<Days earlier>

Alarms went off at random. A unicorn mare fell out of her bed, woken by the alarms. She got up and ran to the control panel. An orange stallion in a blue suit and tie walked beside her and offered some tea.

“Not right now. Don’t you hear the alarms going off?” She asked to him. “The scanners have picked up something. It’s a large amount of magic.”

She pressed a button and the video stream showed the Massive Everfree Forest. She looked to see a portal open. A table appeared, then a lavender alicorn fell through the portal and landed on the table.

“Is that who I think it is?” questioned the orange stallion.

“It could be her?” she answered him. “Let’s watch and find out.”

******

<Present day>

Twilight and the others were trying to figure out what to do with the Intel about Applejack. Could they trust this mare? ‘F’ still didn’t. It had been an hour since she broke contact. Suddenly the gem began to vibrate again.

Twilight looked and then used some dark magic on it. The video stream came through perfectly this time. It was the Doctor. “Doctor Whooves, Is everything okay?” she questioned.

“No Twilight everything's not okay. The weak and children got out okay, but all the Cloud Rebels are gone. It seemed some were killed while others were sent to the Rainbow Factory.”

“What is the Rainbow Factory?” she questioned.

Suddenly ‘F’ spoke up. “The Rainbow Factory was a former base of the Cult of Light, but nowadays it’s being used by Night Fright for his experiments.”

“What are we going to do?”

Soon Big Macintosh walked over. “Is Cheerilee okay?” he asked the Doctor.

“Yeah, she is fine.” He answered. It seemed a bit strange to Twilight that he would ask that, but she tuned the idea out for the moment when she saw ‘F’ walking off.

“‘F’ where are you going?” she asked.

“I was a former member of the Cult of Light, so I will know the best way for them to get in.”

She walked over to him. “But you can’t just leave. We need you to get into Tartarus.” She got him to stop when she said those words. “I’ve read that Burning Star is a light magic user. We'll need your help.”

“Please Twilight, you don’t know what you are asking.” He said as he started to tremble. A cough started as he tried to continue. “I will never set foot in Tartarus…...Don’t make me fight her.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight questioned. Soon his cough got worse, bringing up red dust again. He quickly grabbed out a breathing apparatus, using it to stabilize his breathing. Twilight backed away as Discord approached him.

“Twilight I’ll talk to ‘F’ about it. Just go stand by Big Macintosh.” She did just as Discord asked of her. Meanwhile, Discord began to talk with ‘F’. Twilight couldn’t hear what they were saying but knew there were secrets about ‘F’. Maybe this was one she shouldn’t push for.

Soon they were done. Discord walked over and said, “Okay here is the plan. The Doctor, Derpy, and Flash will rescue Rainbow Dash. Meanwhile, you, ‘F’ and Big Macintosh will enter Tartarus. At the same time, I’ll handle Pinkie Pie.”

“Look if ‘F’ doesn’t want to go -- ”

Soon ‘F’ interrupted her. “No. I need to do this. I knew when I joined the original Twilight in her mission, I knew I would have to face my demons. I just didn’t think I would face one so soon.” He walked forward. “Come on, I know a way into Tartarus. But first, let’s look at that map.”

Twilight grabbed out the map and turned it on. “Now zoom into that spot beyond Flim Flam Farms.” She did that and saw a strange crack in the ground. “You see, when Burning Star killed Celestia, she absorbed her magic as well as her cutie mark. Using that large amount of magic, she ripped a hole straight to Tartarus. It’s the quickest way in.”

“Alright. I guess one more split up.”

******

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, inside Nightmare Spire, Prince Nexus Star appeared in front a throne covered in shadows and tubes. He quickly bowed as he arrived. “Father, do you know why Mother has called me away from the battle?”

Father slowly lifted his head. “I do not know, son, but it’s best not to question her.”

Nexus Star’s face saddened at the look Father had. To him, Father looked so weakened. “You need not push yourself so much, Father. I’ll go up and see what she wants.”

The prince got up and walked to the exit. It was strange. This would be the first he had seen Mother since Twilight’s supposed death.

At the top of the spire was Nightmare’s throne. Nexus Star reached the top and looked around. It was too dark to see much of anything. All he could see was chains that led to the center.

He followed the chains until he found who was hooked up to them. His eyes widened as he saw the mare. Then a voice spoke. “Hello my son, I see you found my prisoner.”

Nexus Star turned to the throne of Nightmare as everything began to make sense. “So that Twilight out there is not the Twilight we know.” A smile crept on his face as he continued, “You truly are twisted, Mother.”

“I want you to stop hunting down this fake Twilight. Right now we have bigger problems. It seems the child of dark and light has made contact with her.”

“Interesting. What you want me to do about it?” he questioned.

“I need you to bolster our defenses. Meanwhile, I have sent Princess Burning Star some backup,” she answered.

After receiving his orders, he headed back downstairs. Once there he looked upon Father. Father saw him and spoke. “So you have seen the truth.”

Nexus Star’s fist tightened in anger. “Yes, I have, Father.”

******

Flash, the Doctor, Derpy, Spitfire, and Soarin arrived at the tower of Fallen Canterlot. But something was wrong, there were no guards anywhere. They exited the ship and notice nopony was attacking them.

This was strange, very strange. Just where was everypony? It had looked like everypony had just left. The five continued to walk around. They knew they had to take down the shield that covered the tower if they wanted into the Empire.

They soon made their way to the control systems. “Doc, get over there and shut it down,” said Flash.

Doctor Whooves walked over to the control systems and grabbed out his sonic. While he was working, the others continued to keep watch. “It’s quiet, too quiet?” questioned Soarin.

“I don’t know what’s going on. This place was in a ruckus when I left,” answered Spitfire.

“Keep your guard up, everypony.”

Suddenly the Doctor spoke. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh. What do you mean ‘uh oh’?” questioned Flash.

“They all left.”

“Where to?” he asked as he got closer.

“Look for yourself,” the Doctor finished as he brought up the coordinates. Flash’s eyes widened as sweat went down his cheek.

“Shit.”

******

Twilight, ‘F’ and Big Macintosh made their way to the crack. It was a massive drop. They knew this would be hard. They entered the abyss. It looked just as Radiant Hope had described it. It was a hellish place filled with the condemned and imprisoned. They slowly climbed their way down, ‘F’ somehow climbing effortlessly despite only having one arm. As they climbed Twilight began to think of how the mysterious Radiant Hope could see them. ‘Hmm I heard the Doctor talk about a technology called cameras. That could be what’s she is using.’ Suddenly something brought her out of her thoughts. There were wails of terror and screams all around from the prisoners as stepping in plain sight was the warden of this prison and the ruler of Tartarus - Princess Burning Star.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked down to finally see who this mare was. She had a yellow coat color and red and yellow mane. She wore a long, torn, almost burnt black overcoat covered in metal bolts. Under it, she wore a magenta shirt and torn jeans.

It was Sunset Shimmer. But that was not the most shocking part. She was an alicorn. “It’s Sunset! she’s an alicorn?!?” she whispered.

“No, she’s not. She is a light alicorn,” said ‘F’.

Soon they were attacked and they had to jump. Luckily they landed pretty well. They got up as Burning Star charged them. She pulled out a trident and swung fire magic right at them. Soon the attack was stopped by fire from the sky. Green fire.

Twilight looked up to see Rarity and Spike landing. “Twilight, I see you got contacted by the mare too.”

“Rarity?”

Rarity grabbed out her crystal sword and Spike returned back to his original size. They all got ready for battle. Burning Star looked upon them and let out psychotic laughter. “Well hello, sisters. You're in my domain. I suggest you give up.”

“We will not,” said Twilight. “We are getting in there, Sunset.”

She snickered, “Sunset? I haven’t been called that name in years. Who told you that name?” she questioned. She looked beyond them to ‘F’ and gave a wicked smile. “So you told her.” She lifted her trident and aimed it at ‘F’ as he stepped forward. The next words she said sent everypony spinning. “Great grandfather.”

“What?” Twilight questioned as her mouth couldn’t stop gaping.

She looked at Twilight and continued, “You don’t know yet, do you, faker Twilight?”

“What?” Twilight questioned again. “You know I’m not the real one?”

“Yes, I do. And if you want to know the real truth about ‘F’, I will show you.” Suddenly she swung another attack so fast Twilight couldn’t get out of the way. But next thing she knew was ‘F’ moving at lightning speed. He stepped in front of her and took the fire blast head on. A vision floated forth as the flames engulfed him.

******

‘F’ was walking through the land under Cloudsdale. He had been following a message that Saruman would proceed with his plan here. He kept walking through the land until he spotted a small group.

‘F’ eyes widened as he saw three fillies, one colt, Saruman and Night Fright. But worse of all, one of the fillies was his great granddaughter. He ran quickly over.

“Saruman, what is going on here?”

Saruman turned and saw ‘F’. “Oh hello ‘F’, I hoped you would have arrived soon.”

“Why is my great granddaughter here?” he questioned while unaware that his left sleeve began to twitch.

“Well, that’s simple. She has been told the truth,” Saruman raised both his hands up then continued. “They all have been told the truth.”

‘F’ looked at the other children now that he was close enough. One was a purple batpony with a green mane, ‘Jack Nox’. The other was a light blue unicorn, ‘Trixie Lulamoon’ and the final one was a lavender unicorn. “She looks just like--”

“Oh yes, she does, doesn’t she,” Saruman quickly interrupted. “This is Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil.” He placed his hand over her head, ruffling her mane.

“Quit it, Father,” she complained.

‘F’’s eyes widened even more as he slowly backed away. “She just called you Father?”

“Yes, I have adopted all of them. I saved them while their families were attacked by an assassin.”

“Cult Race,” ‘F’ quickly answered.

“Was that him? It was the first I had seen of him,” he lied. It was fully obvious that Cult Race was currently working for Saruman, but ‘F’ couldn't try to warn the other children without putting his own great-granddaughter in danger.

He looked at his granddaughter, hoping he could call her to his side. “Get away from him, Sunset.”

Suddenly his sleeve quaked in agony. He fell to the ground. “Oh he senses it, doesn’t he ‘F’?” Saruman questioned as he looked at the sleeve. He called to the sleeve. “Can you hear me, parasite? My old enemy. You can no longer hide in that host.” The left sleeve quickly rose up as something shot forth from it. Shooting out of the sleeve was not a left arm at all, but a strange looking serpent-like bug. The bug tried to strike Saruman down but was stopped as in the distance a rainboom could be seen starting to form. “It has begun,” he said as he summoned a great mass of dark magic that lifted him and the four children up to the sky, while Night Fright stayed on the ground to take notes.

Soon Saruman and the children rose up to the height of the rainboom. “The four stars shall help in her escape,” he said as he held out his scythe. "Let see if that prophecy is true." He dipped it in the rainboom as it passed, turning it black. He then lifted it up to the sky and the scythe stretched up to where the Moon would be. Then he lifted his hand, signaling to somepony in the distance.

‘F’ looked to see Celestia as she lifted the moon. “What is Celestia doing?”

“She wants her sister back. That’s all she wants.”

Celestia was in tears. “What did you do to Celestia?”

“Nothing much. All I did was pulled on her sorrows for her sister until she gave me what I desired.” His scythe stretched even higher as the moon got closer. The four children began to glow. Then with a quick swing, he impaled the moon with the scythe. The moon began to crack as Nightmare Moon was slowly released.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Rainboom began to clear as the parasite regained the ability to move once more. It rose up and flew forward towards Saruman, as the vision began to clear.

******

The flames cleared as his cloak was burned off. Twilight’s eyes widened as after all this time she saw his true form. He stood taller than most. His head was that of a yellow unicorn with a fiery mane. His face had a scar over the left eye, his right arm was that of a pony of a different color. His right leg was that of a dragon, his left leg that of a spider. He had changeling wings and the tail of a manticore, and his left side including his left arm was gone. Instead, there was a gaping hole, in which his insides could be seen, but they were old, extremely old, like dust. They were black and rotted.

“You see this is who he is. He made a deal with a great evil. In exchange, he gained a body that could never die. But at the same time could never heal. He‘s a walking corpse. A bunch of body parts stitched together with magic. An undead fake draconequus ” said Burning Star. She then looked at Twilight with a glare and continued. “And why did he make the deal? To protect the princess he adored. The princess he loved.”

“What?” Twilight questioned as she trembled in shock.

“That's right, Twilight. Do you want to know Celestia's biggest secret? She only ever chose us because we are descended from royal blood. Only in my case, my blood is descended from a two-thousand-year-old bloodline that leads straight to Celestia.”

‘F’ looked down in shame. He had hoped he could keep the secret longer, but now it was out. He turned to Twilight. “Twilight, go save your friend. I’ll handle my granddaughter.”

“But she’ll kill you.”

He turned back toward Burning Star. “Didn’t you hear her? I can’t die.” He began to chant a spell as he stomped his cane three times. On the third time, the cane began to glow as he held it up like a sword. Soon light magic wrapped around it, turning it into a blade.

“Come on Twilight,” said Rarity as she grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”

The four took their leave, but not before Burning Star aimed her trident at them. “Sunset!” yelled ‘F’, “Your fight is with me.”

She snickered, “Alright then, let’s go.” She charged right at him. The two began their battle as Twilight and the rest made their way into Tartarus.

They ran through the caves as Twilight’s mind wondered. Everything she knew was now thrown into question. Everything. She now knew why Sunset was chosen but was she chosen for the same reason? Did she too descend from a royal line? And if so then who?

Was it this Father guy? Was it Nightmare? Was it Luna? Was it Celestia too? Or was it somepony else? But the true terror that was going through her head was the most terrifying question of all. Was she of the dark or the light?

They continued to run when all of the sudden a cave-in began. Twilight was too distracted by her thoughts to see a boulder as it hit her right in the head.

******

Hours later, Twilight woke up. She found herself lying on the ground. She sat up while holding her head. She looked around to see if everypony was okay. She saw Rarity hitting at a rock wall. She realized there must have been a cave-in. Soon Big Macintosh walked over.

“You're awake.” Twilight looked at him with a smile, but he couldn’t help but frown.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We found Applejack and even Gilda, but,” he couldn’t finish. However as Twilight looked around, it soon hit her like a kick in the gut.

“Wait a minute…. Spike? Where is he?!” She noted in distress that he was missing from the group.

“We got separated during the cave in,” he finally said.

Twilight stood up at those words. Tears started to fall from her face.

******

Meanwhile, above ground, a certain draconequus in disguise walked up to a pink earth pony mare with a flat mane in a business suit. “What do you need?” she asked.

“I would like to make an appointment.”

******

Twilight soon cleared her tears and walked over to Rarity. She placed her hand on her shoulder. Rarity finally stopped hitting the wall.

“Come on Rarity we need to get moving.”

Rarity took a moment and then turned around. Twilight smiled. Rarity wrapped her arms around her and let her tears fall.

Meanwhile, Applejack walked up to her brother. “It’s good to see you, Big Mac.” He didn’t answer. She looked down, assuming he must still be mad at her for joining the other side.

“So how did you end up in up in here?” he finally questioned.

She smiled, “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but those Flim Flam brothers wanted me to lie.”

He smiled, and slowly let a chuckle loose. Applejack joined in and soon the two were laughing up a storm.

Rarity let go of Twilight as she calmed down. They turned to the two that were laughing. Rarity was slightly annoyed, but Twilight was not. This was the first time she had saw this timeline’s Big Macintosh smile.

Soon, however, the happy moment was gone as Gilda spoke up. “You four, I don’t mean to interrupt the family reunion, but we’ve got a problem.”

They turned to see Gilda in a battle stance. They looked beyond her to see prisoners charging right towards them. Twilight didn’t know why they were being attacked. But what was strangest of all was the fact they refused to stay down. It was like they had no control. They had to fight, fight and fight.

Suddenly Rarity fell down as pain hit her. Twilight turned to Big Macintosh, nodding to him and she stepped back. She turned to Rarity who had fallen. “Rarity, what wrong?”

“Spike is in pain. He’s in a battle with somepony. And he’s losing.” She grabbed her chest, feeling the pain in her second heart.

Twilight grabbed Rarity and pulled her up. “Come on, we’ve got to get moving.” After she got her arm around her, they tried to get somewhere safe as the rest tried to fight off the prisoners. Twilight looked up to see a speakerphone. She yelled, “Radiant Hope are you there?!”

“Yeah, I’m here, I can see you on my cameras,” she spoke through the speakerphone.

“We could use some help here. Can you see what’s happening with Spike?”

Radiant Hope looked upon her cameras only for her eyes to widen. “That’s going to be a problem. I can’t pick up the dragon on any of my cameras, plus somepony seems to be shutting them all down. You four need to get out of there now.”

“That’s going to be really hard,” Twilight complained.

Suddenly an explosion could be heard. All the prisoners stopped and turned to the explosion. They began to bow.

Twilight and the rest looked in shock as walking out of the smoke was Princess Dead Star, a.k.a. Trixie Lulamoon. Dead Star held out her hands over the prisoners. Their wounds began to heal.

Gilda spoke, “So the rumors are true.”

Twilight looked to her, “Rumors? What rumors?”

“That she can resurrect the dead.” She pointed to a body that clearly had had its neck snapped. Suddenly the body rose forth. “That why these prisoners refuse to stay down. We’ve been fighting the undead.”

Twilight handed Rarity to Applejack as they all looked down in sorrow. There no way they were going to win now. Dead Star would just keep resurrecting the enemy. And it’s wasn’t like they could make her stop. She was immortal, unkillable. What were they going to do?

Soon Big Macintosh walked forward and asked, “You control the dead?”

She smirked, “Well not all, just the ones that were weak-minded in life.”

“So if I kill you, they fall.” He charged forward without even waiting for an answer. Before she could even react, he quickly swung his axe and lopped off her right arm. She fell forward, screaming in agony. She wobbled her way to him.

Twilight’s, Gilda’s and Applejack’s hopes were raised upon seeing her fall. Meanwhile, Rarity continued to still feel pain from Spike. He was in danger and his heart rate was getting slower.

Dead Star fell on to Big Macintosh’s axe handle still screaming. Suddenly her screaming stop as his eyes shot wide open. Everypony suddenly trembled as they saw a right arm stabbing through his gut.

Dead Star pulled back, ripping a hole right in his gut. Blood slowly seeped out the wound. She backed away smiling, “Well you have a tough stomach. Any other pony would have had their intestines ripped right out.”

Big Macintosh backed away and looked to see where he had chopped. There wasn’t just one new arm, there were two. She now had three arms in all. She reached under her cloak and pulled out four long black stakes.

She then did the unexpected. She lopped off her left arm and two arms took its place. Now with four arms, she held one stake in each.

Big Macintosh looked in horror, quickly realizing there was no way to win. Well, there was one way. He tightened his grip on his axe. With one hand he pulled out his locket and opened it. A tear went down his eye as he looked inside.

“I’m sorry,” He closed it and turned, throwing the locket to Twilight. “Twilight, get that to Cheerilee!”

She caught it and open it. Her eyes widened. Inside was a picture of him, Cheerilee and a baby. She looked at him, screaming. “You and Cheerilee? Big Mac, you can’t do this to her!”

They watched in horror as he charged right at her. He swung again lopping off more arms, only for her to regenerate two new ones in their place. Soon she had several arms, yet he kept attacking. Eventually, she grabbed the axe from his hands in annoyance.

“Don’t get it. You can’t win.” She lifted her arms and the undead charged right at him, piling all over him. He started using his fist, knocking undead left and right. The other wanted to help, but he told them to stay back. This was his battle. Soon he knocked enough of them away to charge right at her head on. She quickly used her several arms to flip him, and hold him in the air, but not before he grabbed his axe.

Once she did that. She pulled out a stake and spoke, “Well you are tough. You have a gaping hole in your stomach and you still won’t drop.” She smiled, “Any last words?”

“Just four,” he lifted his axe and swung for her neck. “Death to the Empi -- .”

He was stopped as she stabbed him right in the chest. Afterward, she threw his motionless body to the ground. The group trembled as they saw him fall. Dead Star walked to them snickering, “Well that’s two down. The Great and Powerful Trixie should make Rarity join her husband next.”

Rarity’s eyes shot open at those words as she pulled away from Applejack. “Wait a minute. When you said two…...you didn’t just mean Big Mac.” Soon it became obvious what had happened to Spike. “It can’t be…... you didn’t.” Dead Star just smiled at her words. That made Rarity snap.

Rarity lifted her sword and screamed, “You bitch!!” She summoned forth several crystal shards and shot them right at Dead Star. The others backed away as Rarity continued to summon forth more shard to shoot at her. Hundreds, thousands, all flying at Dead Star. Yet each shard did little to nothing to stop her.

“Are you done?” she questioned as if it was nothing. Rarity saw that her attacks had done nothing at all. She had let out all of her rage and anger. Now it was all gone. She finally broke down into tears.

“My Spikey Wikey. I loved him!” she screamed. “Why didn’t I tell him the truth?”

“Tell him what?” Dead Star questioned continuing forward ready to kill them all where they stood. Twilight looked at the rest and realized what she must do. She stepped into the front.

“Applejack, Gilda, get Rarity out of here.”

“But what about you?”

“No leave me and save yourself,” Rarity spoke up.

“No,” Twilight argued as she held up her katana.

“Just go. I’m dead anyway, remember?”

Trixie threw a stake that was too fast for Twilight. It knocked her katana out of her hands. Trixie launched another stake directly toward Rarity and Twilight jumped in the way, taking the stake right in her shoulder. Blood began to pour from the wound.

“Why won’t you just leave me?” Rarity cried.

“I’m sick of all this pain.” She grabbed the stake in her shoulder and pulled it out. “I can’t stand by and let somepony else be killed, not when I can do something.” Twilight got ready for the next attack. She was going to fight to the bitter end. “I don’t care anymore if I get back to my timeline, I have to protect this one.”

Suddenly a new voice spoke, “Well spoken. Now that sound like the Twilight I fell in love with.”

Upon seeing the two figures behind Dead Star, Twilight pulled up a fireproof shield over them as the room was covered in green flames. The flames cleared to reveal Flash and Spike, alive.

Trixie trembled in agony over her torched body. She turned to them and screamed, “You should have been crushed to death to by now!”

Flash smirked, “You should have realized dragon’s skin is pretty stubborn.” Spike blew more flames at her while Flash grabbed Twilight's katana. Once cleared again, he charged right at her. “You say you can’t die. But I know that’s more of a curse than a blessing.” He moved at lightning speed and chopped off her arms. “So let see how many I can chop off until you until stay down.”

He was much faster as he chopped her up, piece by piece. Each piece he lopped off, he moved out of the way to have Spike shoot more flames. Twilight quickly realized what they were doing. They were sealing the wounds shut.

This continued for several moments until the last that was cut off was her head. As her head fell she questioned, “How did you know?”

“Big Macintosh showed us.” Her eyes widened. “Your flesh acts like a hydra. It was simple to figure out a way to fight you after that.”

After defeating Dead Star, the group met back up. Spike and Rarity ran into each other's arms. Flash walked over to the princess’s body and stabbed the katana into it. He carved a hole and then leaned down and pulled out the Dark Alicorn Amulet.

“Hmmm, so this is what gave her immortality.” Suddenly the amulet began to glow and burn his hand. He dropped it as it suddenly flew off. “Shit, it probably went back to its master.”

As soon as it left, the undead prisoners began to drop.

Twilight walked up to him as he cleaned off the blood and ash off the katana. He turned towards her and handed back the blade. She took it back and put it in its sheath. Afterward, he caught her by surprise as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I thought I would be too slow again.”

Twilight smiled with increasing joy as she took the embrace. The moment was sweet. But soon the moment was interrupted as Spike spoke up.

“Rarity, no more hiding the truth. You said you wanted to say something to me.”

Rarity looked at him. She tried to clear her tears. He needed to know now more than ever. She turned to Twilight and asked her a question, “Twilight, I’m a generous mare, right?” she nodded a yes. Tears continued to fall. “That’s a lie.” Everypony’s eyes widened. She then turned to Spike. “What is the most important thing a married mare can give?”

Suddenly the truth hit them all. She continued. “That right. When I was young my mentor took me to a doctor. She had me….she had me sterilized.” Her tears fell down harder. “You see Spike, I’m supposed to be the most generous mare of all, and yet I can’t give you a child!”

Spike placed her head under his. “It’s okay. You give me plenty.”

“You gave me a new heart, and I can’t give you a new life!”

Twilight looked away from them for a moment, this was too much. It was then she spotted something. She let go of Flash and walked over to a strange platform. Flash, Applejack, and Gilda followed her. “Hmm.” she mused as she examined it. “Hey Radiant Hope, I want you to look at your cameras really quick.”

“Yeah okay.” She did just that. “Okay, I see you four on the platform.”

“Is there any power hooked up to this?”

“No, it’s too ancient. Why.”

“Because I thought I could power this with my dark magic very much the same way that Jack Nox would use his gauntlets. But there is a problem we need to solve first.”

“Yes, and what is it?”

“That wall above us is what separates the old Equestria from the Empire. I need you to take down the shield that covers it. According to my tracker, your cell lies right under the wall.”

Flash heard her words and walked over. “You mean you plan to start another war with them?”

She turned to Flash to explain. “No, at least not yet. I was thinking with the shields down it would provide enough of a distraction for the rescue of Rainbow Dash.”

Soon the mare spoke up, “Alright I’ll do it but first you have to rescue me.”

Twilight turned back to the speaker, “What? No. You turn off the shields and in the chaos you can escape on your own.” Twilight was annoyed. She already didn’t trust this mare and now this mare wanted to be rescued too, putting them in more danger.

“Look, that teleport is the only way out. As soon as I got the shield down you could easily abandon me.”

“Fine.” Twilight turned to Flash. “How would long it take for us to get there?”

“Hmm, I could get there in five minutes, but I can only carry two at a time,” he answered.

“Okay, I guess you'll have to carry me over there and then we get her loose,” she said, walking up beside him. Flash leaned down as she wrapped her arms around him and he lifted her in his arms. Sure she had thought everything through, but forgot the obvious closeness that would be involved. This was best noted by a blush that began to cover her face.

“Ready?” he questioned.

Twilight waved her head back and forth and answered, “Ready.”

“Then let’s go.” And with that, he raced off.

******

Author's Notes:

Well, this was quite the chapter. from the reveals to the dangerous battle with Dead Star. Next chapter we get the truth on Radiant Hope in Chapter 19: How About A Taste Of Insanity?