“Honey, everyone sends you their love, and Celestia says that she wishes you a speedy recovery,” Carrot said as he entered his wife's room. Taking a nearby chair and sitting it next to Cup's bed, he added, “Celestia, Twilight, and Rainbow are out there right now looking for our daughter. I'm sure they can help her, and I know they can bring her back to us safely.”

Holding her hand in his and gently stroking her fingers with his thumb, Carrot let out a sigh as he glanced at the wall clock. It read midnight. His wife's voice brought his attention back to her. “I'm disappointed in you, Carrot. I thought I knew you better than this.”

“Honey,” he replied gently, trying to keep her calm, “we've been married for years. You know me better than anyone.”

Cup glared coldly at him and said as Pinkie, Applejack, Luna and Fluttershy walked in, “Then explain to me why you're not out there searching for our daughter right now!”

“Honey, my place right now is--”

“Your place is being Sunset's father!” she yelled. “How dare you leave her to fend for herself!”

Looking at Luna, Carrot said sheepishly, “Luna, can you---”

“Nope!” Luna interrupted, raising her hands defensively. “I learned long ago to stay out of family squabbles.” Lowering her hands, she leaned inwards, continuing with a slight grin, “You are on your own, Carrot. And frankly, I agree with Cup. You should be out there looking for Sunset. Your wife's in good hands here.”

Looking away from her husband, a few tears slipped past Cup's eyes as she tried to calm down. “It's not fair, Carrot. Here I am, safe in bed, while our daughter is out in the cold being tracked down by some of the very people who hurt her so much.”

Turning back to his wife, Carrot leaned in, giving Cup a soft kiss on the forehead and saying, “Alright, honey. I’ll leave right away, and I swear to you I won’t come back till she is safely in my arms.”

Heading to Cup's side, Luna laid her hands on the bedridden mother's shoulders, saying, “We will all go to get her, and together, we will show her that she is still very much loved and very much needed in this world.”

Turning around, she gave her students a nod, but Applejack said, “How're we gonna get to Crystal Ridge? Principal Celestia took her car, and Big Mac's ol' clunker is almost outta gas. Plus, no tellin' if it'll start in this cold.”

“Wait, Crystal Ridge? Is that where she is?” Carrot asked, shocked.

"Yeah," Pinkie said. Confused, she continued, “But why would Sunset hide there, of all places?”

“I suppose it's the only place she feels safe now," Carrot said thoughtfully. When he saw that the teenagers were still confused, he continued, "I’ll explain later. Right now, I need to find her and bring her home.”

As everyone headed out into the hallway, Applejack whispered to Luna, “Ah hope we can help Sunset out of this mess.”

“I hope so too, Miss Apple,” Luna said sternly. “Because once we get her back to how she was before all this started, she’s going to have to face the consequences of what she did.”

“My daughter,” Carrot began grimly, tightening his right hand into a fist, “won’t be facing them alone. She will never, ever be alone again.”

Leaving the hospital, everyone piled into the Cakes' 1961 VW bus--"It helped a lot with large deliveries," Mr. Cake explained to the surprised group--and Mr. Carrot pulled out of the lot and onto the main road.

As Mr. Cake drove, Luna pulled out her phone and called Celestia.

“Hello, Luna,” Celestia said tersely.

“Tia, we are coming to help you. Have you made it to Crystal Ridge yet?”

“No. There's been an accident. We're at a closed-down gas station along Neighbor Street off the highway outside the city. I need you to come as quickly as you can. I’ll explain when we see you." Luna heard Celestia shout something away from the phone, followed by, "I have to go."

“Wait, Celest---”

‘Click’

With a sigh, Luna turned on her GPS app, typed in "Crystal Ridge", and placed her phone between herself and Mr. Cake, thinking, “I hope Sunset will forgive the girls for what they did to her. I hope she'll forgive all of us.”

The trip was mostly silent for the first half-hour as everyone dwelled on what was in store for them. Mr. Cake's mind was filled with thoughts of his wife and Sunset and their family. Finally, Mr. Cake left Canterlot's city limits, and his thoughts were interrupted as he reached the gas station, where he slammed on the brakes. Everyone stared at the burning wreckage of Celestia’s car as several fire trucks and police cars lined the street ahead. Seeing a police officer approach his bus, Mr. Cake lowered the window, saying, “Good evening, officer.”

“Sir, you need to move along. You’re blocking traffic, and--” He cut himself off when he got a good look at Luna. “Miss, are you Luna Evenstar, by chance?”

“Yes, I am. How did you know?”

“Your sister told us what you look like. I was about to call you to let you know that your sister is alright. However, her car is totaled.”

After directing Mr. Cake towards the side of the road, the officer led the group towards Celestia, who was busy trying to keep Rainbow apart from Summer and Gilda. The shouting teenagers slowly quieted down as the large group approached them.

“Oh, great,” Summer said sarcastically. “Looks like the cavalry's here. As if we didn't have enough to deal with.”

Everyone's eyes widened in shock as they beheld the Sunset look-alike standing in front of them, but before anyone could say anything, Celestia said, “Let's finish up with the police. Then, I'll explain everything.”

As Celestia walked past the group, Summer walked closer to Gilda, taking her lover's hand in her own. Gilda spent her time shooting nervous glances at the cops and the new group. Seeing how worried she looked, Summer gently said to her, “Don’t worry, Gilda. I won’t let anyone take you away.”

“T-Thanks, but Summer,” Gilda replied, “you need to stay calm. No more attacking people; it'll just get us arrested or hurt me or the baby." Gilda's tone turned serious. "Seriously, Summer. Keep calm until I can think of a way to get us out of here.”

“Alright, alright," Summer said. "I'm not in the mood to get arrested anyway; I wanna check on Sonata. She must be going nuts worrying about Fourteen, and in truth, I'm kinda of worried about her, too.”

“We’ll head back soon. Don’t worry. Just stay calm and try not to get yourself arrested,” Gilda replied, a small smirk on her face.

Giving Gilda a weak smile in return, Summer headed over to Mr. Cake's bus to wait while Celestia and Luna talked with the police. A few moments later, both women headed back over to the bus, and Luna said to Summer, “Looks like you two will be coming with us.” Watching Gilda get into the bus, she added to Summer, “You pull anything, and I will get your ass tossed in jail. I don’t trust you, and I don’t want you around Celestia.”

Rolling her eyes, Summer simply replied, "Bite me." However, she didn't get on the bus. She just stood in her spot, glaring at Celestia. Luna was about to say something, but Celestia, who had noticed Summer's glare, placed a silencing hand on Luna's shoulder, motioning to her sister to give them some privacy. Luna reluctantly obliged.

When they were alone, Celestia said, "Is there something wrong? You blew up my car. If anything, I should be glaring at you."

Breaking eye contact, Summer sighed and said, “No, you just remind me of someone I know.”

“The princess, right?" Taking Summer's silence as an affirmation, Celestia continued, "Well, I'm not her. Now please come back to the bus so we can leave. If we don’t leave right now, Rainbow won’t get to Crystal Ridge in time to save her sister.”

“And I should care about that why?”

"Because the life of a young girl--the lives of three young girls--is in danger. Would you really turn from that?" When Summer remained silent, Celestia sighed and said, “Look, I don’t know what you're going through, but right now, Sunset's out there holding three girls hostage, and we can't afford to stand here and discuss your violent distrust of humans.”

Summer snapped to attention at the implication. "You...know I'm not human?"

“Oh, yes," Celestia replied. "I know it all. I know you're not human, I know you and Sunset are clones, and I know that you have powers that can help stop Sunset and save those girls." Taking a gentler tone, Celestia finished, "I know we don't exactly like each other, but right now, we could really use your help to save those girls and, hopefully, Sunset herself.”

Taking a deep breath, Summer ran her hand through her hair, trying to think. Swallowing hard, she said, “You said that Fourteen has Rainbow's sister?” When Celestia nodded, Summer sighed, saying finally, “Fine. I’ll help you, but only on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“After we take down Fourteen, you'll let Sonata take her away from this place. I'm not telling where they're going.”

Looking down slightly, Celestia reluctantly nodded her reply. Summer nodded, as well, motioning to Gilda to get out of the bus and join the two. One phone call later, and Gilda said, “Okay, Blue’s gonna meet us at Crystal Ridge in a few hours.”

“Then it's settled. The four of us will leave once Four--er, Sunset is back to normal, or as normal as can be for her.” Looking back to Celestia, Summer added, “What happened to her, by the way?”

“She was stabbed with the Demon's Heart, and it seems to have corrupted her,” Celestia said softly, already beginning to regret her deal.

“So that explains the strength, wings, and general bitchiness,” Summer said sarcastically, trying to hide her worried surprise at the mention of the magical prison's involvement.

Without further ado, the women climbed back into the bus, and Mr. Cake drove away from the burning car. An hour later, the group neared the foreboding asylum. Mr. Cake pulled over several blocks from the old hospital, saying to Rainbow, “Alright, this is where you get off, Rainbow. Remember, whatever you do, don't pick a fight with Sunset. Just get your sister and get out of there as quickly as you can. We'll wait here until you get back.”

“Got it,” Rainbow replied, thinking to herself, “If he thinks I'm letting Sunset get away with this, he's crazy.”

Next Chapter: Battle at Crystal Ridge (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 6 Minutes