“Fluttershy, we are not doing that.” Rainbow snorted defiantly.

“Wh-what? But we have to! Twilight could be in danger!” Fluttershy argued urgently, trying to ignore the images flashing in her mind.

“Twilight is dead!” Rainbow yelled suddenly, surprising the other ponies in the room.

“Dashie, we-” Pinkie began, only to be interrupted by an angered Rainbow.

“No, Pinkie! We’ve known nothing else for four years, and you expect me to believe that not only is she alive, but that we could save her? All because of some dream Fluttershy had?”

“Well, no, b-”

“No buts! Twilight is dead, well and truly dead, and no stupid figment of Fluttershy’s imagination is going to change that!” Rainbow shouted before turning tail and fleeing the room, wings fluttering angrily.

“What in tarnation’s gotten into her?” Applejack asked, concern in her voice. “I thought she would’ve been happy to hear Twilight was alive.”

“Well, it is a rather tall tale.” Rarity pointed out. “Although, if Applejack believes it, I suppose I do as well. Element of Honesty and all.”

Fluttershy stared at the open door of the throne room, for some reason unable to comprehend why Rainbow didn’t believe her. The images behind her eyes were so real. Why wouldn’t the blue pegasus believe them?

“Fluttershy, you okay?” Pinkie asked, noticing the yellow mare’s faraway look. The pegasus snapped out of her stupor and gave a slight nod to her friend.

“I’m fine. I just… why didn’t Rainbow believe me?” Fluttershy asked quietly, suddenly wishing for her mane to grow again so that she could hide behind it. She hadn’t felt that urge since Twilight di- went missing.

“Oh, you know Rainbow Dash.” Rarity sighed. “She’s… stubborn. Even more so since the war started.”

“I know.” Fluttershy bit her lip nervously, ears flattened to her head. “It just seems so… real to me. I saw Kindness in front of me, felt the emotions they gave me. Even now I’m revisiting memories that aren’t even mine.”

“Then whose are they?” Applejack asked softly.

“Midnight’s. The imposter’s. Magic’s.” Fluttershy turned her forlorn gaze to the floor. “It’s nothing but pain and anguish and blood.”

“Well, what about the plan they had?” Pinkie questioned. “What did they say to do again?”

“Nothing. They just gave me an image of what we need, not how to get it. And even if they had, Rainbow won’t help us.” Fluttershy sighed, closing her eyes and racking her brain for any kind of solution.

“Well, maybe if we completed the plan, she would listen.” Rarity suggested.

“Fine. So, how are we going to get the entire changeling race out here, and the griffons, and Cadence and Flurry Heart? They’re all off in their own kingdoms!” Fluttershy asked sharply, already regretting sharing her experience with her friends.

“Fluttershy, we’ll figure something out.” Pinkie smiled a little. “We always do.”

Fluttershy’s friends don’t believe her.

Really?

Well, Applejack and Rarity do. Pinkie’s uncertain.

And Rainbow Dash?

Stormed out of the room.

Great.

“I ended up stuck behind the trap wall, but I was able to teleport out of there because I remembered what the entrance to the staircase looked like.” Starlight explained hurriedly, magical aura surrounding Midnight’s leg. “I found you passed out and realised that if I didn’t fix your leg then and there, I’d never be able to. As it is I had to use one of my strongest healing spells. A leg is useless without any feeling.”

Midnight hissed in pain as Starlight continued to press against her leg. “Is this really necessary?”

“Do you want your leg to randomly fall off?” Starlight snapped.

Midnight snorted her disapproval but didn’t argue any further.

She’s not wrong. Magic pointed out.

I did not ask for your input. Midnight thought.

Just saying.

Midnight rolled her eyes, only to yelp as Starlight released her leg.

“There.” The unicorn huffed. “That should support you for now. You should probably use your wings for balance, though.”

Midnight bit her lip and nervously placed her hoof down. A jolt of pain lanced through the injured limb, but she forced herself to keep going, pressing down until the leg was supporting her just as much as her other limbs. It continued to ache and hurt, but it became easier to ignore after a while.

“Okay. Now, I’m going to teleport us back to the room behind the trap wall. It could very possibly go horribly wrong, so be prepared.” Starlight warned before lighting her horn.

Midnight closed her eyes tightly and waited. After a moment she heard a flash of magic and light burned behind her eyes. Once it had faded, the alicorn opened her eyes again to find herself in a pitch black room. On instinct, she lit her horn with magic, illuminating the room.

The walls were bare stone, lacking any decoration spare for some cracks and dark stains. Midnight frowned and little and turned around, immediately regretting it.

Next to the fourth wall was a vertical plank of wood with a pony strapped to it. Two wings hung limply from their back and a long horn sprouted from their head, parting a messy, uncleaned mane. Their coat was grey, their mane and tail dark with streaks of a lighter grey. Starlight made a noise of pain and anguish before running towards the pony.

“Twilight!” Starlight whimpered, rearing up and leaning against the plank, one hoof on the wood and the other atop the unconscious pony’s chest. Midnight watched as the unicorn slowly became more and more panicked, frowning slightly. Starlight bit her lip and shifted, resting her head against the grey alicorn’s chest. After a moment she relaxed a little, giving a tiny smile as tears built up in her eyes.

Midnight trotted over to Starlight, glancing Twilight up and down. She’d heard so much about the alicorn, about her feats and her glory, about her strength and wit. And now, actually seeing her namesake… she just felt guilty. The mare before her was clearly broken, her colours and magic drained, to the point where she didn’t even need a magic restrictor. Midnight rested her gaze upon the mare’s flank, searching for the cutie mark that should match her own. It wasn’t there. Twilight’s flank was blank. Midnight choked back a gasp, pressing her uninjured hoof to her mouth. Her reconnected leg wobbled a little; she placed her steady leg back down.

Starlight glanced down at Midnight, confused. Her eyes widened as she noticed Twilight’s cutie mark. Or lack of one. She dropped to all four hooves and stared at her former mentor’s plain fur. “Wh-what? Where’s her cutie mark?”

“On my flank.” Midnight answered reflexively; she knew she’d have to come clean eventually. Starlight squinted at her uncertainly before glancing at the purple alicorn’s flank. A six-pointed star gleamed on Midnight’s flank, surrounded by small white stars.

Starlight’s face fell. Her eyes went from hopeful to depressed almost instantly. “S-so how do we get it back onto Twilight’s?”

“I…” Midnight paused. She would have to tell the mare everything, wouldn’t she? “It may take time we don’t have to explain, so please don’t interrupt me.”

Starlight seemed more than a little confused, but nodded.

“Four years ago, Twilight, along with one of her pegasus guards, disappeared during an attack. They were captured by Sombra, who, a few weeks later, stole Princess Luna away as well. Somehow, he was able to turn her back into Nightmare Moon, but she never fully agreed with it.

“Sombra began to experiment on Twilight with spells, eventually destroying her mind and stealing her personality. By this point, Nightmare was carrying a foal. Using dark magic, Sombra cursed the foal with Twilight’s mind and soul, as well as her magic and, with it, her Element.” Midnight stopped to recompose herself; she tucked her wings neatly into her sides and raised her head a little more. “That foal was me. I was born a perfect clone of Twilight, even being given her name and experimented on to make me grow faster than was natural. And it was just to damage Celestia’s army’s morale. Luckily they figured out that I wasn’t Twilight pretty quickly.

“I soon found out that I was just a copy of Twilight, even managing to communicate with the spirit of Magic. I let myself be captured by Celestia’s army, along with the missing guard, who had been forced to join Sombra. I escaped and realised that I would need the help of an alicorn to undo my curse and save Twilight, but none of them would be willing. So Magic told me about you, the unicorn with magic rivalling that of an alicorn. You, um, know the rest.”

Starlight looked a little as if Midnight had sprouted another head. Or perhaps multiple more. All across her body. After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, she opened her mouth and said, “So, to get Twilight back, I need to undo the spells Sombra placed on you.”

“Yes.” Midnight couldn’t help but wonder if undoing them would hurt. She’d been hurt a lot already in her quest for independence. Being attacked by a manticore, rage-shifting, blowing up, having her wing nearly torn off, being possessed by an Element, shot by the Princess of the Sun and having her leg shorn off. What a story.

“But you don’t want me to do it yet.” Starlight spoke in a monotone, but you could tell she was asking for clarification.

“No. Magic and I have a plan. Once we carry it out, you can undo the spells and get Twilight back.” Midnight explained, unconsciously glancing towards her namesake, faded and weak against the wall.

Starlight seemed to halt for a moment, taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and tipping her head back as if remembering something. Finally she turned back to Midnight and asked, “What’s the plan?”

Starlight’s going along with the plan.

Finally, some good news.

Are we sure it’ll work?

It has to work.

And if it doesn’t?

It will.

This was, undeniably, the worst idea Fluttershy had ever had. Trying to tame a timberwolf? Bad idea. Allowing Twilight to experiment with dark magic? Worse idea. Storming into the throne room of the Princess of the Sun without warning? Definitely the worst. She could only hope she didn’t scare the alicorn into shooting her. With the sun. That would hurt.

Luckily, not much scared the immortal. Celestia looked up as Fluttershy came in, placing a scroll held in her golden magic on the arm of her throne before asking, “Is everything okay, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy was just starting to realise how bad of a plan this was. “Y-yes, Princess, everything- no. I-I need to talk to you.”

Celestia continued to watch expectantly. Fluttershy bit her lip, lost for words. What am I supposed to say? She thought desperately. It turns out your pupil is alive inside an evil mare who wants you to storm a castle?

That is exactly what you should say.

Bu- wait, who are you? Am I going crazy?

We last talked not even an hour ago, Fluttershy.

Kindness?

There you go.

Well, how would saying all of that convince Celestia?

Tell her that I told you all of it. She once bore three Elements; she’ll understand.

It made sense. Plus, knowing that Kindness was there, even if only spiritually, helped give Fluttershy the confidence to speak up, “I-I’ve started talking to my Element.”

If Celestia was surprised, she didn’t show it. Instead she simply said, “I was wondering when you ponies would figure out how.”

“Yes, well, they told me that Twilight might still be alive.” Fluttershy cringed a little as her voice cracked. Great way to show your surety.

The Princess’ eyes shone with some unrecognisable emotion as she replied, “And did they tell you where to find her? How to find her?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“And how would that be?”

Fluttershy has told Celestia of the plan.

And?

She’s agreed to it. Messengers have been sent to our allies; they should be here within the hour.

Perfect.

“It’s just ridiculous! I honestly never thought that Fluttershy of all ponies could be so cruel!”

“Rainbow…”

“She knows that I’m still the most torn up about Twilight! And yet, instead of comforting me, she decides to torture me instead!”

“Rainbow.”

“Why would she do this? She thinks that because of some crazy dream, everything’s going to be all sunshine and rainbows!”

“Rainbow.

“Well it’s not! Because Twilight is dead, buried and gone forever!”

“Rainbow!”

The blue pegasus ceased her ranting and pacing, standing still in the middle of the room. Tears trickled slowly down her cheeks.

“Dash, I thought you would’ve been happy to hear that Twilight might be alive.” Spike told her softly, not wanting to rile her up again.

“I-I know, and I should be, but…” Rainbow cut herself off, choking back a sob. “I j-just don’t want to get my hopes up, a-again, only for it to turn out that Twilight’s been d-dead this entire time.”

Spike frowned and walked over to the mare. The pegasus hesitated only a moment before lunging forwards, wrapping her forelegs around the drake and burying her face in his shoulder.

“I-I just d-don’t want to be h-hurt anymore…” She sobbed. Spike lifted a claw and placed it gently across the mare’s back. Spike was one of the only creatures who was allowed to see this side of Rainbow. Actually, he may have been the only one; he’d never asked. But when Rainbow did get upset like this, the dragon was left without much of a clue as to what to do. She seemed partial to hugs and ranting, but that was all he’d been able to work out thus far.

“I know, Dashie.” Spike murmured soothingly. “But don’t you trust Fluttershy?”

“Of course I do!” Rainbow answered, pulling her head back and sounding a little offended. “We’ve been friends since we were fillies!”

“Then why don’t you believe her?”

“Because… i-it’s like if somepony were to come up to me and say that I wasn’t a pegasus.” Rainbow tried to explain. “I’ve believed that Twilight was dead for so long, anything else just seems… impossible.”

“Well, don’t you want to believe that Twilight’s alive?”

“Yes…”

“Then do. Because I trust Fluttershy and I believe that Twilight is alive. I always have. So getting any evidence that it’s true is enough to raise my hopes. Sure, it means that it hurts more if it turns out to be untrue, but it also means that I actually have a chance to find her.” Spike’s eyes were filled with determination and fear as he looked down at the mare holding him. “And yes, I’m afraid that it’ll turn out false, but I’m willing to hope. Because hope is all we really have left.”

Spike has agreed, and Rainbow is slowly realising the truth.

Good. How do the others feel about it?

Fluttershy is a hundred percent convinced and Celestia has already alerted the army.

Applejack can tell that Fluttershy is telling the truth; she’s willing.

Rarity believes her friends, so she will go along with it.

I had to talk to Pinkie to convince her, but she’s also willing.

How is Midnight?

She’s… coping. Starlight has agreed, so that helps. But they are playing a waiting game at the moment.

Hold on… Okay, tell Midnight that the armies are on their way.

Of course.