Applejack remembered.

She remembered travelling along a long and dusty road with nothing for companionship except her memories of those she had left behind. After all, Ponyville was a backwater village in the middle of nowhere while Manehatten was a bustling city. It was there she'd make a fortune and once she did, she'd go back home and renovate the place. Get that new plow dad always wanted and expand out the existing house to include that high-class kitchen mom desired. She'd come home with links to the upper classes and they'd finally have enough money to send Applebloom to school.

She remembered a lazy summer afternoon in the park with her big brother. How they had played all day long under the scorching sun while their parents watched on from the comforts of the shade. When food had run low, he had split an apple perfectly in half so both could savor that succulent sweetness before running into town for some more. That day was the day he had taught her how to fly a kite and though it took a while to get used to it, she ended up mastering it just like how she mastered everything.

She remembered meeting RD for the first time in her life. It was only the third time she had been allowed to work the field by herself without supervision and it was nearing the middle of the day. Bucking a particularly stubborn tree, a blue pegasus fell right out and landed with a dull thud. For as long as she lived she'd be able to recall that look of surprise on her pegasus friend as well as RD's annoyance at having her nap disturbed. It'd be another year before the two became friends, but that first meeting was probably the most interesting she'd ever had.

She also remembered hiding away in a dark and musty corner of the library with a book clutched between her hooves. She had snuck out of going to school yet again for everything taught there was far too basic – she had mastered it years ago. Instead, she preferred the nice scholarly atmosphere of the library where she could study in peace learn without distractions. And learn about interesting things that she didn't already know by heart. In the end, her brother found her and had to drag her back to Magic Kindergarten, which was just a waste of time in all honesty.

She even remembered her first Grand Galloping Gala where she had planned to sell enough apples to renovate the farm and get that new plow. Just thinking about Rarity covered in cake made her chuckle and even Fluttershy's outburst was amusing in hindsight. It was a good thing they managed to clean all their dresses of Rarity would have done some unspeakable and horrible things to them all.

There were even memories of being tortured by Nightmare Moon – of having her limbs pinned to the wall by poles as gravity slowly made her slide down, enlarging the wound until it finally cut through, leaving her hooves attached by a couple thing strands of muscle fiber. She remembered her first kill in that dark, damp dungeon. How the pony had screamed again and again until she was forced to end his suffering by slitting his throat. She remembered Princess Luna arriving in Ponyville for Nightmare Night and how she kept using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Yes, Applejack remembered a lot of things, but there were also a lot of things she couldn't remember.

She couldn't remember the faces of her parents. Every time she tried to imagine them, all she saw was Granny Smith standing beside Shining Armor and Big Mac with two blurry figures beside them. Even then though, a part of her kept screaming about how wrong that looked, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure out what it was.

Nor could she remember her last name. Applejack. That's all she ever got. Applejack. In fact, she knew she had a little sister, but the name and face escaped her entirely. Was it Cadence? For some weird reason that name kept jumping out at her. Ah yes, she could see it now. Granny Smith with a hoof on Cadence's head with Shining, Big Mac and Applejack all around and their unicorn parents just behind them. Still couldn't remember their names though, no doubt the result of whatever Twilight had done to her.

"Applejack dear, you alright?"

Opening her eyes slowly, the earthpony stared at the unicorn before her. There was no buzzing, where was the buzzing? The song that filled her head every second for the past few weeks was simply gone as though it had never existed to begin with. For once she could actually think.

Taking a deep breath, the farmpony savored the taste of sweet freedom. "Of course Rare, why wouldn't Ah be? Just a tad fuzzy in the head thanks to whatever Twi did to me though."

"Oh that's a relief, Fluttershy here was so worried about you since you were barely breathing and seemed to be in a coma," replied Rarity.

"Ah've never felt better in mah life," replied Applejack with a smile. "And where's Fluttershy anyways?"

"Trixie doesn't know, but so far the pegasus has had it the easiest apart from Trixie. While the pink one and you were tortured, the rest of us have merely been talked to Twilight Sparkle. She even refuses to talk to Trixie! No doubt because Trixie's aura of superiority is too much for a mere mortal to comprehend let alone be subjected to for long."

"Sure. Whatever ya say sugarcube." Despite the situation they were all in, everypony chuckled – even Trixie. "So what about Pinkie? Is she alright?"

"She's..." Rarity exchanged a hesitant look with Trixie. "She hasn't spoken since she came back from Twilight. We don't know what happened and there wasn't any screaming, but..."

"The magical turbulence from whatever Twilight was doing was enough to make Trixie sick. Even a unicorn as weak as Rarity was having trouble thinking straight," replied the showmare. "It was almost as bad as whatever she did to you."

The blond earthpony frowned and began speaking in a high class accent, "Considering we're surrounded by granite that means the entire place is magically sealed due to the low conductivity. From memory, there are about five rooms between this one and the main room where she talked to us, and each wall is at least three feet thick. Rarity has below average sensitivity I'm guessing so the magical output would have to equal..." Closing her eyes, Applejack began a series of complicated mathematics. "No way. If my calculations are correct then the amount of magic Twilight used today is more than enough to vaporize a quarter of Canterlot."

"Trixie refuses to believe that a simple farmpony like you knows advanced theoretical magics and can perform complicated mathematics involving solving for multiple variables in your head."

"What are you talking about? I am Princess Celestia's personal protégé and youngest graduate of the School for Gifted Unicorns." A frown suddenly appeared. "Wait, what?"

"I think you're not as fine as you think you are."

"Mind magic," spat Trixie. "Filthy thing and being convicted of casting it is a life sentence. Twilight deserves to be executed."

"But she fixed me," whispered Applejack. "Just try it, say a lie."

"Trixie hates you all and believes you are all incompetent foals."

There was a pause as Applejack regarded the unicorn with an amused smile. "Ya know there are simpler ways to admit ya like somepony."

"I'm actually surprised Trixie is capable of liking anypony," said Rarity under her breath before saying in a louder voice, "But I'd be happy to call you a friend Trixie. You may be insufferable, but you're no worse than Rainbow Dash and you did offer to go first for the torture."

"Trixie has no clue what you foals are talking about." Despite being chained up, she somehow managed to continue that air of arrogance that grated Applejack's nerves, but the smile on the showmare's face spoke of an old dream come true.

"Darling, you do realize no one will think less of you if you drop the act and at least pretend to be nice right?" asked Rarity. "In fact, ponies will think better of you if you didn't act like such a ruffian."

"Trixie has a reputation to maintain."

"Leave her be Rare," sighed AJ, "Ah'm just glad something good came out of all of this. Now the question is escaping."

"How? In case you haven't noticed, we're chained to the wall and our magic has been cut off," growled Trixie. "You make it sound as though Trixie has not contemplated escape in the past."

Smirking, the earth pony shook her head. "Just wait and see sugarcube. In fact, Ah believe Fluttershy and Twi will be joining us soon." Her eyes suddenly hardened. "Don't get in the way of what Ah'm about to do. Got that?"

"Wha-"

The door slammed open cut Trixie off and just like Applejack predicted, Twilight and Fluttershy came strolling in with Celestia bringing up the rear. Purple eyes met green across the desolate room.

"Oh, you're awake I see." Twilight threw Fluttershy into the room and let the door swing close behind her before frowning at the unconscious Pinkie Pie. "Though not all of you are. What's that? Ah alright, in that case I should check back in tonight to make sure she's recovered."

"Ya just going to ignore me sugarcube? Can ya even look me in the eye?" growled Applejack.

With a chuckle, Twilight suddenly teleported over and stood with her face an inch away from the farmpony's. "That answer your question?"

"Yes." A red glow suddenly enveloped the room and though AJ did not have the Element of Honesty around her neck, she felt its familiar weight. "And now ya're gonna hear the honest truth sugarcube. No, don't try to fight back. I know you're trying right now, I can hear you screaming in my mind, slamming against the spell, but it's no use. You bound me too tightly to Honesty. It left scars you know. I know things I shouldn't know and I don't know things I should, and you know what? They're so jumbled up in my head that I don't even know which is which anymore."

"Applejack, stop whatever it is you're doing this instant!" demanded Rarity, but she was simply ignored.

"And Ah thank you for that."

"You're welcome," replied Twilight with a slight inclination of her head. "Now mind letting me go?"

"Sorry, no can do partner. All this time ya've been trying to get us to be stronger so that we could take down Nightmare Moon, but all this time ya've worked from the assumption that we were the weak link. You were wrong. You're the weak link. Ya were the reason we could not defeat Nightmare Moon on that first night."

"My cutie mark is magic you idiot," hissed Twilight.

"Calm down my faithful student, an emotional mind is a clouded one," advised Phantom Celestia.

"Ya know, ya should listen to her." Applejack giggled at the look of shock on Twilight's face – one that was mirrored by fake Celestia. "Like Ah said, you did a lot more to me than you realized. Now where was Ah? That's right, I was just about to break you like you broke us. You had fun with that didn't you? Well payback's a bitch and it's my turn to have some fun."

"Applejack, I must insist you stop this brutish behavior at once!"

Once again the fashionetta was ignored as the farmpony leaned in closer until her nose was a mere hair's width away from Twilight's. Before either of them could say anything though, a hesitant hoof touched Applejack's thigh.

"Please... Don't do this... um... if you don't mind me saying. It's just... well... you'd end up just like her," squeaked Fluttershy.

"What are you talking about! This mad mare has tortured us, broken Pinkie, turned Applejack insane and you all want her to stop!?" yelled Trixie. "The Great and Powerful Trixie says go for it. Break that pathetic mare like the foal that she is. Twilight Sparkle deserves to be torture, burnt and erased from history as though she never existed!"

"Sorry everypony, but this needs to be done." No one seemed to notice her sudden lack of accent. "You see, Twilight here hasn't been honest with herself. She's been hiding behind logical justifications for her actions much the same way you've been hiding behind your disguise 'Shy. It's time to tear those down."

"Logical justifications? Every single action I've taken has been back by a moral theory. A theory called 'Consequentialism'," sneered the unicorn. "Perhaps you should learn how to read before judging."

"And yet I seem to recall an essay written for Princess Celestia where you argue virtue ethics is the best ethical theory." Twilight tried to take a step back, but Applejack stopped that with a single thought. "In fact, I doubt Princess Celestia would approve of your actions let along describe them as ethical."

"You know nothing about Celestia!" Her metal hoof shot out only to stop an inch from the side of the side of AJ's face.

"I know her favorite dessert if Moon Cake because it reminds her of somepony close to her. I know her birthday is on the fourth day of the tenth month on the Sun Calendar. I know she hates diets and that her first student was Starswirl the Bearded." With each secret revealed, Twilight's eyes grew wider. "I know-"

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"I know far more than you think-"

"Don't listen to her-"

"Yes Twilight, listen to your imagination. Listen to your insanity," snapped the earthpony. "Or you could listen to me."

"Stop this!" screamed Fluttershy, her entire body trembling with barely suppressed anger. "This isn't Kindness! She's my friend, our friend! How could you-"

"When she broke me apart, she did so because she was my friend," whispered Applejack. "And now, it's time to return the favor. So 'friend', how do you want to do this? Shall I break you all at once or bit by bit? Maybe I'll be kind and leave you dead so you don't have to live with the knowledge of how you royally fucked up."

"NO!" Fluttershy tackled Twilight out of Applejack's line of sight and stood there trembling before the yellow pony. "You will not! I repeat, will not! Break Twilight. I don't care if you're a friend or if she's the enemy, but every single last pony will be treated with respect and dignity and... and..."

Fluttershy trailed off as the sound of laughing and clapping echoed through the tense room. There, leaning casually against the wall was Twilight Sparkle acting as though she had just seen the greatest comedy show in existence. Every other pony could only stare at her as though she was insane.

"Bravo! Bravo! Encore I say, encore!" The lavender unicorn gave a whistle before a copy appeared beside Fluttershy, stroking her pink mane as the pegasus shrunk back. "Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to make you come out of your shell? And in the end all it took was a southern hic to yell at me!"

Disappearing in a flash, Twilight was suddenly before Applejack once more with a giddy grin on her face as she bounced in place. "Again! Again! Yell at me some more, make Fluttershy react again. If I remember correctly I was standing here and looking into your eyes while pretending to be afraid and you were going on about how I had did something wrong right? Right. Now keep going."

Silence.

"What. The. Fuck!" Trixie lunged forward, straining against the chains. "You little bitch! When Trixie gets this fucking stupid magic suppressor off, she's going to fucking rip your limbs off one by one and make you eat them. If you had testicles, she'd force you to eat those too. And a cock if you had one! You're an insane pony who deserves to be executed! Actually, an execution would be too good for you. Trixie decrees that Twilight Sparkle deserves to be stoned to death. Or burnt alive. Or buried alive. Or all the above simultaneously!"

"Yes! Yes! This is what I'm talking about, great acting Trixie, maybe you're not good for nothing after all. Rarity, your turn!" Spinning on the spot, Twilight pointed at hoof at the white mare. When she got no reply she turned to Pinkie only to notice she was still out before finally settling on the pony at her hooves. "Okay Fluttershy, you're up."

A whimper.

"No, no, no. You're meant to get all righteous and use that stare of yours. From the top everypony. Trixie! No? Come on ponies, how am I meant to work in this environment?"

"Excuse meh director, but ya missed a pony," said Applejack.

"Oh Applejack dear, how could I have forgotten my star pony?" Batting her eyelashes in a far too flirty manner, Twilight struck a dramatic pose. "Hit me with it!"

All those gathered who were not insane exchanged a look.

"Now ain't this a shocker? Twilie's gone insane and it's my turn to put her back together. Ah'm gonna have a lot of fun with this," smirked AJ as she glanced over at fake Celestia. "How do ya think Ah should do it Queenie? Slowly or all at once?"

"How is it you can see me?" growled the phantasm, but all the reply it got was a smirk that was far too reminiscent of Twilight to be comfortable.

Twilight on the other hoof rolled her eyes. "Surely you're not going to continue on with the whole 'Oh, it was all ya fault' crap. Trixie could come up with better and yes, that was indeed an insult."

"Oh is that so? Well now, shall I spell it out for you?" asked Applejack in her posh Manehatten accent. "First of all, you are working from the assumption that the Element of Magic and unicorn magic are the one and the same. A logical step to take, but a wrong one for I seem to recall Celestia often talking about the magic of friendship. How with friends by your side it's possible to accomplish anything – that the darkest days will be bright, the most impossible tasks will be possible and all that jazz. Just look at us five here. We built the Dawn Brigade from the ground up. We rescued Spitfire and saved Rarity from execution. We worked together to achieve this. Friendship achieved this."

"Do you have brain damage? Or need I repeat the exact reasons why you're not friends?"

"Hey Rare, we're friends right?" asked AJ without looking away from Twi.

"Of course dear, though you could use some smoothing out around the edges."

"And Ah say you could do with some roughing up," chuckled the farmpony. "Fluttershy?"

"Of course AJ, you know that."

"Trixie?"

"She doesn't hate your guts if that's what you're asking."

"Love ya too Trixie." AJ turned her full attention back to unicorn before her. "You're wrong. We're friends. Maybe not the best of friends or as good as it could have been, but we're still friends. Friendship is a learning experience and we don't always get it right, but what's important is that we're there and we're willing to learn and we're willing to help."

Twilight snorted in amusement. "You truly believe I'm going to take your word when you have no evidence to speak of? You're already stated your intention to 'break' me so anything you say will be biased."

"Well then how about this?" AJ's eyes suddenly turned white and her hair flowed together into a single mass that fluttered in the still air. "All that is said in this room shall be the honest truth. All within this room shall act honestly. For the next hour, this room is my domain – the domain of Honesty."

A stunned silence followed her announcement as their minds tried to comprehend what had happened. Though their minds kept telling them exactly what had happened, and though the magical remnants could be seen in the crackling air and rune on the floor; they still stared blankly at the farmpony as if she had grown a second head. For her part, the earthpony merely smiled smugly at them all with an amused expression. Though her mane was back to normal and her eyes no longer glowed, she still felt a tingling sensation coursing through her veins from when she had accessed Honesty's essence.

"Like Ah said sugarcube, ya have done more than ya know. Ya tied me to Honesty tighter than the attractive forces present between two magically harmonious objects enhanced by a crystal matrix." She blinked. "Whatever that means. So Twilie, why don't you try lying?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Frowning, Twilight tried again and again and again. Each time she didn't make a single sound, but more than that, it looked as though she was chocking on something.

After a deep breath, she turned back to AJ and growled, "What if it was something that was false, but I thought it was true?"

"Honesty will know, but it won't stop you from speaking. It's to stop people abusing it to figure out things they have no right in knowing," replied Applejack. "So ready to hear what I've got to say?"

"Thought you'd never ask," smirked Twilight, perfectly mirroring the one on AJ's face. To their friends, it was as though the two could be twins with their identical expression and identical speaking manner whenever AJ dropped her accent.

"I don't know what happened or how it happened, but when you messed with Truth and Honesty I saw more than you could possibly know. I saw a multitude of parallel universes. Out of all the potential pasts and futures, one caught my eye." Applejack took a deep breath as her eyes closed. "It was one where we won on the first night. I wish you could all see it, it was so... so... glorious. At the same time, I'm glad none of you did because then you'd know what we missed out on."

"What was different," snarled Twilight. "Tell me!"

"You. You were different. On that first day you arrived you went with Spike to al-"

"No! You're wrong!" Spinning around, her metallic hoof shot out with enough force to crack the stone wall. "You're fucking wrong! That's not what happened... That's... that's impossible... Celestia... Did- Did you..."

All of a sudden Twilight whirled back to face the farmpony, the snarl back on her face. "And that doesn't even make sense! How could going with Spike to check up on the Summer Sun Celebration make a single bit of difference?"

"I was in charge of the catering, Rarity the decorations, Fluttershy the music, RD the weather and Pinkie... Pinkie would have probably set a surprise party while you were out and probably somehow managed to sneak an after party under the Mayor's muzzle." The orange pony smiled sadly. "Don't you see? You would have met us, talked to us, gotten to know us – we'd have been closer. Maybe even friends."

"Because friendship is magic," mocked Twilight. "It sounded stupid coming from Celestia and it sounds even more stupid coming from you. There is absolutely no evidence of logic that even remotely proves that fact let alone points towards it and more importantly, I've heard every argument for it under the sun and I highly doubt you could offer any new arguments."

Staring Twilight straight in the eye, Applejack spoke with the voice of absolute Truth and pure Honesty, " Friendship is Magic. That is a transcendental truth that I have glimpsed from the Honesty itself. Magic is key, without Friendship to synthesize and channel the Elements into one, they are weak. You want proof? Let me give you proof then. Trixie, summon the Element of Magic please."

"What? You know Trixie cannot- That is, the Element of Ma-"

"Just reach inside yourself sugarcube," said Applejack.

"It feels warm like... like... a cute cuddly kitty in your hooves on a winter's night," offered Fluttershy.

"It's calming and soothing and lets you focus on anything you desire," added Rarity. "We know you can do it dear."

Her face scrunched up in concentration, they felt it before they saw anything. There was a pressure in the room pushing them against the wall and AJ's stomach was lurching like when falling except it felt like she was moving sideways. It wasn't the seamless summoning that the others performed, but with a sudden pop and flash of light there hung the tiara before the blue unicorn. Gazing at the magenta gem, she touched it with her horn.

Everypony's eyes widened as a single crack appeared where the horn had touched. Once more the sound of breaking glass filled the silent room as it expanded and within three seconds the entire gem was covered with fractures. Then the pieces began falling towards the ground, but before it had even hit the stone floor it had disintegrated into fine powder to be blown away in the nonexistent breeze. All the while, a light blue glow pulsed from under the purple gem making it difficult to see clearly. The only pony who could look directly at the Element of Magic was Trixie and she wore a gentle smile on her face. By the time they could see again, the purple gem had been replaced by one that matched Trixie's cutie mark perfectly.

"Believe me now?" asked Applejack into the stunned silence.

"No!" screamed Twilight as she clutched her head. "You're wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!" She jabbed her hoof out at Applejack, a frenzied and desperate look in her eyes. "I get it now, you're trying to break me. Make me go insane." A high-pitched giggle escaped. "Well it won't work! I won't believe you because you're lying to me. It's an illusion, it's all an illusion. You're using your craaaaaaazy powers to mess with my mind. Well it won't work, it'll never work. I'm onto you, you sneaky... earthpony farmer thing! I'm onto you. I know! I'll just close my eyes and it'll go away. Everything will go away. Everything will be back to normal."

"Twilight Sparkle..." whispered fake Celestia as she gathered the distraught mare in her hooves. Cradling her close, Twilight sobbed quietly and after Celestia shot AJ a dark look promising a lot of pain, the pair vanished in a flash of magenta light.

"Like Trixie said, Twilight Sparkle is insane," commented the showmare. "Though I fail to see how making her more insane will help in anything."

"Quite frankly, I am inclined to agree," said Rarity with a flat look at Applejack. "She had offered us a tentative hoof in alliance and you just flushed it all down the drain. For nothing I might add."

"Not to mention it was a mean, bully-like thing to do," added Fluttershy with a flat look at both Trixie and Rarity for missing that out. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"With any luck, what Ah said will snap Twilight back to her ol' self. Plus, congrats Trixie, now ya're truly great and powerful," said AJ with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now for us to escape."

"And how do you propose we manage that?" growled the blue pony. "Twilight might have forgotten to put Fluttershy in chains, but Trixie has no doubt the door is locked and it is highly unlikely the pegasus knows how to pick locks."

"Like Ah said, Twilight did a lot more than she realized."

"Trixie is already getting of hearing you say that. If she were able, she'd remove your mouth permanently."

Laughing, Applejack shook her head playfully before closing her eyes. Channeling her innate earthpony magic, she let it worm its way through the stone where the chains were attached. Then with a single hard yank, the chain broke free and she dropped onto her hooves. A couple more hard pulls and her hind legs came free . After a quick stretch, she trotted over and wrapped her forelimbs around the chains trapping Rarity. Straining back, they came free and the ones around Trixie and Pinkie quickly followed.

"Now hold still sugarcube." Applejack eyed the ring around Rarity's horn. "Ah don't want to miss."

"Applejack! You cannot possibly be contemplating removing the ring with such brutish tactics. What if you damage my perfectly cared for horn? Just think of the tragedy if you so much as nicked it. The horror! Why, it'd be the worst possible thing. Ever." The white mare kept backing up until her rump hit the wall. "Surely you could remove Trixie's first?"

"Leave Trixie out of this."

"Well you're not touching my horn with permission or I'll have you foal sit Sweetie Belle and the Cutie Mark Crusaders," threatened Rarity.

"Good thing I won't have to touch your horn then."

"Wha-" The metal suppression ring split in half and hit the ground. "How did you do that?"

"Earthpony magic," replied AJ with an amused smile. "All things metal fall under earthpony magic just like all things belonging to the earth like plants and the ground itself. I learned that personally from Princess Celestia."

Wait. That wasn't right. She grew up on the farm and lived in Manehatten for a couple of years, but no point had she actually seen Princess Celestia in personal let alone talked to her. So where in the world had that come from? Closing her eyes and putting on hoof to her temple, she tried to push past the fog, to at least remember the events surrounding that memory, but the harder she pushed the greater her head throbbed. Swaying dangerously on her feet, the only thing that stopped the farmpony from hitting the ground was Rarity's quick reactions.

"Thanks sugarcube." Shifting her weight back onto her hooves, AJ shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "But Ah'm fine now."

"Don't mention it darling, but you sure you're alright? We still don't know what Twilight did to you exactly."

"Ah'm fine. Let's just get out of here before Twilight notices."

"In that case, Trixie assumes you two are done being sappy?" The showmare cocked an eyebrow at them. "Because we do not have the time to dally around chatting."

"Alright. Follow me then." Raising up on her hind legs, Applejack stomped the ground with all her might. The stone cracked underhoof and a single fracture snaked out along the ground before crawling up the wall and ceiling. Then with both hooves pressed against the wall, she pushed against it and it parted for her as though it was made out of jello. Soon the clear autumn sky and gently rolling hills were revealed to them. Only the ground was over a hundred feet below them.

"Trixie should have known this would happen. Last time I let incompetent foals like you handle a situation like this." Her horn flared to life as she ripped the stones blocks straight from the wall to form a floating platform. Leaping onto it, she looked back with a cocked eyebrow. "Don't tell Trixie you're afraid of heights."

"I did almost fall to my death you know," snapped Rarity as she leapt onto the platform. "And I shall have you know, I looked fabulous the entire time."

"Bet ya'd look pretty as can be even while being tortured," commented AJ as she landed next to Rarity.

A second later Fluttershy made it with Pinkie on her back. "Um... maybe we should leave? We don't have much time after all... um... if that's alright with you all."

With her horn flowing brighter, the stone platform began descending. "It would help if we knew where in Equestria we were. Trixie has travelled extensively, but she does not recognize this landscape."

"That's because we're no longer in Equestria." Everypony spun around to face Twilight. "We're in the neutral territory between the gryphon's and the harpy's territories. Quite frankly, I'm surprised you all managed to escape so easily."

"You can take on three Element Bearers and survive you know," growled Trixie as her horn flared even brighter than before.

"I don't plan on fighting you at all." There was a flash of light and a magenta portal appeared beside her. "This will take you straight to the Everfree Ranges near where your backup base is located. Or would it be backup-backup base? Oh, and here's your hat AJ."

"Why should we trust y-" began Rarity, but Applejack cut her off with a shake of her head.

"She's telling the truth sugarcube. Come on, let's go home." Grasping her hat, she threw it into the air and expertly slipped it onto her head. "They'll be needing us."

"Oh, before you go. Pinkie should wake up tonight and there'll be an assault in a day or two. Three days max. Sorry, but letting you go will get Nightmare Moon on my case so I need something to offset that and the location of your base is the best option open to me."

The resulting glare from Rarity should have set her on fire, but somehow Twilight lived to tell the tale. Even Fluttershy was glaring at purple unicorn with all her might to no avail. With one final shrug, Applejack began pushing the others through the portal. Before she stepped through though, the farmpony cast one last look over her shoulder and for once, she saw the mare from before all this had happened. Sure Twilight still had those rings under her eyes and they were bloodshot and her coat was still a very dull color, but for once she was not talking to the thin air and giggling or laughing her head off. In fact, that fake Celestia was nowhere in sight.

Maybe there was hope after all.

"Come on Celly, we've still got a lot of planning to do," said Twilight as the white alicorn came into being beside her.

Or not.

"Knight Commander." Both guards saluted as I approached, but instead of getting out of the way they held out their wings to stop me from passing. "Nightmare Moon has said she is not to be disturbed at all tonight."

"It's an emergency," I replied with a growl. "You will get her right now for me or I will cut off your heads. Either you will die with a hundred percent guarantee if you don't get her or you may die if you don't. Take your pick."

The two white pegasi exchanged a nervous look, but ultimately the right one disappeared through the door and up the steps. With a pleasant smile to the remaining guard, I looked out the window and sighed. Was what AJ said true? Was it truly my fault things turned out the way it had? It certainly explained a lot, especially that final visit I had gotten from Celestia just hours before her disappearance. But if she had known for so long, there must have been another way to play her cards in order to win.

No. Now was not the time to start wondering about the past. If it was my fault though, that just gave me even more incentive to make things right. I would not fail in my task.

That door slammed open. "What do you want?" growled a very irritated alicorn.

"They've escaped. AJ managed to access her innate magic and removed an entire wall. Trixie then created a floating stone platform to lower them to the ground," I replied in a bored voice.

"And where were you at the time?" Her magic slammed me up against the nearest available wall. With the amount of magic in her spell, the translucent tentacles burned wherever they touched, but I merely smiled through the pain.

"I was out looking for Dawn's backup base and I've found it. It's in the Everfree Ranges. It is my suggestion that we strike now before the Element Bearers manage to get back." All of a sudden I was released from her grasp and magic danced over the fresh wounds.

"You have full authority to do whatever it is you deem necessary to destroy Dawn, but do it in two days. The gryphons no doubt have an alliance with them so once the Element Bearers reach any gryphon settlement, they'll be able to be conveyed to Dawn in no time." Raising a hoof, she rubbed her temples. "Taking them on myself would be preferable, but the Everfree Ranges boarder the dragon territories and appearing there may provoke a war with them. Fighting a war on two fronts is never a smart move so I'm afraid you're on your own. Those Dawn rebels are far more intelligent than I gave them credit for. Dismissed."

"Wait." The guards actually whimpered at my audacity. "The Elements are far stronger than either of us suspected and I'm afraid they've learnt the location of Celestia and will be making a move to free her. It would be advisable to station guards there to keep her safe."

Silence. Absolute, complete silence as she stared straight into my eyes. A second passed then ten then a minute, but neither of us moved a single inch. Then the dark alicorn suddenly burst out laughing. It wasn't an evil laugh or a mad chuckle, it was one that had her doubling over and pounding her hoof on the ground in amusement. I had no doubt in my mind that she would soon be rolling on the ground while clutching her stomach and the truth was, I was scared out of my mind. I had seen her laugh before, but not like this and considering the question I had asked, I was so fucking screwed.

Eventually though she managed to calm down and she grinned up at me from her position on the floor. "Don't worry my most faithful pawn, even if they find out where Celly's been kept they will not be able to rescue her."

"Oh? And why do you say that?" I asked.

"She's in the sun."

No. Please, no. Anything, but that. This... This could not be happening. She was lying, she had to be! I had seen so much, done so much with my very own hooves and magic. All those ponies. Dead. Please. Oh Celestia, please let this be a dream. Some horrible, horrible dream.

I was numb. My body, my soul, my emotions. Everything was numb. Somehow I managed to escape without showing any emotions. Somehow I managed to get back to my room in one piece. Somehow, I managed to not cry.

Oh Celestia, what have I done?