Just outside the old barn, Major Jack, Major Borris, and Rainbow Dash are facing into the thick of the forest as General Applejack is talking to them, “Fellow members of the RAEM, I have chosen you to join me on a rescue mission for Marshal Rarity. I have seen what you have done for us, kind, generous, honest, loyal, which is why I’m putting so much faith in you all. Does anypony feel unsuitable for this risky mission into the belly of the beast?”

“No general!” The three reply.

“Good, then let’s move ou-”

“Friendship is magic!” A distant voice echoes from the fog and deep of the wood.

“Is that?”

“It’s me, Marshal Rarity, I’m back.” The marshal walks from the crowd in front of the four fully armed in purple armour. “See, I told you those armour repaints would look cute on you all.”

“But how did you escape? We saw Midnight grab you and take off back to Canterlot!”

“She dropped me.”

“Really?”

“Must have been when I gave her an electric shock,” Borris adds, “I must’ve caused the magic connection to malfunction.”

“Oh, seems legit to me.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Marshal Rarity continues, “I’m most exhausted and have been worrying about the Alicorn Amulet ever since I fell.”

“About that, the empress has the amulet from Twilight’s world.”

“You don’t say?”

“Yes, but we might be able to keep her back if we keep the one in the RAEM safe.”

“Excellent strategy, I’ll check on our security measures currently and see if it need adjustments.”

“Okay, I’m happy to see you back.”

Yeah right… liar. “To you as well.”

Dear Boris,

It has worked! The Sparkle Blood Diamond was even more successful then I theorized. Not only did it circulate Celestia’s powerful magic for weeks on end, it also slowly amplified the magic power. However, a new problem has come around, being able to attached the charged gem onto a wearable piece of clothing and not injuring the host when using it. I have just recently tried attaching it to a small golden chestplate I made for my great nephew’s, Shining Armour’s, first birthday. Unexpectedly, the solid 24-carat gold armour disintegrated to fine sand upon merely touching it with the diamond. Shining Armour’s birthday is today, and I don’t think I’ll be able to make another gift and send it to him anomalously in time, so if you are reading this Shining, I’m sorry. Other than that, I’ll need to find a more magically durable material that is able to withstand the contact of the charged diamond.

Happy birthday Shining Armour,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“Hey Twilight!” Lieutenant Pie’s voice hollers, snapping Twilight out of her reading in the armoury.

“Which Pinkie are you?” She asks, slowly recovering from the scare she just had.

“Not yours, that’s for sure.”

“What do you want?”

“Just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Okay, shoot.” Pinkie’s voice surprisingly calms down into a more serious tone as she lets out a sigh and asks,

“What’s it like in your world?”

“I assume it’s pretty much the same as this one before this like Empress Midnight problem came around.”

“Can you describe it to me?”

“You don’t need me to tell you about it, you remember, all those good times and adventures we had,”

“…”

“You don’t remember, do you?”

“None of us here do, it’s been months since any pony’s seen what the past was like. And seeing your world in all of its beauty has sparked my curiosity of what true peace was like.”

“But didn’t you say you remember Cheese Sandwich.”

“I do, but very little really.”

“Well, where do you want me to start?”

“What were you like?”

“Before I start, I need to know this, what happened to me, just to get a preference on how to tell you about me.”

“I’m told I shouldn’t talk about you while you were around.”

“Why?”

“Borris,”

“Which one?”

“Major Borris told me that if I told you what happened to our Twilight, it would hurt you so badly, that you’d end up not being able to help us.”

“Oh did he?”

“Yeah, but I’ll tell you this, it is not at all pretty when Midnight came and you were gone. Just start from shortly before we met for the first time.”

“Well, I was once a plain old unicorn from Canterlot, I lived with my parents and was occasionally foal-sat by Princess Cadence and Gruncle Boris. With Celestia as my tutor and Spike as my assistant, I learned more and more how to master magic. I was a bookworm, and I use to think that I didn’t need friends to become the best. However, Celestia sent me to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship and there’s where I met you, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, and everypony else that eventually became my friend. We went on so many adventures together, taking on Discord, Queen Chrysalis, all the while learning an bettering ourselves as friends,”

“Incoming!” A loud yell is heard from the outside hall as the Grump Brothers, Medic Fluttershy, Spike, and Raindrop barge into the room levitating a black boiling cauldron over their heads.

“What is that?”

“This might be the Anti-Mork Spray, but we need to test it out,” Raindrop replies, Aaron adds,

“Twilight, get one of those helmets with the visor still on them and smell it.” Twilight follows his orders and levitates a black Mork helmet to her nose, quickly pushing it away upon smelling it. “And?”

“It smells awful!” the alicorn violently barks, “how could stallions like this toxic smell?”

“Similar to how we feel about this, smell the gas coming out of this.” Twilight hesitantly flies above the boiling pot and smells, immediately gravitating towards it.

“Smells like physical beauty to me!”

“Well to us, it smells like toxic fumes and a deadly mix of glue and hoof polish.” Dan levitates a small bellow pump out of the purple liquid and sprays it onto the helmet next to Twilight. “Smell the helmet again.” Twilight smells the drenched Mork helmet once again and is sub sequentially attracted to it. “Interesting, if the spray has a positive reaction with a mare, will this spray have a negative effect on stallions and maybe even Morks?”

“Only way to find out,” Spike confidently replies, “We’ll wait for the next attack and give it to them.”

“Correct little guy. I might consider replacing Daniel with you.” The six ponies burst into laughter until Dan abruptly asks,

“You’re joking right?”

“Yeah you’re right.”

“Oh, phew, for a second, I actually-”

“Raindrop would make for a better assistant.”

Deep underground, several meters below the main area of the RAEM, Marshall Rarity stands before a large vault door. She looks back seeing an empty stairway with light dancing upon the stone steps, confirming that she’s all alone. Rarity looks back forward and taps her horn against the steel door three times. A small mail shot in front of her opens as a pair of green eyes peer out and a female voice asks, “Marshal Rarity, what bring you here?”

“When was the last time you were out of this grubby chamber?”

“About a week or two,”

“How about you and everypony else in there take a break from guarding the amulet and enjoy yourselves for the rest of the night?”

“Will there be another shift to project the Anti-Alicorn Shield Boris created?”

“Nah, Midnight seems to be out for the count for the while.”

“You sure?”

“Who’s been kidnapped by her in less than an hour ago?”

“…”

“Me, I’m sure she’s gone for the night.” The vault door slowly swings open as a group of ten unicorns exit the dark room inside and they all head upstairs to the main area. The marshal slowly walks in as she adjusts her eyes to the dark and comes across a small box on a pedestal in the middle of the black void. Her horn lights up as it illuminates the golden cube and revealing several cracks and missing pieces of the stone pillar it rests on. Using her horn, she fires a thin beam of magic into the top of the box, popping the top off and revealing a Alicorn Amulet inside.

“Rarity?” A voice from behind frightens her as she yelps and leaps several hooves in the air. Upon landing, Marshal Rarity recollects herself and looks to see General Apple.

“You caught me off guard.”

“Sorry, I just came to ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Earlier today, I learned that your other you isn’t so sure she wants to be the marshal if you’re not around.”

“How’d you figure that out?”

“She seemed really pressured and didn’t know what to do when you were gone.”

“Your point?”

“The point is maybe you shouldn’t pressure her into being your runner-up and maybe give the title to somepony more qualified.”

Great, now this Applejack is trying to tell me what to do. However… “Applejack, you’re right.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you have done so much to help us and take the burden off of my back.”

“True,”

“For such a strong career, I might consider promoting you to second in command.”

“I am already…”

“Well then… First and a half in command then, yes, I might promote you to that.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Yes, even though I’m your leader, you can now execute your own plans without my knowledge.”

“You mean it!”

“Absolutely, I’m so confident with your efforts, I’ll let you take responsibility of the RAEM for the night while I get some decent shut eye. It should be easy while the empress is recovering for a day or two.”

“Thank you, you truly are my best friend I know.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, even though we have our differences and our fights, we always managed to do great things together. And this is no difference.”

“Thanks, best friend.”

“Have a good night; I’ll make sure everypony’s safe and happy.” The general turns back and heads up, leaving the marshal to look back at the Alicorn Amulet and talk silently to herself.

“What do I do? They lied to me, but they’re my friends. Do they know better, or does Midnight? If only I could talk to somepony, but I can’t. What would they even say if they knew I was considering joining the empress’ side?” Silence washes over as she stares at her reflection through the red crystal in the amulet. “Midnight’s accepting to give her enemies a chance to redeem themselves to do the right thing, the RAEM is not, I should know. I’m sorry Applejack, but I’ve chosen what I believe is right.”

Dear Boris,

Today I have nothing to report for my research right now, it’s just I’ve come across this dilemma that I need to write down. I’ve been thinking recently, and I’ve realized that all this project has done was separate me from my family and even then, it’s destroying them, either physically or emotionally. I know that if it’s successful, I could redeem myself and finally be reaccepted into the Sparkle family after all these years. But what if it never succeeds and I end up wasting both others’ and my life on something that would never bring any change to begin with. Will the amulet be able to bring my brother back from the clutches of death, or is it permanent, and no amount of magic can bring him back? I do not know, if only he was here right now to help me.

Should I continue?

Boris G. Sparkle.