I sat in front of him, the early morning light beginning to edge over the horizon. We were on a small cliff overlooking our town, and he was facing the sun. Normally the brilliance blinded us, but he only had eyes for me. I could only imagine what I must have looked like, a dark shadow in a halo of burning brightness. This was my life's moment, that point in time when all things were perfect, innocent, simple. I leaned in close, keeping my sight on those watering mirrors that reflected me, and the sun. And Them. Again, he could not see them, his eyesight was washed out, but I could. I always saw them. like birds slowly flapping leathery wings, they were much closer than they seemed, due to their size. They were dragons, coming to destroy our township, and my Lance. I sat back quickly, saying, "No. no nono, go away!"

Lance glances over my should and nods, getting up, "I will go warn them. Head to the school and make sure it is clear, then the town hall. Those are the two biggest buildings and they will hit them first." With that, he took to the skies, dipping over the cliff, like he always did. The large chocolate Heart and Hooves gift sliding over the edge as well, like it always did.

I turned into the sunlight and yelled, "Come back! You are going to die! Noooo!"

Slicer sits up quickly, moaning, "No!!!" It is still dark in the camp, though morning is approaching. There is a momentary silence before the birds in the trees go back to twittering at each other. Applejack watches the thestral for a few more seconds, then she goes back to building up a small teepee of twigs and sticks, about to start a fire. Next to her is an array of apple skewers and some other vegetables, an appealing breakfast waiting to be unleashed onto the mares. Slicer makes a mental note to hit up the nearest stream for fish to augment their menu. She gets up, stretches, and slowly makes her way over to the orange pony.

Without looking up from her work, Applejack says, "Morning, sugarcube. Having trouble with your nightmares?"

Slicer narrows her eyes and shakes her head, annoyed. "Nope. Nothing I can't handle." She moves around, eyeing the stack of sticks. "I suggest you dig a hole for that fire, with a smaller one coming out the side to breathe the fire. That way the light will be hidden. And use dry wood to keep the smoke down. I have a feeling we are not the only ones out here." Slicer stares off in the direction to the road. "I'm going to go scout ahead. Those goblins and orcs are not likely to make a full retreat if they regroup. Everypony else should stay put until I get back." Without bothering to acknowledge Applejack's stare, she starts walking to the edge of the camp. She hears a snort behind her, followed by a soft comment.

"Y'all know Awm pretty good at it."

Slicer turns around and tilts her head at Applejack, waiting for her to continue. She does.

"Tellin when somepony is lying, that is."

Whether it is from the morning dew, or the anticipation of the fire, a definite cold chill passes briefly between the thestral and the confident pony. "What is that supposed to mean?" Slicer takes one step toward Applejack.

In turn, Applejack pushes her hat back slightly and softens her expression. "Awm just sayin, Aw can tell when somepony is lyin. Although, there's one pony who can tell better when they're lyin to themselves. You." With that, she pushes aside the pile of sticks and starts digging into the dirt, creating a hole. Slicer flexes her jaw for a minute, watching Applejack.

After a time, the thestral responds quietly, "Maybe, when all this silliness is over...with some help, I'll deal with it." She slowly turns around and continues her trek out of the campsite.

Applejack continues digging, not minding the extra effort to safeguard her friends. She mutters to herself, "Ain't that the truth."

***

The sounds of melodic music drift through the trees, sung by various birds hailing the morning sun. There is a cool feel to the air, spiked by the smell of wood smoke and cooking apples. Twilight Sparkle opens her eyes to the scene of four mares and one hatchling dragon salivating around Applejack as she is cooking a rack of apples over a small in-ground fire pit. Twilight stretches and gets up, making her way over to the breakfast club. She notices Applejack is fiddling with the fire pit, using a stick to keep the intake unblocked. "Applejack, you definitely know how to live outdoors, but uh, why go through the trouble of digging a pit when you can burn wood a lot easier above ground?"

Applejack turns one set of apples before she looks up. "I was gonna do that, but Slicer said it'd be safer to bury the fire, reduce smoke and light in case them goblins an' the like got bit too near. Reckon she knows 'bout that sorta thing, fightin' for her life all her life an' all. The pit concentrates the heat better, it seems."

The groan from Twilight was indicative of a number of things, not the least of which was a lingering headache regarding a certain thestral. She takes a deep breath to shake off the tension and glances around. "Okay, I'll give you that, Slicer. Slicer?" Twilight spins about, scanning the camp. The thestral is nowhere to be seen. "Argh, where did she go this time?" Applejack points toward the road.

"Straight yonder back the way we came. She did say to stay put, though." Applejack watches Twilight march out of the campsight, her grumblings about orders and willful guards reaching their ears. Once Twilight has left the area, Applejack turns back to her apples and starts handing them out. "She coulda least waited for breakfast."

Rainbow Dash chuckles and remarks, "I think she has something else in mind to chew on." The others nod in agreement, but Rarity shakes her head.

"Really, those two should work out their differences," she says.

Pinkie Pie hops up and down, exclaiming, "Oh! I know, they can play a similarity game! See, the two ponies point out each other's differences, then we point out their similarities! And then, we switch roles! We point out their differences and they try to point out their similarities!" Rarity watches Pinkie with her mouth open and is about to retort when a thought occurs.

"Pinkie, sometimes I swear you are a genius, and all of this," she waves her hoof at Pinkie, "is a ruse." All of a sudden, Rarity's vision is filled with pink and a pair of blue eyes just an inch from hers.

"Shhhhhh.....you'll blow my cover!" Rarity blinks. Pinkie blinks. The other mares blink. Rainbow sneaks an apple into her mouth.

Rarity whispers, "Forget I said anything." Pinkie squees and hugs Rarity.

Picking her way through the woods toward the road, Twilight grumbles to herself. " 'Stay put'. I'm going to make somepony 'stay put'. Who is the guard and who is the guarded? Princess Celestia said I would have to learn how to deal with guards. This should be a learning experience neither of us will soon forget." After a few minutes, she realizes Slicer had led them deeper into the woods than she remembered. Twilight muses they all must have been more tired than they thought the previous night. Eventually she reaches the treeline and can see glimpses of the road. There is a final set of bushes before it opens up, so she pushes through them. The sun is bright enough to almost blind her after being used to the shaded woods, but it gives her a good view of the road itself, and the figures moving along it. One of the figures stops and raises its hand above its eyes to look at her.

Something wraps itself around Twilight's mouth from behind and yanks her back into the woods, her assailant staying behind her as they both use the tree to shield them from view of the road. Twilight would have screamed if not for the hoof covering her mouth. Her panic doesn't change much when a knife blade comes up in front of her eyes, but instead of cutting her, it tilts to reflect the image of her face, Slicer's face right behind hers, and the road with the orc standing there staring at where Twilight was just standing. One of the other orcs grunts at the first one. Moments measured in heavy thumping heartbeats pass before the orcs move on, continuing east down the road toward the more civilized settlements. Once they have moved a good distance, Slicer lowers her blade. She whispers, "Congrats, princess. You almost ordered up that practice session for Fluttershy, except this would have come in waves." She releases Twilight and peeks around the tree, making sure the group of creatures has moved on.

For her part, Twilight feels a little embarrassed for the mistake. In retrospect, she agrees that stepping out into the open in broad daylight was a bit foolish, so she admits, "I didn't know they were there." Twilight tilts her head and eyes the thestral. "Hold on. You watched me step out the woods, didn't you? You could have stopped me anytime as I approached the edge. I did some research on your career in the Lunar Guard after that first game night. Your woodcraft is very advanced, enough to see me coming for a good distance and warn me long before I would have stepped out."

Slicer relaxes as she is sure the orcs have moved on. She turns back toward the direction of the campsite and beckons Twilight to follow. "I could have. I wanted to see how cautious you were, and my mentor always considers experience to be the great teacher of things. Incidentally, you weren't, and you learned." Twilight grudgingly follows. And grudgingly agrees.

"Okay, I've learned to appreciate experience. Still, I only saw three of them. You said waves?" Just then, a low horn sounds in the distance, picked up by another horn closer to where that group of orcs would likely be. A third horn, very distant sounds far to the west. The two ponies hold perfectly still until there are no more sounds.

"A patrol," Slicer says quietly and resumes her walking, with Twilight following. "I counted at least two earlier before you arrived. Each one has a horn blower. That was the 'all is well' signal. I imagine an 'all is not well' would have brought waves of more orcs." Hearing the thestral's explanation does not bode well for Twilight. Already thinking ahead, she is starting to run into logistical problems, the least of which is not being able to use the road anymore.

"Right. Good plan. The less fighting we have to do, the more ready we will be for the final fight." Twilight nods to herself and smiles.

Slicer glances sidelong and mutters, "There is never a 'final' fight." Twilight wrinkles her nose at the dour thestral but decides not to argue the matter. For now. She ponders her earlier argument she was formulating to unleash on the Lunar guard about giving orders to the relatively new alicorn princess, and decides to let it go. In a way, the thestral HAD been doing her job, guarding them, in her own, irritating way. There was a lesson in that.

"Oh, a friendship lesson! I need to write this down, so I can send to....ah. Hm, nevermind."

The thestral regards the princess, not quite understanding why she looks forlorn. Was this part of that whole friend thing Princess Luna was pushing the thestral toward? Slicer shakes her head, deciding it was none of her business. Thus the two enter the camp to the sight of the other ponies standing there with weapons drawn. Mostly. Spike is offering up the sheathed sword to Fluttershy who is shaking her head and murmuring explanations as to why she should not wield it. Rarity steps forward. "We heard the horns and thought the worst! Dears, a fight during breakfast is so not good for one's diet."

Rainbow waves a wing while shouldering her sword, "Nonsense! I could use a little exercise to get the muscles nice and warmed up!"

Applejack shakes her head. "To be honest, an that means Aw feel right strong about it, the best fight to win is one you can avoid."

Slicer steps over to her bedroll and starts tidying up. Twilight is grateful Slicer doesn't mention her minor misstep to her friends, who already have enough to tease her with. Twilight says, "We noticed the road is being patrolled by orcs. They were merely signalling to each other that 'all is well'. For them, at least. If we go back to the road, they will blow their horns and call in more waves." Slicer snorts softly. Twilight's eye twitches and she continues quickly, "Incidentally, we need to change our route. Spike, can we look at your map again?"

The dragon had given up on proffering the sword to Fluttershy and was staring at his map. He jumps up in surprise, "Map? Mine? Oh, uh, yes, here it is." He scampers over and hands the map to Twilight, who in turn spreads it out in the air with her magic. Applejack watches Spike and frowns slightly.

Twilight looks it over, tracing her hoof along the road. "It seems this road is the main thoroughfare throughout the countryside. No wonder they are patrolling it." The other mares gather around. Twilight taps south of the woods, showing another road snaking its way northwest. "This road comes up from the south and heads to the mountain itself. No large settlements are down that way, so I would imagine less patrols would frequent that area. And it cuts through the woods, so we can deviate south west, pick it up here," as she taps her hoof on the map, "and follow it without worry of being out in the open. Everypony agree?" The others nod their heads. Twilight looks to Slicer, who is standing a slight distance away from the group. She nods slowly. Good, no arguments from THAT direction at least.

"We will need to gather provisions since we can't guarantee coming across another settlement for a while," Slicer responds.

Twilight nods. "Yes, of course. Everypony, fan out, gather what you can. I heard a brook nearby, so we should get fresh water as well."

Slicer says, "And fish."

Some of the ponies make faces. Twilight nods, "If that is what you want later on, I'll leave it to you. I doubt the rest of us know how to fish." She reaches over and pushes down the tacklebox, fishing rod and lure vest Pinkie Pie was about to don, much to Pinkie's disappointment. "We don't have THAT much time, Pinkie." The ponies start to go about cleaning up the campsite and begin to forage.

Applejack sidles up next to Twilight and whispers, "Not sure about what you saw, but Spike ain't acting all on the up an' up."

The alicorn furrows her brow in thought and sits back, "Really? Has he lied about something?"

Her friend shakes her head, still wearing her frown. "I dunno. Or he's not told us everythang that's important. Nondisclosure an all is a bit trickier than outright lyin'. Aw get the same vibe, but without the ringin'. Like a bell that vibrates from ringin', yet you don't hear the ringin'. That make any sense?"

Twilight giggles, "Actually, it does!" When her orange friend raises a brow, Twilight pats her foreleg, "Harmonics and resonance play a large part in magic." She smiles and continues, "Don't worry, I'm sure whatever he's hiding, it is for a good reason and we'll find out in due course. We've seen Spike go through a lot, and no matter what role he is playing today, he is still our Spike. We'll just have to be there for him when he needs us." That seems to satisfy Applejack for the time being.

Once the group gathers enough provisions to last them the rest of the journey, they meet up to look at the map again. Rainbow Dash zips up above the canopy to give them their bearing based off the sun and time of day and off they march, as much as they can through thick underbrush and forest. After several hours, the lush foliage starts to give way to more sinister looking plants. Even the animals have long since stopped making their usual noises as it seems this part of the wood is less popular to the local fauna. The shadows start to deepen as the better part of the day has now passed, giving their surroundings an eerie feel to the place. The edgy tension all the ponies are feeling explodes as Pinkie bursts out laughing. Rarity holds her chest in an exaggerated show of a possible heart attack. Fluttershy sails up into the canopy out of fright, realizes it is scarier and darker up there and craters back down into the ground, curling up behind her hair. Spike had the good sense to roll off as he felt Fluttershy tense up. He now helps her back up. The others pull up short and look at their pink friend.

Rainbow finally says, "Alright, Pinkster, what's the punchline this time?"

Pinkie wipes her tears away and exclaims, "Actually, I was thinking of something else, but you know what's weird?" The others stare deadpanned at her.

Slicer massages a spot between her eyes with her hoof, muttering, "Dare I ask...?" The next instant, Pinkie is resting her head on her crossed forelegs, atop of Slicer's head.

"Oooh, Truth or Dare, now THAT is a game worth playing, which might not be quite so weird as this forest, but that also reminds me, it's my Pinkie Sense!" Slicer ducks out from under Pinkie and gives herself an exaggerated shake from the sudden intrusion of personal space. Pinkie merely drops back down to all fours and continues, "I mean really, not one shimmy this entire time."

Rarity replies, "But darling, if we are following a set script, then that's a good thing, right? Nothing to predict since everything will happen a certain way anyway, so no need for warnings to change what we do?" She glances at Twilight, their resident logic nut, who in turn nods.

"That is sound reasoning. Afterall, reading the pure chaos of the unknown future is useless at this point, as Rarity points out. And thankfully, that once again tells us we are on the right track."

Pinkie blinks a few times, then smiles. "Okie dokie smokey! Because I definitely don't feel good about it. Not so much as a shivery shake, or a tally tail switch, or a-" She stops short and looks back it her tail. It twitches. Twice. She turns back to her friends and smiles, "Nevermind, is all good!" She starts hopping in the direction they were headed, giggling to herself, "We are sooo off script now!"

The rest of the ponies look aghast as she hops away, then start following her again, now a little more sullen than before. Slicer stares as they go by, the last one pulling up short next to her, Twilight. The alicorn watches them for a few seconds, then turns her head to Slicer and sighs, deflated, "Questions?" Twilight has a sardonic smile on her muzzle, a mix of feelings from the import of Pinkie's remarks and the enjoyment of seeing Slicer's confusion.

The thestral's right eye twitches. She opens her mouth, closes it. Opens it again, "You have no idea."

"I might. If memory serves, that particular tell means something is going to fall out of the sky." She giggles softly, looking up. "Good thing we have this thick canopy!" Twilight trots on to catch up to the group. Slicer follows, muttering to herself about drop bears and widowmakers.

Deeper into the woods they progress. Once in a while, one of the ponies whispers to Pinkie, to which she responds, "Nopey, not yet. But it's out there, I can feel it!" She pauses, shakes her back, then says, "Withers tingly, ponies entering the Everfree!" Several hoofpalms to the face are heard. Slicer, who is scouting ahead of the group, is a bit more skeptical and speaks up.

"Oh yeah? Which Everfree? The one we are in, or the one back home?" She is met with silence. She stops and turns her head. The other ponies are stopped too, watching Pinkie. Pinkie, for her part, is patting at her left ear, which seems to be half folded down.

"I must have had all these Pinkie Senses backed up. They are just coming one right after the other. Oh, Slicer, I'm sorry."

The thestral waves a hoof and starts walking again, "Whatever, you didn't do anything to me."

"Oh, I know. I'm just sorry I don't have a brush to get all the dirt out of your fur."

Slicer frowns and slightly turns her head in reply, "Wha...?" She doesn't get to finish as she trips and face plants into the dirt. Or not necessarily dirt, but a road of dark yellow sandstone bricks covered in dirt from lack of use and countless rainstorms that produced runoff. The rest of the group carefully step up onto the road without tripping on the raised edge, including Pinkie and Twilight.

Twilight says quietly to Slicer, "You found the road for us. Thankyou for your sacrifice." Pinkie reaches down and helps Slicer up, who coughs out bits of moss and dirt.

"Glad I could be of service," she quips at Twilight. After she brushes herself off and nods to Pinkie, Slicer tilts her head at the pink pony, "I've found everypony has some kind of magic or power. Is the whole prediction thing yours?" Pinkie shrugs and hums softly.

"Hmm, I wouldn't know about magic. All I know is what I know. Now you know." Slicer shakes her head, not wanting to question what sounds to be a very complicated topic. Twilight pats Slicer as she walks by and asks Fluttershy to wake up Spike for his map. He had fallen asleep while riding on Fluttershy's back. When he is awake, he pulls out the map and they roughly gauge where they were.

Twilight looks off in the direction the road continues. The woods are thick on either side of it, barely allowing any lingering light from the setting sun to come through the top. Clearly this way was not used as much as the main road, so the woods has been encroaching on the road for years. "Okay, we should have one or two more hours before it becomes too dark to travel, then we'll break for camp."

Once the group starts moving down the road, Fluttershy speaks up quietly, "Um...we could always make camp now...uh, so we aren't stumbling around in the dark, while making camp, that is." Rainbow laughs and flits over to her, looking down.

"Ah Fluttershy, it's not all bad. I mean, it's not like you have anything to be afraid of out here. You are usually on good terms with most animals."

The yellow pony giggles nervously, "Yes, that is true....except for the really hungry ones. Like....lions, sometimes......most times...."

Applejack scoffs. "Really sugar? With all the critters we're supposed ta be fightin', I doubt that big GM in the sky is gonna be throwin' lions at us. I'd be thinkin' somethin' exotic and the like....like panthers."

Slicer spbpt's, "Please, that's my department. You all are just scaring her."

Fluttershy responds to Slicer, "Oh, that's quite alright, I usually scare myself. MEEP!" She jumps when Rarity pokes her shoulder from the other side.

"Actually, I would be more afraid of bears. The Ursa kind. Remember Trixie?" She directs this to Twilight.

Twilight shakes her head, "Don't remind me. But I do like Applejack's theory. Although, even a lion out this way might be exotic. Just think of what new things we might encounter, from a scientific point of view. In a new reality, a strange forest. Hm." A thought occurs to her as she frowns. "Wait....lions...?"

Applejack leans in, "And panthers."

Slicer responds skeptically, "And Ursas?"

Fluttershy says, "Oh my..." The group starts walking again, a little faster now as though they can feel the animals watching them from the shadows. Twilight is lost in thought and realizes she is being left behind. She tries to catch up.

"Wait, I think I thought of something. Lions-"

"And panthers," from Applejack. She is starting to trot.

Slicer says, "Now wait, my panther is the only-"

Rarity and Pinkie exclaim together, "And URSAS!" The group responds with an 'oh my!' minus Slicer and Twilight. They continue to chant, "Lions, and panthers, and Ursas, oh my!" as they pick up the pace verbally and physically.

Both Slicer and Twilight are trying to catch up. Slicer says, "What is wrong with them?"

Twilight has a determined look on her face, "I have an idea. It's crazy, and don't get me started on what crazy is at this point, but it has to do with books." Slicer groans in reply but lowers her head and tries to overtake the group, Twilight resorting to her wings to fly so as not to stumble in the dark.

Up ahead is a rundown shack just off to the side of the road. As the group is almost to a full gallop chanting about what frightens them and in turn getting more scared, Twilight lands right in front of the group just as Slicer skids to a stop ahead of them and whips around, both of them yelling, "STOP!!!" The other ponies scramble to a halt, panting heavily.

Pinkie's tail shakes again and she sighs, "Ahhh...about time too." She looks up.

The startled ponies stare at her and then up as well, their attention drawn to a crackling sound that is getting louder, followed by a ball of fire that is now sizzling from the darkened sky towards them. A momentary panic in Twilight subsides as she concludes that the fireball is way too small to be a meteor. Still, it was headed for them. She yells, "TAKE COVER!" They all scramble away from the apparent point of impact.

The fireball lands on top of the shack and there is a bunch of billowing smoke. As they watch, the smoke dissipates and they see a large alicorn standing on the roof of the shack which amazingly is still intact. The winged unicorn radiates golden light from her orange and gold gilded horseshoes, her breastplate and spiked crown. Her eyes have golden irises and her pupils are slitted like a cat. Displayed prominently on the breastplate is the symbol of a fiery sun. Twilight catches her breath.

"No....that's what she meant."

Rarity frowns and whispers aside to Twilight, "Darling....what the hay are you talking about?"

"Princess Celestia...one day she spoke on the topic of the power of alicorns, how if unchecked or used selfishly, would cause hate, jealousy, fear. A corruption that could overtake any alicorn. Even Princess Celestia. She even had a premonition of it once." Rarity blanches at that, if she could appear any whiter.

The fiery alicorn cackles loudly, "Bow before your ruler, for I am-"

Rarity yells out, "PRINCESS CELESTIA?!?" The other ponies gasp, now seeing the symbols on her breastplate and flank for the first time.

The alicorn stiffens, then growls, "N..No! How dare you interrupt me! I am-"

Pinkie Pie cuts in, "Oh oh! A guessing game! I SOOOoo love guessing games! But this is like a mini game inside a big game. Wait, lions, panthers, Ursas, are they considered big game too? Wow, you realize all the cross-references I just thought of this past fourteen and a half seconds??" The alicorn's words are caught in her throat as she is trying to grasp any of Pinkie's speech.

The rest of the ponies yell, "PINKIE!!!" To which she rubs the back of her head with a hoof in apology.

Twilight takes a few steps forward, "You highness, this is just like your sister's plight when you banished her. She was overcome by a dark power and called herself Nightmare Moon. So too do you have a similar name, but associated with the sun, yes?"

Applejack kicks her hat back on her head and says, "Oh aw get it. Somethin' like 'High and Mighty Noon', or 'Sun Burner'."

Rarity chitters, "Oh, how droll. Though I imagine a name like 'Day Breaker' would be a tad cliche."

A single fiery eye twitches in response. The alicorn's hooves start to smolder into the wood of the roof. "I should roast you where you stand, ALL of you! For I am DAWN TREADER!"

Applejack coughs into a hoof, "Pardon me, is that like...treader? As in a wagon wheel tread?"

Dawn Treader steps across the roof to the edge, leaving behind burning hoofprints. "I tread on the dawn! Trample it. They are synonyms." She frowns and grumbles, "Seriously, do none of you read books?"

Twilight brightens and waves a hoof quickly, "Oh, I do!" Pinkie cuts in front of Twilight.

"Not unless you are going on a long voyage!"

Rainbow Dash snickers from behind, "Oh yah, 'book' me a one-way trip on Voyage of the Dawn Trea-"

Dawn Treader yells, "ENOUGH!!! I shall let you insolent curs live. IF, you give me him!" She stabs a hoof at Spike.

Despite the figure of blazing power before them, they turn to look at Spike, who is now hiding behind Fluttershy.

Twilight looks back at Dawn, then at Spike. "Um, why him? Don't you want to attack all of us?"

The fiery alicorn is fairly bubbling in anger. She rears up and fires a red beam from her horn. It seers a ring of fire around Fluttershy and Spike, yet is far enough not to burn them. The other ponies ready their weapons and wait for the next attack, but Dawn Treader manages to suppress her power, the horn's glow dissipating. "My covenant prevents me from attacking you directly as long as Spike is in your company." She barely teeters off the edge of the roof and holds up a hoof maniacally, her eyes boring into the group, "But I'll get you my little ponies....and your little Spike too!" She cackles once more and a large billow of smoke begins to surround her. There is an explosion and the ponies are knocked down as the alicorn flies up into the sky like a fireball. The shack is blown to smithereens. After a few minutes, the ponies are able to pick themselves up off the road, brushing away bits of wood and debris.

Twilight has a thoughtful look, not as confused as the others.

Slicer glowers in the direction the fireball flew, most likely back to Undermountain. "Well, if you wanted a prelude to a boss fight, that was it."

Applejack just sighs, "To think, that is what Princess Celestia would become, if that was our real one. I can't imagine that is really her."

Rarity blinks, then exclaims, "Of course, Applejack! She is under a spell, just like Princess Luna. Even discounting their roles in this silly game, we are still obligated to rescue them. Am I right?" She looks around and gets quite a few nods of agreement.

Rainbow though, can't help but remember a previous conversation. "Um, Twilight. I have a question. Twi?" Twilight is still staring off in the distance. Rainbow claps her hooves together in front of Twilight.

"What? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about books." Numerous groans are heard.

Rainbow replies, "Yeah, sure. Anyway, what I was figuring, what if YOU became corrupt?" To that, Twilight is stunned.

"...huh?"

Rarity walks over and looks at Twilight up and down, "Now that IS interesting. You are the embodiment of friendship, and a powerful magical form at that. What would a corrupt friendship power be like?"

Twilight wrinkles her nose and she speaks in a slow raised pitch, "Eh, I don't know if that is a good thing to contemplate, seeing as how the princesses apparently end up."

Applejack states in a matter of fact tone, "Aw, just think of it. You could be the 'Buddy Buster'." Twilight coughs at the absurdity of that.

Rarity chimes in, "Or the Diabolical Bookworm."

Twilight starts to take offense, "Hey, that's actually kind of insulting."

Fluttershy murmurs softly, "Or she might be Friend Without Benefits."

A sound like a needle scratching a vinyl album is heard. Pinkie looks up from her DJ setup, "Did I miss something?"

Rarity exclaims scandalously, "Fluttershy!!!"

Before any of the ponies can respond, including a completely frozen Twilight, another sound is heard. Followed by more in front of them up the road a distance and a few way south in the other direction.

The sound of hunting horns.

Author's Notes:

Yes, took this one a while. I needed to get a solid fix on where I was going with the story. Now that I have my heading, panzer vor!