"Ugh! So boooooooooooored!!" Rainbow whined.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack had only stayed behind for fifteen minutes, and already the former had begun getting very annoyed with the latter. She wasn't sure how much more of Rainbow's complaining she could take! If the mission wasn't so important to her, she'd honest to god leave her. Applejack let out a sigh, looking around the small room they had hidden in. It looked to be some sort of janitor's closet, but she wasn't too sure.

"Rainbow Dash..." she began "Ya know it's been only a few minutes, right? Ya can't possibly be bored."

"But I am!" Rainbow complained "They've been gone for what feels like hours! You wouldn't know this, but I need to spread my wings every once-in-a-while or they start cramping! And you know we can't just go around here willy-nilly!"

"Fine, complain all ya want!" Applejack retorted "But ah make no promises ah won't take ya out if ya continue."

"Are you challenging me to a fight?" Rainbow cockily grinned.

"So what if ah am?" Applejack growled.

"Then I'll kick your ass from here to next week!"

"Then bring it on, ya insufferable-"

(Music Stop)

A key unlocking a door was heard from the door that connected the small hiding room to the outside world. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash froze in fear as the door slowly opened to an old-looking Black Mage with standard robes and a beard coming off his pitch-black face. He turned to lock the door again, never noticing the two until he turned towards them. He dropped his rod in shock. Finally, Rainbow spoke up.

"Um..." she quickly thought of a lie "...she did it."

"What?" Applejack deadpanned.

"Well, I'm just saying since I'm more awesome than anyone in this room, you should be my backup!" Rainbow gave her argument "No hard feelings, right?"

"Rainbow Dash, ah swear ah'm gonna-"

"INTRUDER!!!" the elderly Black Mage screamed and ran outside his room to spread the word to the other Black Mages around the platform "INTRUDER!! INTRUDER!!!"

"Good job, Rainbow Dash" Applejack deadpanned.

"Not like this was my fault" Rainbow scoffed "You were the one who suggested we hide in here."

"I...!" Applejack grumbled "Grrrrr..."

An alarm had gone off throughout the entire mining facility, warning every Black Mage that something terrible had happened. Fluttershy and Twilight grew concerned with the alarm, but Rarity immediately recognized it and became even more frightened than them. Taking each of their hands, she rushed through the crowd of people.

"Whoa!" Twilight gasped "Rarity, slow down!"

"We can't, darling!" she shook her head "Applejack and Rainbow Dash may be in great danger!"

"D-Danger?!" Fluttershy worryingly questioned.

"This alarm is an intruder alert siren" Rarity explained "I can only think of three people who could have triggered it, and one of them flew away from this place."

"Which means... Oh no..." Twilight shuddered "Do you remember where we left them?"

"Well, I-"

"There!" a Black Mage pointed at the three woman running through the platform "Those three are with them! After them!"

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy whimpered "We should get a move on..."

"Or we could stay and fight!" Twilight suggested "I trust Rainbow Dash enough that she'll make it out with Applejack to join us. Besides, all these Black Mages are getting on my nerves."

"I couldn't agree more darling!" Rarity smiled before pulling out her rod and casting some magic at the opposing mages "Fira!" a gigantic pillar of fire went straight at her foes, striking them down and getting them out of the way.

"Let's try a new summon... Hmm..." Twilight flipped through her now updated summon book "Ah, this one looks pretty good! Summon! Shiva Lv.2!"

Before everyone's eyes, an ice-blue woman with blue hair, amethyst eyes, a blue cape and blue boots appeared and twirled around the Black Mages before spreading her arms and shattering into thousands of particles, digging themselves right into the enemy force and knocking them back.

"Aerora!" Fluttershy called out, sending an extremely heavy breeze through the platform, forcing a few of the Black Mages off and onto the rocky ground, thankfully harmlessly "Oh my... Sorry!"

"Don't apologize, darling" Rarity pointed out "They're our foes, and they attacked us!"

"Yes, but didn't we technically sneak into their base?" Twilight mentioned "That means we technically attacked first."

"Oh, yes you did..." a familiar voice to the three was heard. They looked around and saw that the two gate guard Black Mages had found themselves a silver walking tank with two arms by its side to hold two gigantic swords.

"Remember what we said if we discovered your or your friends were up to no good?" the first mage wondered "Well, allow us to introduce the Gestahl class M-045 Magitek armor suit! Complete with heavy plating, magic-ammo guns, and a two seat drive!"

"That's, like, fourteen toys in one!" the second Black Mage laughed "Now, prepare to die by the hands of-"

"Too slow!" Rainbow Dash came crashing down onto the machine with her spear, literally taking out the second guard and throwing him over the edge of the platform.

"Dun ferget me!" Applejack dived from the upper level and sliced off one of the machine's arms with her iron sword "Rainbow Dash convinced me we couldn't leave ya behind, so ah'm here ta help!"

"Oooooh!" the remaining machine pilot slammed his fists against the control panel "You're gonna pay for that! Black Mages, use your Thunder spells! Electrocute them into oblivion!"

"Not if we can stop it, darling!" Rarity shouted, once again pointing out her rod and firing a spell "Blizzara!" a cold spiral came out of the rod, freezing any and all it touched.

"Rarity, try electrocuting Rainbow's spear!" Twilight suggested "I read once that there's a form of black magic known as spell fencing. In short, it allows you to use your black magic to empower a weapon. Try it out!"

"Ah, yes, I've read a bit about that as well, darling" Rarity nodded "Very well... Thundara!" she cast her spell into Rainbow Dash's and even Applejack's weapons, imbuing them with an electrical charge.

"Nice!" Rainbow laughed before looking at her enemies "Now... Crescent Moon!" she swung her spear in a wide swing, taking out the front row of Black Mages opposing her. Meanwhile, Applejack was busy slashing away at the enemy force trying to stop her.

"Sorry 'bout all this" she said while doing her best to knock the mages out and not kill them "But we can't have ya standin' in our way. Speakin' of... Twilight, did ya learn anythin' useful?"

"Only everything we need to stop this fruitless war" she nodded "But we have to get out of this swarm of mages before-"

(Music Stop)

"Before what, Trixie asks the idiots storming her base?" asked the familiar voice of Trixie near them. The mages stopped and the team looked around to try and find her. Finally, they looked up and saw she had been watching the conflict the entire time. She let out a laugh before jumping down and meeting with the group.

"Trixie..." Twilight growled "We haven't met before, but I know enough about you to know you're doing something very, very wrong here. Why would you lie to your own people like that?"

"Twibright Snorkle, Trixie presumes?" Trixie laughed, still speaking in third person "Haha! Trixie doesn't have to answer your question. However, Trixie demands you answer why you and your little troop invaded her mining platform! Even Rarity decided to join them... Oh, Trixie pities you. Unfortunately, she must hand down judgement to even friend that betray the guardian's rule."

"How rude!" Rarity gasped "You ruffian! I cannot believe I grew up with you!"

"Trixie can't believe you haven't gotten rid of that stupid lady attitude yet" Trixie deadpanned.

"Shut-up, Trixie!" Rainbow Dash shouted "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't just take you out right now!"

"Because if you killed Trixie, there would be no one left to care for the guardian of the earth crystal" Trixie explained with a smile, making Rainbow Dash lower her weapon "That's a good girl... Now, you must all come with Trixie to face your judgement to the earth guardian."

"And if we refuse?" Applejack questioned.

"Well... Trixie will unleash the guardian upon your precious Apple Kingdom" Trixie grinned devilishly. As she said this, the group and even the surrounding Black Mages gasped in fear.

"Ya... Ya wouldn't dare!" Applejack was horrified by such a thought.

"You're bluffing, Trixie!" Twilight called her out "Even you know what the guardian is capable of! If you were to unleash it, it would send the land of Equestria, nay, the world into utter discord! There is no possible way that you could be stupid enough to do such a thing, so I'm calling your bluff."

"Oh?" Trixie smiled "Well then, Trixie supposes that you don't know what her ultimate goal is? Since she is so close to completing it, she doesn't mind telling you."

"In front of all your followers?" Rarity wondered "Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of followers, darling?"

"Trixie supposes" Trixie hummed "However, even followers use up their uses eventually, and unfortunately for them, Trixie has absolutely no use for them any longer."

"Trixie!" shouted a nearby Black Mage.

"You traitor!" shouted another.

"If you must know Trixie's plan," Trixie continued "she plans on giving the guardian enough power from the Magistones to power it so it eventually does emerge and ruin the face of the planet. Such is Trixie's plan. Then, when the world is decimated, the few survivors will desperately look to Trixie for help. She will, of course, supply it, and she'll then become the greatest woman who ever lived!"

"All this... for fame?" Rainbow Dash felt disgusted "You piece of-"

"Gilda! Remove them!" Trixie shouted, surprising the team. Before they could even react properly, a rope was tightly tied around the five, ceasing their movement. To Rainbow's anger, Gilda landed right in front of her with a cocky grin on her face.

"Hey, dweeb" she greeted "Gotta hand it to her; Trixie here's got some serious pockets on her. How could I say no to 10,000,000 bits and a chance to show you dweebs who's the boss around here."

(Music Stop)

"Gilda..." Rainbow didn't even have anything left to say. No anger was left inside her, nor hate nor confusion. Just disappointment. Not only had her first friend betrayed her once, but now twice. Not only that, she was now acting like she was the boss of them. Rainbow wanted to clench her fists and spit in her face as an act of revenge.

But she never did. Instead, she looked away from Gilda and sighed. This confused the mercenary; why wasn't she yelling back and getting angry? She quickly ignored these thoughts and did her job, but the thoughts continued to linger.

"Where to, Trix?" Gilda asked.

"Take them to the guardian" Trixie smiled "Take them... to Titan."

After being put on a mine track into the area the guardian lay waiting for more Magistone, the group of five, still tied up and struggling to break free, slowly entered Titan's domain to be judged by its awesome power. They took this time to speak about their travels and finds so far before they were utterly decimated.

"So, uh..." Rainbow Dash began "What did we all learn today?"

"Ah learned Rainbow Dash can be an idiot sometimes" Applejack chuckled.

"H-Hey, I-"

"Applejack, that was rude" Twilight said, much to the appeal of Rainbow "You shouldn't point out things we already know or aren't blatantly obvious."

"You guys suck..." Rainbow groaned.

"Besides cruel humor," Rarity, still giggling at Rainbow Dash's expense, tried to focus on more pressing matters "we managed to discover the truth about Trixie and the war the Black Mages and Knights of the Apple Kingdom are currently going through. Even though she revealed her plan, however, I don't believe we ever discovered the real reason why she wanted to wage war upon the Kingdom."

"I-If I may?" Fluttershy spoke up, everyone paying attention to her now "W-What if it was a distraction? A-A way to make s-sure the Apple Kingdom doesn't find the earth crystal again, realize what's going on and try to stop Trixie anyway possible."

"That might actually make sense..." Twilight thought aloud.

"In other news, Twilight, Fluttershy and I received some new magic spells" Rarity stated with a please smile on her face "They were the ones that aided you, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, in combat not a few minutes prior to our... predicament."

"And ah thank ya fer that" Applejack nodded "Speakin' of our predicament, we need ta find a way outta here."

"Already did the calculations, AJ" Twilight sighed "This rope isn't coming off anytime soon. But don't worry about it too much; Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and I have gotten through WAY worse than this."

"For example, darling?" Rarity wondered.

"Well, we took on a giant mutated abomination that also happened to be the incarnation of a corrupt commander's hatred" Rainbow Dash brought up "Oh, and while we're still alive, Twilight, do you want to tell them about our reason for coming here in the first place or should I?"

"I will..." Twilight sighed "Look, Applejack, we weren't just sent to check on the earth crystal because it was some sort of routine. We, um... Well, you see-"

"Oh for gods..." Rainbow Dash groaned "Because of Sombra!"

"Som- What?!" Applejack gasped "Ya mean ta tell me he's back?!"

"Um... yes?"

"Well why didn't ya tell us sooner?" Applejack wondered "Mah men and ah would have been more than happy ta help ya storm through the Black Mage settlement and find that crystal!"

"But it's a good thing we didn't" Rainbow brought up "From what I've heard, bad shit is happening around here and that probably would have gotten us killed. I'd like to stay alive a little longer, if that's okay with you."

"So what happens now?" Rarity wondered.

"Now, I guess we just wait for our doom to come upon us" Twilight sighed. Suddenly, the team felt their cart come to a complete stop. They had arrived at their destination. Everyone took a heavy breath in and out in anticipation.

(Music Stop)

"OPENING MINETRACK DOORS" a loud, robotic voice said on the intercom.

Before anyone could react, the floor beneath their feet opened up and sent them tumbling down into rocky abyss where they suspected the guardian waited. With a scream, they fell through the earth and eventually onto a smoothed literal rock slide, which slowly eased them to a stop. As soon as they finished their ride, they looked around and saw that they had arrived in a brand new cave filled with blue, glowing crystals that gave a sense of bliss to all mages present.

"So this must be Magistone" Twilight sighed with a smile "They're very calming."

"They do feel very nice..." Fluttershy smiled as well, a feeling of calmness and relief washing over her.

"Unfortunate that they're being used to power an ancient beast that will bring doom to the world" Rarity mentioned, pretty much killing any fun Twilight and Fluttershy were having.

"Oh, yeah... right..." Twilight sighed with a disappointed tone.

"So Magistone is some sort of... mage orgasm inducer?" Rainbow questioned.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack called her out on her question.

"What? I was just wondering!" Rainbow shouted.

"In a way, Trixie supposes" the familiar voice of Trixie echoed through the cavern "It only affects those with magical capabilities, but the feeling is in some respects similar to that... um... thing that happens."

"Trixie!" Twilight shouted, she and the others looking behind themselves to find Trixie grinning "Let us go now!"

"Well, if you insist" Trixie waved her rod around and released the five from their trap.

"Wait!" Applejack stopped all her friends immediately "Why would she release us jus' like that? This has ta be a trick!"

"Good point, Applejack" Rarity agreed "Please, no one move a muscle."

"You dweebs are smarter then you look" spoke the familiar voice of Gilda on the other side of the team, to which they turned and saw her standing there with a smug smile on her face.

"Gilda..." Rainbow sighed, staring at her with slight anger returning to her.

"Well, sit down everyone and please enjoy the show!" Trixie said before looking over at Gilda "Gilda! Hand me the object!"

"Yeah, yeah, calm your tits..." Gilda rolled her eyes before pulling a strange, gray necklace in the shape of a horse with horns and wings. In the middle of the necklace was a diamond-shaped red gem that glowed a dark light. She threw it over at her employer who caught it and laughed maniacally.

"Allow Trixie to show you imbeciles the extent of her power!" she showed the group the strange amulet, to which Twilight gasped, knowing exactly what it was.

"I read about that once!" Twilight's eyes widen with fear "That's the Alicorn Amulet! It's a weapon created by King Sombra to enhance his powers and ensure he continued his assault on this world. I thought it had been lost by time, yet here it is! How the hell did you get that thing?!"

"Let's just say a little bird flew in and gave it to Trixie" Trixie laughed before placing the amulet on her neck "Now stand still and allow... hmm... The Great and Powerful Trixie deal with you!"

"Really? That's the best name y'all could come up with" Applejack chuckled "It sounds like somethin' a second grader would say ta make themselves sound more important."

"Silence, you fool!" Trixie shouted, pulling out her rod once again and firing a wave of electricity at the group. With natural reaction, they all bounced back and avoided the electricity, only to have something blow up behind them, sending them flying against the glowing wall. The floor must have been littered with mines. Being so close to the crystals now, Applejack and Rainbow Dash finally felt the magical bliss for themselves, albeit on a lower level.

"Whoa... I feel... Kinda tingly inside..." Rainbow mentioned as she pulled herself off the wall. When she did, a surge of heat washed though her and into her spear, turning the metal tip on fire.

"W-What?!" Trixie gasped "H-How?!"

"Well, that's pretty cool actually" Rainbow grinned before twirling around her spear and pointing it right at Trixie "Now how about we finish this nice and quick?"

"Yo dweeb!" Gilda shouted at Rainbow Dash "Don't you want to exact your revenge or some shit?"

"Yeah, that's certainly something else I could do..." Rainbow sighed before turning around and facing Gilda "Guys, take Miss Third Person down. I've got Gilda."

"Good luck, Rainbow..." Twilight nodded before facing Trixie "Alright, Trixie! You're time is up! Take off that amulet and concede to- Yeah, this isn't working. Everyone, ATTACK!!!"

Rarity immediately fired a Thundara spell from her rod that went straight for Trixie. Unfortunately, a mystical barrier had appeared around her, stopping the magic attack from hitting her.

"Hahaha! Fools!" Trixie laughed "This barrier is impregnable to magic attacks! You and your stupid little pea-shooter rod can't hurt Trixie, nor can that stupid little dragon of yours!"

Spike growled at the woman, causing her to shiver a bit, but not so much as to stray from her position and stance.

"Impreg-what-now?" Applejack wondered "Oh, ah git it! Well then, taste a bit of mah sword!" she leaped into the air and attempted to strike Trixie down with her blade. However, her sword too bounced off the magical barrier. Trixie laughed at her failure and began firing Fire 1 spells at the group.

"What?" Rarity questioned "How on earth...?"

"Your sword is infused with magic!" Trixie laughed "Trixie can't believe you forgot about that! Ahahahahaha!!!"

"Is there no way to strike her down?" Applejack wondered.

Meanwhile, over behind the team of four, Rainbow Dash and Gilda were clashing spear and daggers together. Using the energy from the Magistone nearby, Gilda managed to combat Rainbow's fire with her own ice. This left them at a technical stalemate, yet they continued fighting. Finally, once they had clashed weapons, Rainbow took this time to ask her former friend.

"Why?" she asked. This caused Gilda to immediately stop and stare at her ex-friend.

"Why?" Gilda repeated her "Why what?"

"Why did you betray me after all those years of being together?" she questioned "You were the one who made me the strong woman I am today, and you just... abandoned me."

"Didn't I tell you already, dweeb?" Gilda scoffed "I did it for the money. I wanted your share! Since I found you, all you've been doing was slowing me down and stopping me from reaching my goals faster. Naturally, I got rid of you. You were of no use to me anymore."

"So that's it, huh?" Rainbow couldn't believe what she was hearing "All those years of laughing, drinking and fucking around? That was all fake? All a lie?"

"Dash, c'mon, you know that-"

"NO!" Rainbow snapped, going up to Gilda and punching her onto the ground "I'm tired of your shit! If this is all true, then fuck you and fuck your stupid money!"

"D-Dash!" Gilda's eyes widened in shock that Rainbow Dash would do that, especially as passionately she did it.

"No, don't call me that!" Rainbow had begun crying now "After everything we ever did, and everything we ever laughed about, yelled at and punched in the goddamn face, you would betray your own friend just like that for a little bit of extra money. You... You are a worthless excuse for a person! I HATE YOU!!"

"D-Dash..." Gilda sighed.

"Gilda, what are you doing?!" Trixie shouted "Get back up and fight her!"

The two had just stared at each other as Trixie barked her orders.

"Gilda! Trixie commands you to-"

"Fuck off, Trixie!" Rainbow shouted "Everyone, just leave me alone!"

"Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy whimpered. Slowly, she came up behind her friend and wrapped her arms around her. Surprisingly, Rainbow didn't struggle, but instead embraced the comfort Fluttershy was giving her.

"Fluttershy..." Rainbow sighed with a sad smile "...Thank you. You're a great friend."

"You're welcome, Rainbow Dash" Fluttershy continued to hug her friend.

(Music Stop)

"You... You... You..." Trixie's blood had started to boil "You dare defy The Great and Powerful Trixie?! All of you dare ignore me whilst comforting a worthless woman's personal feelings?! You should all be killed!"

"Trixie..." Twilight turned back around and faced the mentally insane woman "I have no idea what's going on in your head, but whatever it is, I couldn't imagine living a day in it. You will stop your actions immediately before we will be forced to stop them ourselves. You won't like the second option, I'll bet."

"Hahaha! Trixie isn't afraid of you!" Trixie laughed "In fact, Trixie has yet to unleash her trump card..."

"Trixie, don't you dare!" Rainbow shouted.

"Titan..." Trixie touched the red gem on the Alicorn Amulet and grinned devilishly "...Trixie summons thee! Destroy these pesky mortals, and destroy the world! Allow Trixie to become the most powerful woman on the planet!"

The ground suddenly began shaking and cracking underneath the feet of the present people there. Magistone began falling from the walls and ceiling to make way for the approaching guardian hell-bent on destroying everything it so desired.

"We gotta get outta here!" Applejack stated.

"Everyone, quickly, grab onto my legs!" Rainbow Dash shouted "And Fluttershy's too if she's up for it!"

"I-In a time like this, I don't have much of a choice..." Fluttershy nodded and allowed Twilight to grab onto her legs. Slowly but surely, she rose into the air and began carrying them towards the cavernous exit. Rainbow Dash, holding the heavier Rarity and Applejack, followed her soon after. Unfortunately for them, Trixie cast a Barrier spell over the exit.

"Hahaha!" Trixie laughed "Now you'll have to die here in this room! There is no esca- OOF!!" a solid punch was struck right across Trixie's face, taking her out of focus and lowering the barrier. To everyone's surprise, Gilda was in fact the one who laid the blow.

"Dash, you may hate me, but I'm not letting you die today" Gilda stated "I've done wrong in my life, and I'm not asking you to forgive me. What I'm ORDERING you to do is get the hell outta here! Go!"

"R-Right!" Rainbow Dash nodded, quickly flying out of the cave with Fluttershy in hot pursuit. They finally made it out of the tunnel leading into the heart of the mountain and saw that the Black Mages had already started to escape their home. They rushed towards the small hole leading to the outside world, but the mage in front of them, Starswirl, had a much better idea.

"This cave will leave everyone dead if it stays this small..." he pondered before raising his rod and casting his magic "Meteor!" a huge chunk of rock came off of the rocky side of the mine and crashed right into the exit, obliterating it and making a bigger hole for him and the rest of the Black Mages to escape through.

"Father..." Rarity smiled "Now, we must flee the scene!"

"Already on it, Rare!" Rainbow nodded before charging right for the exit.

"H-Hang on, Twilight!" Fluttershy nervously shouted, quickly following Rainbow Dash to the escape route.

(Music Stop)

As soon as a majority of Black Mages had escaped the facility, the mine had collapsed upon itself and blocked any possible way to get back inside. The entirety of the Black Mage people looked back at their homes. Some had begun to cry, others became angry. But all were confused and scared. They had no idea what to do now that they had no home to live in.

A ferocious roar was heard from within the crumbled mines, which was what one could only imagine was the cry of the Titan, guardian of the earth crystal.

"So this is it?" Twilight wondered, her face looking like she had "Have we... failed?"

Author's Notes:

And so ends this ark... NAH, just kidding! We still have one more chapter to go!

VampDash, I hope this chapter was satisfactory for you. More on Gilda's whereabouts will be explained in the next chapter. Until then, just hang tight. In other news, looks like Titan's finally been unleashed by Trixie, as well as now we know Mr. Starswirl knows friggin' Meteor! WHOA!! And yes, I did in fact hint in the last chapter that there will be a BLUE MAGE joining the team.

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!