Twilight and Fluttershy let out eeks as they were sent flying back to the ground, swirls in their eyes. Spike was a few feet away, his eyes wide and little chunks of stone and rock embedded into the wall by him. “You could have warned me she was going to do that!” he snapped.

Twilight groaned and looked around. She had a few bruises, but was okay. She then turned to the pegasus. “Are you okay?”

Fluttershy slowly nodded and got to her hooves. She shook her head. “What... what was that? It felt so... it was so weird. So strange. It felt like a dream. A very weird, but powerful dream.”

“I think it was. At least, one of sorts.” She glanced down to her friend's element. The crack was still there. “Whatever he did to damage our elements... well, he trapped us in those dreams at the same time.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Who was that pony? She became the element...” The pegasus gently rubbed the necklace.

“I think it was your element. Kind of like how Discord's power took the form of that creature.” She pushed her hoof out and the cave wall opened. “Come on. We need to find the others and get out of here.” She then glanced to Spike. “And, errr, sorry about that. I didn't know she'd... well, explode.”

“Others? They're okay? They're here?” Fluttershy's eyes widened and a smile formed on her lips.

“No. You're the first I rescued. The others are... well... Sweetie Belle, Flowerbloom and Scootaloo.”

Fluttershy stared for a few moments before her mouth fell open. She slowly closed it, only to open it again. “What?”

“Yeah. I ummm, they're good though. I mean, they were already good. But they're definitely not under Discord's control or anything like that. And they're kind of the only help we have right now.”

The pegasus stared for a few more moments before nodding. “Well, okay then. If you're sure you can trust them, I will too.” She then trotted after the alicorn.

There was a lot of yelling coming from the town and Twilight's eyes widened. “They're in trouble!” she yelled before galloping towards it.

Fluttershy slowly followed, confusion etched on her face. The cave had been a mess, all those rocks had been covered in rotten vegetables and marks. Just what had she been missing?

Twilight galloped into the town, looking around frantically. The three mares were surrounded on all sides by... apologizing villagers. “What?”

“We're so, so, so sorry! I can't imagine what came over us.”

“I never meant to throw that tomato, I swear. It just, I don't know why I felt so angry, so mean.”

“We never treat visitors like that, we're so sorry.”

“It's, it's quite okay,” Sweetie said nervously as she looked around at the encircling ponies. “I uhhh, I can understand. Discord has a powerful influence. Uhhh, nopony expects you to have been able to fight it off. Really, it's okay.”

The apologies didn't stop, however. Twilight stepped forward, looking around. “Sweetie? Flowerbloom? Scootaloo? Is everything okay?”

The ponies turned around and then every eye seemed to level on Fluttershy. The apologetic herd erupted then. They swarmed the startled pegasus, yelling and screaming their apologies. None of them could be even made out over the din and the pegasus just stood in horror, her entire body locked up from all the attention. Twilight was brushed aside, her mouth falling open. Finally, she had enough. “HEY!” she yelled, stomping a hoof down and making the ground shake. “BACKUP! Give her some space!”

There was a momentary pause before the herd began to back up, leaving a terrified pegasus in their wake. “Good. Now, one at a time,” the alicorn said with a stomp of her hoof.

There was a small pause as the group looked around nervously, their eyes downcast. Finally, one piped up. “I'm so sorry I tossed a tomato at you!”

“I'm sorry I doodled on your mane!”

“I'm sorry I threw that mud clump at your face!”

“I'm sorry about what I did to your pet bunny!”

“I'm sorry about--”

“WHAT?!” Fluttershy yelled out, her eyes widening. “Where's Angel? What happened to him? Is he okay?” The panic flooded in her voice.

The crowd looked shocked for a moment, before there was a lot of nervous shuffling. A sense of dread flooded off the ponies. “Where's the bunny?” Twilight asked, her voice gripped with fear.

One of the ponies slowly shuffled off, before returning with a small cage. Inside was Angel. Except, it wasn't the Angel they knew and... well, tolerated. That Fluttershy loved. He was tiny, malnourished, pieces of his fur missing. One of his paws was even bleeding. Fluttershy stared for a moment before surging forward. She shoved the pony aside and tore the cage apart. Actually tore the metal away and reached for the bunny.

Angel recoiled from her touch, but she kept pushing. Her hooves grabbed him and pulled him to her chest. He fought, thrashing about and biting, but she ignored it. Gently, she held his tiny body in her legs. “It's okay. It's going to be okay. I'm here now. I'm so, so sorry,” she whispered. “I'll never let you go again, I promise. I'm so sorry.”

She gently began to hum a soft lullaby and soothingly rocked the baby bunny back and forth. He stopped gnawing on her hoof and began to relax, looking up at her. She gave a gentle smile and then slowly looked up at the villagers. Her gaze turned harsh and cold. “I can forgive whatever you did to me. But... this? I don't know if I can ever forgive this.” She then looked back down, smiling to her pet. “Now, let's get you something to eat, okay?” The bunny gave a weak squeak and she flew off.

The ponies just watched her go, before turning to Twilight. “A-Avatar,” a gray mare said as she stepped forward. “You must understand, before when you came, we weren't ourselves, we--”

“I know exactly what,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “Discord is powerful. A normal pony can't oppose him.” She smiled as her element formed on her head. “But we're not normal ponies. With my friends at my side, there is nothing we cannot do. We will get everypony back together and defeat him. Of that I give my word.”

There was a moment of silence before the ponies erupted in cheer. “We must celebrate!” the gray pony yelled. “A feast, a tremendous feast, the likes of which have never been--”

“No!” Twilight said with another shake of her head. “We're leaving as soon as we have supplies.”

“But, but you just got here,” the mare said. There was a few grumbles of agreement from behind her.

“Maybe. But the world has waited long enough.” Her hoof pointed towards the nearby ice cream mountains. “The damage he's doing is immeasurable. I have to stop it as fast as I can. That means no parties, no feasts, nothing. We're going to rescue my friends, save the world and then we can relax.”

There was another few grumbles from the crowd before the mare nodded. “Very well. Allow us to prepare what we can.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you.”

------

The five mares, baby dragon and a bunny made their way down the path from the village, the ponies watching and cheering them as they went. Fluttershy was too busy ignoring them, her focus on the poor abused bunny of hers. He at least was warming up to her and didn't try to escape when she let him go. They'd even gotten a small cart to hold everything.

Once they were out of sight of the town, Scootaloo glanced back. “So... that was awesome.”

“Huh?” Twilight asked.

“The whole pillar of light thing? Parting the clouds, everything?”

Twilight looked back to Spike, who shrugged. “All I saw was an explosion and suddenly a bunch of rocks flying at my face at fifty miles an hour.”

Sweetie giggled. “You missed it? That sucks. It was awesome. All of a sudden this great wave of light just flowed out, enveloping the villagers. They really started calming down after that.”

Twilight nodded. “I see. Maybe it was Fluttershy's element?” She glanced back to the pegasus. “I think there was this explosion of light, but I was still stuck in the other... place at the time.”

“What was it like?” Flowerbloom asked. “Ah mean, was it all... weird an' stuff?”

Fluttershy blinked and looked overhead as a couple clocks flew by. “Compared to out here? Not that weird. It just felt... well, it was like being in a dream. I feel like I've just woken up. Things didn't always make sense now that I look back at it, but at the time it seemed normal. Even things I didn't know I suddenly started to know. I... I don't know anymore.” She gently held out a carrot to Angel. The bunny quickly took it and started nibbling. “I wouldn't have come out though, if not for Twilight. I was so... scared,” she whispered.

Twilight nodded. “I don't blame you. When I first arrived, it was pretty scary. The darkness surrounded me on all sides and I didn't think I could breath. But... it felt normal, after a bit. Familiar. It didn't hurt me, but it refused to let me go. I didn't realize it was your element though. I just knew I needed your help, since it was your dream.” She gave a soft sigh. “If you hadn't come to save me, I might still be stuck there. Helpless and trying to get free.”

Fluttershy nodded. “If you hadn't come to save me, I know I would still be trapped there. Completely unaware of what was going on around me. Thank you.”

“If you had warned me there was going to be an explosion, I could have hid,” Spike muttered.

Twilight chuckled and gave a little nod. “I'm sorry.” She looked down the road. “I think we can get to Cloudsdale from here. It... won't be a short trip, though.”

Fluttershy nodded. “I... I know the way. I think. But it's, well, err...”

“What?” Twilight asked, glancing back.

“Cloudsdale can move,” Fluttershy mumbled softly.

“Well, of course it can. But it has the ground city, too. They--”

“They were probably only by that ground city because of the night and the war,” Fluttershy interrupted. “Now they could be anywhere.”

Twilight looked back towards the road. “O-oh. That's... not going to make things easy. Is it?”

The five mares let out soft, annoyed sighs. “It can never just be easy, can it?” Scootaloo asked with a grumble.

------

The days slowly melted into each other. At least, the group assumed it took days. The sun going up and down every half hour was really starting to get annoying, though the other occasional changes were mildly entertaining. Sometimes they were just weird. The time he turned the sun into a giant glowing foal's face was just creepy.

But, after time traveling across the great road, the group could now see a town off in the distance. “Okay girls, you know the drill. We've prepared for this.” She pulled out a small cloak and wrapped it around herself, hiding her wings. Spike laid down in the cart and pulled the covering over himself with a sigh. “Remember. Get in, find out where Cloudsdale is, get out. Nothing else. Simple and easy.”

“Of course,” Sweetie said with a chuckle. “I don't think we'll have many troubles this time.” She glanced back. “Hopefully.”

Twilight nodded. The town was at least in slightly better condition than the first one they'd encountered in these lands. The houses were all put together and the destroyed ones appeared to have already been torn apart, leaving nothing but dirt patches. The ponies in the streets gave them nervous skeptical looks, but didn't appear actively hostile. They did stay close to their homes though and watched for any sudden movements.

The alicorn gave a nervous smile towards the first pony that came close enough. “Err, would you be willing to answer some questions for me?”

The pony glared. “Whaddaya wanna know?”

“Where Cloudsdale is?” Twilight asked nervously, giving him a gentle smile. “We're traveling and we don't know when the last time it moved.”

The pony's eyes widened. “You want to... don't go there, trust me,” he shook his head. “The place is a mess. Horrible. Ponies go there and... well, they get tossed right out, or beaten up pretty bad. The wonderbolts are... they're... some say they've turned completely evil. That they're attacking anypony that doesn't have wings. For your own good, stay away.”

Twilight gulped and chewed on her lower lip. “I... I don't have a choice. Our friend is there, we have to rescue her.”

The pony sighed and then pointed west. “Fine. Keep following this road and head north at the fork. Keep an eye out. Last I heard it was holding up over a lake and they were using it to grow the clouds out more. If you're lucky, you might make it before they finish.”

Twilight nodded and bowed her head. “Thank you. That's all I wanted to know.” She paused and looked around. “This is going to sound strange, but the last town we were at, they were a lot more... hostile. How uhhhh, how are you all holding up in... this new world?”

The pony glared. “Go. Just go.”

“But--”

“I said go, unless you'd rather be chased out of here on the end of a blade,” he said, his eyes turning angry as he glared.

She shook her head and started trotting quickly. “No! Sorry to bother you! Have a nice day!” The others quickly followed after her.

They walked in silence until the town was finally out of view. “At least we didn't leave everypony in a panic this time,” Flowerbloom said softly.

“Why can't we just tell them who we are?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“A few reasons. We don't know how much Discord has changed them, for one,” the alicorn muttered. “Especially considering after Ponyville. If he turned those ponies into... that, there's no telling what else he's done. Another is I'm trying to keep where we're going quiet. After I got you out of the statue, there's no way I could keep it hidden. But I'd rather Trixie not have anyway to know where we've been until after we're gone. There's no telling what she could send after us.”

“That useless, arrogant wretch? Oh, I don't think you have to worry about her,” a voice as cold as ice said. Chills went down the group's back as they looked around. Stepping out from behind one of the nearby plastic trees, Nightmare Moon gave them a low smile. “I've been looking for you, Avatar.”

“M-mother!” Sweetie said, taking a step forward before stopping. She quickly took a step back. “Y-you... but Twilight fixed you. You aren't supposed to... be like this anymore.”

The former ruler grinned even wider as drops of water slowly began to flow around her head. “Oh my dear, foalish child. I am like nothing but myself. Come, join me at my side. It is time for the Avatar to perish.”

Sweetie shook her head. “Not a chance. Mother, you must fight his control! He's an evil, sick creature and needs to be stopped. Twilight is the only pony who-- eep!” She took a step back after shards of ice landed just outside her hoof.

The former ruler slowly stepped forward. “I will not take betrayal lightly, daughter. I will give you one last chance. Either come to my side, or perish like your sister.”

Sweetie glared and the ice rose into the air. “Thank you, mother. This could have been a very difficult choice, but now you've made it so simple. If we have to go through you to save the world, so be it.”

“Sweetie, she's your mother,” Twilight said softly. “You don't have to fight with--”

“Rarity fought her. So can I. Come on!” She ran forward, Scootaloo and Flowerbloom following close behind. Twilight gave a soft sigh before galloping after.

“Fluttershy, Scootaloo, take the cart and get out of here!” she called back.

Scootaloo paused in her charge. “But I can--”

“Just do it! This is a bending fight!”

The two pegasi shared looks, before slowly galloping down the road. Scootaloo gave a worried look back at the others, thoughts of all the stories she'd heard of their one time ruler flashing through her mind. Nightmare Moon merely chuckled. “What interest would I have in your little cart? Avatar, you are my prey.” Shards of ice formed around her head. “And you will fall by my hoof.