Twilight and Rarity galloped around another bend and came across a stairway leading further down the annex. As they made their descent, the shouts and cries of ponies and griffons became more pronounced. Twilight looked over to Rarity with a worried frown.

"Rarity," she asked as they continued their pace, "can you and Applejack fight using the virus? Rainbow Dash seems to have gotten the hang of it somewhat, but-"

"Oh, you need not worry about me, darling," Rarity interjected. She gave Twilight an odd grin that spoke of both confidence and bemusement, "as it turns out, Applejack and I have very... similar ways of handling violent situations."

Curious, Twilight was about to ask her to elaborate when Rarity spoke.

"What of yourself, dear?" she reciprocated, "can you hold your own against these brutes?"

Twilight bit her lip and looked away for a moment.

"I... think so..." she said slowly, "something... happened to me back at the bridge. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I do think it might've had something to do with the virus - some kind of... side effect, looking back on it."

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked with a mix of intrigue and confusion.

Twilight looked ahead, seemingly lost in the memory as she answered.

"When we were out there talking to Asger, he mentioned some very distressing things - things that set me on edge. Most of the time, the things he said just raised more questions and he was frustratingly vague," she was silent for a moment before speaking again, "I think I just... snapped under the stress. I wanted answers and I wasn't getting them, so I..."

Twilight trailed off, hesitant to continue.

"You what, darling?" Rarity prompted, "go on, you can tell me."

Twilight's pace slowed to a trot as she swallowed and turned to Rarity.

"If he wasn't willing to give me the answers, I was going to take them," she stared at the floor in shame, "I... I killed him and consumed the corpse to gain his memories."

Rarity gave her melancholy friend a smile of understanding.

"Twilight, I believe that, at this point, we've all done something we regret. That... disguise you and Rainbow Dash found me wearing? I was only able to do that after... well... after doing the same thing you did-"

"But did you enjoy it?" Twilight shot back, eyeing Rarity with an intense gaze, "Did you revel in the act? Try to draw it out? Treat it like some kind of sadistic game? Like his life was some kind of tool or... or toy made only for your amusement? Because that's exactly how I felt and what I did, Rarity."

Rarity stopped and stared at Twilight, mouth slightly agape, but Twilight didn't notice as she looked away in a random direction - her eyes distant.

"It was... well, I'm not going to lie to you, Rarity," she looked back at the white mare with a hint of... something in her eyes, "it was incredible. All my fear, all the stress and anger... gone. I felt powerful - like I could do anything. Like I was twelve steps ahead of my opponent and there was nothing they could do about it. Like a fog that I didn't even know was there had been lifted from my mind and everything was suddenly clear to me."

"Well, I... I must admit," Rarity responded after a few moments, "I never felt anything quite like that during my experience..." She cast a wary glance at Twilight, "but... if you'll forgive me for saying so, Twilight... it almost sounds like you're hoping it'll happen again."

"I am, Rarity," Twilight responded without hesitation. She stared straight ahead, her face unreadable, "I very, very badly want to feel that way again. I want to feel that power again... and that scares me to death."

Without looking back, she began trotting forward once again. Rarity looked on for a moment before following behind her lavender friend.

Oh, don't ya worry none, Rares, Applejack thought bitterly as her black shield weathered another blast of spellfire, ah could buck a hundred o' these varmints into next week!

"Me an' mah big mouth," she muttered as her shield dissolved into a mass of tendrils that shrunk down into the shape of a brown Stetson that she replaced on her head.

She rose up onto her hind legs and a black tar-like substance seeped through the fur on her each of her limbs. She slammed her fore legs back on the ground, cracking the floor as the black substance hardened into large, black and red hoof gauntlets that covered all four of her legs.

She swept her eyes across the large dining hall, taking note of the remaining forces. From what she could see, there were only a few remaining unicorn battle mages and a single griffon mercenary left.

"Ha!" she yelled out with a triumphant grin, "finally got ya'll down to a manageable size!"

"Manage this, freak!"

Applejack grunted as she felt the sharp edge of a broadsword bite into her neck. The griffon that had dealt the blow gave her a savage grin that quickly turned a look of horror as the blade slowed to a stop partway through her skin. Applejack, for her part, didn't even turn to look at the griffon as black tendrils began to swarm the sword, drawing it deeper into her body.

The griffon squawked in surprise and leapt away from the sword just as the hilt disappeared beneath the soft orange fur of Applejack's neck.

It was only then that Applejack turned to face the griffon, her eyebrow raised.

"Ya finished?"

The griffon said nothing as he continued to gape at the cowpony.

"Thought so."

With that, she turned and kicked out with her hind legs, smashing into the griffon. There was a sickening crunch as Applejack's hooves connected with the body and that was quickly followed by an equally sickening splat as the body hit a wall.

She turned to the rest of the group and lowered her head, snorting and pawing at the ground. Each scrape of her hoof cut deep furrows into the tile.

"Anypony else wanna go at this here rodeo?"

A few of the ponies backed away, hesitant to continue the assault. One pony nervously glanced around the room, taking in the destruction the orange mare had almost single-hoofedly wrought.

Large metal tables and benches lay smashed and crumpled against the walls. The walls and floor themselves were covered in craters of various sizes from the heavy impacts of her hooves and the bodies of ponies and griffons alike.

And the bodies were numerous.

They had tracked her down in this dining hall and had ambushed her with no less than a squad of twenty elite Storm Feather mercenaries and fifteen of Queen Luna's finest Royal Guards. Now they were down to three unicorn battle mages.

Many of the craters were smeared with the blood of the ponies and griffons Applejack had smashed into the floor and walls. So it was that the last few ponies found themselves rather unwilling to continue what was starting to look like a pointless battle against a mare that may as well have crawled out of the deepest pits of Tartarus.

Not all of the damaged had been caused by the stetson wearing demon, however. The pony shuddered to think how much worse it could've been if that white unicorn mare had stayed.

The ponies flinched as Applejack smashed an impatient hoof against the ground.

"Come on ya buncha cowards!" she shouted in defiance, "I ain't even broken a sweat!"

Applejack whipped her head in the direction of the double doors across the room as they suddenly burst open. She grimaced as several more soldiers poured in through the doorway.

Aw, horsefeathers... she shook her head and let out a wry chuckle, Ah guess ah asked fer that.

She cracked her neck and crouched low, preparing to charge into the fray once again.

"Welp," Applejack muttered with a resolute frown, "ah told Rarity ah was gonna hold the line and that's exactly what ah'm gonna do."

She started to gallop forward only to yelp and stumble to a stop as a rainbow colored blur shot past her and slammed into the throng of guardsponies and griffon mercs, sending a majority of them flying every which way.

Applejack stared open mouthed as soldiers were sliced, stabbed, and smashed in a chaotic blur of black whips, scythes and hooves.

Her shock quickly turned to relief and outright joy at seeing her cyan friend and rival again - despite the rather violent circumstances.

Well I'll be darned, she thought with a small chuckle, if that ain't a big ol' boost ta morale, I don't know what is.

"Hold on there, Rainbow!" she called out as she adjusted her hat and galloped into the fight, "I ain't ready ta call it quits just 'cause you showed up!"

"So if you had already been discovered, why were you still disguised when we found you?" Twilight asked as she and Rarity entered another hallway.

"Well," Rarity answered, "I thought it'd be better to err on the side of caution. I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself, so I changed back into Midnight Rider after I had made my escape."

Twilight nodded, "Seems like a logical decision."

"Indeed," Rarity agreed.

They settled into a companionable silence as they trotted along. That is, until Twilight slowed to a stop - her eyes narrowed.

"Rarity," she whispered, "do you hear that?"

Rarity stopped alongside Twilight and listened, frowning in confusion.

"I don't hear a thing, darling," she replied, turning to Twilight.

"Exactly," Twilight responded with a nod, "what happened to all that noise we heard earlier? On top of that, shouldn't we have reached Applejack and Rainbow Dash by now?"

Rarity blinked and looked around the hallway.

"Well, I..." she began, her face unsure, "I was sure this was the way we came..."

"We're lost," Twilight stated, giving Rarity a flat look, "Rarity, please tell me you're joking."

"I apologize, darling," Rarity replied, grinning sheepishly, "It seems I was so caught up in our conversation that I... neglected to properly lead us to our destination."

"Fantastic," Twilight muttered with a sigh of exasperation, "I'm lost in a maze of hallways... again."

She began trotting forward once again and Rarity followed close behind, trying to give her friend an encouraging smile.

"Oh, come now, dear," she said in a chipper tone, "I'm sure Applejack can handle herself until we get there - especially with Rainbow Dash lending a helping hoof," she trotted next to Twilight, "we just have to retrace our steps and I'm sure we'll-"

"...careful with that, you moron! If we damage the goods, Asger's gonna tan our hides!"

Twilight and Rarity froze.

They turned to each other in mutual surprise and hurried to the end of the hall, stopping just short of another intersection. Peering around the corner to their right, they could see two griffons in maroon armor further down the hall. Between the two of them was, what looked to Twilight, like a large metal cage on a platform trolley.

Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other in bemusement before turning back to the two griffons, who were now slowly but surely making their way closer to the two hidden mares. As the griffons drew closer, Twilight got a better look at the object within the cage. Her eyes widened in shock as she made out the prone and unconscious yellow form of-

"Fluttersmmph!"

Twilight clapped a hoof over Rarity's mouth and quickly pushed her further back in the direction they had come from. They turned another corner and Twilight pressed herself against the wall, motioning for Rarity to do the same.

"Hey, did you hear that?" they heard one of the griffons ask as they passed their hiding spot.

"Nope," the other griffon answered in a bored tone, "only thing I can hear is this blasted trolley. Seriously, this thing needs to be oiled, badly. Can hardly hear myself think..."

"Ah, quit your whining. It ain't our equipment so just deal with..."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the two griffons passed them by and continued on their way.

"Twilight," Rarity asked in confusion, "pardon my bluntness but, why are we hiding from those two? Now you know I'm not one to condone such brash and violent action normally, but..." she looked worriedly in the direction the mercenaries had gone, then back to Twilight, "why don't we simply dispose of them and rescue dear Fluttershy?"

Twilight said nothing for a moment, biting her lip and staring at the floor with a conflicted expression.

She's right, with the abilities this virus has given us, it would be foal's play to simply just wipe them out and grab Fluttershy...

It would be so easy.

Especially if I could just-

She shivered violently, beating back the thought with every ounce of will she could muster. She became aware of Rarity calling her name in a near panic.

"Twilight!" she cried, "are you okay, dear?"

Twilight shook away the last of her dark thoughts and gave Rarity what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine Rarity," she lied, "just... thinking is all."

Rarity looked unconvinced, but conceded all the same.

"Well... if you're sure, darling..."

"I'm okay, Rarity," Twilight replied, this time managing a more genuine smile, "trust me."

Rarity scrutinized her lavender friend, giving her a long, hard look. She knew there was something... off about Twilight, especially after what she had heard earlier about her little... episode, back on the skyway. She tried not to dwell on it - and was sure Twilight was trying to do the same - but just now, for a brief moment, she felt like the temperature in the hall had dropped several degrees.

And she had a strong feeling Twilight was the cause.

Before she could dwell on the matter further, Twilight spoke up.

"So, to answer your question, Rarity," she said, looking down the hall, "we're not going to attack the griffons because we don't have to."

"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity asked in bemusement.

Twilight turned back to Rarity with a sly grin.

"How exactly does your shapeshifting work?"

Author's Notes:

Sorry if the chapter's a bit shorter than normal.

I'm sure by now, some of you are getting sick of this facility and want the girls out of here - believe me, I do too - but I've still got some stuff to do here, so just bear with me for a few more chapters.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and look forward to more!