Celestia and Luna sat side by side on their private balcony overlooking the city of Canterlot, enjoying each others company in that short time they had where their respective duties met. In the west the moon sunk out of sight, Luna bidding it goodnight as Celestia greeted the sun in the east, happily watching it spill its golden light across the land, and across others beyond Equestria.

"You know sister," Luna said after a while, "I cannot for the life of me remember why I grew to resent this sight. It's funny really. It used to pain me to do this, but now I'm glad to do it each and every day."

"While I'm happy to hear that," Celestia replied cautiously, "I can't help but wonder why the complete change of heart."

"Because the night sky is best enjoyed at night," Luna replied playfully. "Honestly though, without madness clouding my thoughts, the day is just as lovely as the night, only for different reasons. I guess being productive does work better when one can see what they're doing."

"If only we all possessed the aptitude for the night that your thestrals enjoy."

"It's the bat wings isn't it? They do look pretty cool."

Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled, "And now I can cross hearing you using the word cool in that context off the bucket list."

Luna smiled unsurely at Celestia, "What in the world are you doing with a bucket list? It's not like you'll be dying any time soon."

"And it's things like what you just said that become famous last words."

"And when do you plan on completing your bucket list?"

"I don't know, ponies keep inventing new things for me to add on. The world will likely have ended before I get around to finishing it."

Luna consolingly patted Celestia on the back, "And that is why I don't have a bucket list, and not just because such things were unheard of before my banishment. Now if you'll excuse me, I wish to use the gym before showering and going to bed. Good morning to you Celestia."

"And good night to you Luna." Celestia contained her amusement over Luna going to the gym, as it seemed to make little difference to the health and wellbeing of alicorns. Frankly, a millenia of feasting on cake had done little to damage Celestia, save for giving her a more curvaceous figure, so she reasoned there was little risk of dying from it, and an even littler need to work it off.

Sadly though, as much as she wanted to stay where she was, musing over lifes little intricacies, she had a country to run. She stood and gave the sun one last, longing filled glance before heading into the throne room where her assistant Raven would have a cup of tea ready and waiting for her. To Celestia's everlasting lack of surprise, there it was in its usual place by the throne. It was her fervent hope that one day Raven would surprise her with a coffee, but that would be far too daring for a mortal to do to their immortal princess.

"Good morning your highness."

"Good morning Raven. I don't suppose you've heard anything from-"

"Waah! Oof!"

Celestia raised an eyebrow as six- no, seven ponies appeared from thin air in the middle of the throne room, landing in a pile, and causing a ripple to appear in her tea. Then the other eyebrow joined its sibling as Celestia worked out who it was. "Twilight?"

"Help Flitter!" Twilight shouted as she pulled Fleur and Summer off herself, and teleported out of the room.

"Twilight!"

A series of rapid teleports accompanied the fastest flying Twilight had ever forced herself to do, and yet Ponyville still seemed painfully far away. She needed to be in Ponyville now, and it felt like she was trudging through molasses trying to get there. A cry of anguish accompanied the tears flying off her cheeks as she pushed herself even harder.

After a journey that felt like hours, but was only minutes, Twilight slammed her hooves onto the dirt road in the middle of Ponyville, and ironically found herself totally unsure of where to go. All of her friends were possibly in trouble, and she was only one mare.

"Twilight!"

Twilight almost collapsed with relief as Rainbow Dash zipped through the air towards her. "Rainbow! Thank goodness you're alright! I thought..." Twilight stopped as she saw the semi panicked expression on Rainbow's face. "Rainbow? What's happened?"

"Some creeps just attacked me while I was sleeping! A bunch of unicorns blew holes in my house, then they tried to catch me with some kind of net! I would've fought them off, but there was too many, and I had the feeling they knew what they were doing, so I thought I'd come find you until I remembered you were in Mareitania... Wait, why are you here?"

Twilight grabbed Rainbow by her shoulders, "Rainbow, I know you want to know what's going on, but we're in big trouble. I need you to go check on Fluttershy and Applejack, while I check on Pinkie and Rarity. Can you do that?"

"But why would they attack us?" Rainbow asked, looking back over her shoulder towards her house.

"Rainbow Dash, please!" Twilight's voice cracked, "Can you do that?!"

Rainbow hesitated at Twilight's behaviour, but swiftly nodded. "Yeah, okay; Applejack and Fluttershy, got it! Be back in a jiffy!"

"Tell them to go to my castle when you find them!" Twilight shouted after Rainbow, "And everypony with them too!"

"But Fluttershy's on her own."

"I know!" Twilight shouted. "And I really hope she still is," she added to herself, saying it loud enough for only herself to hear. Twilight watched the rainbow trail of Dash's flight dissipate for a second, then shook herself out of her stupor. She spurred her legs into action, her wings temporarily forgotten, and headed towards Rarity's place as it was marginally closer than Pinkie at Sugar Cube Corner. Her heart sank as she got closer and saw the front door hanging off its hinges.

"Rarity!" Twilight cried as she galloped into Carousel Boutique, slamming the door aside with her shoulder. Inside was a mess, with furniture and cloth scattered around from what appeared to be a fierce fight. Whoever had caused it was long gone though, and likely Rarity with them.

"Rarity!" Twilight shouted again, hoping against hope that the fashionista was still here having fought off her attackers. "Rarity! Please...answer me."

Twilight's ears perked up as they caught the sound of a sniffle, but it was rather squeakier than she was used to hearing from Rarity. "Sweetie Belle?" There was no reply, so Twilight followed the sound to the cupboard under the stairs and pulled the door open. She found Sweetie easy enough, half hidden under a shelf and behind a mop bucket, curled up and trying to cry as quietly as possible.

"Sweetie, it's me, Twilight."

Sweetie uncoiled enough to look up at Twilight, then sprang up to grab Twilight around the neck in a hug that bordered on feverish, "Twilight!"

Twilight returned the hug, "It's okay Sweetie, I've got you." She patted Sweetie on the back, comforting the young filly until her cries turned into whimpers and her hold around Twilight's neck loosened. "Are you okay Sweetie? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"N-no, but they took Rarity!" Twilight closed her eyes, her worst fear confirmed. "You have to get her back Twilight! You have to!"

"And I will, I promise, but there are other ponies in danger and I need to help them as well. I'm going to teleport you to my castle where you'll be safe. Just look for Spike and he'll look after..." The way Sweetie seemed to shrink made Twilight stop talking, and when Sweetie couldn't look her in the eye anymore she almost cried herself as she remembered something important. Spike usually stayed with Rarity when Twilight was away without him. "What's wrong Sweetie?" Twilight asked anyway, hoping it was something else entirely.

"They got Spike too," said Sweetie. "They put him in chains, and said they'd h-hurt Rarity if he even tried to breathe fire..."

Twilight closed her eyes, unwilling and unable to express in front of Sweetie Belle how much she hurt right now. Sweetie needed her to be stronger than that for a little bit.

"Then as long as they're together I'm sure they'll be fine," she said weakly. Sweetie looked about as convinced as Twilight felt. "Look, I need to go help other ponies that could be in trouble. I'm going to teleport you to the castle, and once you're there I want you to stay in the throne room until either I, or somepony else you know comes in."

"On my own?! I'm not staying on my own!"

"Sweetie Belle please, it's the safest place for you to be right now."

"But what if the bad ponies are there as well?"

"A-" Now she thought about it, her castle would be a good place to lay a trap for any of her friends that fled their homes. Maybe sending Sweetie there wasn't the most prudent decision.

"Alright, you can stay with me, but if I tell you to do something, anything at all, you do it, and you do it fast. Do you understand?"

Sweetie Belle nodded without hesitation, "U-understood."

"Good." Twilight lifted Sweetie up onto her back, and wasted no time in galloping out of the boutique and heading to Sugar Cube Corner, Sweetie hanging on for dear life.

Twilight could hear the ponies within before she even got there. The crying of the twins along with the desperate pleas of Mrs Cake for them to be quiet were the predominant sounds, but the clink of chains could also be heard under the racket the twins made.

Twilight slammed open the stable door that led into Sugar Cube Corner, and froze at the sight of two unicorns putting chains on Pinkie, as two more unicorns, as well as two earth ponies held the Cake family at knifepoint. It was fairly obvious to Twilight that they were Shades, part of the Mareitanian intelligence network set up by the rebellion during the civil war, and they certainly had no business being in Ponyville, or Equestria for that matter. They also seemed surprised to see her, and not the happy kind of surprised. It was the kind of surprise you get when one of the deadliest ponies you know catches you doing something that they don't want you to do.

Twilight didn't waste time shouting, or making demands that they give Pinkie back and don't hurt anypony. Instead she teleported Pinkie and the Cake's safely behind her. The chains that were holding Pinkie clattered to the ground without the mare they were meant for to support them, and Twilight almost grinned as the Shades backed away from her. She did grin at the looks on their faces as she summoned Swordy.

"Pinkie, get Sweetie."

"You're not going to...kill them, are you?" Pinkie asked as she slipped Sweetie off Twilight's back.

Twilight was about to say they deserved it, but as she looked back at Pinkie, she didn't see fear, or anger, or anything that she might have expected to see. Instead she saw worry and concern, although whether it was for the would be abductors, or Twilight herself she couldn't tell. Either way, it was enough to stay Twilight's hoof.

Twilight sighed and dismissed Swordy, "No, I'm not going to kill them, but I might have to hurt them really, really badly, until I can capture them, or they surrender." Pinkie didn't say anything, but did nod before averting hers and Sweetie's eyes. It was unnecessary though, as Twilight closed the doors behind her, which would save their eyes, but not necessarily their ears.

Twilight loosened her shoulders, suddenly relishing the chance to get a little payback on the ponies that would dare hurt and abduct her friends, and had no qualms about threatening foals to do it. Not that were any right alicorns to pick a fight with, but these ponies had definitely picked the wrong one. "So, who's first?"

One of the unicorns, a mare, held up a hoof, "Ma'am, please, we were just following orders. We really didn't know you kn-"

"Don't care." Twilight picked up a chair and smashed it across the mares head before the mare could even get so much as a hoof up to block it. She went down cold, and Twilight didn't waste time worrying about her any further.

The other five Shades were a little more cautious than their unconscious fellow, and spread out around Twilight to try and attack her from all sides. It was a wasted gesture on Twilight as she teleported from the middle of them to behind the other mare in the group, and bucked the earth pony hard enough to send her flying into one of the other Shades.

A knife flew towards Twilight, held in the light green magic of one of the other unicorns. She dodged it, then grabbed it in her own magic, fighting a very brief battle of wills as the unicorn tried to keep control of the blade. He failed, and the knife flew straight back at him, hitting him above the knee of his front right leg hard enough to go straight through the bone.

Twilight turned as he collapsed, her side catching the brunt of a magical blast that sent her sliding across the polished wooden floor. Her return blast was rather more effective, smashing the unicorn against the wall, and taking him out the fight as he didn't get back up after.
Having taken three of her attackers down, Twilight moved herself so she could keep an eye on all of them. The mare she'd bucked was crying with pain, and seemed unable to stand, making Twilight think that she may have broken something of the mare's. Counting her out of the fight, Twilight had two unicorns left, both armed with knives.

Twilight didn't attack immediately, and stood there giving them the silent hint that they could give up and surrender. They mustn't have fully understood her intent though as one threw their knife at her, hoping to distract her as the other ran in close.

Twilight snatched the blade out of the air and unexpectedly rammed into the unicorn running at her. He fell, winded as her shoulder barged into his chest, and she swept the knife across his back legs, just above the middle joint, and deep enough to severely damage the ligaments there, if not completely sever them. He was still dangerous being a unicorn though, and she took a moment to knock him out.

The remaining pony, whether through determination or fear, took up one of the fallen blades and charged towards Twilight as she was distracted. He swung the knife, scoring a deep gash on Twilight's side. Then his world went sideways in a serious way as a pulse of telekinesis knocked him away. He scrambled back to his hooves, then screamed as his original knife was forced through the middle of his horn and twisted, splitting it in two. A hoof to the back of his head temporarily ended his pain.

Twilight cursed herself for getting sloppy as she took a moment to compose herself. A quick scan with her magic confirmed that her attackers were all still alive, which was one less thing she'd have to explain, then she thought of something else. Although she wasn't a true fan of the genre, Twilight had read enough spy thrillers to think that she maybe knew a thing or two about it. To stop them leaking information, a spy might be given a false tooth containing a poison capsule to kill themselves with in the event of capture. A thorough inspection of all their mouths confirmed that she was indeed dead wrong about them thinking to do such a thing.

Satisfied that nopony was about to start foaming at the mouth and die, Twilight limped over to the exit. The looks on everyponies face as she opened the door wasn't one she liked, but otherwise paid it no mind.

"I don't suppose any of you have some rope or something? Two of them won't be walking in a hurry, but it'd still be best to immobilise them. Horn inhibitors would be good too, but I suspect that's asking too much."

"Tw-Twilight," Pinkie stammered, "you're- You're bleeding."

"I know," Twilight said dismissively. "I'll be fine. I really do need some rope though."

"B-buh..." Pinkie looked like she could cry as she saw the carnage inside the shop.

"Pinkie!" Twilight snapped, dragging Pinkie's attention back to herself. "Pinkie," Twilight repeated softer. "Can you find me some rope please. I promise you I didn't kill anypony, and that they'll all recover, but I need to tie them up before they all wake up." Technically not true, as she could make them sleep for hours if she wanted, but Twilight felt they deserved every second of pain they got.

"O-okay. Rope, okay. Uhh..." Pinkie looked around, then perked up as her eyes settled on a building site up the road. "Ooh! I bet they have rope that we could borrow! I'll be back real quick, okay?"

"Thank you Pinkie." Twilight sat heavily as Pinkie galloped away. The adrenaline that had carried her this far was starting to wear off, and without it she could feel her wound, along with a few bruises that she'd not really noticed receiving. She could also feel her worries come back into focus without something to distract her. Rarity was gone, along with Spike, and she really hoped Rainbow came back with good news about Applejack and Fluttershy.

A breath tickled her ear, "Here you go."

"Yah! Pinkie!" Twilight glared at the pink pony that had appeared behind her, "Really not the time."

"Sorry," Pinkie sheepishly said back. She had a few coils of rope around her neck which Twilight took off her and tested, pleased with what Pinkie had bought her. "Twilight, who are these ponies? Why'd they try to take me away?"

"They're..." Twilight sighed and shook her head, "That's a hard question to answer, but you're not the only one they went after. They've got Rarity and Spike, and they attacked Rainbow at home, but she got away. I've asked her to check on Applejack and Fluttershy."

"W-what about the other ponies here? Are they in danger? Did they take Flitter away too?"

"It's just us they want Pinkie, and they did have Flitter, but she's safe back in Canterlot now."

"Oh. That's good, I suppose."

"I suppose," Twilight echoed. Pinkie said nothing more, and stared blankly at the floor, unable to really process what was going on. Twilight left her to it to go tie up the ponies in Sugar Cube Corner before they woke up. She also had to think of what to do without inhibitors for the unicorns. She could do the second best thing and use dark magic crystals to nullify their magic, but honestly, she was past that stage, and did the third best thing and removed the issue altogether. She was on a roll with dehorning things today, and didn't see why she had to stop.

Some of the unconscious ponies were starting to stir by the time she finished, and all four unicorns would be waking up to a special kind of agony, so she felt that perhaps it was best to keep them, as well as those still conscious, from being trouble for at least a little longer. She'd just finished casting the sleep spell when Pinkie called her name.

"Twilight? Princess Luna's here with a load of bat ponies in armour. Should I tell them you're busy and that they should leave a message for you?"

"No, I'll be right out." Twilight limped back out to the sight of several dozen of Luna's Nightguard, resplendent in their purple armour. The effect was slightly ruined by the large amount of them that were squinting in the morning light. Slightly more resplendent, and considerably less squinty, was Luna, bedecked in a bright silver armour that might have been half the reason the thestrals were struggling.

"Luna! I'm so happy you're here!"

"I came as soon as I was able Twilight, and thought I should bring backup." Twilight caught her thestral friend Shadow wink and salute at her. "What's happening here?"

"There's Shades here. They've got Rarity and Spike, and tried to take Pinkie too, but I got here in time to stop them. I have Rainbow checking on Applejack and Fluttershy, but she's been too long and I really need to go find them. Could you take care of things here while I go looking?"

"Of course Twilight."

"Oh thank you Luna. I have prisoners in Sugar Cube Corner that need moving to my castle, or Canterlot. Whatever, I don't care."

"Your castle will do for now. Captain?" A burly thestral stallion stepped forward and saluted to both princesses. His name was Greywhisker, and on their first introduction a couple of months ago, Twilight had been impressed to learn he was near six hundred years old.

"Orders mistress?"

"Secure the prisoners in Twilight's castle, then have most of your ponies begin searching for our stolen ponies and dragon while the remainder protect the village."

"At once mistress."

"Twilight, go do what you have to do."

"Thanks Luna. Pinkie, please stay with Luna." Pinkie nodded listlessly, which was good enough for Twilight at that moment in time. She launched herself into the air and orientated herself towards Sweet Apple Acres, since it was the closer of the two places she needed to go. She was only halfway there when she found Rainbow coming the other way.

"Twilight! Thank goodness! You have to come quic-" Rainbow's voice broke, and Twilight saw the tears her friend was shedding, which was unlike Rainbow.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Big Mac. He's hurt Twilight, like really bad. Come on!"

Twilight chased after Rainbow, and was either fast enough to keep up, or Rainbow was slowing herself so Twilight could keep up. Twilight suspected the latter.

The situation at Sweet Apple Acres looked the same as it had been at Carousel Boutique and Sugar Cube Corner, with the doors smashed open and the inside being complete carnage. The difference here was that Big Mac lay in the middle of it, blood pouring from several stab wounds as Granny Smith and a sobbing Applebloom tried to staunch the bleeding as best they could.

Twilight froze for a moment, then shook it off. "Big Mac, can you hear me?"

"Nnngh...eeyup." Still being conscious was a very good sign if Twilight remembered correctly.

"Please be okay Big Mac! Please be okay!" Applebloom wailed, fighting the urge to wipe her tears to keep her hooves pressed on a blood-soaked towel.

"Hush Applebloom, stay strong fer Big Mac." Granny Smith looked to be on the verge of breaking down herself, and nopony would've blamed her if she did.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Twilight to work out that there was nothing she could do to really help, not without her healing device. Big Mac's best chance lay with getting him to the hospital.

"Okay, I'm going to have to teleport us to the hospital because this is too much for me. Rainbow, you fly and meet us there." Rainbow was out the door as soon as Twilight said so. "The rest of you, hold on."

Big Mac was not light, and seemed to possess enough mass for three ponies, but that wasn't a major issue. Twilight's horn sparked, and with a flash they appeared in the main reception of Ponyville hospital, shocking the ponies that had been clustering around the main entrance, trying to see what was happening in town.

"Help!" Twilight shouted, which seemed to be enough to shock the hospital staff into action. Nurse Redheart eased Applebloom to the side and took over trying to staunch the bleeding, while another nurse took over for Granny Smith. Doctor Stable took one look and immediately shouted for a trolley, although they had to rely on Twilight to lift Big Mac on when it arrived.

Both Twilight and Granny Smith had to hold Applebloom back as her big brother was wheeled off into the depths of the hospital, but not before they heard Doctor Stable's departing words. "What I wouldn't give for an S.h.d right now."

Rainbow also chose that moment to crash through the entrance and skid to a halt just before she reached the patch of red on the floor where Big Mac had lain. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked once she caught her breath.

"He should be," said Twilight. "Doctor Stable said he wished he had an S.h.d, although I don't know what he meant by that."

"Really?" Rainbow threw her legs into the air, "A healing device Twilight! How could you possibly not know that since you invented them?! Why aren't you getting one anyway?!"

"They have one, don't they?"

"Seriously Twilight?! You're betting in them 'maybe' having one?"

"...Be right back." Twilight disappeared with a flash, and true to her word, reappeared moments later with the prototype healing device that she built in Mareitania. Unfortunately that meant she was the only one that could use it. "Rainbow, come with me."

"Uh, sure, but...why?"

"Just come on!" Twilight raced through the hospital, heading to where she remembered the operating theatre to be. Big Mac was already hooked up to oxygen, and the medical staff were prepping themselves for surgery when Twilight ran in.

"What are you doing?!" Doctor Stable shouted. He started to run to move Twilight away from Big Mac when Nurse Redheart held him back.

"Just wait."

The Doctor's eyes lit up as Twilight set up her healing device and started to feed magic into it. "I didn't realise you had one of those Princess. I was about to send Coldheart to go get ours."

"It's the prototype," Twilight answered. "Only an alicorn, or a really powerful unicorn can use it, which is why I still have it. Now please, I need to concentrate.

A hushed quiet fell over the operating theatre as they let Twilight do her thing. A few minutes after she started, the bleeding from Big Mac's wounds was stopped, and Twilight heard more than a few sighs of relief from the assembled ponies as Big Mac's chances of survival grew exponentially.

Twilight regretted asking for quiet though. Operating the healing device only required a pony to act as a battery, and very little else. Without something to focus her attention on, Twilight found herself thinking, and with that came all the horrors the day had given them, and it was barely six in the morning.

Twilight didn't bother to ask if the Shades had gotten Applejack, as the cowpony would be right there with them if they hadn't, but there was one other pony that she didn't know the fate of yet.

"Did you find Fluttershy?" The small shake of Rainbow's head was enough to tell her the answer. The tears said a lot more.

An oppressive silence hung over the throne room in Twilight's castle, occupied as it was by three ponies instead of six. Pinkie sat hunched over the map table, and had barely said a word in the hours since learning that four of her friends had been kidnapped, and why. Rainbow wasn't much better. She kept twitching her wings, and pacing back and forth as she desperately sought for some way to fix everything. Twilight forbade her from joining the search, as flying into the hooves of the enemy wasn't the best idea they had.

Twilight supposed it didn't really matter any more though. The longer the search went on, the less likely they were to find anything. The Shades had probably escaped with their prizes, and Faust had gotten her way and had effectively neutralised the Elements of Harmony from interfering with her plans. What would capturing one more pony really mean to her now, other than to be another mouth to feed? No amount of thinking could tell her why they kidnapped Spike as well though.

"This is your fault!" Rainbow shouted at Twilight after a while. "Ever since you went to Mareitania nothing's gone right! Now you're telling us that there's some crazy alicorn that hates the world in charge of that place! You should never have gone there!"

"They went to help ponies," Pinkie said quietly. "You can't hate them for doing that."

"Like fun I can't!"

"Dashie please, don't fight."

"Then tell me how to fix this! Tell me where to go to get my friends back and I'll forgive everything!"

"They aren't just your friends," Pinkie reminded Rainbow.

"Well they sure as hell aren't Twilight's! Fluttershy could barely stand to be around her after she told us what she'd done. And now Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike are who knows where because of what she did!"

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed, "I'm right here you know."

"Are you? Really? Because I'm pretty sure that for the last six months I've only been talking to the ghost of the Twilight I used to know!"

Twilight's eyes snapped open, "And how well would you have coped, huh? Forced into a situation where you became a monster while trying to help ponies, or become one by leaving them to suffer!"

"Better than you!"

"Girls, please..." Both of them ignored Pinkie.

"And you're such hot shit that nothing ever bothers you? Rainbow Dash has to kill a pony and she just shrugs it off as no big deal? I can tell you now that that is how psychopaths are made!"

"No it wouldn't be nothing! But I wouldn't let it tear me apart like you did! You can barely wake up in the morning without falling apart-" Rainbow gasped and struggled to breathe as she felt something cold stab through her chest, and looked into Twilight's eyes as the alicorn's horn blazed.

"You feel that Dash? That is what I feel every time I wake up. And you know why I feel it? It's because, to my p.t.s.d addled brain, the difference between waking up in the morning, and waking up as a cold body in a morgue after having died, is the temperature I wake up at. You try waking up with that feeling every day, and see how well you cope!"

"Twilight!"

Twilight released Rainbow and backed off, suddenly very aware of just how far past too far she might have gone. To Rainbow's credit, she didn't attack, or run away, but watched Twilight warily. "I'm sorry Rainbow, I shouldn't have done that."

Rainbow licked her lips to get some moisture back into her mouth after what she had just felt. "You really feel that every morning?"

"Occasionally I'm really lucky and wake up feeling refreshed. Those are the best days. Truthfully, I was so preoccupied back in Mareitania that I never thought about a lot of this stuff, but ever since I came back I've have nothing but time to think about everything that happened, and it's made it worse. And now the past's coming back to both haunt me, and bite me on the ass."

"What?"

"Guys, the ponies in Mareitania followed me to free their own country. Now they're being twisted to hate us and all we stand for because of a mare that can't see past her own revenge. These are ponies I know Dash, friends that I once trusted with my life, and now... Now they've become the monsters that'll haunt other ponies dreams, and it hurts. And now they've stolen Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy and Applejack..."

Twilight slumped over onto the map table, and started crying softly, a sound that tugged uncomfortably on Rainbow's heart. "Aw nuts... Twilight, I never meant to yell at you. It's just that you've been so distant ever since you came back, and now this has happened, and... And I don't know what to do. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, and honestly, we've been rubbish friends to you while you've been struggling with all this as well. Can you forgive me?"

Twilight yanked Rainbow into a hug, "There's nothing to forgive Rainbow, and I really don't want to lose any more friends today. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for everything too. You were right when you said this was my fault, because partly it is."

"Don't say that. How were you supposed to know any of this would happen."

Both of them released their hug and looked up to find Pinkie giving them an extremely watery smile. "Can I have hugs too?" Pinkie almost cried with relief as Twilight and Rainbow hugged her from both sides.

"We'll have to have a proper group hug when we get the others back," said Rainbow. "I guess it's just us 'til then."

"Yeah," Twilight said wistfully.

"How do we get them back?" Rainbow asked hopefully, making Twilight sigh.

"I guess we can only hope that Luna and her Night Guard can find them before they leave the country. That's a slim hope though as they've got to have prepared for us searching."

"And? Can't we find them using this?" Rainbow patted her hoof on the map table. "If this can find friendship problems, surely it can find our friends?"

"But I don't know how to do that. I don't even know if it can do that. I haven't gotten it to really do anything since we discovered it, apart from those problems in Manehatten, Griffinstone, and the Smokey Mountains." Twilight didn't say there had been a forth instance, mostly because it involved her. For the last four months the only thing the map had shown was her friends cutie marks circling around where they were now.

"You can still try though," Rainbow insisted.

"Rainbow, I-"

"Twilight! Please! Just try."

Twilight wanted to refuse, but the sheer desperation Rainbow displayed stopped her. Instead she used her magic and activated the table. As predicted, it showed the same thing as it had for the last four months. "That's all it does," said Twilight as she averted her gaze from both the map and her friends.

"Wh- What is this Twilight?" Dash looked closer at the image of hers, Pinkie's, and the others marks rotating around Twilight's castle.

"Remember when you all came running here around four months ago because your cutie marks were flashing?"

"Yeah, you told us it was a false alarm, which we found kinda weird, but why would you lie t-" Rainbow frowned as she worked it out, "You did lie to us, didn't you. How could you do that Twilight? Is this why I feel like something's wrong every time I'm around you? Because this map is sending my flank messages telling me so?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want you all to worry about me, to think I was hurt and broken, and that our friendship needed fixing. I'm supposed to be a princess, to be strong and able to deal with anything. The map showing me as a friendship problem just made me feel like more of a failure, so...I lied. I wanted to fix it myself. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it made things worse."

"You- You- Arrgh!" Rainbow shouted her frustration into her hooves, then slammed them onto the map. "For being the smartest pony I know, you really are incredibly dumb sometimes!"

"You shouldn't be afraid to let us help you Twilight," said Pinkie.

"I know," Twilight whispered. "I-" She lowered her head to the map and hid her face under her legs. "I'm such an idiot."

Rainbow nodded heartily, "You really are, but you're still our friend, and we do still love you despite your many, many flaws."

"Thanks, I think."

"Now is this really all this map will show us?" Rainbow tried to touch the circling cutie marks, hoping that something might happen. The images phased harmlessly through her hoof.

"I wasn't lying when I said I don't know how to make it do anything else."

Rainbow threw her hooves up in disgust and slumped back in her seat. "Then it's hopeless. I guess we'll just have to go to Mareitania and get them back the hard way. You guys with me?"

"I wish it was that simple," Twilight said before Pinkie could speak. "They'll be taken to High Rock, which is a highly defensible and mostly magic proof keep. We struggled to capture it from a hooffull of demoralised and half starved earth ponies, so trying to take it from a experienced army of thousands of earth ponies and unicorns who have back-up from an insanely powerful alicorn like Faust? We might as well shoot spit wads at them, make rude gestures, and say unflattering things about their mothers for all the difference it would make."

"Then tell me how to beat her!"

"Beat her?" Twilight laughed despite herself, "If we knew how to do that we wouldn't have been so worried about her escaping in the first place!"

"So not even all you princesses could beat her?"

"I don't know. It's possible I suppose, but I wouldn't bet on it, and that's in a favourable situation. Attacking her where she's strongest at High Rock would be suicide."

"Not if all four of you went!"

Twilight could hear the need in Rainbow's voice for them to be able to beat Faust and get their friends back. "We aren't unbeatable Rainbow. Far from it. If we all died and got captured... Equestria definitely wouldn't survive. As it is we have some time to come up with a plan to beat Faust and stop Mareitania."

Rainbow deflated, but still nodded. "Okay, I get it." Twilight doubted Rainbow really did. She could almost see Rainbow thinking that this'd all be sorted out by the end of the week, and they'd have their friends back and make everything okay again. Twilight didn't have it in her to crush that delusion.

"Why are we all talking like our friends are gone?" Pinkie asked. "There's no way they could have left Equestria yet! Those nasty Shades were still here when you got here Twilight."

"They only need to capture one of us to stop us using the Elements," Twilight explained. "If they attacked each of you at different times and split up for their retreat, their chances of succeeding increases significantly. Honestly, they could have kidnapped just Fluttershy and I doubt any of us would have noticed until they were long gone because she lives so out of the way."

Rainbow sat back up again, like she'd thought of something. "Where do you think they'd go? I mean like, which way?"

"Logically they'd head back towards Vanhoover to use the land route to Mareitania, but that's so obvious even I wouldn't do it. They could head south and meet a boat, or hide out in the Everfree forest until the heat dies down, then escape. Or they might have some sort of stored teleport that they could use to travel straight back to High Rock. These are just the options off the top of my head Rainbow, and I'm sure I could think of more if I keep trying."

"Rrgh!" Rainbow slumped back again and smacked her head against the back of her throne, "I hate feeling like this! Our friends are in danger and we can't do diddly-squat!"

A knock at the door punctuated Rainbow's shout, and the thestral Shadow Seeker entered, her helmet held nervously to her chest. "Sorry to disturb you Twilight."

"You!" Rainbow jumped into the air, "Tell me you found them!"

Shadow shook her head, "Nothing. We found a lot of tracks around Fluttershy's cottage, but they head in two directions, and become impossible to track around the Everfree. There was hardly anything to go by from Sweet Apple Acres, and tracks lead everywhere in Ponyville, so tracking Rarity was never really an option to begin with. I'm sorry."

"What now then?" Twilight asked as Rainbow sunk deeper into despair. Her own voice was tight with the definite news that her friends were gone.

"Princess Luna's calling off the search and heading back to Canterlot, and she requests you three join her there to discuss what to do. We'll worry about the prisoners Twilight, so all you have to do is get there."

"Oka-" Twilight swallowed as her voice broke. "Okay. What about the families of those missing? Are they getting help?"

"I'll mention it to the Princess."

"Good. Thanks Shadow."

Shadow gave Twilight a small, tight smile. "I wish I'd done something to be worthy of thanking."

Pinkie started sobbing as Shadow left, and Rainbow surreptitiously wiped some tears of her own away. Twilight didn't have any more tears to shed right then. All she felt was numb. Even so, she still got up and embraced Pinkie as the earth pony cried for her lost friends. A moment later Rainbow joined them.

Author's Notes:

Ok, so, here we are a whole week ahead of schedule. Staring at this for another week isn't going to make it look any better to myself, especially now that I've reread it so many times I'm sick of looking at it, so it's probably time to throw this thing out of the nest and hope it learns to fly before crashing into the ground at terminal velocity.

Starting sequels is hard. Pressing the submit button even harder.