Back at the RAEM, a small gathering of ponies are in the lobby debating what to do. “We need to take action now!” Borris declares, “Each attack is weakening our group more and more, it’s now or we may lose so much morale, that a mere everyday attack would be too much for us.”

“No,” Medic Fluttershy protests, “our ponies are too weak for such an immediate move.”

“We can wait for the Anti-Mork Spray,” the other Fluttershy adds, “Boris, you figure something out?”

“We’ve already completed the research stage,” Boris replies, “Development might be finished in a fortnight.”

“That’s too long,” Major Jack argues, “we should use what we have and actually use the Alicorn Amulet the next time they come around.”

“NO! That’s insane, it’ll corrupt whoever has it into a power-hungry psychopath.”

“How about we get a pony with a strong mind to wear it?” Rainbow Dash asks, “He or she might overcome it.”

“No, it feeds off of power, it’s a paradoxical situation. No pony can wear it, look at what happened to Midnight.”

“But we don’t have time,” Borris replies, “we need to take action now, no matter the costs.”

“Borris does have a point,” Rarity adds.

“Who?” Borris and Boris ask.

“Sorry, Major Borris has a point. We may not be able to last until Nightmare Night.”

“There is the possibility that in the event of whomever wearing the amulet goes crazy, we could make the pony go against the empress, taking each other down.”

“These are not weapons,” Boris argues, “these are ponies, innocent ponies that can be turned evil by these things. And I will not be responsible for making one of us into a monster.”

“We have no choice; the needs of many outweigh the needs of one.” The pegasus and the unicorn then butt heads against each other as they angrily stare at each other.

“Was the mindset we had when we found you? No, and you know that too.”

“Times are desperate now Boris. Do you want to be known as the wise-guy that lead us all to our deaths? No wait, there WILL be no history of us, because of you.”

“Well Squinty, do you want to be forever known as the guy that let one of us turn into a monster and possibly die?”

“We’d rather live with a small sacrifice than die all together.”

“And what if this sacrifice bites us back, we’d have another Midnight on our hooves, dooming us for sure.”

“Marshal, what do you think?”

“Well I,” Marshal Rarity stutters, looking back and forth at the two as she tries to think. “Is there any way we can compromise on this?”

“No!”

“A third option?”

“No!”

“Retreat?”

“Where to? Midnight has every inch of this world covered and soon the other world as well.”

“I-I-I,” tears begin to swell in her eyes, causing her eye shadow to become wet and run down her cheeks, “I DON’T KNOW! I’ve never needed to make a decision like this! Twilight, yeah, she’s good with these types of things! Where is she?”

Dear Boris,

It has been years since my last entry, mostly due to the rising ink prices these days. I have tried many gems and magical objects that could be able to hold Celestia’s magic, from gold, to topaz, to ruby, to diamond, each time failing. However, I have found an type of gemstone that will not only be able to store the magic, but also able to circulate it, possibly making an eternal magic source that doesn’t rely on biological life. I found this gem on an expedition in the jungle last summer with my brother when my family was just about to give up on me. On our journey, a pirate band of beastly unicorns took us captive as we were to use our magic to uncover traps in a hidden temple they discovered. Once we found the treasure far underground, the two of us tried to sneak some of the gems from under our hats. The pirates caught us, but before we could be brutally punished, my brother sacrificed himself by collapsing the temple above the pirates, giving me enough time to escape. After reaching Canterlot, I reported my research to Celestia and told her what happened to my brother. She and I knew how his wife, son, and other relatives would react if they heard this. So it was decided that my research is to be kept classified, and that my records would be removed from the Sparkle family. I would no longer bring dishonor and guilt to my family, but as soon as I use this new gemstone, Sparkle Blood Diamond, and complete my amulet of alicorn magic, I will set everything straight.

To my dear brother,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“So that’s what happened to Grandfather Alexander,” Twilight comments to herself as she reads in an empty bedroom. Her reading is interrupted by a small voice echoing through the halls calling her name. She exits the room and looks to see Raindrop heading towards her. “Raindrop, what are you doing here?”

“There’s a debate going on in the lobby,” the blind pony replies, “they’re having trouble deciding either to give somepony the Alicorn Amulet or try to wait it out for the Anti-Mork Spray to be made.”

“Give somepony the Alicorn Amulet? That’s crazy.”

“But we might not be strong enough to hold them off for long.”

“I see,”

“The marshal’s breaking down from this, she thinks they can use your deductive reasoning to find an answer.”

Why don’t you answer, you seem to know the answer to everything…

“What do you think we should do?” Twilight takes a moment to think of an answer ethically sound and yet would help the resistance win.

“I’d have to go with the first option. I’m pretty sure I can use the amulet, I’m pretty mentally safe and won’t be taken over by its corruption.”

“Are you sure? I heard what happened to Trixie when she tried it on.”

“Well that’s because she has a big ego and-”

“And what?!” A mare yells from inside a room.

“Oh… There’s Trixie… Let’s just say that I am more capable to hoofling the thing.”

“So you’d be willing to wear the Alicorn Amulet in order to use its power to help the RAEM.” Raindrop giddily asks,

“In a nutshell,”

“Great! I’ll tell the others,” She then runs down the hallway, bumping into a wall in her sprint. “Oops,” The young pony corrects her path and continues her run to the lobby. Twilight starts to head for the open door to the room she was in, but it closes in front of her as Trixie speaks from behind,

“When this is over, I wanna have a word with you.”

Back at the lobby, the debate still continues as more mares are taking sides with either Major Borris or Gruncle Boris. Raindrop shoves her way through the crowd to the center, following the voices of the two stallions and Marshal Rarity arguing. “Miss Rarity, Borris, Boris,”

“What?!” The three reply.

“Twilight will be willing to use the amulet, she believes she can overcome its corrupting effects for just long enough for us to win.

“NO!”

“Why?”

“Well,” Boris replies as he clears his throat to return to his kind comforting voice. “I know a lot about the Alicorn Amulet, more than anypony else. Not even I would be able to use it without going insane…” He then turns his head back at Borris and yells, “This is why that if you gave anypony the Alicorn Amulet, the pony would go crazy and destroy us all!”

“Then can’t we just hold them off, we still have the will power,”

“Get out of here Raindrop,” Borris snaps back, “this is war, do something useful and let us take care of military action.”

“But I know all the most successful battle strategies from Neighpoleon to Coltus Khan.”

“I don’t care, we can see what’s going on, we should take care of it. Go help the Fluttershies at the hospital.”

“But I,”

“NOW!” With a scowl beaming off her face, Raindrop blows a raspberry at the major and runs off. Rainbow Dash looks at Borris and tries to calm him down,

“Borris, please,” Borris then swirls around upon hearing Rainbow’s voice and gives a loud growl, slowly turning his head side to side. The mare responds by backing up in fear, causing several ponies behind to fall over each other. The crowd begins to mumble amongst themselves as Borris sees the reproductions of his reaction and takes flight over them in shame, escaping to the hallways. Dash regains herself and gives pursuit, following him all the way to his room. She slowly follows behind him into the pitch black of his room, closing the door behind her. “Borris, are you okay?” Borris doesn’t respond and instead lights a candle, illuminating the metal room and revealing several AWE posters to his guest. “Borris?”

“What do you want?”

“I’m sorry if I got on your nerves, I just thought you were being a bit too snappy at the meeting.”

“Are you implying that I have anger issues?”

“I wouldn’t say that, you just seem to be a bit tense,”

“How about you try keeping a clear head when the hope of two Equestrias are in your hooves, yet everypony you protect treats you as a crazy loon.” Borris turns to a corner and Rainbow notices that he’s rubbing his eyes against his leg brutally.

“Is there something in your eyes?”

“It’s nothing, just a bit of dust,”

“Let me see.” Rainbow walks in front of him and looks deeply into his blue eyes, noticing a lot of red by his tear glands. “You’re eyes look very irritated, have you checked them out recently?”

“It’s a long story, nothing they can do about it.” Rainbow begins connecting what she’s seen and makes a realization.

“Do you have trouble seeing?” Borris jerks his head away from hers and lies on his bare mattress in the corner of the room, not wanting to talk about it. “You don’t need to be embarrassed,”

“…”

“You are my friend after all.”

“… I do have some issues seeing in the middle. A few incidents happened when Midnight took over,”

“What kind of incidents?”

“Terrible ones, ones I prefer not to go into detail. And ever since those incidents, I’ve never been able to see straight for months. It’s like looking through two eyeglasses and trying to make one picture from it, it’s very unfocused and very annoying. I have to move my head side to side to see what’s ahead of me and occasionally, my eyes will get very irritated, causing me to not think straight.”

“I’m so sorry for you, having to deal with that on a daily basis.”

“It’s not your fault, I pretty much deserved this.” Borris then curls himself into a corner, glaring into a corner. He’s however interrupted from his moment when Rainbow lays her chin on the side of his chestplate.

“You don’t deserve this, you are a fantastic leader, and one of the coolest ponies I have ever seen.”

“You really mean it?”

“Am I your friend?” Borris gets to his hooves and turns to Rainbow and gives a wide smile. “You can smile!” The two laugh for a while before Borris suddenly groans in pain,

“Let’s head to the hospital to get these irritations.”

“Race you there!” The two scramble to the door and burst out of the room and fly down the hallway, passing by Gruncle Borris and several other ponies. Boris looks back at the two playing and speaks to himself,

“It’s good to see Borris in a good mood, maybe one day he’ll put the past in the past.”

Meanwhile at the hospital, Raindrop is sitting with Pinkie Pie watching over the resting patients.

“Why does Borris have to be so brutal all the time, I can do stuff,” Raindrop furiously barks.

“Don’t worry, he’s not always like that.” Lieutenant Pie replies, “He’s just a grumpy goat.”

“That doesn’t mean he needs to boss everypony around like he’s the marshal.”

“Nah, he’s not even close to how bossy Rarity is.”

“Excuses me?!” Marshal Rarity yells from the other side of the room.

“Oh, I was just telling Raindrop how Borris isn’t as bossy as you.”

“Well I am not bossy, just a little more than Major Borris, being leader and all.”

“Where’s my Rarity?”  The other Pinkie asks the commander.

“She’s enjoying herself in my chamber; she is our guest after all.”

“Nepotism!” A stallion replies from the other side of the wall in the hallway.

“It is not Jack! In the event that I might be gone, she’ll take command, and I want her to be as comfortable as possible.”

“Excuses, excuses,”

“Get back to work please!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go give our guest her manicure.”

“That’s right Jack, hop to it.”

“AH!”

“What?!” Suddenly, Borris and Rainbow Dash burst into the hospital, giggling and tripping each other over as they try to get up.

“I win!” Borris cheers in triumph.

“I’m pretty sure I reached the door first.” Rainbow proudly replies.

“You may have been the fastest in your town, but here, I’m the fastest, the coolest, and the best pegasus.”

“In your dreams.”

“Did Princess Luna tell you that?”

“Ha, good one,”

“I try.”

“Shhh,” Medic Fluttershy quietly yells at the two pegasi, “there are ponies needing lots of rest and quiet.”

“Sorry, my bad,”

“But I do like your positive attitude, haven’t really seen it in a while. What do you need?”

“I just need another eye checkup.”

“Irritation again?”

“Worse than last time,”

“Okay, just let me get my stuff and be back to you.”

“Okay ma’am.”

“Hey Major Borris,” Pinkie Pie hollers, “We were just talking about you before Marshal Rarity’s nepotism.”

“Yeah,” Borris looks down and sees Raindrop with her head lowered down with a look of anger on her face. “Raindrop,”

“Yeah?” She replies back in an accusative tone fighting to make itself present.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you, I’ve just been not on top of my game recently.”

“I want to forgive you, but recently things haven’t been nice for me either.”

“I know, but let’s try to patch things up, help me help you?”

“Okay, I’ll forgive you.”

Gruncle Boris then bursts into the hospital in a sweating panic and screams,

“They’re back! The Morks are here, and Midnight is with them!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go give our guest her manicure.”

“That’s right Jack, hop to it.”

“AH!”

“What?!” Suddenly, Borris and Rainbow Dash burst into the hospital, giggling and tripping each other over as they try to get up.

“I win!” Borris cheers in triumph.

“I’m pretty sure I reached the door first.” Rainbow proudly replies.

“You may have been the fastest in your town, but here, I’m the fastest, the coolest, and the best pegasus.”

“In your dreams.”

“Did Princess Luna tell you that?”

“Ha, good one,”

“I try.”

“Shhh,” Medic Fluttershy quietly yells at the two pegasi, “there are ponies needing lots of rest and quiet.”

“Sorry, my bad,”

“But I do like your positive attitude, haven’t really seen it in a while. What do you need?”

“I just need another eye checkup.”

“Irritation again?”

“Worse than last time,”

“Okay, just let me get my stuff and be back to you.”

“Okay ma’am.”

“Hey Major Borris,” Pinkie Pie hollers, “We were just talking about you before Marshal Rarity’s nepotism.”

“Yeah,” Borris looks down and sees Raindrop with her head lowered down with a look of anger on her face. “Raindrop,”

“Yeah?” She replies back in an accusative tone fighting to make itself present.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you, I’ve just been not on top of my game recently.”

“I want to forgive you, but recently things haven’t been nice for me either.”

“I know, but let’s try to patch things up, help me help you?”

“Okay, I’ll forgive you.”

Gruncle Boris then bursts into the hospital in a sweating panic and screams,

“They’re back! The Morks are here, and Midnight is with them!”