Inside the notably empty hospital, the two Fluttershies are pulling a wooly blanket over her shoulders. “Rarity?” Fluttershy softly asks, “How do you feel?”

“Like a sealed can of evil.” The sad unicorn mumbles before pulling the blanket over her head.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll ruin your mane?” the medic asks, trying to pull her friend out of her gloom.

“Why should I? I might as well appear on the outside what I am on the inside.”

“You’re beautiful on the inside as much as you are on the outside.”

“Don’t give me your sympathy, it’ll be more painful when I become the next backstabber to my friends,” Now getting impatient with her friend, Fluttershy yanks the blanket off of her friend before firmly speaking,

“Rarity, do you know what you’re even saying right now?”

“Does it matter?”

“What are you the element of? Generosity, and what do ponies who are generous do?”

“…”

“They share, and they care for those they love and barely even know. You are the embodiment of this caring, so do you think that you’ll become a traitor like that imposter you saw?”

“She wasn’t an imposter, it was me, I became that.”

“No you didn’t. Let me ask you a question, would you willingly give up your friends for Empress Midnight?”

“I could-”

“Would you right now, not what you might do, what would you do?”

“No,”

“Then why are you so scared of something that you yourself would never do?”

“I don’t know, it’s just scary to see me being seen by everypony as a traitor. I just now nervous of what they think of me now,”

“They may be a bit skeptical at first,” Medic Fluttershy replies, “but they’ll see that you won’t betray the RAEM,”

“Thank you… both, Fluttershies, thanks for restoring my confidence.”

“You’re welcome, it was your closer friend’s assertiveness that pulled you through.”

“Now can somepony get me a curling comb? I’m afraid that I did indeed mess up my mane.” The three begin to giggle before getting cut off by a raspy voice,

“Enjoy your laughter, for now…”

“Creampie? How are you?”

“Still alive, unfortunately,”

“Don’t talk like that! We’re going to fix you up and everything will be fine.”

“You betrayed us,”

“I used to think like that, but a little birdie told otherwise,”

“Good, some pony that still looks up to you, that’ll give you one thing to think about before you die. Unlike that other pony…”

“Who?”

“The one time I feel like I’m keeping the RAEM alive, and it all ends up as just a giant con.” A depressed Applejack mopes to her other inside the amulet vault. “I can just imagine what everypony‘s thinking of me as, a failure.”

“That ain’t true,” the more chipper Apple replies, “the way you stood up to Marshal Rarity like that, the confidence you had.”

“So what? It won’t matter once Midnight comes in and finishes us off anytime soon.”

“Would the true Applejack talk like that? No, she’d always find a solution and save the day.”

“Maybe in your world, but here, Applejack’s just a pawn in this losing game.”

“You’re just still a bit shaken after what has just happen, you’ll recover in time.”

“Will Rainbow Dash come back? No. Will Midnight change? No. Do we have even the slightest chance of beating Midnight with two Alicorn Amulets? No.”

“To be honest, I have no idea what you’re going through right now, but what I do know, is that you are not a quitter.”

“Just leave me be right now…”

“Other me?”

“…”

“We can do something, I just know it.”

“…”

“Well. If you’re not going to do anything, then I will.”

“…” Applejack then exits the room and heads up the stairs to the main floor, thinking of some way to stop Midnight. “Good luck…” Farther down the hallway, far away from the dark of downstairs, Applejack hears crying as she squints and moves forward, trying to see who’s crying. A small sky blue figure starts to form and grows.

“Isn’t that that blind filly?” The Earth Pony picks up speed as she and the small mare dart to the center of the corridor. The weeping intensifies as Applejack is now able to clearly make out that it is Raindrop aimlessly running. “Raindrop! What happened?!”  The No-Pony runs into Apple’s open arms and cries,

“After you and most of the ponies left, me and Twilight got into an argument. I said some things I didn’t mean to say and she said the most hurtful things I have ever heard.”

“Calm down sugar cube, I’m sure we can clear up this mess with Twi the next time we come across her,”

“I don’t want to hear her.”

“You two just got a bit tense, how bad could it have been? Surely Twilight wouldn’t be that mean to a pony the princess raised,”

“She said that no pony would care if I died and that everypony considers me a pest. Is that true? Do you see me as a pest?” Applejack begins to shush her and rock her from side to side, reducing her crying to whimpers.

“You’re not a pest, you’re a smart lil’ filly. Twilight’s just a bit jealous and hasn’t had any sleep for a while. Scary things do tend to happen when she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

“Then what can I do to make it up for her?”

“Just, keep a distance from her until we stop Midnight, then maybe a nice change of atmosphere will resolve you problem.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s not just you that goes through stuff like this, me and my lil’ sister Applebloom would always fight.”

“Then how did you two stop fighting?”

“With the help of Granny Smith and Big Mac, we kept our distances and forgave each other from any ill contempt when we were fighting and soon we became the best of sisters.”

“So you’re saying Twilight and I are like sisters,”

“I guess, you know what they say, familiarity breed contempt, but privacy breeds admiration.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that, yes, knowing each other for long enough will cause fights, but giving each other room to breathe and not feel like they’re being overshadowed can re-spark friendship.”

Meanwhile, in Captain Dash’s room, Borris and Rainbow Dash are sitting on the bed, staring blackly at the floor in silence. Borris breaks the silence by asking,

“Hey Dash,”

“Yeah?” The mare replies.

“I’ve always been a shy pony.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was never able to talk to the captain about how I really felt about her.”

“What did you feel about her?”

“I felt that whenever she was around, my gloom and tenseness would melt away. She was kind, a good role model, strong, confident, honest, fun, loyal, beautiful,”

“I can assure you that she would have loved to hear that.”

“What do you think of me?”

“You?”

“Yeah,”

“Well, let’s see, strong, brave, dependent, fun, loyal, heck, probably even more than me.”

“You know we don’t too long here before death finally catches up to us.”

“Nah, we still have a fighting chance. Right?”

“I never had the guts to say this before, but it’s now or never,” Borris raises his head and turns towards his friend who’s looking at him in the corner of her eye.

“What?

“I… like you…”

“As a best friend?”

“No… like… like-like you…”

“…”

“Rainbow Dash, I want you as my special somepony, there I said it!”

“But you know I’m not who you grew up with.”

“It doesn’t have to, you’re still Rainbow Dash, and I’m still Borris Thunder.”

“But I barely know you, I mean I knew you from flight school, but that wasn’t you. We’ve only known each other for a day.”

“It doesn’t have to matter, I know who you are.”

“But you don’t. You were a nice guy, but I’m not sure if this can work out.”

“Do you love me?”

“What?”

“Both of our worlds are turning to ruin right now, we don’t have time to stall this question. Do you love me?”

“This is all too sudden, first we were thinking of a plan of action, then on the turn of a bit, you go asking me about love.”

“Time is of the essence, do you love me?”

“…” Borris then leaps from his seat and hovers face to face with a nervous Dash, now desperately pleading,

“I’ve lost you twice already, I don’t want to lose my last chance of knowing if Rainbow Dash actually loves me after all these years!”

“Wait, are you saying that I’m just a replacement for the Rainbow Dash you lost, just for you to know if she liked you?”

“Yes! Wait, no! I didn’t mean that,”

“I knew something smelled fishy when we first met. You think that using certain moves for me to love you so you don’t have to accept the pain of losing your true friend.”

“It’s not like that!”

“You actually got me to care about you, only for me to realize that you’re just a desperate pony that can’t take acceptance.”

“I can change!”

“Forget it; if all you see me as is a tool for your own selfish desires, then we’re through!” Upon hearing Dash’s last words, Borris’ heart skips a beat as he slumps to the floor, causing a large thump to rock the bed. “Borris?” Now heartbroken, the grey stallion rises from the floor and walks towards the door. “Borris, are you okay?” Still ignoring her, the depressed pony opens the door, only to be surprised by Spike and Gruncle Boris at the foot of it.

“Boris? What are you doing here?”

“We came to check on you,” the old unicorn proclaims, “are you okay?”

“You were right. You were right all along. I did end up trying to replace the captain, and now I have no pony that’ll see me as a hero when they die.”

“Major, don’t do this to yourself,”

“But I’m right, everypony knows that I was once a Mork, have now become one of the weakest ponies on the field, and tried to bargain my way out of losing somepony that actually did care for me.”

“Wait,” Spike interrupts, “you were a Mork?”

“That’s right Tiny; I was a nasty minion of Midnight, and one of the deadliest as well.” All of a sudden, Borris begins to cringe as spikes of pain pulse through his brain, causing him to collapse to the floor and begins twitching.

“Major Borris!”

“Quickly!” Boris shouts, “We gotta take him to the hospital before his eye pains cause him to go insane!”

“Borris, are you okay?!” Rainbow yelps as she runs to the screaming pony’s side. Boris lifts his friend’s body onto to Dashes back.

“Quickly, rush him to the hospital, as fast as you can!”

“On it,” Rainbow then darts out the open door and dashes down the hallway, followed by the small dragon running behind. Boris stays behind to contemplate what he just walked into.

“Poor fella, what have you gotten yourself into…” As Gruncle Boris slowly exits the door, he is cut off by Twilight holding the family almanac over her head.

“Gruncle Boris,” she says, glaring at him intensely.

“Hey! How’d you get that book?”

“From your room, like you were hiding something from me.”

“Whatever gave you such an idea of me hiding something from you?”

“There’s a slab of paper glued to a page in the book next to me and my brother, magically glued that only you could do.”

“There was a typo.”

“Boris!”

“Yes?”

“The truth, now,”

“As I said, typo, very common in older books. Now can I have that book back?”

“Why do you need it?”

“Just wanting to secure it, speaking of which, did you also take my journal?”

“What are you hiding?”

“Twilight! Quit being immature to your Gruncle Boris and gimme that book!”

“Fine,” Twilight then tosses Boris the book, who he grabs with his mouth.

“Thank you. There’s no need for this skepticism, why would I hide anything from you? I know we’re in a most dreadful period of trust, but I promise, I would give myself up to Midnight for you to live happy and doing the right thing.”