Choices. Rainbow Dash made them every day. Do I eat hay fries on cheat day, or apple dumpling? Do I chill by the lake, or hang out with one of the girls? Easy questions like that.

When the question is Do I save my mother and extended family from being incinerated in a volcano, or save one of my best friends from being blasted by two psychopathic wizards? things tend to get just a little bit more complicated.

Rainbow Dash was a natural fighter. Put her up against any foe, and it was likely she would find a way to end it with her standing triumphantly over them. It was instinct. No thought required.

But she was never good with feelings. Dad said she just had trouble interpreting things like other ponies did. Rainbow Dash could never fully understand why, or how. Feelings made her think.

That was something dangerous to do right then and there. The sounds of villagers shouting in protest, her brothers screaming in terror, their parents begging not to let their foals burn, Twilight grunting as she blocked beam after beam of lasers launched at her, Starswirl cackling and shut up shut up shut up!

Rainbow Dash shut her eyes, blocking out all the noise, the heat, the buzzing of her brain. Rainbow Dash drew in a deep breath. With a bound, a leap, and a flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash made her choice.

~~~

30 minutes ago...

Stop, stop! How do I stop?!

Starswirl watched helplessly as his friends and family were herded in a line along the path. They were all shackled with a shiny alloy conjured by his own horn that cast an azure glow. His brothers cried as they stumbled past.

"Star, please! Don't do this to us!" Bug struggled to run to his brother.

Bean trembled, sniffling. He stopped by Starswirl, trying (and failing) to meet his gaze. "Sorry I ate your cocoa bits." He flinched as he said it, as if expecting that Starswirl would lash out at him, and that chaining up the entire village was in protest of losing a few sugary treats.

No, Bean! Eat all my cocoa bits, I don't care! Just please don't hate me!

Starswirl felt his face harden, and the sick voice growled, "Move it."

Bean winced, flattening his ears against his head. With a horrified look on his face, Bug followed his little brother back into the line. Starswirl's mouth curled into a cruel smirk. The line crept on steadily, with Clover yelling commands for the ponies who just that afternoon thought of her as a close friend to move faster.

Then another orange pony passed. Then a pink one.

Please don't look at them, please don't look at them!

Starswirl looked up, his eyes meeting his father's, then his mother's. Starswirl couldn't think of a word to describe the way they looked at him. Starswirl's smirk grew larger.

"I warned you once, wretch. You think you know despair? Just wait," Starswirl laughed against his will as his mother turned away. "The fun is just starting."

~~~

"Huh?"

Rainbow Dash flew from hut to hut. The entire village was empty. How do 30+ ponies just up and disappear? Was it another magic trick from that dastardly pony? She was going to suffer once Rainbow Dash got her hooves on her.

Rainbow Dash shot like a rocket back to the beach. She would search every inch of this stupid island to find Clover, if she had to.

"Stop!"

Rainbow Dash flared her wings, catching the wind to slow herself down.

"What the- Hey! Who said that?"

"It's your conscience. We don’t talk a lot these days."

Rainbow Dash froze, tensing her body. "If somepony is pulling something, I'm warning you, I guarantee you that I will win."

"It's me, smart one," A tiny creature no bigger than a fly landed on Rainbow's muzzle. She crossed her eyes to focus on it. "Thanks for coming back for me."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "...Twilight?"

The fun-sized Princess waved a hoof. "Wow. Talk about a close call, huh? I'm so glad to see that my teleportation spell got you out safely. I was worried that I wouldn't have the strength to pull it off. Sorry I didn't come with, I had to make sure I could just get you out. Luckily, I'm not too rusty with size-shifting, or I would have- wait, are you crying?"

Rainbow Dash fell back onto her rear. "Sweet Celestia, Twilight! I thought you were..." Rainbow Dash angrily wiped at her eyes.

Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof. "Oh. Oh my goodness, Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry."

"Look, it's nothing," Rainbow Dash sighed. "You're fine, so it's nothing, okay?"

Twilight patted Rainbow's muzzle comfortingly. "It's alright, Rainbow Dash. Now come on, we still have to save your brother!"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. "About that, slight problem. Everypony's gone."

"What? Where could they possibly have gone?"

"I don't know," Rainbow Dash frowned. "I was just searching for them."

"Well then, we'd better hurry!" Twilight flew up, burrowing into Rainbow Dash's mane. "Just uh, don't hurry too much. It's kind of hard to hold on."

~~~

To the eye of most ponies, the dormant beast could be easily dismissed as just an old mountain. But as the Mage knew, it was in fact a very active volcano. He focused his magic, throwing several telekinetic punches at the stone wall, creating his own opening.

He grinned as a wave of heat blasted into him, followed by clouds of steam.

"Listen! I'm on a rather tight schedule if I want to cement this body as my own. And that requires a specific number of ponies to give up theirs. Now tell me," He shouted at the cowering herd of ponies. "Which of you would like to go first?"

~~~

"What are they doing?"

Rainbow Dash and Twilight watched from afar in the safety of a bush.

"It can't be anything good. Look, they're all shackled."

Indeed the villagers were. It thankfully hadn’t taken long to scour the island. After deducing that they must have moved somewhere else, the pair searched the beach. Soon they found the sandbar leading to a lonely mountain on the other side of the island.

Sure enough, there they were, Chained and shoved along. Rainbow Dash and Twilight arrived just when the top of the mountain was obliterated. Steam rose from it, giving them both a sinking feeling as to what Starswirl and Clover were up to.

"We're going to have to swoop in and stop them."

"Hold up there," Rainbow Dash grabbed at the tiny Alicorn. "One close shave was enough. You need to wait until you can use your magic to get tangled up in this."

Twilight crossed her forelegs. "Rainbow Dash, we don’t have time for this!"

"Look, I'm not letting you face them. Comprendo?"

"And just how are you going to stop me?" Twilight scoffed. She balked at Rainbow's evil grin. "You wouldn't dare-"

"Nom!"

Rainbow Dash closed her mouth around Twilight, careful not to crunch down on her. The inside of her mouth was tickled by a vibration, which Rainbow assumed to be Twilight screeching at the top of her lungs.

"Save your breath, Twi," Rainbow muttered through clenched teeth. "We're not stopping for breathers."

~~~

Clover smiled in sadistic satisfaction at the sight of the villagers clamoring in rage as Bug and Bean were tied in a bundle and left on the pillar in the middle of the pool of magma. The lava was slowly rising, creeping up towards the boys. Their parents screamed from above, helplessly.

Starswirl looked up through the top. The sun was set. By the time he was done here, the moon would rise, and this body would be his. Finally. After centuries of waiting, he could claim what he coveted for as long as he existed.

The existence of the young Alicorn gave reason to worry, however. Starswirl was certain that the Alicorns went extinct. If there was one, surely there could be more. If they were all as easy to defeat as this sorceress, then he would be fine.

"Incoming!"

A blue blur barreled into the volcano, ramming Clover at full-speed. The mare grunted as she was knocked back into the hard ground.

"Alright, give it up, pricks!" Rainbow Dash whinnied threateningly.

Starswirl raised an eyebrow. "Clover?"

"I'm sorry, Great One," Clover coughed, staggering back up. "I don't know how she escaped."

"Oh, I brought reinforcements!" Rainbow Dash smirked. "Blehh!"

She stuck out her tongue, revealing a lavender hairball which furiously shook off spittle.

"Rainbow Dash! I don't know what I'm going to do, but I swear you won't like it!"

Starswirl frowned. "What is this?"

"Of course, how rude of me."

The fuzzball disappeared in a purple flash. She reappeared instantly, a full-sized pony, standing next to Rainbow Dash. "Recognize me now?"

"What?! Her lover survived too?"

Rainbow Dash and Twilight exchanged looks. Twilight’s pupils constricted.

"Lover? Who said lover? I didn't say lover! Did you say lover? Lover's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? More like a one-sided crush, or unrealistic infatuation." Twilight began hyperventilating, her face red. "Boy, it's getting hot in here. It's not mating season, is it?"

Clover cocked her head. "But the memory Starswirl dug up..."

Twilight stiffened as Clover projected the mental image.

"That's not a memory."

The four ponies stood facing each other, now rather awkwardly. Rainbow Dash scuffed at the ground with a hoof. "So..."

"Savelivesnowtalkaboutthislaterokaygotit!" Twilight pounced, shooting an immobilization spell, which was easily countered.

The two Unicorns drew back, launching a variety of spells back. Rainbow Dash dove. She flew straight towards the pillar where her brothers struggled against their binding. She braked to a halt when she heard Twilight grunting in effort.

Rainbow Dash began to sweat. Those two ponies had proven that they were able and willing to fight mercilessly. And now, Twilight dueled them on her own.

Rainbow Dash found herself between a rock and a hard place. This called for a very important decision. Rainbow Dash hoped this was the right one.