Twilight awakes to find herself slung over somepony's back. Confused, she turns to get a glimpse of who it is, but the pony’s voice beats her to it. "Twi?" Applejack turns her head back, meeting the alicorn's gaze.

"Sweet Celestia, Applejack!" the lavender pony says in surprise, remembering Applejack's condition earlier. I must have fallen asleep, she reasons. She stumbles off her fellow element bearer's back in a rush, tumbling into the snow.

"Whoa there," the cowpony exclaims, looking down at her friend. "Better be careful. You looked a might awful when I found ya passed out earlier."

As she gets up and shakes off the snow, Twilight can hardly believe what she is hearing. "I looked awful? You had a gash in your side and- Twilight stops mid sentence as she weakly trots to AJ's other side. "Oh, AJ, you still have it! Why are you carrying me; you're the injured one!"

"Why, I reckon I couldn't have just left you there, sugarcube," she frowns at her friend, "an, well, y'know, we had to keep goin'."

Twilight stares at her for a minute. Applejack is pale and her wound is still bleeding. However, Twilight knows the earth pony was not in good condition, but she also knows that AJ came into this aware that she might lose her life for it. Twilight ponders this before releasing a burdened sigh. "You're right, but... Where are the others?"

"That's what Ah've been wonderin'," she pauses and peers at her friend through curious eyes as the two begin walking upwards again. "'An Ah've been wonderin' how exactly Ah'm alive right now. Ah figure you saved me, now, but... Ah don't know how you defeated an Ursa Major..." A sly smile worms its way into Applejack's expression. "That's somethin' ya should tell Trixie."

Twilight rolls her eyes but smiles. "Well, that isn't important now. The others went ahead, but I would have expected we would have seen them... Well, I guess I don't know how long I've been unconscious-

"Two hours or so, I'm willin' to bet," AJ interrupts.

"Yes. So, we should have seen them by now..." she trails off, once again examining her friend's condition. Well, maybe not, she thinks. “I’ll fly ahead and see if I can find them.”

Applejack looks for a moment as though she might protest, but then, probably reassessing the situation, just furrows her brow and nods in response.

“I’ll be right back,” Twilight promises. “Just stay here.” AJ nods again, so Twilight takes off. As she flies, she remembers how Rainbow had been savouring her flight earlier, how Pinkie Pie had tried to cheer everypony up. She feels her stomach drop. What if something bad happened to them? she worries inwardly. Wouldn’t they have come back to look for us?

Wait, she thinks, like Applejack said, we have to just keep going. They know that too; They aren’t going to head back, though they probably thought of it.

The princess sighs as she scans the ground for her friends, the situation feeling all too familiar. As she weaves between the clouds of darkness, she feels tears filling her eyes. Seriously, Twilight? she thinks furiously. Stop crying, focus on your job! She has to remind herself this is her duty to Equestria, and it requires all her attention. She always comes through for her country.

Lost in her thoughts, Twilight almost doesn’t hear the soft calls of her friends below. Upon recognizing their voices, she immediately changes her direction and flies downwards. Rainbow is mid air, between her and the ground, waving her hooves like a madmare. “Twilight!” she yells.

“Rainbow?” Twilight says as she nears her friend.

“Where were you guys?” the blue pegasus gestures to the little cluster of multicoloured ponies standing on the ground below them. “You got us worried!” Rainbow looks around for a minute. “Wait, where’s Applejack?”

“She’s injured,” Twilight answers quickly, knowing there is no time to waste. “The faster we can take care of Dark Heart, the more likely she’ll be alright.”

Rainbow’s eyes fall to the ground. “It’s that bad, huh?” she asks. “Well, we can wait for you guys here if you think she can make it this far, otherwise I guess we could go back and fly her here.” Although this response takes Twilight by surprise (since, usually, she would be already headed to help Applejack, despite not even knowing where she is), she knows Rainbow is very loyal to Equestria as well as her friends and wants the best for both. They both know it would be best if Applejack could go on her own, since everypony gets extremely slowed down when they’re carrying somepony else. And, if she were honest with herself, Twilight knows she wouldn’t be much help, since she’s not very strong.

“I think she can make it,” the purple pony states, though she is doubtful. “We’ll go as fast as we can.” Before Rainbow can change her mind, Twilight turns back to the direction in which she came and flies at top speed.

It isn’t long before she had reaches her orange friend, who silently sits in the snow. As Twilight lands, she notices the look of sadness in Applejack’s eyes. It quickly fades once the earth pony notices her, though.

“They aren’t too far ahead of us,” Twilight answers her friend’s unvoiced question. “You’ll be okay walking, right?”

Applejack rolls her eyes and shoots her friend a wry grin. “Seriously, Twi, since when does this pony need help with anythin’?” She gets on her hooves and the two begin speed walking.

Applejack is able to go surprisingly fast, considering her injury. Twilight just hopes she isn’t overdoing it. But she has to believe that AJ knows her limits. It is the only thing she can believe, at this point, if she wants to save Equestria.

Before long, the two are able to make out their friends in the distance. This makes AJ push herself even harder, and, soon, she is running full speed. She takes a few minutes to catch her breath upon reaching the others.

Twilight decides it was best for everypony to just get right down to business. “How close are we to Dark Heart’s cave?” she asks the others.

“We think it’s… right up ahead,” Fluttershy whispers the last part, fear in her eyes.

There is a pause as Twilight looks sadly from friend to friend. “If… this is the end, after all, I… just want to say: you guys have been great friends,” they all stare back at her. She knows she is watering a dead flower, but she just wants to say it if it really is the last time she can.

Soon, everypony joins in, though, reminding their friends how much they’ve meant to them. Even Rainbow Dash thanks her friends for everything, despite being the one who usually would complain about the sappiness of the situation.

After another moment of silence, Pinkie smiles halfheartedly at her friends, looking from pony to pony. “Well, let’s go get ‘em, team!” she says, but her voice sounds deflated, much like her mane. Still, upon her prompting, they all start to make their way through the final stretch to Dark Heart’s lair.

Suddenly, after a few minutes of walking, they hear it. Maniacal laughter dancing through the air. As they fearfully follow the sound, they see blue light pouring from a hole in the mountain’s side. Electrical pulses and clouds of dark magic emanate around the cave’s entrance. When Twilight sees this, she feels her heart slowly rise to her throat. Swallowing, she lowers herself to the snowy ground and creeps forward, her friends following suit. They stop just outside of the cave, illuminated in the artificial blue light. “I’ll go in f-first,” Twilight stutters.

Without waiting for a response, the alicorn climbs into the cave. After making her way in, she feels someone’s breath on her forehead. Fearfully, she raises her head, and finds herself looking into the red eyes of a shadow changeling. “So, you’ve arrived,” the mangled creature hisses, lifting his hole-covered hoof and flipping his torn tail. His voice is much like his mother’s, only deeper, and holding more hatred than anypony- or anything- Twilight has ever talked to, including Chrysalis. Strange blue and red vines grow out of his greasy mane and wrap around his hardly-intact leg. He’s nothing more than the bones of a pony, the thinnest creature Twilight has ever laid her eyes upon.

As she stands, looking at him in horror, her friends file in behind her. His curved horn sputters as it sparks to life, like an old machine struggling to do its job. He’s much taller than the friends were expecting, especially considering he’s still a colt. “I wish you luck in defeating me,” he continues with a simper. “Looks like you’ll need it. You’re already dumbstruck by me, aren’t you?” He towers over the ponies, tittering, his fangs shining in the pale light.

"You think you're so great, huh?" Rainbow is the first to get her wits about her. "Well, we're gonna whoop your sorry flank! You'll wished you'd never messed with Equestria! Aren't I right, guys?"

"Uhhh-huh!" Pinkie says, grinning devilishly. "You mess with the princesses, you mess with Pinkie Pie!"

Dark Heart rolls his eyes. "Oh, certainly. I've heard of your ‘magic or friendship’, you know. But, tell me, Miss Pie, do you really think my parents didn't prepare me for you?" Pinkie is silent. He snorts before sitting down and staring at them. His demeanour reminds Twilight of Discord's confidence before he was defeated. This guy, though, might actually win. Twilight shudders at the thought.

Even so, she knows they must try. She looks at her friends warily, who give her reassuring nods. Twilight closes her eyes, allowing the magic to swell inside her and pulse into her horn. She imagines beads of her magic going from her and into her friends, and she feels her horn palpitate as her magic branches off its main stream.

She opens her eyes at last, looking at the world through a thick lens of glowing white. She sees the look on Dark Heart’s face: a drop of uncertainty (although, not fear) tugs at his smirking lips. He doesn’t move, however, as the iridescent magic grows between the friends. Finally, their magic gushes out of them in a rainbow of colours, headed straight for Dark Heart. It’s all going as expected, Twilight thinks, hoping it will stay that way.

The alicorn always feels as though in a daze when she uses such powerful magic; in a way, it takes ahold of her. That’s why, when Dark Heart slowly stands and lights up his horn, she has difficulty comprehending what he is doing. She simply continues to let the magic run its course as the ghastly colt’s horn roars up a ball of electrical light. The ball swells and pulses, much like the light they had seen just outside the cave earlier. It grows and grows, seeming as though it will burst with each drop of magic.

Soon, Dark Heart’s smidgen of uncertainty has completely disappeared. Even as the friends’ magic pours on him, he keeps his footing and fights it off with his ball of magic until he has enough room for a clean shot. Twilight’s eyes widen, and she steps backward. Although the friends continue to push their magic to its limits, it’s starting to dawn on her that it won’t be enough.

The tall colt smiles eerily. “Goodbye, Elements,” he chortles, sounding as daunting as ever. Then, he rears and lands hard. The minute his peculiar hooves touch the stone ground, his magic explodes into a single ray of vibrant blue light, headed right towards the group. Twilight senses their magic falter and break. She stands helplessly, her friends behind her. Held tightly by terror, she can only watch as the ball of light charges towards them at full speed.

Oh, Princess Celestia, I’m sorry I failed you.