I took in a loud breath as I opened my eyes, and Scootaloo cracked. “You really gotta stop passing out, Apple Bloom!” She said, barely articulating between laughing.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well Spike got you out of there, but they burned down Ponyville, and the Everfree Forest.” A brown earth pony said as he lent me a hoof to get up. “Hey, I know you. Aren’t you the filly who forced me to buy some apples?” He asked.

“Ummm, yes.” I said, feeling my face turn red.

“It is no problem, lots of ponies try ridiculous things to get their Cutie Marks.” He said, then asked, “You want to see what they did?” I nodded and he led me to a small overlook, apparently we were on a mountain or something. My jaw dropped as I saw what they had done. Ponyville had been not just burnt down, but obliterated. There were jet black pieces of materials left, not to mention the Everfree Forest. It was still burning, but in its wake there were charred stumps left. I heard hoofsteps and Applejack spoke up.

“Ah’m sorry I was a bit, over protective of ya Apple Bloom. Ah’m just conflicted, ‘cause of this whole Rabil thing, then the promise Ah made to yer mother.”

“It’s allright sis, but right now we gotta find Cadence. Ah just can’t let him kill her. Ah can’t let him kill anypony else!” I said.

“Ya might wanna talk to Twi’ then. She knows where her brother last was, well, when she communicated with him last.” Applejack said, and I walked towards where Twilight was, and she was just sitting there, looking a bit shocked, angry, depressed, and the whole mixture of emotions when you see others die. Spike was there, along with Dash.

“Twilight, Ah hate to ask this but where did yer brother last stay with Cadence?” I asked.

She gave a dark smile, and said, “Last I knew, he was in Fillydelphia, well before Canterlot.”

“That’s far away, Twilight. I don’t think we can make it there in time.” Spike said. Then, a rustling was heard in the bushes and Dash jumped, ready to fight anything that came out. But, out came Shining Armor. Then, some of the Royal Guards.

He said with a slur, “Hey Twilly...” Then he toppled over, but Twilight catched him.

“We’ve been on the run for hours.” A guard said. I let them be and found Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both of whom seemed to be asleep. I found a spot where I could just think, and sat down. Zecora was dead, along with Celestia and Luna. Not to mention a lot of Ponyville citizens.

“Zecora said I had to do it. I can’t let her down, but dang it I can’t do this!” I thought, realizing I was speaking quietly. I didn’t care if anyone heard me, and my vision got blurry. Time past with me just sitting there, and I felt a hoof on my back.

“It is a lot to take in, even for me.” The brown pony’s voice said. I wasn’t sure what to say, the brown pony, whom everyone called Doctor Whooves, was a bit, well, weird. He was a bit crazy, and everyone in Ponyville wasn’t sure what to make of him. He apparently lived in a blue box at the edge of town, which no one could open up. He claimed to have met ponies who were either dead or non-existent. He also would have a conversation with you, then later in the day would claim to have never had that, saying “I guess I haven’t had the conversation with you yet.” He also was a bit weird, at least in a lot of ponies eyes, because he was married to Derpy Hooves, who was a bit on the dim side. At least according to other ponies, I hadn’t actually talked to her.

Back to the conversation, I asked “Why, are you worried about Derpy? Or haven’t you met her yet?” That was a bit snide, but I wasn’t in the best mood.

“Why does everyone call her Derpy? Her name is Ditzy Doo, and I know she’s alright, I saw her a few minutes ago. And Apple Bloom, you need to not take this out on anyone except Rabil.” He said.

“Well Ah’m sorry, Ah just -” I started to say as my sight jerked from the taiga to Canterlot Castle again.

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“Sir, our spies have located Princess Cadence, she’s in Stalliongrad.” The Commander’s voice informed.

I felt Rabil get glad with that knowledge, and ordered, “Tell them to apprehend her, and then bring her to Manehattan, at all costs.”

“Yes sir! Any other orders sir?” The Commander asked.

“See if you can get the Elements’ location.” Rabil ordered.

“I thought they were of no harm to you.” The Commander said.

“They can still lead a rebellion, and they are strong enough for that role.” Rabil said. “Now get going!”

“Yes sir!” The Commander said as he trotted off.

I felt Rabil get slightly irritated after the Commander left, and he took a walk out into the Canterlot Gardens. It seemed he appreciated the beauty of most of it, though I may be wrong. “WHAT AM I NOT SEEING?” Rabil roared at no one in particular, “I KNOW MY SISTER WOULDN’T BE THIS NAIVE!” He stopped himself and seemed to try to calm himself down, thinking he wouldn’t get anything done in his fury, which was most likely true. “Naqril, Naqril, Naqril, you hid Manouel’s existence from me, along with Aetius. Who are you hiding now?” He thought to his dead sister. An idea popped into his head, he wouldn’t be able to find Naqril’s plan alone, but he couldn’t share his power, the unfortunate mistake of his sister. However, he could delude someone into an alliance, and he knew just the right colt.

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“APPLE BLOOM WHAT’S HAPPENING?” I heard Scootaloo shout.

“Wha?” I said, realizing a lot of ponies were staring at me.

“Why were you going all creepy?” Spike asked, earning him a shove from Twilight.

“What do you mean creepy?” I asked.

“You had a kind of fit.” I heard Doctor Whooves say, “You started talking to yourself, about Cadence, something with elements, and a sister.”

Everypony looked definitely creeped out, and I didn’t know what to say except for the truth. “When I left Zecora’s, and now, I started seeing what Rabil was doing, what he was thinking.”

“What? He could be spying on us right now! We need to get you away!” A colt said.

“I don’t think so, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten this far.” Twilight said.

I just stopped to think for a minute while they continued debating over me when I decided something. “Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, we need to get to Manehattan.” I told them. “He’s capturing Cadence, if not already, and we need to intercept her.”

“What do you mean they have Cadence? No one knew she was in Stalliongrad!” I heard a colt’s voice say, turning around to see Shining Armor.

“Rabil’s spies found her, and they probably have her already.” I told him. He seemed to mull it over, and then finally came to a solution.

“Guards, form up!” He shouted. Instantly the guards came out of the crowd, and got into a row. There were 17, not including Shining Armor. Everypony stopped to look at what Shining Armor was doing. “Guards, we swore to protect Equestria’s leaders, and Equestria’s citizens. Princess Cadence is possibly currently captured, and we need to split up.” He turned to one of the guards, “Phalanx Spear, I need you to lead a team of half of us to Stalliongrad, see if they haven’t gotten Cadence yet. I’ll lead a team to assist the three,” He stopped, thinking what would be best to say, “fillies, in their mission to Manehattan. We move in half an hour, get yourselves ready.” He dismissed them, and Twilight walked up to him.

“Shining, are you sure it’s the best idea to -” She asked, being interrupted.

“Twilight, I swore a duty to protect Equestria’s leaders, and to protect my wife. We need to find her, and according to that prophecy, these three are the ones who need to be helped. If you want to stay here and dawdle over the moral dilemma of this, that’s fine with me. But  you need to realize, along with your friends, that we don’t have that luxury right now.” He told her. She looked a bit shocked, and a little angry.

“How  dare ya go and just take mah own sister, and tell us what needs to be done?” Applejack said, but Big Macintosh put a hoof in front of her.

“Applejack, right now a lot of ponies’ lives are on the line, if Apple Bloom is our only hope, along with her friends, we need to help her.” Big Mac said.

“I agree, even though it is, depressing, Equestria’s fate relies on Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I personally vouch for Sweetie Belle.” Rarity said, to everyone’s surprise.

“The right path doesn’t always seem to be the right path.” I said, not knowing where I heard that. “It often covers itself with hardships in order to hide its true nature from those who would destroy it.”

“Sheesh, since when did you become an egghead?” Scootaloo teased. Others seemed a bit surprised by my bit of, philosophy, wondering where it had come from. But, Shining Armor seemed to not be interested.

“Come on, you need to help us gather supplies, Crusaders?” He said, not sure if that was what our group was called. Somehow that made me feel a bit happier, and Sweetie Belle replied.

“Sure, come on, let’s go!” She shouted enthusiastically. Scootaloo and I grinned and followed Shining Armor to where the Guards were getting supplies together.

“Captain, sir!” A colt said, I think he was Phalanx Spear from earlier.

“Yes Spear?” Shining Armor asked, confirming my theory.

“Your sister and her friends asked to come with us to Stalliongrad.” Spear answered.

“Fine, they can come, but make sure they know you’re in charge, not them.” Shining Armor said.

“Yes sir!” Spear said, proceeding to walk towards the spot where Applejack was along with the others. I was curious why Shining Armor was so insistent that he was in charge of this, and not his sister Twilight. But right now wasn’t the best time, we were helping pack definitely; the Royal Guards treated us almost like we were new members. They expected just a teensy bit less from us, but most likely very soon much more. And sure enough, in half an hour, we were ready to go.

“Alright, let’s go! The sooner we get to Manehattan the better!” Shining Armor shouted. He turned to me and said, “When you’re ready.”

“Let’s get going!” I said and we started heading in the direction that one of the soldiers had pointed towards.