Alright... lets go through this one more time. Shoulder rifle, lift, aim down sights, finger on trigger... pull.

My shoulder jerks back, and my ears ring at the bullet pierces the air. I watch it fly through the air, my mind allowing me to almost see it in slow motion. It leaves a gaping hole in the side of a paint can, as well as causing said can to fly backwards a good ten feet.

"Nice shot!" John says as he pats my shoulder with a hand. "Almost as good as your's truly." He says with a chuckle.

"Hey, I wouldn't speak so soon. I'm an excellent shooter." I say proudly with a thumb pointed to my chest.

"Maybe with a pistol, but with a rifle... Well, you're not bad to say the least." We both laugh softly before the crunching of leaves and sticks snaps us back to our senses. I bring up the rifle out of reflex, but John pushes it down when he sees who is approaching us.

"Twilight? Why are you out here?" I say with a sigh as I look down, realizing I almost shot my friend.

"Um, I have some news? You want the good or the bad first?"

"I'm gonna go with good." I say as I hand the rifle back to John. I take a few steps toward Twilight before looking down at her.

"Well, Rainbow is awake, though she's still pretty out of it."

"That's great!"

"Well, it would be, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, you should probably see for yourself." Twilight says as she begins to trot back towards the cabin. I wave for John to follow, and the three of us make our way back to the cabin. It takes about five minutes at our pace, but we make it without breaking much of a sweat. I open the back door and rush inside towards the living room.

I come to a stop when I see everyone huddled around the couch, noticing some of their expressions. Some are of worry, some confusion, and come I can't even make out. I push my way towards the couch before kneeling down in front of it.

"Rainbow! You're awake! I'm so glad..." I say as I bury my face into the fur on her chest.

"Um... thanks?" She says weakly. "Just one question, well two really."

"Shoot." I say with joyful tears in my eyes.

"Why are you hugging me, and who the hay are you?"

I drop backwards like a sack of bricks. I feel something catch me, and turn my head ever so slightly to see Applejack with a foreleg wrapped around my back, keeping me from completely falling over. I sit there on my knees, staring wide eyed at Rainbow, my jaw hanging open. All sound seems to fade into the distance before becoming an inaudible mumble. All I can hear is the loud heartbeat pulsing through my ears.

"Matt? Matt!" I blink twice before seeing Alex kneeling right in front of me. "You good?"

"She... doesn't know me?" I ask, a single tear streaking down the side of my face.

"She doesn't know any of us... well, most of us."

"What do you mean most of us?"

"I think I can explain." Twilight says as she walks up to us. "Her sickness is just getting worse guys, this is a side effect of the illness. Good news is, we can cure it if he hurry. Bad news, we have to go to Equestria to make said cure."

"Okay, but what about her memory?"

"I studied this sickness, along with many other pony illnesses. I read that this is one of the most common side effects, partial memory loss. Think of her memory as a sheet of paper, and a bunch of holes are being cut out of it. That's what is happening to her. When Alex said she doesn't remember most of us, he wasn't bluffing. She seems to remember, oddly enough, only Alice, Rarity, and Applejack." Twilight explains in her scholarly voice.

"Why them though? Shouldn't she remember me? I mean... if she doesn't that means... she doesn't love me anymore..." I whisper the last part under my breath so quietly, I'm surprised that I even heard it.

"It isn't like she chose to remember them specifically, that's just how it happened. I'm sorry Matt, but unless we get that cure, we're never going to have the same Rainbow back... Of course, that won't matter since she'll..." Twilight starts to tear up, but I understand where she was going with that statement. She means that if Rainbow doesn't get that cure soon, she's going to die.

"Then we're getting that fucking cure." I say with a hint of anger in my voice. I pull the blue cube, which I decided to call the "Key" since it basically unlocks rifts and whatnot, and toss it into the air once. I catch the Key with my left hand, and shoot it forward towards an empty wall. A crack of lighting echoes through the cabin, and the room lights up with an energetic, electric blue glow.

"I'm getting that cure, and nothing is stopping me." I say firmly as I walk towards the rift. Twilight walks up next to me, and it appears she is coming with me. Very well, she probably knows a hell of a lot more than I do about this. "Anyone else?" I ask as I look over my shoulder.

"Count me in!" Alice says with a determined smile as she runs up next to us.

"I suppose I shall go too. I'd do anything for Rainbow Dash." Rarity says as she walks up next to us.

"Me too." Alex says as he walks forward. I place hand on his chest and push him back towards Rainbow, who has once again passed out.

"No, you're staying with her. I trust you with my life Alex, so I'm trusting you with her's too. You keep her comfortable, you watch her 24/7, and you don't let anything happen to her, got it?"

"I-I guess so. Yeah, I'll watch her Matt."

"Good. Twilight, how long will this take?" I ask as we prepare to enter the portal.

"No idea Matt. It could take a few minutes to a few days because I'm not sure what ingredients I do or don't have."

"Alrighty then... Lets get a move on." I say to the two mares and Alice. We begin walking forward, but I'm stopped by a voice suddenly speaking up.

"Take this." John says as he tosses me the rifle. I catch it, and strap in around my back. He tosses me a couple of extra clips, and I stuff them into my back pockets. "Keep my sister safe. You never know what you'll run into."

"I promise." I say with a confident nod. I turn around to see the other three have already vanished into the portal. I step forward, taking one last look at Rainbow. "I love you." I whisper to myself before I'm engulfed in a white light.

As quickly as it came, the light vanishes, and I open my eyes to find myself standing in the middle of Twilight's library. I sigh as I close the portal behind me, and walk over to a table where the other three have gathered together. I stand still as Twilight levitates random books and boxes around her.

"Alright, found it." She says as one of the books lands on the table.

"Whoa... Magic, I never thought I'd see that." Alice says with a smirk.

"You'll get used to it. This world is pretty fucked up, try not to let it get to you." I say with a confident smile, trying to reassure myself that everything will be alright.

"It is not! Magic makes complete and logical sense. You just aren't smart enough to get it." Twilight says as she begins to flip through the book.

"Oh, wait, what is this I hear?" I say as I lean against the table with both hands. "You think you're smarter than me?"

"I-I think so." Twilight says with a sheepish smile.

"Just ignore her Matt, she does this all the time when she gets into her studies." Rarity says with a smile as she rolls her eyes.

"ANYWAY!" Twilight yells as she blushes in embarrassment. "Here's the recipe for the cure." I grab the book off of the table, and begin to read through the list.

"Pegasus feather, three drops of rain water, pinch of cloud, cup of liquid rainbow, Pneuma flower... Twilight, what the fuck is this? This doesn't sound like any kind of cure I've ever heard of. This doesn't make any sense!" I didn't even bother to read the rest of the ingredients.

"Of course it does! It has to have worked to be in this book! Again, things work differently here than they do on Earth, Matt. You'll just have to get used to it."

"Fine, lets just make this damned thing anyway. First up, pegasus feather."

"OW!" Twilight yelps as she jumps back a little. I start laughing as I look over to see Alice with a purple feather in her hand. She hands it to me, and I place it on the table.

"Nice one Alice." I say as I give her a high-five. Even Rarity is laughing it up with us. Twilight is just giving us a deadpan stare.

"Always on top of things." She says as she crosses her arms and continues to smile.

"Alright, three drops of rain." I say as I turn around. To my misfortune, I find that it isn't even raining outside. I begin to walk towards the door, and the rest of the group follows behind me.

"Wow, this town is beautiful!" Alice says as she spreads her arms out and takes in a deep breath. "And the air is so clean!"

"Yeah, too bad it isn't a rainy day out here, or that Rainbow isn't here. If she was, she could just make it rain." I say as I look up at the sky.

"Wait, really? She can do that?" Alice asks. Rarity pipes up before I can even answer the question.

"All pegasi can control the weather here. Rainbow Dash is the head of the weather team in Ponyville, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see her make a storm all by herself." Rarity explains.

"Wow, that's incredible! Too bad we don't have... a... pegasus." A smirk grows across her face, as well as mine and Rarity's. We all turn towards Twilight, and she gives us confused looks before catching on.

"Whoa, hey, I'm no pegasus. Just because I have wings, doesn't mean I know anything about weather. I was born a unicorn for crying out loud!"

"But you're THE Twilight Sparkle, you know everything." I say as I walk up to her. I pick her up off the ground, and look up at the sky. Spotting a cloud not too far away, my smirk grows even larger. "Now, learn how to make it rain." I chuck Twilight, who is surprisingly light, towards said cloud. Her instincts kick in, and she begins hovering a few feet above us, causing us all to laugh.

"Not. Funny." She says with a deadpan stare. We keep laughing, and eventually she gives up and flies up to the cloud with a sigh. We look up to see her pushing back towards the ground, then lands on top of it when it is only a couple of feet above the grass.

"Alright, make it rain." I say as I watch from a few feet away.

"But I don't know how."

"From what I've seen, Rainbow would jump on the cloud, and it would just start pouring. Try that." I suggest as I watch Twilight stare down at the cloud.

"Worth a shot." She mumbles before barely jumping into the air.

"What the fuck was that? You made it like, two inches off the cloud. You have to full on jump Twilight. Oh, also, Alice, could you go inside a get a glass so we can collect the water?"

"Sure thing." Alice disappears into the library, and I turn back around to see Twilight still attempting to make rain come out of the cloud.

"Come on!" She says in frustration. I kneel down and laugh when I see a single droplet of water splash onto the ground. Good thing we only need three drops. Actually, this could work in our favor. Alice comes back out with a glass, and I hold it under the middle of the cloud.

"Alright, just do that three more times Twilight."

"Ugh, fine! Only for Rainbow!" Twilight grunts as she begins jumping again. Two minutes and three droplets later, we had the required amount. Twilight found a cork for the bottle, and used that to keep the water in, saying it would evaporate it we didn't do so.

"Okay, next?" Rarity asks as I put the bottle next to the feather. I open the book up, and look for the next ingredient.

"A pinch of cloud... Whatever that means." I say in a confused tone. "Can you just rip off parts of clouds?"

"Apparently." Twilight says as she places a tuft of the cloud we used earlier on the table. "I remembered you read that off a while ago, so I saved a piece of it. Don't touch it though, or it'll disintegrate because only pegasi, and I guess alicorns can touch them."

"We know how clouds work Twilight, better than you do apparently." Her ears flatter against her head, and she gives me an annoyed look to which I reply with a chuckle.

"Liquid rainbow? The hell is that?" I ask, very confused.

"Have you not seen Rainbow's house dear?" Rarity asks.

"Yeah, the place is just overflowing with the stuff." Twilight adds on.

"Well yeah I've seen pictures of it." I say, remembering seeing said house on the show a while back. "Never seen it myself though, so I wouldn't know what that stuff is. Well, if its in her house, then Twilight, this is up to you again seeing as you're the only one who can fly."

"Ugh! I have to do everything!" She complains as she walks out the front door. "I'll be back in a minute!" She says before grabbing another bottle and flying off. The door slams shut behind her, and I pick the book up again.

"Rarity, what's a Pneuma Flower?" I ask as I look the picture of it in the book. On the page next to the ingredients, is a picture of a nicely drawn flower labeled "Pneuma Flower".

"I've heard of it, but I couldn't really tell you about it." She says with a shrug. "You should probably ask Twilight when she gets ba-"

"I'm... back!" Twilight huffs out. She looks extremely out of breath.

"That didn't take long." I say as I check my nonexistent watch. "You were gone for like, thirty seconds."

"Well, Rainbow's house... was right above the library. I guess the... wind pushed it here." Twilight says, still trying to catch her breath. "I flew as fast as I could too."

"Well, thanks then." I say as I take the bottle of liquid rainbow from her. I place it next to the other items, then proceed to show Twilight the picture of the flower. "Know what this is?"

"Pneuma Flower!? D-Do we really need that?" She says, sounding somewhat alarmed.

"Yeah, it is a main ingredient after all. Why, is that a problem?"

"Is that contraption of yours loaded Matt?"

"My gun? Yeah, why?"

"Because we're going to need it. We're going to the very heart of the Everfree itself."