Author's Notes:

Last chapter wasn't too exciting. I understand that. But now... I believe you all shall be excited for what is to come from this chapter.

Hope you all enjoy and remember. Hope your dreams... are pleasant at least.

Twilight blinked her eyes once, staring up to the moon. It had almost reached its zenith. She did not know how long she had sat there, but it certainly was a relief for the time being. Silence had shown before how much of a friend it was to her, namely when it came to studying for tests and quizzes during her time under Celestia's wing. Even when reading a book, it was nice to have some peace and quiet. However, this time around she felt it was more of a necessary benefit for her mind.

The comfort of silence soothed her. She closed her eyes and felt the tension throughout her body. Extending a hoof out, she followed Cadance’s breathing technique; all that stress slowly melted away. Still, there was some strain. Celestia’s earlier confrontation with her mental instability had done a number on her. She was tired. Everypony was tired. They had been chased from the admissions building all the way to the medical building. Now they were in the habitation building. One last building, and they would have done a huge circle.

She sighed and opened her eyes. Hearing a quiet grunt behind her, she glanced over her shoulder. Aquafrost had backed off slightly from Celestia, who was now adorned with a couple wraps covering her wounds. Twilight was one of the few ponies not injured in the group. Unfortunately, that misfortune went to three of her friends: Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. In time they would heal, but right now they were in pain, which made Twilight shiver.

With a glance to her left, she saw one side of the headset she had carried with her. Picking it up in her magenta aura, she rested it on top of her head and activated the device: nothing but static. She sighed and turned the headset off. It was a disappointing reality to Twilight that there were no other signals she could pick up. If only she could hear something else. ‘Maybe we’d figure out what Bishop is up to.’ That stallion was going to pay for bringing these monsters back to life.

They should have been left alone, but this stallion seemed hellbent on achieving something of a grander scale. She thought back to Prince Blueblood’s diary, and the word “bio-weapon” came back to mind. Turning a creature like this into a bio-weapon would have led to disasters beyond her imagination. She shook her head. ‘We’ll make sure nothing like that happens.’ It was not going to come to fruition. They were all going to make sure of that.

“Attention, everypony. Gather around, and I shall discuss with you all what the plan is.” Celestia raised her voice as she spoke. Twilight glanced around as everypony stood up. She followed suit and squeezed Rarity and Applejack, standing in between the two. “As you all know, we’re in the habitation building at the moment. After hearing about the other buildings, I’ve decided that we should head towards the research and development building.” Celestia stopped, scanning the crowd of faces before she continued. “Aquafrost.” The mare stood up when her name was called. “You said that the research and development building has weapons that Bishop Neighland has manufactured, correct?”

“Yes. That’s how Blazing Ash and I have the weapons you see here.” Aqua pointed to the spear at her right side. “There’s all sorts of weapons. Swords, spears, crossbows, you name it.”

“Good, then we can equip ourselves there. The more weapons we can acquire, the better chance we have to survive through this mess,” Celestia said.

“But what about Bishop Neighland?” Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. “What if we meet that party pooper in the building?”

“If we do find Bishop Neighland in there… I’m afraid that we’ll have no other choice but to take his life if he doesn’t surrender.” Twilight’s eyes widened at this. She glanced around and saw a couple others with the same expression. Yet there were some, like Blazing Ash, who seemed to smile at this idea. “I understand that this is not my usual means of dealing with villains, but if he is not willing to listen to reason, then he is never going to understand.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Is everypony in agreement?”

Everypony stared for a moment. Then one nodded, and then another. Twilight nodded as well. Celestia gave a faint smile. “Then let us make our way towards the next building.” She gestured for everypony to stand up and follow her, Twilight just behind Celestia as they made their way down the staircase.

“So what’s the chance of Bishop being inside that building?” Daring Do asked as she moved up beside Aquafrost.

“Well, half of the facility must be in total chaos.” Aqua began. “Medical is completely vacant of any ponies as far as we’ve seen. Same for the habitation building. The only place they could go that would be safe would be the admissions building.”

“What’s so safe about that place?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “That building is completely open. There’s one huge hole in the middle of it, and I’m pretty sure that the last time we saw it, there were hardly any hiding spots.”

Aquafrost shook her head. “There’s a few large sections that have been cut out in a half circle that faces the tunnels. They’re pretty well hidden. But I don’t know how long they could remain with these monsters--” When the group exited the stairwell, Aqua looked up to the sky, eyes wide. “Oh no.”

“What?” Crystal was the first to ask. Aqua brought a hoof to Crystal’s left cheek and turned her head in the direction she was looking. The rest did the same. Twilight first heard the cry of somepony in pain far in the distance. When she finally saw it, her eyes widened.

“Is that…”

“Yes,” Aqua answered for Trixie. “It’s coming from the admissions building.” Stars twinkled in the night sky. However, the smoke was blocking some from their sight. The top of the building still somewhat visible behind the ever-growing plume of smoke.

This foreboding sight held everypony’s attention. None dared to move their gaze lest they missed something else. “How many more ponies are dying…” Celestia murmured. Twilight was the first to break away from the hypnotic sight, turning to Celestia. “How many more must suffer at the claws of these monsters…”

Daring Do shook her head and said, “Alright, we should probably get moving. The less time we spend out here, the safer we’ll be. Who knows how many of the Xenomorphs have made it to the surface?” Although these creatures would possibly remain underground during the day, they would eventually come out of their hiding place now with the moon overhead. What they had just seen only seemed to prove that they were finally coming up from underneath their hooves.

Twilight hoped that would not happen this night. The group finally ripped their attention away from the rising column of smoke. But the distant screams continued on and on. It was hard to ignore. Twilight folded her ears back, and the noise faded. Yet, it was still there. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash silently speaking with one another.

A faint smile came across her muzzle. It raised her spirit a little to see that her friends had gotten over their scars. She too had the chance to see that she was doing more harm to herself by holding on to what she had done instead of looking for the good in the memories that she had of Shining. With a sigh, she returned her attention to the front of the group and saw Retrospect still helping a weary Celestia to walk.

Could they handle Bishop in their current state? Twilight hummed as she calculated the chances. ‘There’s a sixty percent chance that he’s even still there. Combine that with a seventy percent chance the Xenomorphs are there as well.’ Of course the odds were stacked against them. Most of the group was injured, and the only ponies who were still somewhat fit to fight were herself, Pinkie, Retrospect, Trixie, Aqua, Blazing, and Daring. Patchy was a stallion who she thought would have a harder time with this adjustment than the rest of them.

Twilight shook her head. ‘Calculations aside, I have full faith that we’ll make it through this.’ The doubt that had shaken her before had subsided. She would not let that fear take over ever again.

“Is that it?” Celestia asked, glancing over her shoulder at Blazing.

He nodded. “Yep. That’s the research and development building.” Twilight looked up, mouth slightly agape. What sat in front of her was quite massive. Maybe not tall as the admission or habitation building, but certainly much wider than the others. The thought that this was much closer to the habitation building was a bit of a relief. They slowly but surely made it to the building.

Blazing Ash was the first to open the door, quietly as he pulled his crossbow off his back. He scanned the entryway before waving everypony forward. They filed through the door, scanning the room they were in. It was a rather large building from the looks of it, stretching on for hundreds of meters. “Wow… this place is huge even on the inside.” Rainbow Dash murmured.

“That’s right.” Blazing Ash said. “It has to be since there are so many weapons here.”

“How many are we talkin’ ‘bout?” Applejack asked again.

“Like… a lot, basically.” Ash nodded, closing the door behind them quietly. When he walked past Pinkie, she shivered erratically.

Twilight noticed this and moved next to Pinkie. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“No. My Pinkie Sense keeps going off on Blazing Ash. It keeps telling me that he’ll be involved in a huge doozy, but it’s still not being clear.” Pinkie stopped shaking. She frowned, growling a little. “It’s so frustrating.”

Twilight took a moment to scan over Blazing Ash. After all the time he had spent with them, she couldn’t understand why Pinkie’s sense was telling her that he’d be part of a doozy. ‘Maybe it’s something positive? It has to be.’ Positive or not, they’d worry about in the future. The group trotted forward as slowly as they could, Blazing Ash and Aquafrost in the lead.

“We’re heading to the closest armory to our position,” Aquafrost murmured to the group behind her. “It’s filled with enough weapons to arm everypony here. But be quiet. We don’t know if any of those things are in here. Or other hostile ponies, for that matter.”

With a unified nod, they ceased any conversations previously being held. There was a faint bang of metal, the group freezing at the sound. “It’s all the way on the other side of the building,” Blazing Ash said. “We should be okay for now.” They continued walking until passing through a doorway. The room was dark due to the shortage of power. Twilight lit her horn up with her magenta aura. Celestia did the same with her horn, a light gold aura in turn coming to life.

The group passed through another door and down a corridor to their right until they came up to a half-closed door. “Give me a sec,” Blazing Ash murmured. He walked up to the door and pressed both hooves against the door. It slowly budged until he pushed them into their slots with a creak . “There. A little bit of noise, but it should scare off some other ponies at least.” Twilight had never felt comfortable with fighting other ponies. Hurting others to live, especially if they were your own kind, was a bridge that she’d hope to never cross.

The group walked into the room and were presented with a large square chamber. When Twilight and Celestia expanded their lights’ reach, the whole group marveled at the sight they beheld. Row upon row of hooks jutted out from the wall towards them. While some hooks weren’t holding anything, a few still had some variant of weapon dangling from the curved points.

“This room certainly looked as if it used to hold a plethora of weapons,” Celestia murmured. She glanced around the group and said, “Go and pick which weapon you wish to use. I understand that most of you are unfamiliar with weaponry, but I assure you that if we are to stay alive, then we need to be armed.” Her horn’s light intensified as a halberd formed from nothing. “I already have mine.”

The group spread out, Blazing Ash, Patchy, Daring Do, Crystal, and Aquafrost, along with Celestia stood in the middle, as did Retrospect. Twilight scanned the weapons that remained. While there were a few missing, it was still quite the collection. “I’ll take this.” She glanced over to Rainbow, who held a curved sword in her right hoof. Rainbow looked it over and asked, “What’s this button do?” There should have been some warning that Twilight obviously would have said, but before she could react, Rainbow pressed whatever button she was talking about. The sword lit up with an electric aura around it. “Oh yeah.” She swung it with a few test swings. “Me likey.”

“How about this?” Applejack picked up a small axe. She tilted her head and did the same as Rainbow. A black aura quickly formed around it, Applejack’s eyes going wide. “What in the hay is this…?”

“That weapon right there uses the black tourmaline stone,” Blazing pointed out. “So if you smack something with it while it's active, the gem will send a shockwave that knocks your opponent back a distance.” Applejack nodded and turned it off.

“Looky what I found.” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down as she and Rarity walked back to the group. Hanging from Pinkie’s mouth was some odd scythe and sword mix. Twilight did not know how she could explain that one. The weapon burst with a green hue. “What’s that color for?”

“That one uses the green tourmaline,” Aquafrost answered this time. “It helps propel you forward and to strike at a speed much faster than your opponent.”

“Cool. Now all I need is a cape, a battle skirt, turn this thing into some odd shooting weapon thing, and then I can be a hunter of evil monsters.” Whatever Pinkie was saying fell on ears that did not know if they were deaf or not.

“Anywho,” Rarity interjected. “I know this choice isn’t exactly great for close quarters, but... I'd say it feels more appropriate in this situation.” In her aura was raised up a curved bow. “But I couldn’t find any arrows. Which is odd because these things usually carry arrows, correct?” She slowly scanned it over and did the same as the others. A slight cracking of ice sounded as ice formed next to the bowstring. “Oh my. It makes its own arrows?”

“Yes, that there is the blue tourmaline gem. Uses both water and ice magic to make ice arrows,” Blazing Ash spoke.

“That’s quite cool,” Trixie said as she walked up to the group. In her pale magenta aura was what appeared to be a staff of some kind, metallic in appearance. Trixie, like the others, pressed a small button and the top of the staff emitted a pink aura.

“And that is the pink tourmaline,” Aquafrost said this time. “You’ll be able to throw objects around with your own magic, which is then amplified by the tourmaline’s magic, increasing your normal magic strength by a good twenty percent.” Trixie’s eyes widened at the revelation.

As Twilight saw that she was the last one left, she continued to look around. Yet nothing seemed to peak her interest. However, when she spotted a weapon at the left side of the chamber, she walked up to it. It appeared to be like any normal scythe. She lifted it up with her magic and swung it in her magic grip. ‘This feels right.’ Even though she had never wielded a weapon in her life, something still felt right about this. She pressed the button, and a black and pink aura surrounded the scythe’s blade. “Woah…”

“It looks like an experimental weapon,” Blazing Ash pointed out. “Made from the combination of pink and black tourmaline.”

She raised it up a little before she glanced back at its hook. There sat a harness for her to put it away in, which she promptly lifted the harness onto her back, minding her wings all the while. Carefully, she put the scythe into its odd sheath but it sat well, not creating any discomfort whatsoever. “Alright, I think I’m ready to go.” Yet as she turned away, a small round object on the wall caught her eye. Glancing back she noticed it again and took a step forward. ‘A button?’

Curiosity took over. She pressed it and saw a door hastily open up. She stood rigid for a moment. “Twilight, what are you doing?” Celestia asked.

“Oh umm…” Twilight glanced back to the group that stood together in the middle of the chamber. “Just checking out whatever this room leads to.”

“Wait. Maybe you shoul--” Blazing Ash’s words fell on deaf ears as Twilight entered this new secret room. The light from her horn filled the dark room. It was like the room was being blessed with light, as if this was the first time that any luminescence had touched these walls. While the room still appeared to be very new, she couldn’t help but notice that it appeared different from the walls of the chamber her friends were in.

When she turned her gaze to the center of the room, her eyes widened. “W-what?” A vivid image came back to her: Makoy first as he held up a weapon, pointing it at her, Cadance, Nyx, and Spike. “How did they… rebuild it? Or were there more of them in the crashed human ship?”

There that weapon sat, pointed at her as if it was going to be fired off any second. She walked towards it and saw a satchel to its right, inside of which were three rectangular objects that Makoy had called “magazines”, all with a glowing number indicating that there were ninety-nine rounds in each. Beside them were five bulbs, the same rounds that had exploded upon impact against the surface of any object it came across.

“Twilight? Is everything okay?” She heard Celestia again, her former teacher’s voice bringing her out of her daze.

“Y-yeah,” Twilight replied. Lifting the satchel filled with all the ammunition and explosive rounds it could carry, she wrapped it around her body. Then she lifted the “gun” towards her. Hearing the roar of the Queen in her thoughts, she levitated one of the magazines into the gun. With a sharp click, she pulled back the lever. Twilight lifted the sling around her neck and turned back around to the door she came through.

She breathed in and walked to the door. Stepping out into the light Celestia produced, the group’s eyes widened in surprise. “Hey, that’s the weapon we saw earlier today.” Rainbow Dash said.

“You found it in there?” Applejack’s eyes never left the weapon that could cause so much damage.

Twilight simply nodded. “I know how dangerous this weapon is… but we need it now more than ever.” A frown was present on her muzzle.

She looked up to Celestia, who gave the same gesture. “Whatever we can use, it’ll insure that we shall survive longer.” Without another word, the group silently trekked out of the door Blazing Ash had opened. Once they exited the room, Ash led them straight forward down the corridor.

“With any luck, we’ll have caught Bishop by surprise, or he’s not here. The latter’s a bit disappointing, but I guess it’s alright,” Blazing Ash said.

“Violence shouldn’t be the first path to take.” Celestia glanced down at Ash. “However, violence is necessary when you are defending yourself, and it should never be taken to a point where you have to take somepony’s life unless it is absolutely necessary.”

Blazing stared at her for a moment until he looked away. “Yeah, I guess. Still, I can’t wait to get my hooves on that pony.”

“You may not have to wait for much longer.” Everypony froze as they stopped walking, hearing Bishop’s voice echo from the darkness. Lights flickered on from their right and their left. Unicorns with different aura colors filled up the large space with their light. The guards that appeared were all wearing black, as well as hiding their eyes behind black visors. When it was bright enough, Twilight was the first to gasp at the sight in front of her: the ship that had carried the first Xenomorph to their world. A final light appeared above it behind a glass walkway. Bishop stared down at the group with no smile or frown. “Good evening, everypony. Nice to see that you are all still alive.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you!” Aquafrost yelled, pulling her spear from her sheath. “You have a lot to answer for.”

“Bishop Neighland.” Celestia spoke up. Her frown deepened as she spoke in a louder tone. “There is much I have seen today. Much that has certainly helped me make up my mind on a decision I have come to accept.” Raising her halberd, she pointed it towards the stallion. “You have two options. Come with us peacefully, and I promise that you shall not be harmed. However, you must pay for the crimes you have committed today.”

“Crimes? What have I done that has warranted such a penalty?”

“Duh!” Rainbow Dash sneered. “You brought those freaks back to life!”

“Not to mention that you put all of us in danger, especially the lives of Princess Celestia and my friend Twilight here.” Rarity glared up at the old stallion. “Threatening the lives of two princesses is enough to be charged with the highest of treason.”

“That’s not the worst of your crimes.” Celestia spoke up once more. “You have let countless ponies die this day. Possibly hundreds. That amount is hard for my soul to bear.” There was noticeable strain in her voice as she spoke. “Why a pony would sit back while ponies lose their lives is something that I cannot comprehend. It is something that brings great pain to me. Something that you will answer for.”

“And if I don’t come back with you?” Bishop simply tilted his head.

Celestia’s gaze hardened. “Then I shall have no other choice. If you will not come with us quietly, you will pay the ultimate price: your life.”

Since the first time Twilight had seen the stallion, his expression had never once shown any happiness or anger. But now there was a hint of fear in his eyes as Celestia spoke. Yet that uncertainty only seemed to last but a second. “This is unfortunate. And here I hoped that we would amend this situation peacefully.”

“Peacefully!?” Daring Do shouted. “You want to tell us that you’d like to end this peacefully? Oh yeah, I’d definitely believe yah, if you hadn’t already tried to not only have your guards throw me off a cliff, but also beat me and my deceased friend to a pulp!” Daring Do shook as she continued, “Y-you wanna know what the best part about it is? You told your guards that they could do whatever they wanted with me and Roughneck. That ‘whatever’ part, nearly had me gangraped by five other stallions!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, as did everypony else in the group. Now it made sense why Daring Do never went into detail about her venture after the embryonic Xenomorph. “And that’s not even the worst of it.” Aquafrost took her turn to speak. “You tried to kill Crystal Rune here by forcing information out of her. The worst part was that after having one of your ‘elite’ guards stab her in the side, you left her to bleed out and die! What kind of pony would allow such a thing to happen!?”

“So not only have you committed such heinous acts.” Celestia began, “but this all began before we even arrived. Have you no emotions? Remorse for your actions? Do you not care what happens to your fellow pony?”

“Emotions?” Bishop raised an eyebrow. “Emotions get in the way of the true goal in life. They hinder your success. Cause you to doubt yourself. Only logic can see you through.” He chuckled. “If you want get ahead in life, sometimes it is better to have no friends at all. Yet you all act as if friendship is the magic key that solves everything.” He shook his head. “What happened a month ago proves I’m right. You didn’t use some ‘all powerful’ and downright ludicrous ‘magic of friendship’ to defeat the Queen Xenomorph. You used raw power. You used violence--a method that you so self-righteously condemn.” He pulled out a pair of glasses and looked them over. “So how can you still say that friendship truly is a magic that solves all problems? This time around, it hasn’t done anything for you.”

“You’re wrong.” Twilight Sparkle spoke up. “Friendship is essential. It’s saved Equestria four times already. If it weren’t for friendship, then nopony would be able thrive in Equestria. Everypony would be miserable without it.”

“More baseless excuses for a failing principle.” He glanced down at Twilight, who threw him a glare. “And here I thought that the most logical princess of them all would see from my perspective. Unfortunately, Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are as blind as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.” This stallion was insane, Twilight thought, quietly growling through closed teeth.

“I would have asked if you would like to join me. That you would abandon this idea of friendship and rule Equestria together. Not as the cliched husband and wife, but as business partners who only want what is the best for Equestria.” He sighed and looked down at everypony else. “No, I think any chance for peaceful negotiations have been thrown out the window.” He nodded to five guards who raised their crossbows, the group of ponies pulling out their weapons as well.

“I hope you take a liking to that weapon.” Twilight looked down at the “gun” she had, the one that Bishop pointed out. “Thanks to your actions, it made it possible to find out that you were inside the building.” He chuckled again as Twilight’s mouth sat agape. “As for how? Well… not all of my sensors require electricity. Sometimes they need a bit of magic to get them going.” He looked at the glasses again and teleported them outside the glass walkway. “By the way, Dr. Nerve. I think you dropped these.”

The glasses spun in a rapid circle as Bishop sent it flying towards Blazing Ash. He caught them with his right hoof. He took a moment to look them over. Pinkie Pie suddenly began shaking again. “I’m feeling t-that d-d-doozy again.”

“Ash… why did he call you Dr. Nerve?” Aquafrost asked, her voice shaking slightly.

He only smiled before putting them on. “Unfortunately, I believe this is where we part ways.”

“W-what?” Aquafrost took a step back. “Y-you mean to say that you’ve been with Neighland this whole time?”

“Of course. What you’ve seen was just a ruse. Nopony else knew about this besides Bishop.” Ash chuckled, taking a couple steps backwards.

“B-buh why?” Patchy stammered, shaking a little. “You were our friend… h-how could you?”

“Please. Friendship is a flawed ideal. You all are defending a concept that is no longer benefiting anypony else.” Ash shook his head. “What will truly benefit ponykind are these Xenomorphs. They could become a defense force the likes of which nobody in this world has ever seen. That is what makes these beings so great. They can do something for us that nothing else could.”

Aquafrost teared up, looking away. “I… t-trusted you… Taciturn trusted you.” She finally met his gaze. “Sparkdust trusted you!”

“Well then… they should have not put their faith so blindly into somepony that didn’t care about them in the first place.” Ash smiled and took another step back.

“Why you treacherous--!” Daring Do yelled as she flew towards him. He disappeared in a flash of light before reappearing next to Bishop Neighland.

“Now that this is over, I bid you all farewell.” He nodded to the five guards from before, who fired off their magic and crossbow bolts. A light gold shield deflected the oncoming attack, Celestia holding the barrier as they backed away in a hurry. But as they did, Bishop and Ash walked away with the rest of the guards, leaving five others that continued their onslaught of magic and metal.

“We can’t let them get away!” Crystal yelled. “If that stallion does, it’ll be another wild goose chase like before.”

“Then we have to get past these guards first.” Celestia glanced at the five guards meters away from the shield. “I shall lower my shield and create a blinding flash to distract the guards. Retrospect, you take the one farthest to the left. Daring, second farthest to the left.” The two nodded. “Twilight, you’ll handle the farthest one to the right. I’ll take on the two in the middle.”

Twilight looked at the pony Celestia had targeted for her. She didn’t know how to approach this, but she would do what she could. Twilight hesitantly nodded. In a flash, the shield glowed brightly before exploding in a shining ball of light. She could hear the guards yelp in a surprise, crossbows dropping to the floor in front of them.

Retrospect rolled through the light first, followed by Daring, then Twilight and Celestia. Retrospect pointed his crossbow at his target and let a bolt loose. A sudden ‘thwack’ echoed around the room, the guard falling down to the ground as the bolt poked out from his helmet. As soon as the first guard hit the floor, Daring was already on top of the other, thrusting her right dagger into the pony’s chest. Twirling above him, she picked him up and tossed him onto the ground headfirst. He lay motionless as soon as his body stopped sliding across the ground.

Twilight turned towards the pony she was targeting, powering up a beam of magic. But this still didn’t feel right. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye as Celestia swept the butt end of her halberd into the first guard, cracking the visor as the guard went down. The other one seemed to have recovered and pointed a crossbow at the princess. But she dodged the first bolt, swiping her halberd upwards. The mare cried out as her hooves suddenly fell to the ground, blood spurting out of the nubs that were left. Her cries stopped when Celestia twirled her halberd and struck three more times in a blinding speed. Blood poured from the new wounds as the mare’s head tumbled off.

Frightened by this display of power, she returned her attention to her target. The pony shook his head, grunting a little before he turned his attention to her. “What are you waiting for!?” Celestia cried out.

When he reached for his weapon, Twilight closed her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. She fired the powered-up beam, and the stallion let out a quick cry, staggering as a gaping hole was left where his chest was. Immediately he fell to the floor. Twilight took a step back, staggering in her stance. ‘I…’ She closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘I-it was me or him… right?’

“Twilight?” She glanced at her left and saw Celestia walking up to her. “Don’t ever hesitate like that. You nearly let him kill you…” But her frown did not deepen, instead it softened. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t easy for you. Especially what happened with your brother.” Twilight looked down at the ground at the mentioning of Shining Armor, but felt Celestia’s wingtip lift her chin up. “It truly hurts, I know it does. But we must move on. We must take our leave now and stop Bishop before he escapes.” She looked back at the rest of the group, all stunned at the display they saw. “Let us make haste. The sooner we find Bishop, the quicker this shall all end.”

Celestia took the lead, running at a full sprint. It surprised Twilight to see her former teacher filled with so much energy. Maybe she had found the will to use what she had left to stop Bishop. Retrospect quickly followed after his princess, Daring not too far behind. Trixie and Rainbow Dash rushed past her, followed by Crystal and Aquafrost with Patchy trailing the two. But Twilight stayed behind, waiting for Applejack and Rarity.

“Don’t wait for us, darling. We’ll be fine,” Rarity assured her, the two hobbling together as fast they could.

Twilight sighed. “It’s fine. I’ll help you two.” Her aura surrounded her horn, lifting the two up in her magic. They yelped in surprise at first but calmed down when they saw Twilight’s aura around them. She quickly took off, hoping to catch up with everypony else. The chase was on. They were going to catch back up to Bishop, and then they would end this once and for all.