The dark night sky above glistens with the stars as a lone wooden platform drifts across the midnight ocean. Gentle waves lightly brush against the rigged rim of the raft as it floats along, creating a hypnotical ambience in the otherwise deathly silence. On the damp raft, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Applebloom, and Scootaloo are all huddled together in the center, keeping each other warm as they sleep in the dark of the new moon on their eyelids and the strokes of the breeze on their fur.

“Hey,” a recently awoken Applejack whispers among the motionless bodies, “Is anypony still awake?”

“Now I am…” Twilight groans in the center of the pileup and right below her orange friend before releasing a loud yawn. “What is it this time Applejack?”

“I’m just having a little trouble sleeping, that’s all.”

“For three days straight?”

“Somethin’s just constantly popping in my mind, and I can’t get it out.”

“What?”

“What Korsan was boasting about back at Thieves’ Hold, about how me and other folks just aren’t as good as, ya know, unicorns and alicorns.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re way better than any of those criminals. You don’t run around and commit crimes.”

“Not that, I mean how I wasn’t able to put up much of a fight once they started using magic. Me, Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, all of us that can’t use magic,”

“Oh, yeah, I guess you do need magic to cancel out other’s spells. But that doesn’t matter all that much. They weren’t being just with their fighting style, it’s not honourable.”

“It does matter Twilight. I’m starting to realize that I may not be able to protect my family as well as I used to, especially with my little sister with us.”

“We’ll be there to help you something happens that’s beyond your power Applejack.”

“And what if you’re not? And what does that say about me, my sisters, and the others, that we’re weak when you’re not around? You and Korsan, the stallion that could take on three alicorns at once, were at each other’s throats while we were stuck in the sidelines. You and Rarity can create and launch fireballs at will with enough education. Me and the others on the other hoof would never be able to do that in a hundred years.”

“Don’t think like that Applejack. You’re special in your own way.”

“How?”

“You have great strength.”

“You can lift something twice my maximum high into the sky.”

“You have a powerful kick.”

“You can use magic to grab a large rock and cause even more damage than one of my stronger kicks.” At this point, Twilight has fully awoken from her sleep and is growing agitated at the mare’s retorts.

“You can run fast.”

“You can teleport.”

“You…” The purple alicorn hesitates before continuing, realizing that she has no more possible points on how her friend is physically superior to a unicorn. “What about Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo? They can fly, manipulate weather, and a bunch of other cool things.”

“Unicorns can do the same thing as well. Heck, you can make your own wings. Remember when you gave wings to Rarity when we went to Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash?”

“Well, they weren’t legitimate pegasi wings,”

“Still, you as a unicorn did it.”

“Are you seriously saying that Korsan has a point to his madness?” Twilight angrily barks, causing the pony pile to shutter a bit.

“Maybe I am,” Applejack snaps back even louder.

“You want him to murder every non-unicorn he finds, just because he has a point?”

“No,”

“Then why are you siding with him?!”

“I’m not siding with him. I’m just saying he has a point.”

“What’s the point of the point then?”

“Maybe I want to be a unicorn now that Korsan has proven a point.”

“He hasn’t proven a point. There is no point! Alicorns, pegasi, unicorns, and Earth ponies are all equal. It’s been that way for hundreds of years. Equality is the symbol of Equestria, our home. Forgotten that?”

“Why is that?”

“It just is. Great minds of unknown knowledge have agreed upon the idea to this day.”

“So why can’t I just want to be a unicorn if they’re so equal?”

“You don’t have to change yourself since we’re equal. You’re basically repressing what Equestria stands for with this nonsense about being a unicorn. If I didn’t know you better, I would’ve considered that you were the bad pony.”

“Me the bad pony? Just for considering a point?”

“Korsan’s point, yes,”

“Just because of that?”

“Well if you’re so insistent on being a unicorn and proving the villain’s point, how about you join him on his kill crusade?”

“You know something? Sometimes you can be real stuck-up with your fancy schmancy readings of yours and not see what I’m seeing!”

“You know what? Sometimes you are just an inconsiderate mare who thinks she above all of the intellectuals based on her own stubborn logic!”

“Big nosed,”

“Half witted,”

“Thick skulled,”

“Even thicker skulled,”

“Why I-”

“Hey!” Rainbow’s voice yells over Applejack’s response. The two bickering ponies stop arguing and look at Dash wedged between a sleeping Fluttershy and Scootaloo, still with her eyes half open. “I don’t know what happened, but what I do know is that you two need to stop arguing and let us sleep in peace.”

“But she was thinking that Korsan has a-” Twilight tries to retort, only to get her muffled by Dash’s outstretched wing.

“I don’t care. No pony here really cares about what Korsan’s thinking. We all know that he’s the villain and what he is doing is wrong. Right?”

“Yeah,”

“Applejack?”

“It’s true, killin’ innocent ponies is wrong,” Applejack answers in defeat, as if she has lost the argument.

“Good, now let me get some sleep.” Soon, Dash’s head slumps back down to the cold floor and immediately dozes back off into slumber.

“Twilight,” Applejack mutters in a sarcastic tone, “I’m sorry if insulting you,”

“You as well,” Twilight replies, though obviously not honestly meaning it as well, “Have a good night.” As clouds start to appear in the starry sky above once more, the two mares snuggle back into the heated heap and attempt to fall asleep. However, as hard as they try, they can’t force themselves asleep after their brutal bickering just a few seconds ago. Minutes upon minutes pass as the two roused ponies try to calm themselves down but subconsciously hold their grudge against the other. Finally, after an hour of tossing and turning after closing their eyes, Twilight’s and Applejack’s minds disconnect from their physical bodies and enter the world of dreams.

After falling asleep, Applejack soon finds herself in an empty void of darkness, standing on what seems to be an invisible ground. Oblivious that this is all a dream as most ponies are when they sleep, Applejack searches through the darkness for any sign of anything in this unknown location. After curiously looking around at her surroundings for minutes, the orange Earth pony starts to become paranoid, sensing a malicious presence in the empty void.

“Help me!” A familiar voice echoes from behind the lone mare.

Applejack responds quickly, “Applebloom?!” Turning around, she sees the small yellow Earth pony frantically galloping towards her with her eyes tightly sealed and tears pouring out. “Applebloom? What is it?”

“It’s that villain!” Now running towards her younger sister, Applejack watches in horror as a black set of sharp claws emerge from the darkness behind Applebloom and grab her by her red tail. The small filly immediately screams and is quickly dragged back into the darkness with her voice ringing in Applejack’s ears. Horrified, the orange mare speeds up her run and pursues the evil figure, seemingly zipping through the black space surrounding her. Applebloom’s voice cries out again, “Help me Applejack!”

“I’m coming!” After a few minutes of chasing, Applejack is hit by a burst of red light, temporarily blinding her as she hobbles to a stop. Recovering from the blinding strobe, Applejack now sees that she’s on the edge a large unseen spotlight’s red shine. On the other end of the lit circle is Applebloom, being tightly held onto a dark bipedal figure. The orange Earth pony sees the figure’s black metal claws covering her little sister’s face as well as recognizes the figure’s shape in the partial dark. “Korsan!” The villainous shadow cackles in response to Applejack’s shout. The mare then bolts forward across the red light and towards her target. However, halfway across the room, a black metal bar wall drops from the ceiling abyss and falls right in front of Applejack, blocking her from Applebloom. The cage wall then extends upwards and outwards out of the red spotlight and splitting the darkness in two.

“Bahahaha!” The figure laughs in a demonic voice, “What are you waiting for? Lift the wall, and save your family.” Seeing no other option, Applejack obeys the bipedal pony’s orders, reaches her hooves in between the bars of the cage, and attempts to lift it up, only to find it too heavy. Heaving and huffing, the orange mare tries with all of her might, but to no avail. The mysterious shadow chuckles once more.

“Let her go!”

“If I can lift that wall, then so can you.” The being replies in Korsan’s voice.

“I can’t! It’s too heavy! Please, I’ll do anything, just let my sister be!”

The shadow slowly moves forward with Applebloom and speaks again, this time in a surprisingly feminine voice, “What are you talking about?” As the red light hits the face of the unknown pony, Applejack’s jaw drops, her pupils shrink to pinpoint, and her internal mind shuts down in shock.

“Twilight?!”

“We’re all equal!” There, standing on the other side of the wall, is Twilight in Korsan’s mechanical suit, standing on her hind legs like if she was him.

“What are you doing?”

“The world isn’t all black and white you know!” The Twilight and Korsan hybrid barks in Korsan’s voice, “It just requires a point!” Throwing Applebloom to the ground, the nightmarish pony draws one of the cutlasses and positions it above Applebloom’s laying body.

“No!”

“Lift the gate!” Twilight’s voice shouts from the hybrid pony.

“I can’t!”

“Help me!” Applebloom screams as the sharp edge of the blade caresses her tiny neck.

“I can’t!”

“End the suffering!” Korsan’s voice roars throughout the red tinted area.

“I can’t!”

“You can!”

Applebloom immediately violently screams in pain as the sword enters her flesh, “AHHH-”

Twilight suddenly finds herself inside the throne room of the castle of Canterlot, with no sound is to be heard and all signs of life appear to be absent. Surprised by her new bearings and having no previous memories before or even the awareness of her actually dreaming, Twilight examines the long chamber in search of answers to what is going on. Without even her hooves making a sound, the purple alicorn finds herself becoming paranoid as she looks out the large windows on the walls and sees only white. The red fluffy carpet feels flat on her hooves and the length of the corridor seems to expand and shrink randomly. Upon reaching the other end of the room eventually, Twilight sees four thrones standing side by side, each in the likeness to herself, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence. A brief wave a relief washes over the lone pony as now something familiar is in her presence. However, the relief is brought to a crushing halt as the wall behind the thrones bursts into an explosion of flame and stone, sending Twilight back several metres and grinding against the floor. Pain pulsates through the mare’s body as she gets up and sees an enormous hole where the wall once was and Korsan’s airship floating outside with a stormy sky above it in contrast to the windows.

Twilight angrily yells out, “Hey! Stop!” The operator of the ship appears to not listen and fires another explosive cannonball into the throne room, this time destroying the four thrones. Now furious of this terrorist attack, Twilight takes off into the air and soars through the hole and over to the pirate ship parked right next to the chamber. As the alicorn princess then lands onto the deck, a shadowy figure sneaks up behind her and kicks her in the behind, launching her into a nearby mast and smashing her head into the thick wood. Twilight groans as her brain liquefies and the insides of her head shift around from the impact.

“Well, well, well.” The mysterious pony chuckles in a ghastly voice, “it looks like we require a new order.”

“You won’t get away with this Korsan,” Twilight grumbles as the shaded bipedal figure is caught in the corner of her eye.

“Korsan, what a wise pony.” The being replies in an oddly feminine and accented voice, “All he needed was a point, and that would justify anything, including the most heinous of murder sprees.” Slowly, the shadowy villain walks closer to Twilight, revealing her true form.

“Applejack?!” There, standing over her, is Applejack in Korsan’s metal armour and cape, smiling down to her.

“Bahahaha!” The nightmarish fusion cackles in Korsan’s voice, “Your friend shall be your undoing!”

“Not if I-” Before Twilight could finish, her face is smashed and squished into the mast by a kick by the Korsan and Applejack hybrid. Gently, Applejack picks up the paralyzed Twilight by the throat and carries her over to the edge of the deck. There, Twilight sees that below her is an ocean of molten lava with its intense heat already frying her behind. “No! Wait! Applejack! Come to your senses!”

“Why?” Applejack replies in her own voice, “What’s the point?”

“We’re friends! Remember! Let me go!”

“…”

“Please!”

“You know,” Korsan’s voice echoes from the burning pit below, “very poor choice of words.”

“NOOO!”

“Gah!” Applejack and Twilight scream as they catapult themselves from their resting positions and their nightmares. After a minute of blanking out and recollecting their thoughts, the two notice it’s daylight now in the sky above. With the sun shining its light and heat through the few clouds and down onto the two ponies, they realize that it’s only been a dream. Brushing off the haunting images of the nightmares, the two mares then stretch and check out to see how the others are doing. However, as Twilight looks around first to where they were sleeping, she doesn’t see her friends at all on the raft.

“Wait, what?” Twilight stampers in confusion, “Where are they?”

“Uh, Twilight,” Applejack replies, looking the opposite direction in which her friend is.

“We were sleeping in a giant huddle and now they’re gone.”

“Twilight,”

“How did we not notice?”

“Twilight,”

“Where would they have even gone without us?”

“Twilight!”

“What?”

“Look behind you?”

“What?” Twilight turns around as Applejack says and is shocked at what she sees. Where their raft has stopped is on the shoreline of a large island. With thick forests of tall trees, a large beach area stretching around the entire land, and a monstrous volcano emerging from the center of it all, Twilight and Applejack nearly confuse it with paradise. “What?”

“Where are we?”

“Are we dead?”

“Good morning!” Pinkie’s voice screams out from the forest a few hundred metres away from the broken deck. The pink mare soon emerges from the thick of the trees with two halves of a coconut balances in her mane and hops towards Twilight and Applejack.

“What happened? Where are the others?”

“Our raft drifted onto this island while we were asleep. When we woke up hours earlier, we decided to explore this island and settle down by a small river Rainbow Dash found. You two however slept hard this morning, so we decided not to disturb you.”

“Huh.”

“So what do you think?”

“Thanks for setting up a place for us to recover. But we shouldn’t spend too much time here, we still have to stop Korsan and save Rarity. Right AJ?”

Applejack hesitantly answers, “Yes…”