Back at the hospital, Borris and several other ponies are being dumped with buckets filled with water and cold ice by the nurses, treating them of their burns. An ice cube crawls over a crossed scar between Borris’ eyes, causing him to cringe in icy pain. Fluttershy runs to him and wipes the cold water and off of it with a rag.

“Sorry sir,” She softly speaks into his ears, “My, you have a lot of scars on you.”

“What do you mean?” Borris replies, “You’ve seen these all the time,”

“Wrong Fluttershy,” Medic Fluttershy shouts from the other side of the room.

“Oh.”

“So,” Fluttershy asks, “Do you and Boris get confused when somepony is calling your name?”

“And you’re asking this because…”

“Just curious, if we’re going to stay here for a while, I might as well know a bit about you.”

“Well, ponies either refer me to Major Borris or in some cases 2R-Borris.”

“Does it offend you when they call you that latter one?”

“It was a little demeaning in flight school, but I’ve grown used to it. Allow me to refresh your memory, you and your friend haven’t seen me since recently I presume.”

“I don’t really remember you, sorry.”

“I was Rainbow Dash’s best friend in flight school till she dropped out. If I recall correctly, you were one of the shyest and slowest in the class.”

“Yeah,”

“But you did receive your calling as an animal pony; one can’t debate another’s destiny.”

“How poetic, I think I recall being your friend, weren’t you the one who caused that lightning tornado by accident?”

“Yeah,”

“Yeah, I believe I remember you properly. What happened, why didn’t you stay in Cloudsdale?”

“A long while after Rainbow Dash dropped out, I was recruited in the Abnormal Weather Equestrians.”

“Like the Wonderbolts?”

“Ha! They’re a mere circus act compared to what we do. The AWE creates, contains, and eliminates hurricanes, tornados, solar flares, typhoons, monsoons, you name the storm, we got it.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It is, the most dangerous job that anypony can put themselves in. I witnessed many deaths in my line of work those days, some even as a foal.”

“Wait, you’ve seen ponies… die?”

“Yes, it is not pretty, but somepony has to do it. The first time I’ve ever seen death in the face was barely in my year of the AWE. It was a hurricane, coming into Manehattan, it was my second major storm. And this was no ordinary hurricane, a combination of solar flares and aquatic waters, creating a deadly fire and water cyclone of spontaneous energy. I was with an older colt named Trottimus Spart along with several adults, covering the East side of the 2000 kilometer long cloud of doom. There needed to be at least 50 pegasi to contain it.” Borris stops the story and looks to see everypony, standing, sitting, laying on beds, all staring at him. Even Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Raindrop, Boris, and the others watch him from the side of the wall.

“Then what?!” Rainbow anxiously asks, “What happened to you?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, whatever happened is in the past.” Borris clears his throats and continues,

“We began to close it in, trying to condense the hurricane into the eye and cause it to collapse on itself. We accelerated rapidly, spiraling along the turning of the storm, the tailwinds grew hard and harder, some could barely keep flying. In an instant, I lost my stability and was launched deep into the death trap. Trottimus flew in to save me, despite the warnings of the others. I was hurdling, not knowing how fast or where I was going, I felt as if it was the end. As I was about to give up fighting, Trott grabbed me by the hoof and pulled me into stability and we began to escape the hurricane. We were nearly there, but-“

“BUT?!” The rest of the room hollers, with even more mares clustered inside. Borris squints and examines them all, deeply pondering what to say next.

“Maybe I shouldn’t continue, it’s been a long day and talking of my past trauma won’t do much good.”

“Keep going!”

“Gah, fine, but don’t say I warned you all.”

“Get on with it, please.” Raindrop replies, lying on top of Twilight’s saddle.

“We were nearly out of the storm, but a flaming lightning bolt struck Trottimus right in his wing plates. He shoved me with all his remaining might, launching me out of the cyclone. I turned looked back and waited for him to come out as well. To my utter shock, after hovering for nearly a minute, he never showed up. The other pegasi demanded me to finish the storm off, and I followed orders, after what seemed like hours, the hurricane dies, before even touching Manehattan. The next day, I returned to the AWE, still wondering what happened to my savior. As I arrived in the lobby, they presented me with his wing plates, but instead of its original ivory glow, they were black as night.” Borris opens his wings, revealing the wing plates layered across the rim of his wings. “It was the only thing they found of him after the storm. It was at that moment I realize, he died right before my eyes when he bucked me out, sacrificing himself to save me. After that, I was unable to work, train, eat, sleep, or even talk for days. However, after parent and fellow worker support and some therapy, I was able to continue my work as normal. I where these wing plates to this day as memory to my fallen friend and from then on, I’ve seen many pegasi, unicorns, and Earth Ponies lost to the storms. I grew stronger, braver, more resistant to trauma, and wiser with each mission and storm, making me as good of a major as today. But of course, this is just one of nine hundred and ninety nine stories that make me who I am. Just as you all each have your own hundreds of adventures.” Borris opens his eyes from his story and sees puddles of tears coming from the listeners.

“Does Midnight have 999 adventures?” Borris hesitates for a moment and kneels down to eye level with the blind pony.

“I have heard many stories about her, happy and sad, good and evil, even though she is a monster now; she was once one of us, an innocent torn by war and destruction.” Borris clears his throat, signaling everypony to return to their duties. One by one, they file out of the hospital, each cleaning up tears on their face, returning the room to what it once was before the story. All that remain standing are Twilight, Raindrop, Boris, Rainbow Dash, the two Rarities, the two Fluttershies, the two Applejacks, the two Pinkie Pies, and Borris.

“Borris,” Twilight exclaims.

“What?” Boris and Borris ask at the same time, both turning their glance to Twilight.

“Sorry, Major Borris.”

“Oh.”

“Major Borris, you said something about an object Empress Midnight wants?”

“Yes,” the pegasus replies, “She wants the Alicorn Amulet, you should know about it.”

“Correct.”

“If Midnight gets her hooves on it, her power will multiply 10-fold, dooming us for certain. We’ve hidden it extremely far underground and placed a special barrier over the chamber it lies in so no alicorns can enter. That’s the main reason why only Morks show up, slowly killing us off. Although our stance was dying, you and your friends showing up has sparked new hope.”

“How?”

“With help of another set of Elements of Harmony, we might be able to find her weakness and stop her before she’ll be able to conquer whatever she wills.”

“Including other worlds?”

“Possibly all worlds,”

“Where do we start then?”

“In MorksVille, there is a library that Midnight visits often. While our leaders keep order here and protect the RAEM, you, me, and your world friends can sneak into there and try to find a way to stop her.”

“Are you sure this plan will work?”

“It has to work, it’s our last chance to gain an upper hoof and hopefully return Equestria to its former glory.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“Nothing!” The others cheer, filing into a line, ready to begin. However, a faint cough breaks out in the hospital; they turn to see its origins, finding Creampie lying on a mattress.

“She’s coming to.” The mare groans and begins coughing some more, trying to get a grasp of life.

“Are you okay?” Borris asks, Twilight lifts a water bucket and takes it to Creampie’s mouth.

“Midnight,” the pony gasps, turning her head away from the bucket. “is too strong…”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“Morks, are going triple in size, there’s no hope…”

“There is hope, our new friends will be the key that’ll liberate us.”

“No, no hope, no, no mercy, no hope, no, rather die now then to lose my will to Midnight…” Creampie’s eyes grow heavy as her body loses tension as she slumps back into the mattress.

“Medic, maintain her vitals, make sure she doesn’t give up yet, we will surely end the empress’ rule soon enough.”

“Good luck,” Medic Fluttershy responds and the main 6, Spike, Borris, Boris, and Raindrop make their way to the stairs to the exit hatch.

Twilight stops the parade and turns to Raindrop and Spike and says, “Raindrop, Spike, this mission will be too dangerous for you two, stay here in the RAEM and I promise we’ll be back.” Twilight gives her saddle at Spike and his head nods in agreement.

“Wait,” Raindrop replies, “I can help you.”

“I like your willingness to help us out, but after seeing what we’re in for above, I don’t want you up there.”

“I have extensive knowledge of both magic and science, you could surely use our help,”

“I’ve got enough brains to know what’s going on,”

“I’ve undertaken Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, and magic avoidance lessons with the princesses,”

“I said no, I forbid you from leaving the RAEM.”

“But I-”

“You think you can do these things, but to be honest, you can’t,” Raindrop gives a small look of shock and bows her head down.

“I understand.” As the eight march up to the surface, Raindrop perks up and turns to Spike. “Spike, we’re going out.”

“But didn’t you hear Twilight?” Spike replies in concern for her and his safety, “She’s seen what we’re in for.”

“If I can take on blindness for my entire life, with my vast intellect and will power, I’m sure I can make a difference.”

“I’m not letting you out, Twilight knows what’s best for you.” Spike straps on Twilight’s saddle to his scaly back and sits at the foot of the stairs, arms crossed and eyes glaring at his new mission. Raindrop senses this and thinks of a plan to get Spike to let her through.

“Hey Spike, what do you think of you in this world?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s a terrible guy,”

“How so?”

“He’s been brainwashed and all, but inside that giant metal suit he has, there still the awesome Spike we all know and love.”

“It’s a shame that you can’t see yourself in all of this ‘awesomeness’ if we’re down here…”

“You do have a point,” Spike turns to look up the stairs, but immediately swipes his head back to look at Raindrop, “but it’s too dangerous.”

“But what if you, knowing so much about yourself and all, could match its awesomeness and you’ll become a hero in this world.”

“You really think so? Could it work?”

“How could it not work?” Spike hesitates for a minute and comes to an agreement,

“Let’s just be careful up there okay?”

“Of course, now lead the way sir.”

“Aye aye!” Spike triumphantly climbs up the stairs with his ‘assistant’ following behind. A wave of pride and success wipes across her face, for the first time in her life, Raindrop feels like she is doing something great on her own merit, taking a stand for her homeland.