Following his training session, Sky Stinger made his way towards the barracks he shared with Vapor Trail. He felt terrible for how she reacted to the criticism that she had received from Sam and Rainbow Dash and like a good friend, decided to check in on her.

"Vapor?" he asked, knocking on the door of their barracks. "It's Sky. Open up."

All Sky could hear was a light moan and then the sounds of footfalls coming towards the door. Opening it up, he saw Vapor Trail, tear stains underneath her eyes. It was obvious to Sky that she had been crying for some time.

"Hey Sky," she cried through ragged gasps. "Sorry…that I was stupid…today."

"Look Vapor, I'm not mad at you. You just…panicked, that's all. It happens to everypony, but I didn't get hurt which was all that matters."

Those words weren't enough, however, to make Vapor Trail feel better.

"Rainbow Dash and Sam are right," pouted Vapor Trail as she laid back down on her bed. "I do need to face my fears. I mean, I'm just afraid that…"

"…Something is going to happen to either one of us, right?" finished Sky, sitting next to her. "Yeah, deep down, I feel the same way. Right now, you think that maybe I am still that cocky fearless colt who thinks he knows everything. Hey, I'm scared too."

"Why…why didn't you show it then?" Vapor wondered, briefly getting up to look at Sky. "If you were scared, why…"

"…because I didn't want to show fear to Rainbow Dash," interrupted Sky, hastily. "She's the best of the best and I couldn't imagine how she would react if she saw fear in my eyes. Truth be told, I'm scared of dying."

This made Vapor stop pouting and feeling depressed. Right away, she began to see a side of her best friend that she had never seen before.

"It…it may sound silly, Vapor, but it's true," sighed Sky. "I've always feared death ever since joining the Wonderbolt Academy. Sure I wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but I never really understood the consequences that came along with it."

"I'm afraid of dying too, Sky," remarked Vapor, placing a hoof on his hoof. "Even with all that we are being taught, it isn't enough. I mean, it does make you wonder that maybe joining the Wonderbolts…"

But Vapor Trail couldn't finish her sentence. She was afraid of how her best friend was going to react to this.

"Was worth it?" continued Sky, with a look of fear plastered on his face. "Heh, I thought that joining the Wonderbolts would be easy, but I guess it wasn't. If it hadn't been for Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight when they personally mentored us, then things would have been different. I guess you can say, they brought me back down to Equestria, make me understand what is really going to be happening."

It was then that Vapor got herself an idea. There was a bit of business that she and Sky needed to take care of, personal business.

"Sky, if we both fear death," she said. "Then, we need to let our families know we love them. You with your parents and siblings and me…with my own parents."

It was then that tears were once again forming in Vapor's eyes. But it wasn't because of the impending battle. In fact, Sky could feel his emotions bottling up as well. Without saying another word, they both got to work writing letters…farewell letters to their families.

…

Meanwhile, Sam and Rainbow Dash were making their way towards Vapor and Sky's barracks still reflective on the training session.

"Do you think Vapor's still upset?" asked Sam. "I hope I wasn't too hard on her."

"It's like Spitfire said," answered Rainbow Dash. "You did what you had to do. Vapor's got to face her fears of fighting at some point. But, don't you think that there is a double purpose going on here?"

"In a way, I think so," replied Sam, approaching Sky and Vapor's barracks. "There is a fear of death hanging over us right now. I've faced it before with Thanos, so I get the feeling."

"Still, we should at least check on Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger."

Knocking on the door, they waited for a response and a few moments later, Sky answered it.

"Sam, Rainbow Dash," stammered Sky. "What…what are you doing…?"

"We just came to check in on you after today's session," replied Rainbow Dash, who then noticed a piece of paper on Vapor's bed. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"We're writing to our families, Rainbow Dash," replied Vapor Trail. "I know you are both going to find this silly, but…we're fearing that we are…"

However, the young mare was soon interrupted with a look from Rainbow Dash. Looking around to see if the door was closed, Rainbow motioned for Sky and Vapor to come close to her and Sam.

"Now, I'm going to tell you both something, but if you ever tell anypony else, I'm going to deny it."

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" asked Sky and after a brief pause, Rainbow gave them her answer.

"I'm scared too," she answered. "Ever since I found out that war had been declared on Equestria, I've also been questioning my mortality. I know my friends couldn't live without me nor my parents."

"Us too," sighed Vapor Trail. "And that's why I blanked out because I…"

However, a sudden hoof from Rainbow Dash silenced Vapor from saying another word.

"You don't need to tell us," said Rainbow Dash. "The actions from earlier said it all."

"But just remember also," added Sam. "That if you end up meeting your maker, your body is destroyed, but your soul is eternal. No matter what happens, you will be all right."

Still, it wasn't easy for Vapor to accept.

…

In fact, it wasn't easy for all of them. The fear of death was hovering over Equestria and especially in Canterlot where with each passing hour, guardsponies and Avengers continued to man their posts. For the first time since his wedding to Princess Cadence, Shining Armor casted his protection spell over Canterlot.

"All right," he said to Princess Celestia in her quarters as she was being donned her armor for the first time in a long time by her personal servants. "The protection spell has been casted."

"Thank you, Shining Armor," replied Celestia. "How has the preparations been going along?"

"As smoothly as we thought given the circumstances," remarked Shining Armor. "So far, there have been no movements on Grogar's side."

Celestia then looked over towards her gold battle helmet as she internally accepted her fate that laid ahead of her and her fellow princesses.

"In any way, he'll just make an offer for us to surrender our magic over to him without any bloodshed," she said, taking the helmet and placing it on her head. "Well, he'll have to kill us to get it. If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he will get."

Celestia then picked up her battle spear and twirled it around like a baton. With her armor donned and her spear in her magical grasp, Celestia was ready to defend her kingdom by any means necessary.

…

Meanwhile, Tempest Shadow was about to get herself an unexpected surprise…