crashes against you you will not be moved! So the only logical conclusion is that he will be moved! The sudden impact will almost certainly hurt him and daze him! He may even collapse onto the ground. Then I shall teleport up onto his head and get the Beneviolet myself!” She snorted mightily from her nostrils. “Are we all clear?”

Her two friends stared blankly at her for a moment. Then Rainbow Dash stepped forward, her scarf billowing in the breeze. “Let's do this!” she yelled, raising a front hoof. Rarity touched her own front hoof against it.

They both looked at Applejack. The orange earth pony felt compelled to be practical for just a moment- they would be killed! They might not even get the Beneviolet before being killed! She looked desperately into their eyes... and found only confidence. What had Falalauria said? Have faith. What had Niles Nigellus said? Keep calm. What had Shield Maiden said? Fear not. She could feel strength from the earth, from her friends, from her cutie mark fill her soul. She stepped forward and joined her hoof to the others. “Let's go to it!” she yelled.

Twilight Sparkle screamed in agony, the sparks from her horn making the whole library shake. Far below her bedroom, the front door opened, and Spike stepped inside.

“Remember, it's in a crevice around the left side of the central crest!” Dash said, flapping into the air.

“Right!” Rarity cried.

“Okay...” the sky-blue pegasus whirled around in the air, facing the impossibly huge serpent still twitching its head from side to side. “Here I go!” She launched herself forward, wings flapping with all her might. She realized a few seconds later that it was going to take her some time to fly all the way up to the creature's head, unless... Firefly, be with me!, she thought, and she opened her spirit, letting the Dreaming flood in. She briefly stopped flapping, letting calm and the currents of the universe pour through her body, then white energy crackled around her. She put her legs together and the lightning bolt came and she rode. Sound and wind vanished around her as she streaked up, the world snake getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It filled her whole vision, a black scaly head with scales roughly the size of an Ursa Minor each. The air trembled as the titanic head moved, twitching, turning to fill her with its sidelong vision, and she noticed its front left eye narrow at the pupil- it saw her. She gritted her teeth- I'll give you something to look at! She willed more power into the lightning bolt, blasting forward ever faster, until she was half a mile away and then the serpent blinked, its front left eye opening again, so she unclasped her legs and let the lightning bolt blast forward in a second!

The lightning struck the world snake right in its eye. It didn't exactly roar. It opened its mouth and let out a louder, lower, sharper hiss, which was still enough to make Dash's bones shake inside her muscles. She flew with all her might, snow swirling around her, curving around its head toward its now-open mouth, where that spectacularly long tongue was lolling out. It moved its head to one side, then the other, frighteningly fast, and Dash clenched her stomach muscles and pulled up, knowing that if she actually collided with the thrashing titan the impact would liquify her. She banked hard around the lower jaw, summoning a lightning bolt around her front hooves as she traveled, then she was at the front and there was the tongue so she aimed her hooves and let the lightning go.

The bolt sizzled out and hit the world snake squarely on the tip of its tongue. It threw its head back, the surge of wind that caused nearly knocking Rainbow Dash out of the air, her scarf seemingly the only thing that saved her. She could hear more of the mountains crumbling far below as more of the great black body pulled itself from the earth. She felt a sudden current of wind pull her. The creature was inhaling, and the great black portals she was dragged towards were its nostrils. She channeled the lightning through her back legs, twisted around, and bucked! Twin bolts lanced out and into each nostril, and now the titan howled, a low, awful sneering sound. It pulled back, its head growing faintly smaller in her eyes as she whirled around, and the four green eyes angled inward, toward her. The black slits in each of them narrowed. It had seen her.

“That's right!” she couldn't resist yelling. “You want me? Come GET me!” She spun around and flew and dove. Another mighty hiss, and the mountains shook. She glanced over her shoulder. The world snake's head was following her. Below her, the mountains cracked apart ever more, peaks and cliffs crumbling away like caked mud knocked off a boot. The snow filled her vision, driving her to squint her eyes. In a flash of panic, she glanced over her shoulder again, focusing with all her powers of vision. She could still see it, the flash of sharp purple high up on the blackness.

“It's coming!” Rarity said.

“Ya think?!” Applejack snapped, seeing the behemoth surging forward, right towards them. “I don't know if I can do this, Rarity!”

“You must!” the white unicorn cried. Her horn shimmered, and the dusting of snow that had fallen around Applejack was blown away, revealing a clear circle of rock. “You're the only way it will work!”

“But... I...” Applejack was gripped by fear. “I ain't no Dalepony! I only just learned about standin' firm, I don't got it in me!”

“Yes you do!” Rarity yelled. “Applejack, look at me!” The orange earth pony did so. “I've relied on your strength so much over this journey! So has Rainbow Dash! Whenever we've doubted, you've been there to boost us! Whenever we faltered, you were there to help us stand! You have more strength in your spirit than this entire mountain range! You can stand firmer than any pony that's ever lived! I have faith in you!”

The world snake loomed closer, the ground was quaking. Snow from the mountain peaks was tumbling down into the great open space. Applejack looked up at the titan, saw its colossal size, bigger than anything she could ever have imagined. “I'll do what I have to!” she said.

“You can do it!” Rarity cried, then turned and ran off, wanting to be well clear of the impact site.

Applejack swallowed hard, then looked down at her hooves. She ground them as far as she could into the rock, then focused on her heart. I need strength, she thought. Where did she get her strength? From her family and friends. She imagined Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom and Granny Smith beside her, smiling and encouraging her. She felt Rainbow Dash and Rarity and Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie and even Spike with her. She imagined Braeburn and all her cousins, aunts and uncles. They leaned against her, propping her up. She raised her head. The world snake was even closer, filling every inch of her vision. In a rainbow blur, Rainbow Dash shot past her, streaking low; she could hear her grab Rarity and lift her skyward. The world snake's body cracked apart the mountains at the entrance to the chasm. She dug deeper into the earth and deeper into her soul. Her mother and father were here now, gripping her, holding her around with their legs as they did when she was a baby. She could feel them- in that moment, it wasn't just her reaching into the earth. The Earth, the living rock beneath her, reached up into her, whispered to her without words. She could feel every earth pony from the beginning of time standing with her, all the ponies of Gildedale, Shield Maiden and Ashtail, his voice in her ear, saying to her:

Earth ponies are unbreakable.

Her face hardened. Her green eyes flickered stone-gray. Her mane and tail went rigid, stopped blowing in the wind.

The world snake was upon her. His was before her in an instant, too vast to behold, and she met him with all the strength and all the love of every pony whose hooves had ever touched the dirt of the wide world. The planet tensed its muscles with hers. She stood firm.

The world snake's broad muzzle hit her right on the nose.

It bounced.

The ground rippled like water on a lake, huge waves spreading through the solid rock, then CRACKS shot away from her in every direction, great enormous cracks that traveled across the empty space and up the mountain walls, up the peaks, cracking the mountains from their summits to their very foundations. The cracks traveled outwards, into the ranges around her, and snow-capped peaks collapsed in the distance, crumbling into chunks larger than her farm as the roots of the world broke. Yet Applejack was unscathed.

The world snake whined, a sharp, high pleading, almost like a dog, as it pulled back, its body almost wobbling, the air snapping around the massive spade-shaped head as it swayed. Applejack finally blinked, her body loosening up, shaking her head. She felt... well, she felt like she wanted to throw up, to be honest, but other than that, perfectly fine.

“She did it!” Rainbow Dash shouted, holding Rarity in her legs.

“I knew she could,” the white unicorn said smugly. “Now, Dash, put me down near the head! It's my turn to take part.”

“What about me?”

“If you can, keep hitting it with lightning! Try to pin it in place!”

“Got it!” the sky-blue pegasus said as she flew low, slowed down, came to the ground. She dropped Rarity, who hit the ground running and galloped forward, aimed straight for the unbelievably huge head.

Rarity knew this was her moment. Lightning bolts rained down from the sky, striking the earth on either side of the world snake's head. Its green eyes were unfocused, its tongue partially extended. She wove around one massive white bolt, then looked up, glancing at the world snake. Its head was still quite high up. She hoped she could teleport there. She began to think of what it would feel like, the scales hard but not craggy, covered with chunks of dirt and rock. “Dash!” she yelled up over her shoulder. “Can you get it to lower its head a little?”

“I'll try!” came the shouted response. A lightning bolt struck the titan squarely in the middle of its head, and it reflexively smashed its jaw onto the ground. The impact threw Rarity from her hooves, skidding her across the ground. She shakily got to her feet. She looked up. Even with the head on the ground, it was still nearly a mile from its jaw to the top of its head. If only she could get closer...

“Need a hoof?” Applejack called from behind her. Turning, Rarity saw the orange earth pony galloping forward, twirling her new deerish rope which she had tied into a lasso. There was a protrusion at the back corner of the world snake's jaw, and she galloped for it, spinning the lasso larger and larger.

“Is that rope going to be long enough?” Rarity asked.

“It's as long as I need it to be!” Applejack cried, and sure enough, as she spun the rope overhead it seemed to grow longer and longer and longer. Finally, they were just above the protrusion, and Applejack reared back and tossed the lasso up and up, It seemed to reach further skyward of its own accord, and then its enormous noose fell around the bony point and Applejack pulled, tightening it. Just in time, too, because the world snake's eyes suddenly came into focus, and its head started to rise off the ground. Applejack dug her hooves into the earth and stood firm! The world snake abruptly stopped rising, its head angled towards Applejack. Its body thrashed, sending ripples through the ground around them, breaking apart more of the mountains on either side of it. Rarity was knocked off her hooves again, but Applejack remained unmoved. The rope was taut. Rarity glanced at Applejack, and Applejack's green eyes motioned toward the rope. “Git up thur!” she said between clenched teeth.

Taking a deep breath, the white unicorn imagined the air swirling around her, the cold bite of snow on her coat, the sky open but not too open- and she vanished, reappearing just above the rope in the air. Falling down, she grabbed the rope with four hooves and clung tightly to it. She looked up, towards the enormous head. The eyes were narrowed in focus and rage. “For Twilight!” Rarity cried, and began to shimmy up the rope.

She moved as fast as she could, though this was hindered by her complete lack of experience shimmying up ropes. Fear and courage combine to make powerful motivators, however, so she climbed, clutching the rope tightly between her hooves, moving as fast as she could. Further and further she rose, higher and higher. The snake kept its two right eyes on her, but what could it do?

Suddenly, the green eyes blazed, flashing with evident light. A surge of green traveled down the rope. Rarity's horn shimmered, putting up a simple barrier. Fortunately, the magic was wild and uncomplicated, though incredibly strong. Still, she was able to avoid it. It kept traveling down the rope, though, until it reached Applejack, where it hit her through her teeth and into her body. The orange earth pony was standing firm quite well, so she barely felt it- but it was enough to make her twitch, and the twitch broke her stance. She was ripped out of the ground, and she had to let go of the rope hastily before her teeth were yanked out. The world snake broke free of the cage of lightning around it, sending another green pulse out, this time into the air. It rose rapidly skyward.

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash cried.

The white unicorn was now clutching the rope for dear life. She rose higher and higher, miles of empty sky separating her from the ground. Tears sprang to her eyes; she shut them tightly. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! She wasn't prepared for this! She was trembling; her fears were overwhelming. She reached into her mind, trying to summon some comfort, trying to will all of it away, wishing with all her might that this might be just a dream, that she might wake up in her beautiful bed in her beloved boutique and then go out into the warm sunlight of Ponyville, all her friends waiting for her... Twilight Sparkle was screaming now, tears running down her face. The other ponies crowded around her, while Spike hastily scribbled a note on a piece of parchment...

Her eyes opened; her cutie mark was glowing. Twilight needed her now. Her friends were more important than she was! She faced all her fear and trembling and put it forcibly out of her mind. She grit her teeth and climbed the rope once more. She wouldn't fail! Not now!

The world snake suddenly snapped its head to the left. The rope was flung upwards, Rarity with it, then headed straight for the side of the great beast's jaw. Losing her grip, Rarity was tossed into the air, sailing up and up from the sheer force of the titan's motions. She suddenly glimpsed the top of its head. She focused on the scales- they would be slick and hard, but not slippery, not wet, not at this point. Though they would be a little wet from the snow. There would be clods of dirt and clumps of grass and a few stray chunks of rock, she could feel them all beneath her hooves, and the wind would be whipping more fiercely than ever, the snow driving in a spiraling swirl around the giant head. She caught all the sensations in her mind, let them fill her imagination, then she let her magic surge.

In the blink of an eye she was standing on top of the world snake's head. She was shaking, trembling, but she was here! She quickly looked around. Rocks the size of boulders were tumbling and falling off the beast's head even now, snow drifts were piling up around depressions in the skull. She saw, far off, the crest of which Rainbow Dash had spoken, rising like a great black bastion, though it was not very tall relative to the rest of the titan. She galloped for it with all her might, the snow driving around her, her hooves almost slipping several times on the scaly skin of the titan, dodging mud and snow. She got closer and closer.

The world snake began to tilt its head back, and Rarity angled herself as best she could. A shudder went through the titan, and Rarity couldn't keep it up- she lost her balance, fell! Her hooves slid, and she tumbled downward, rolling over snow and through mud, thinking Ugh! Ugh! My beautiful coat! This lovely armor! She slid further and further, and the empty sky with the mountains far below loomed ways off, but growing ever closer. Then the crest was there- she reached out her front legs and grabbed it, catching it, breaking her slide. Panting, she focused. Twilight Sparkle! I shall not let you down! She crawled around the crest, toward the left side of the head, and looked down. There it was. It was sitting, almost eerily peaceful, in an intact clump of grass along the middle of the crest. The Beneviolet, bright purple, gleaming purple, young and fresh. Rarity almost cried. She tried to gauge how best to reach it. She would have to slide for it. Taking a deep breath, she crawled the rest of the way around the crest... and let go with her back hooves. She began to slide down the other side of the head, working hard with her magic to keep herself facing toward the front, when the beast began to dip its head, angling her the other way, slowing her down, she was so close! For a moment, the world snake's head stopped moving.

Rarity snapped to her hooves and ran for the flower, and she could feel a surge of muscle power rising up through the scaly skin. She dove! She slid! The flower was there!

She stretched her neck and extended her mouth-

The world snake tossed its head, making a sonic boom from the sheer force, launching her into the sky- but with the Beneviolet clamped firmly between her teeth.

She spun and somersaulted up, flying higher and higher and higher, miles passing away beneath her. When she was finally rightways up, she looked down, and wished she hadn't: the mountains were tiny beneath her. The air was very cold. She was having trouble drawing breath.

Focus!

She was sailing upward more slowly now.

She used her magic to open her left saddlebag, sending sweaters and sunglasses and blankets flying away into the sky. She mourned their loss but kept her eyes peeled; when the glimmer of crystal emerged, she focused all her magic upon it. The bottle was caught in her telekinesis. She levitated it down to her lower legs, and when it was there she clamped her lower hooves around it, holding it as tightly as she could.

She stopped dead in the air, hung there for a moment. The whole sky was still and quiet. She used her front hooves to pull the stopper off the top of the bottle, sending the green-and-purple dragonfire billowing out. She spat the Beneviolet downward.

The fire could have blown out. The Beneviolet could have been blown away. She could have started to fall, sending both fire and flower swirling into empty sky. The fire and the flower could have gone separate directions, missed each other. A hundred things could have gone wrong.

But they didn't. The dragonfire rose up, the Beneviolet fell down, and they met just around Rarity's heart. The flower was caught in the swirling fire and it hung there for a moment, curling and gleaming in the flames. Then fire and flower dissolved into shimmering purple ether which shot up and away from her, streaking off to the east and rapidly out of sight.

Rarity started to cry. Then she started to fall. She tumbled down, the mountains drawing closer, the wind whipping fierce around her. She almost didn't care. She had done it. They had done it. She had completed her quest, fulfilled her duty, made good her debt. She knew the Beneviolet would reach Twilight Sparkle in time- just in time, but in time. And if her life was going to end now... well, she was the Element of Generosity. Self-sacrifice didn't bother her, in the end. So she fell.

Until four hooves came up behind her and wrapped around her body. “GOTCHA!!” Rainbow Dash cried, flapping to turn the fall into a dive, a dive she slowly and gradually pulled out of.

“DASH!” Rarity screamed with joy. “I did it, Dash! I DID IT!!”

“You did?!” Dash let out a whoop. “YOU DID IT!!”

They flew low across the great rocky expanse, now ruined and broken from the impact of the world snake against Applejack. The orange earth pony came galloping to them as they slowed, Dash gently setting Rarity down. “What happened?!” she cried. “Are you all right, sugarcube? Are you-”

“WE DID IT!!” Rarity yelled, bouncing up and down. “It's done, Applejack! It's done!”

Applejack gasped. “You did it? You found the flower?”

“Found it and sent it right off! I saw Spike's fire catch it and send it away with my own eyes! It's probably with Twilight Sparkle right now!”

Applejack breathed hard. Tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes. “You... you did it, Rarity! Bless Celestia, you did it!”

“We did it!” Rarity cried, wrapping her front hooves around Applejack and beginning to sob. “We all did it! We did it together and we could never have done it alone!”

Rainbow Dash fought back tears as she hugged her friends fiercely, but a moment later decided that she could let herself cry- just this once. “I know you're right, Rarity! I... I'm sure I couldn't have done this alone! We needed each other!”

Sniffling, Applejack pried Rarity's hooves off her neck. “All right, now I reckon we'd better make tracks! That world snake's gonna be-”

BOOM!

The mountains around the arena-like clearing were shaken apart by the descent of a huge black body. Around them, the ground ripped apart, revealing more blackness, surging up and swirling around them. Looking skyward, the three ponies saw the world snake looming miles overhead, staring straight down. The coils in the stone around them rose up, circling them, tightening. The coils that had been planted atop the mountains narrowed, then shifted, coming to rest atop the coils still half-buried in earth. The world snake's head lowered as it slammed more of its body down on top of the two piled coils. The world grew dark around them as the light was blocked off, as they were trapped in a cocoon miles tall and miles broad, slowly but surely getting smaller, the gaps between it narrowing, choking off.

“He's circling us in!” Rarity screamed. “I-I don't think... I'm not sure I can teleport us out!”

As if in answer to her, the world snake's body shimmered with a green haze, and Rarity's horn pricked with the surge of ambient magic. She could feel a powerful wall of energy, impossibly strong. Another flicker, and her hooves crackled- she looked down. The earth shimmered green too!

“I can't feel the ground no more!” Applejack cried, trying desperately to grind her hooves into the dirt, to no avail. Everything was a dull and dark green, though the light barely penetrated the growing shadows.

“Dash! Fly! Save yourself!” Rarity cried.

Another slam, and Rainbow Dash looked up. The world snake had piled another level of coils up. Each time it did, the opening grew narrower. Now what little space there was would be filled entirely by its head... when it struck. Dash had been hovering, but with slow wing beats she lowered herself to the ground. “I can't make it,” she said softly. “Not now.”

A vicious hiss filled the air. With still a great deal of body to utilize, the world snake drew back its head. It reared up and up, miles into the sky, but still its snout pointed straight down. It opened its mouth, flashing its monstrous fangs. Its green eyes widened in primitive bloodlust.

Dash stepped slowly around Rarity and Applejack, filling the space between them. She spread her wings, touching one on each of her friends' backs. Wordlessly, they drew close beside her, wrapping their hooves around her. She wrapped her hooves around both of them. Applejack and Rarity wound their front hooves around each others', as well. “Listen,” Dash said, “I just want to say... I love you both.” The snake's head rose higher. Dash swallowed. “And if this is... if this is the day I go off to the Summer Lands... I don't regret it! I wouldn't have done anything different!”

Applejack leaned her head against Rainbow Dash's, the brim of her hat bending against the pegasus' forehead. “Rainbow, I wouldn't have done anythin' different either. I wouldn'ta traded this adventure for anythin'... though...” she looked up. The world snake's head rose higher still. “I am gonna miss seein' Apple Bloom... an' Big Macintosh... an' Granny Smith...”

“I suppose... I shall miss Sweetie Belle....” Rarity began, leaning her head against Dash's. “Oh, I do hope she remembers to feed Opalesence... she can be so forgetful sometimes.” She sniffed. “Still, a lady meets all things with dignity- even her end.” The snake's head drew higher.

“Shucks, Rarity,” Applejack said with a mirthless chuckle, “there ain't no one to be dignified for, now.”

“That's not true,” Rarity said softly. “There's the two of you.”

The world snake's head stopped moving back. Its long tongue lolled out, and it let out another chest-rattling hiss.

“Close your eyes,” Applejack said softly, wrapping her hooves around both her friends as best she could. “Close your eyes, y'all.” She shut her own green eyes tightly.

Rainbow Dash shut her rose-colored eyes, pulling her friends closer with her wings.

Rarity fluttered her long eyelashes one last time, then slid her deep blue eyes closed. She touched one hoof on Applejack's hoof, and one hoof on Rainbow Dash's chest. She opened one eye briefly. The great snake's head started to fall. She shut her eye again, holding her breath.

There was a soft bursting sound- a sound of surging energy, fading off into twinkling noises. They all thought it was the world snake's magical barrier giving off a discharge. Then the soft crunch of hooves on snow reached their ears. Startled, the three ponies opened their eyes.

A lavender unicorn, her eyes violet, her mane and tail midnight purple, her cutie mark a pink starburst surrounded by white stars, stood before them, smiling peacefully. Her horn, upon which there was not a speck of blackness, shimmered with great magic. “Hello, girls. How are you all doing?”

They stared in shock at her. “T-Twilight?” Applejack whispered.

The air began to shudder. Looking up over her shoulder, Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened at the approaching head of the world snake. “Whoa!” She turned back to her friends. “Hold on!” Her horn shone more brightly, white waves of power emanating from it into space. Sparkles filled the air. The magical aura enveloped Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack along with Twilight. There was a burst-

All four ponies vanished. Seconds later, the world snake's head crashed into the earth, sending shockwaves through the whole of the Archback Mountains. It hissed and snarled, thrashing in fury, smashing against stone and snow and magical barrier alike.

Author's Notes:

Twilight's a bit of a deus ex machina here, but I felt it was ultimately fitting that she save the day. Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash have all gone through so much on her behalf, it seemed the right thing that I have her return the favor and save them.