Freedom.

How wondrous! At long last, she could breathe in the air of the world, feel the warmth of its atmosphere, reach out and touch the magical currents that permeated Equestria. Losing her physical form and all its power had been the most frightening of sensations, but now she had it back. She looked upon her ponies and relished in their reverent terror. Her black heart sang at the sight of one of her beloved thestrals, even if she was staring her down with a fury that, despite its greatness, was dwarfed by her own.

Yes, she thought, giddy. Soon all will be right with the world.

Her mane entangled a foolish stallion who had leapt at her from behind and she laughed at the tingling sensation of his spells hitting her neck; all that power channeled into striking her down, and the most he could do was tickle her. My my, such forwardness! That loathsome Celestia must be desperate for lovers if he lacks the etiquette to at least ask me to dinner first. ...Though, to be serious, unicorns have gotten stronger in my absence, it seems.

She brought the trapped stallion around to look him in his blue eyes. Imprisoned in the immaculate, inescapable web of her mane, and still he glared at her, gaze burning with defiance. Didn't he know her grip was iron? That his magic would do nothing to her? He must have been an important pony, for a few were shouting his name.

“Shining Armor!!”

That voice... The Dark Mare followed her ears with her eyes to the crowd, seeing a familiar horrified violet mare. Strange, she tastes the same, and yet...

She looked upon the false unicorn as old memories came flooding back. The resemblance was too uncanny, too perfect to be coincidence. Suddenly the unique blend of darkness she had felt in her made sense; she had tasted them. How perplexing and vexing, indeed. The old world still clung to the new, this she was already aware of, but the little beast was one claw she had not anticipated.

Though she thought she would be angry, the Dark Mare's lips parted to bare her teeth in a wide grin. I'll have my vengeance on more than one mare tonight. How blessed my return must be! She eyed the trapped stallion again and tittered; a a sound dripping with black ichor. “Am I not royal enough for you, my dashing knight? Or perhaps you do not know my name?” She ignored a heckling pink pony shouting nonsense from the crowd and continued, addressing the full throng of ponies now. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a millennium? Has your filthy sun princess's prophecy not reached your ears? Did you not see the signs?”

“I did.”

The purple pony spoke again, and this time she could hear her in that voice. It had to be some kind of divine joke, an attempt to stop her reign. One that would fail, of course. No god could stand against her. She had proven so already.

“And I know exactly who you are.” The familiar mare stepped forth, apprehensive, but certain. “You're the Mare in the Moon: The Dark Mare!”

Another wave of déjà vu struck the black alicorn like fierce waters on the shore. Her deviant grin grew wider as she saw the beginnings of her retribution practically laid out for her. How grand this night shall be!

“Oh you precious foal, I already knew that you would recall me. But, perhaps you are the only one, so please do inform my subjects of their fate.”

All eyes turned to the false pony in anticipation. Fear made itself at home on her face before she could respond, and her voice strained higher as she tried. “Y-you're here to-- to...”

The Dark Mare decided that she would relent now. This may not have been revenge enough, but she had all the time in the world to satisfy her vendetta.

“Yes. Remember this day, ponies, for it shall be your last! From this moment forth, the night, shall last forever!!”

Exercising her flair for theatrics she had her magic strike lightning, laughing as she drank in their fear, their subservience to her. The stallion rattled off some drivel about how she would never get away with it, which only made her laugh harder. Silently though she thanked him; after a thousand years of tormenting unbeing and solitude, she had needed such levity sorely.

What he said next did surprise her a bit. “Guards! Seize her! She'll know where the princess is!”

So he was important. A high-ranking official of the guard? It explained his brashness. But despite the fear emanating from the armor-clad mares and stallions in the building they obeyed his command. Perhaps she had not properly displayed her power to them. No matter. She had long ached for battle anyway.

The pegasi charged first, her thestral following suit with impressive speed. She scoffed, and effortlessly knocked them all aside with her wings, their great power kicking up intense wind and sending them all careening to – and through – the walls. Admirably undaunted, the earth ponies quickly followed suit, sword-bits in maw. Their blades shattered against her coat harmlessly, and their own charging impacted against her like she were the earth itself, leaving them sprawled on the floor dazed, and her unmoving. The alicorn yawned mockingly. Lances sheathed in magic stabbed and sliced impotently at her ethereal mane and tail as it nullified the unicorns' telekinesis which held them, the polearms clattering against the warped dais as they fell and the ponies who held them stricken with blinding headaches. The more hardy ones recovered quickly and went to resume their fruitless attack, but she brandished the stallion in her tail's grip as a meat shield and immediately they stalled. The pony in question attempted to summon barrier spells, of all things, but he found doing so was impossible in the Dark Mare's grasp. Perhaps he is trying to use them to push my tail away so he can escape?, She mused. It mattered not. Nothing would save him regardless.

Before long, it became clear to the guardsponies that they could do nothing to her, and their short assault ceased, the terror in the room now palpable and plain on every face. She thought the pathetic display over before she heard a shriek from behind.

“A banshee? In the middle of a villa--” The Dark Mare was cut off as she turned her head directly into a blinding stream of raw mana.

Fury had bubbled in Cadence's heart from the moment Shining Armor had been ensnared, and when the guardsponies had failed, it had been too much. She had a hit list now, and this Black Snooty pony was on the top of it. She'd get her grimy, slimy hooves off of her fiancé, one way or another! So it was she summoned forth her considerable magical power and let it burst forth from the tip of her horn in a bright singing beam, aimed directly at the dark alicorn's head. Pouring everything she could into the display, the spell burned the very air in its path and a left a hole in the floor where it overflowed past the other alicorn. But Cadence was by far the weaker royal equine, and she felt her body lose its strength as the last of her mana stole away her energy with it, her legs becoming wobbly and her horn burning in immense pain, and the ray petered out as she collapsed on the balcony, spent. The light thinned and faded away, the scent of burning still lingering in the air.

Standing as she had before, unmarred, was the black alicorn, albeit with a look of mild surprise.

“Hm. That happened.” The Dark Mare brought a hoof up to her jaw, which tingled along with the rest of the left side of her head. That hadn't been very pleasant an experience, being prickled by such weak alicorn magic, but she was in no true pain. More jarring was the fact that there was another alicorn. But the already immense cloud of fear in the room had increased exponentially after that particular show, filling her with even more strength and mirth. She began to cackle again.

“Look upon my magnificence, my little ponies! Your little pink princess could not even harm me! Perhaps now who your true ruler is cannot be questioned!” She allowed herself a few moments more to enjoy the ocean of terror, but it it was time to return to business. “Should you have reason to gain audience with me, you shall find me at the Castle of the Sisters. There is a certain unicorn I'm expecting to see there as well...” Her slitted cold eyes returned to Twilight, ready to seal her fate and cast all the fear upon her. “We have much to discuss.”

And then the yellow unicorn beside the frightened pony burst into flames.

Sunset had seen quite enough. She wreathed herself in fire and leapt at the black alicorn with a battle cry and great prejudice. But where she had expected to strike flesh she instead got smoke, and landed muzzle-first into the warped floor the hateful witch had been standing on. The alicorn was gone, and Shining Armor with her. Snout stinging and the Dark Mare's fading cackle ringing in her ears, she did her best to calm her spell before it got out of control and burnt the building down. She cursed rather audibly.

“Twilight!” She turned to shout at her charge. “I'm gonna go help Lovie! Get back to the library!” Her legs propelled her into darting for the back halls of the building, the crowd giving her a wide berth.

“Sunset, wait!!” Predictably, the false unicorn followed suit with dragon in tow.

This really couldn't have gone much worse. Sunset galloped past multiple cowering ponies that had hidden from the attack, practically leaping up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. I had a plan in my head just in case the lovebirds showed up, and they both go and ruin it with their idiocy! Now what do we have to work with? She tackled through a door and turned at the center set of curtains. Her shoulder would be fine later. The demon mare and the pink irritance were laid down on either side of Cadence's body. Pretty much nothing.

“Is she breathing?”

“Yes.” The eldritch ponies answered in unison.

Teal magic caressed the unconscious alicorn. She floated onto Sunset's back, who strained under the dead weight. She needs to quit with the midnight cake runs, I swear to Celestia. Much to her chagrin, Twilight had caught up. She didn't warn them about how teleporting felt to a first-time passenger. Shows her for being a pain in the butt all day. They winked out of existence.

The sensation was not pleasant. Upon re-entering the physical plane, Twilight barely caught herself from falling over on the wooden floor of the library, her entire body feeling like it was held together by thread like a marionette, revolting against her for daring to do something so awful. If that's what teleporting is like, I don't feel like learning it so much anymore. The blurred world seemed to be spinning. Obviously; I'm discombobulated, she thought. She could make out a yellow blob saying something, but her hearing had been muffled by the sudden lack of noise whatsoever just a moment ago. There was a thump from somewhere, her ears swiveling back and forth to try and locate herself in the library (I assume we're in the library. That would be a safe guess.) Pain engulfed her left side and Twilight was fairly certain she was sprawled out on the ground now. The stinging faded quickly, briefly going numb before returning in full force a few moments later. The resulting adrenaline accelerated her recovery, the library coming back into relative focus, and she heard Sunset shouting at somepony else. Spike was a moaning ball of scales on the floor across the room, so that ruled him out. Was it her she was angry with? No, that wouldn't make sense.

With a wince, Twilight brought her legs under her and rose to a sitting position. Looking to the source of Sunset's voice she was surprised to see five familiar mares staring the both of them down with equal parts indignation and apprehension (and in the case of the yellow one, outright fear). Rainbow Dash, presently struggling to break free of a lasso pulled by Applejack; Pinkie Pie and Rarity, noticeably more calm than the others, and a cowering Fluttershy peeking out from behind the group.

“Rgh! Lemme go, Applejack!! We gotta stop them!” The thestral's wings beat at the air uselessly, throwing up wind in all directions.

Rarity turned her head (but not her eyes) to the flailing pony, “We don't even know for certain what they plan to do, you ruffian! What we require is an explanation.”

“They can explain everything just fine to my hoof! Get this offa me! Why am I going backwards!?”

The farmpony backed to the open door and kicked the doorstop in front of it, tying the rope end to the door handle. “We ain't gonna learn where Princess Celestia is if we knock 'em cold, Rainbow.” She then advanced toward Twilight, who was uneasy at the cold expression on the earth pony's muzzle, to say the least. “Rarity's right. It'd be in y'all's best interest t' start talkin'. Or we c'n let Dash decide the pace of the discourse if ya want.” Applejack's menacing march was halted by Sunset popping into existence before her, quickly resuming yelling.

“We don't have to explain a thing to any of you, mud mare! This is a matter of national security--”

“Alright then.”

Sunset turned on the purple unicorn. “Twilight, no! We have to be smart about this!”

Twilight affixed the unicorn with her own determined expression. “And I am. Recent events have been very stressful and confusing, and these ponies very reasonably want answers. If there's any way we can keep them from interfering, it lies in telling everything.” Her eyes narrowed into a glare. “To all of us.”

Sunset's anger faltered. The other untethered mares began to circle her. Applejack spoke up from behind her. “Even with what that Black Snooty alicorn said ah'm likin' what your friend is spoutin' a hay of a lot better th'n you.”

“I vote for listening to Twilight!” Pinkie raised her hoof.

“As do I.”

“M-me too...”

“It's still clobberin' time!”

Sunset searched desperately for a chance to escape the ponies surrounding her with no collateral damage. Two teleports and a complex fire coat spell had left her drained for mana, and she wasn't quite as strong as the earth pony.

She sighed, relenting. “Fine. We'll spill the beans.”

Applejack relaxed her stance and gave a satisfied grin. “Smart thinkin'. Y'hear that Rainbow?” She turned her head to the hovering thestral, “No fighting!”

Rainbow crossed her forelegs and let herself drop to the ground pouting. “Can I be untied now?”

“Well, I guess I'll do most of the work.”

At Sunset's request, the mares had gone through the library locking and drawing every window closed. Applejack took up guard at the now locked front door. In that time, Spike had mostly recovered from the displacement sickness, as Twilight chose to call it, and Sunset had attempted to rouse the remaining princess, to no avail. The ponies had then gathered in the humble parlor off to the side of the entrance, taking seats on the furniture.

Fluttershy, on the lounge next to Rarity directly left of the unconscious Cadence, wore a face of great concern. “Will she be okay?”

“Heavens willing, she'll be no worse for wear and come to before we're done here.” The lone unicorn took a seat off to the right, though Twilight remained on the ottoman by Cadence's side.

Rainbow Dash sat on the floor across from Sunset, voicing her impatience. “Well that's great and everything, but we gotta actually start first.”

“I think a good place to begin would be with you, darling.” Rarity gestured to Twilight. “If what your rather brutish friend claims is true, then you know all of our secrets.” She focused on the false unicorn's coat. “And yet, you seem to have one of your own that you have failed to indulge us in.”

Twilight noticed for the first time that half of her shell was completely gone, and the other heavily fractured. She instinctively panicked while Sunset spoke.

“Officially, Twilight Sparkle is the personal student of Princess Celestia, and for all intents and purposes, she is.”

Rainbow was rather unsatisfied with the information. “pff, well I knew that already. What about her turning into smoke when I hit her?”

“I what!?”

“I was getting to that! Do you not know any manners?”

“Been tryin'. She's stubborn.” Applejack piped up from her post.

Sunset groaned. “The thing is, the real reason Celestia took her in at first was to keep everypony safe. Whether she knows what Twilight is or not is one of the few things I'm not privy to, but as I think is pretty clear at this point, Smokey here is scary enough just to look at.” She then realized what she said and looked to her charge. “I-I mean--”

“No, I... I understand...” The purple pony-creature stared morosely at the floor.

“Twi, I didn't--”

Rarity and Fluttershy were before the glum plum Twilight in an instant. “Don't you dare listen to her, Twilight, you're gorgeous!”

“And you're not, um, all that scary. Oh, unless you want to be! In which case you are very, very scary and I'm really afraid of you~!”

“You're afraid of her anyway, Shy.”

"Oh." The buttery pony's smile fell. "Rainbow Dash is right, um-- but you do seem nice.”

Twilight smiled, despite herself. Applejack spoke up once more, trying to remain on topic:

“But what makes her so dang dangerous, anyhow?”

“Maybe the fact she kidnapped the princesses...”

Rainbow's words set Twilight aghast. “Wh-- I didn't kidnap them! I would never!!”

“Oh yeah.” The thestral pointed a hoof at Sunset. “She was the one who did it, right?”

The unicorn frowned, “You are easily my least favorite pony right now.”

Rainbow blew a raspberry in response.

Spike chose to chime in from his cozy spot between Cadence and Twilight. “Why would they kidnap the princesses anyway? I mean, one of them's right here.”

“Only because we stopped you guys! I betcha fifty bits that the other one's upstairs!”

Rarity turned to give Rainbow an unamused look. “Rainbow Dash, we were all just up there a few minutes ago and I am fairly certain none of us saw Princess Celestia.”

“I did!”

“That's a painting in the washroom, Pinkie.”

“I know! But I saw her in it so do I win?”

The gathered ponies and dragon shouted a unanimous “NO!”

The pink mare visibly wilted. "Oh."

The other, larger pink mare stirred and moaned her discomfort. All eyes snapped to the irritable waking princess as if guided by magnets.

"I swear, if you don't shut those ponies outside up Shiny I am going to--" Her grogginess was instantly dispelled by panic. "Shining!! Where's--"

"Cadence!"

The alicorn looked to her side to her lavender company. "Twilight, Spike!! Is your brother okay?? Where is he???"

"The Dark Mare has him, Cady," Sunset informed her, "she got away."

"That WITCH--" the princess went to rise, but quickly lost strength in her legs, flopping back down on the ottoman. "...did I at least mess up her face?"

"Not a scratch."

"Horseapples!!" Cadence held onto the anger for a moment, but the realization that she was the most powerful pony present or accounted for quickly hit her. She sighed to release her excess rage. And took a deep breath. And released it again. It wasn't working as well as she had hoped. She resolved to work with it. It was important to be responsible in this situation.

"Okay Sunset, report: what's the current sitch?"

"Well," the unicorn regarded the night's events, "Celestia was right, and the Dark Mare is back. The monarch is MIA and the captain of the guard has been kidnapped." The alicorn's muzzle twitched at that. "The state of the local guard is uncertain; we'll need to go out and get a proper idea of our defenses against any conflict."

As if summoned, a knock came at the front door. "Equestrian Guard! Open the door!" Applejack unlatched the bolt and stepped aside as a pegasus stallion entered the library. He searched the room until his sight fell on Cadence. "Princess!"

"Flash Sentry, do you have news on the state of the village?" Cadence did her best to remain calm.

The citrus-colored pony nodded vigorously, "The townsponies are in a panic. We're trying our best to keep things from getting too crazy, but most of the guard is out of commission right now, and I don't think they'll listen to anyone but you, Your Highness."

The princess sighed. "Thank you, sir. I'm in no condition to move right now, so I need you to act as my messenger. Tell the guard I'm awake and aware of the situation, and let everypony know that you're taking orders from me for the time-being."

"Yes, princess!" With a salute, the armored stallion left the library, the door being locked behind him once more.

"Guess that explains our chances here," Sunset remarked.

"Yep," Cadence acknowledged the gathered mares for the first time, "so what's happening here? And please don't say a brand-new book club."

Pinkie returned to life at this. "We were playing 20 Questions with Sunny."

"I'm apparently getting grilled for information against my wishes."

Cadence nodded sagely. "Getting what you deserve. Where were we with that?"

"Throwin' ponynapping accusations, if'n I recall right."

Sunset became frustrated at the earth pony's statement. "Nopony here has kidnapped anypony!"

"Well duh, you don't kidnap ponies, you kidnap goats!" Pinkie accompanied her own statement with an eye roll.

"No abduction has been visited on anyone by anypony present!"

Rainbow scoffed at Sunset's hysterics. "Sounds exactly like the big words a ponynapper would say."

Before Sunset could cast the fire-breathing spell she was saving specifically for Rainbow Dash a red mist enveloped her muzzle, sealing it shut. She followed the trail of sparkling crimson to Rarity, who had stood from her seat and was quite visibly annoyed, having done the same to the web-winged mare antagonizing the unicorn.

"We are clearly going nowhere with this," she began. "I will not suffer your heckling any further, Rainbow Dash, and I'm quite certain, dearest Sunset Shimmer, that I am not the only one who tires of hearing your shouting. Now then..." The demon mare turned and knelt in deference to Cadence, who wore a grin at the alabaster mare's actions, despite herself, "Your Highness, I humbly request that we hear your word."

The princess bowed her head at this. "Thank you, Lady Rarity. Thou art most gracious~." She failed to suppress a giggle before returning to seriousness as the demon released the bickering ponies. With a deep breath, she spoke:

"Princess Celestia warned Sunset, myself, and Shining Armor of a potential approaching calamity. She spoke of this mare, black as night and brimming with magical prowess that would take control of the heavenly bodies, and she could not truly defeat. And if she were to return, it would be out of her hooves how things happened."

"But how come th' Princess can't beat her?" Applejack stepped from her self-assigned post to truly join the group. "Ain't she s'posed to be the most powerful pony in the world?"

"What I know is that it took all of Celestia's power and then some to seal her away last time, and what she used to help her won't work again." Cadence then frowned. "She didn't tell us why, but that's not the biggest problem I had with what she said. And I think I can assume," she looked pointedly at the fiery-maned unicorn, "that she told you more of her scheming than the two of us. I'm not wrong, am I?"

"She did."

"Ugh. Of course." She facehooved with a heavy sigh. "You can't seriously be going through with all this?"

"Well, it's not like we have very many options! We don't have time to rouse an entire guard and tell them where the old castle is, and that's ignoring the fact that going in that place is dangerous and we could lose a lot of ponies in a group that big. It's just not feasible to coordinate--"

"I get it, Sunny." Cadence's anger began to rise once more. "But forgive me if I have reservations about sending the two of you in that god-forsaken forest by yourself because among other things, that doesn't sound like any better of a plan."

"Wait," Twilight spoke up from her silent absorption of the conversation, "'two of you'? Who else?"

Sunset wore a solemn expression.

"You, Twi."

The violet mare tensed as more questions danced on her tongue. "W-where? And why?"

Sunset sighed, and was silent for a long moment. When she began talking once more, her face wore her guilt fully.

"Look, Twilight. You were right. About everything. Celestia didn't want to worry you with it because she knew you would figure it out eventually anyway. She couldn't stop the Dark Mare because the weapons she used denied her what she wanted."

"How could weapons just--"

"The Six Blessings."

Everyone's eyes turned to Cadence as she explained. "They were the most powerful artifacts in all the world, stronger than Celestia herself. If I'm to believe what she said, exponentially so." She took a moment for this information to sink in before resuming. "She used them to save Equestria from countless threats before, but apparently they had different plans for the Dark Mare than she did, because they're what imprisoned the Dark Mare for the last one thousand years."

"But why can't she just use them again?? If these blessings wanted to seal her away and have the power to do so for so long then why not just have them remake the spell??"

"That's the thing, though, Twi," Sunset readjusted herself in her seat, "They went inert, and even if they didn't they told Sunbutt that they wouldn't be used by her anymore."

Twilight connected the dots in her head. "So we have to find them and figure out how to make them work again."

The mistress of manila nodded. "And the good news is, we already know where they are, and it's not too far."

"And that is..."

"Also the bad news." Sunset lit her horn as she talked. "They're in Equestria's old seat of power, the Castle of the Sisters. Where that witch was headed."

"Which means she knows that they could be a threat..."

"And probably the worst part about it is what we'll have to go through to reach the place." Sunset's magic reached upstairs and found her saddlebags, bringing them down to their owner. They unbuckled and a map wrapped in teal light emerged, unfurling before the unicorn, who passed it to Twilight to read.

It was a map of the area surrounding Ponyville. It had multiple quick strokes and coded jargon that Twilight couldn't make sense of focused on the vale itself, but most of the rest were along a clearly marked path leading into...

"The Everfree Forest?"

A collective gasp caused the mare to jump. The gathered residents quickly voiced their knowledge of the wood.

"Oh, goodness! How dreadful!!"

"That place ain't natural!"

"Nopony who's gone in there's ever come out!"

"I did, but--"

"It's crazy! And I know crazy!"

Twilight rolled her currently mismatched eyes and scoffed. "It's just a bunch of trees."

"No, y'all don't understand! The plants there grow without anypony helping them!"

"A-and the animals care for themselves!" Fluttershy shivered at the thought.

"And the clouds over it move all on their own!" Rainbow Dash gestured wildly to accompany her exclamation. "I'm serious, purple; I used to live in the woods, and they're nothin' compared to the stuff that comes out of the Everfree sometimes!"

"That does sound rather unusual, I suppose... but it can't be anything compared to the Dar--" Twilight froze and her pupils shrunk.

"Twily?" Cadence nudged her ottomate. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just now fully realizing that I've been tasked with facing the monster of my nightmares by the ruler of the country." The purple pony-creature's unmasked eye twitched.

"Oh, sweetie..." With some effort, Cadence was able to shift her body and drape a weak wing over the mare.

Sunset watched the two with concern, but before long moved to stand and gather her bags. "well, we can't afford to waste any more time. The sooner we head out to find these things, the better."

The alicorn shot a glare at the unicorn. "You two are NOT going in there."

"We're going, Lovie. You know we don't have any other choice." Her repacking was stopped by an orange hoof on her foreleg. She tensed for a fight, but when she looked to the offending earth pony she saw no anger.

"Well you ain't goin' in there all by your lonesome. Ah'm comin'."

Sunset knocked the mare's hoof away. "No. It's too dangerous for normal ponies."

The thestral snorted and stretched. "I'm pretty sure not a single mare in this library could be considered 'normal', girl."

"Well, it's not a place for anypony to go in, does that explain it simply enough?"

"Yes. Even so," Rarity joined the three ponies, "the two of you are perhaps the most vulnerable to the horrors of the forest. And you still intend to go in?"

"Yes? I thought this was clear already?"

"Well, you can't do it yourself! What if there's a big rock or something in the way and your magic can't cut it? Betchoo'd regret not having a couple earth ponies with ya then, huh?"

"You ain't an earth pony, sugarcube."

"But I got the muscles!" Pinkie flexed her foreleg as it suddenly bulked up to twice the size, musculature rippling so deeply it could be seen under her fur.

"Point is, it'd be better if you had us along." Rainbow Dash bared her sharp teeth in a grin. "Mostly me, but everypony else would help too." She looked to the still sitting false pegasus. "Right Fluttershy?"

"Oh! Um--" The changeling fidgeted as she stumbled over her words, "I don't k-know... The Everfree Forest is really scary a-a-and I-- I wouldn't be of much use..."

"But you're by far the best with animals of anyone in town, darling! Perhaps you'll be able to keep them from attacking us?"

"Heck, ya might even be able t'get them to help out, too!"

"I'm still not okay with any of this--"

"I don't care how okay with it you are, Sunset." Twilight rose from the ottoman to confront the unicorn, her episode having passed and her face determined. "Because I'm not okay with anything that's happened today, but it apparently wasn't important enough to acknowledge! While I would like to endanger as few individuals as possible, we don't know what's in that forest, and these mares at least have an idea. So if we're going to put our lives on the line just because Celestia said so," she looked to the gathered ponies, invigorated by her purpose, "we're doing it my way. If you want to assist us, you're free to come along."

"But, Twili--"

"No buts! Cadence, could you watch Spike please?" She pointed to the young drakeling, who was now snoring beside the princess. "I know it's a lot to ask, considering, but--"

"Absolutely, Twilight." The mare smiled at the alicorn.

"Thank you. I promise, we'll all make it back, alive, one way or another."

Sunset, finding herself incapable of arguing, peeked around the group of mares at Cadence with a pleading expression. The pink princess simply grinned at her smugly.

Author's Notes:

Cadence did a universe title-drop.

I can't promise a solid date, but I can promise it won't take six months to write this time.

Yes, I did include Flash Sentry specifically to aggravate his silly haters, why do you ask.