“We need to go, now!” John shouted, spouting words that were now meaningless in his head, having repeated them enough to parch his throat as seemingly shown by his occasional coughing.

“John, calm down!” Ditzy shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling carefully. “The train won’t be here for another twenty minutes! No need to tire yourself beforehand,” she explained, looking over him with a worried gaze.

He sighed, looking at the tracks longingly. “I know, but…”

“John!” Rarity spoke up sternly, arriving just then. “Ms. Doo is correct! You need to calm yourself! You aren’t doing any good by stressing out! The train will arrive soon enough, and we will find out what happened to Twilight by asking Her Majesty… unless you’ve received a response from her already, Spike.”

The as of yet unnoticed dragon then jumped off Rarity, looking deflated as he attempted to cough. “No… nothing. The Princess hasn’t replied to my letters!”

“Oh, Spike…” Rarity tried to reach for a hug, but Spike simply walked away, sitting down far from the group. “The poor dear must be very worried…”

“Rarity?” Ditzy spoke up, looking at her curiously. “Did you just call me ‘Doo’?”

“The train is here!” John spoke up suddenly, eagerly standing near the platform only to be dragged back by a terrified Ditzy who was quick to berate him for his careless approach.

“I see we made it just in time,” came the voice of Patch, carrying Lemon on her back as he fixed his hat, the rest of the ponies following right behind.

Rarity didn’t miss the young pony, nor the chance to speak up. “I don’t want to talk where I’m not needed, but do you think it’s a good idea to bring little Lemon along?”

Patch sighed, quick to give an answer. “It’s not, but since he was there to see everything, I feel he is safer coming with us… not to mention he would have probably sneaked in, given the chance.”

Jumping off Patch with bags in tow, Lemon replied. “It’s true! I totally would! I just can’t let Twilight be… whatever it is she is in possible danger of!”

“Just remember to keep close, alright?” Patch warned.

“Hey!” Spike shouted, jumping into the conversation. “Did you guys get any response from the Princess?”

Recon looked over to Spike and shook his head. “None have gone through, but I’ve just send one over to Princess Luna. Though that might take longer to get to her since she is currently not even in Canterlot.”

The mood seemed to have darkened, silent, wistful stares being shared among the present.

“Don’t worry, everypony!” all except for Pinkie Pie who shouted, popping into the conversation herself. “Dashie is already on her way to Canterlot! I’m sure she’ll get everything done by asking the Princess before we get there! She is probably super busy with something!” she turned to Fluttershy and Applejack who stood behind her just as quiet as the rest. “R-right, girls?”

“Darn tootin’!” AJ replied with clear discomfort, while Fluttershy simply nodded, giving Pinkie a weak, reassuring smile.

“I’m sure she will, but the lack of response still worries me…” Patch said, looking over to the group. “We need to go now, we have to make sure nothing happened to the Princess.”

“Did something happen to Celestia?”

Everyone quickly turned to seek the questioner, stopping to the sight of Princess Cadence, meeting her stern gaze as she walked to meet the group who could only stare back in silence while the question hanged in the air.

“What are you guys doing!?” came the voice of John already inside the train, looking out annoyed. “We are supposed to be go-” he shut himself when he noticed the pink pony right outside. “P-Princess!”

Cadence stared neutrally, turning to Patch whom still remained silent, at least until she was pushed forward, forced to speak up. “P-Princess Cadence! It’s, um… a bit of a story.”

Just then, John left the train, meeting a still Shining who looked over the group before he turned to ask him. “John, where is Twilight right now?”

John took a deep breath, thinking on how to respond. “I-I’m sure Patch will explain everything on the way to Canterlot.”

“… and that is the reason why the elements and my team are all traveling to Canterlot. We are hoping Princess Celestia may have some answer for us,” Patch then finished explaining while the others stood back and watched, silently looking at Cadence’s changing expression as she took the news. “As for the other stragglers…” she noted, looking over at Lemon and Ditzy who simply moved away from her stare, hopelessly expecting to remain unnoticed.

“I see, it's alright…” Cadence whispered, doing her best to hold her emotions in check. “W-well, I suppose celebrations for Twilight will have to wait, huh?” she laughed, doing her best to gather her thoughts as she looked out the window, watching the scenery that passed them by as the train sped through.

“We will do our best to find her if need be,” Patch tried to assure her. “We just have to wait for Rainbow Dash to return with some news from her majesty even before we arrive.”

“You don’t have to worry about anything, honey!” Shining spoke up, letting Cadence’s head rest on his chest. “Twily is a capable pony, and Patch here is an excellent member of the guard, and she is always on top of things. Isn’t that right, Captain?”

Patch said nothing, glowering at Shining for a second before turning away. “I’m going to go keep watch. We wouldn’t want to find any unwanted stragglers, would we?” she said through gritted teeth, walking to the closest door and leaving the car.

The other ponies who watched the scene unfold stared at each other curiously, rising questions in their minds.

“What the hay was that?” AJ turned to ask Rarity. “If Ah’ didn’t know any better, Ah’ would say that sounded rather spiteful for no reason, don’t you think?”

“That was indeed strange…” Rarity agreed, noticing Fluttershy suddenly get up. “Fluttershy? Where are you going?”

Fluttershy smiled and replied. “I’m going to go talk with the captain. I’m sure she must have a lot in her mind,” she explained before going through the same door after her.

“Applejack?” Rarity spoke again. “I’m not a betting pony myself, mostly because of how irresponsible that would be!” she added needlessly. “In any case, Fluttershy seems rather calm when it comes to the captain, don’t you think?”

Mulling over the question, AJ shook her head. “Maybe, but if Fluttershy herself hasn’t told us anything, Ah’ don’t think we should be meddling with things like that right now.”

“You are probably right,” Rarity answered, looking towards the door with a frown. “I just wonder if Twilight is doing alright…”

“She totally is!” Pinkie said, giving Rarity an annoyed glare. “I thought we already went through this you forgetful pants, you! Wait, you aren’t wearing any…”

“Pinkie Pie is right,” AJ agreed with a chuckle. “Come on, Twi has been through worse things than her home exploding… though that’s already a sad thing. Ah’ can’t believe we lost Golden Oaks,” she looked over to Spike, who seemed occupied talking with Lemon and Ditzy away from the group.

Applejack’s stare met Rarity’s, whose eyes seemed to focus on Spike. “He must feel so guilty… especially after Twilight yelled at him. He must be blaming himself after all of this.”

“Damn it,” John suddenly spoke, getting on his feet after having remained quiet throughout the ponies’ conversation. “Sorry, I... excuse me,” he whispered, walking off and leaving towards the opposite cart.

“John…” Pinkie mumbled, getting up to go after him. “Where are you go-” she stopped short of her trip, interrupted by Rarity’s hoof. “Huh?”

“Pinkie,” Rarity said simply, pointing to Ditzy, who seemed to have had the same thought, staring back at Pinkie mid-trot. “I believe Derpy is best suited for this situation, don’t you think?” she turned to Ditzy and nodded, giving her the go ahead, which she wasted no time to take, flying to the door.

“Oh,” Pinkie exclaimed, unceremoniously plummeting back down. “Oooooh…”

AJ snorted, watching as Ditzy hurried out and after him. “We still don’t know anything, so Ah’ hope he can get his act together,” she noted, looking to the many others there. “Ah’ hope everypony can.”

Silently, John paced back and forth in the empty car, stealing glances out the window, expecting to see Canterlot to be there, but only growing increasingly more frustrated as the place seemed to stay just as far as the last time he had checked, mocking him

“Damn it!” he groaned. “This is all my fault!”

-You know that isn’t true, John,- Crystal answered.

“Fuck!” John yelped surprised. “For a minute, I forgot you were here.”

-What are you doing, John?-

“Oh, stop it. Can’t a guy be self-deprecating without you jumping on my ass?”

-Try to joke all you want, but you need to understand that this wasn’t truly your fault,- Crystal replied matter-of-factly, unaffected by his response. -Sarcasm won’t change that.-

“… How do you know that?” John replied with a soft voice. “You were there. You saw what happened.”

-Even if that’s the case, there was no way you could know,- Crystal sighed.

“Crystal, you felt there was something weird going on, and even Patch told me to not do anything dumb! I had tons of warning! If that isn’t reason enough to blame myself, I don’t know what is!” he shouted back, punching the car’s door. “Gah!”

Crystal sighed. -If that’s what you think, perhaps I should let her handle this, then.-

John tilted his head confused. “Her?”

“John?”

“Huh?” quickly turning around, John watched as Ditzy carefully entered the room, meeting him with a puzzled look.” D-Ditzy!”

“Were you talking to someone? I heard your voice,” she asked, cautiously looking around, almost as if expecting someone to jump out and surprise them.

“It was me! I-I was just thinking about where Twilight could be out loud, is all…” he lied, feeling his heart sink as the thought of Twilight filled his mind once again.

“That’s why I’m here,” Ditzy explained, slowly cutting the distance between them. “You just up and left so suddenly. I wanted to check up on you. I just don’t want you to go and start blaming yourself over this,” she said, softly stroking John’s hand.

“You too, huh?” John chuckled dryly. “Ditzy, no matter who says it, it doesn’t change the fact that what I told her made her react the way she did and just… disappear off to god-knows-where,” shooting a glance towards Ditzy, he sighed. “I fucked up.”

“But, I mean, there was no way you would know that, right?” Ditzy asked, giving him a comforting smile.

“Patch,” John began, barely holding his anger back. “When Patch told me about Twilight acting weird, she told me not to say anything stupid to her— so I went said something fucking stupid!” he shouted to the air, avoiding yelling at Ditzy directly.

“Goodness, I mean,” Ditzy tried to speak, struggling to come up with the words. “I mean, it’s not like you tried to be mean or anything, right?” as if remembering something, she clopped her hooves together. “That’s right! Ms. Patch told Twilight was talking very rudely, so it’s not that weird to think you would say something in the heat of the moment!”

“I told her that I knew of a way go back to my own world,” he replied, turning to Ditzy with a vacant look. “Because for whatever reason, my stupid brain decided that the best course of action would be to go and tell someone that cares about me, that I would go up and leave her because she was mean to me! What the hell was I thinking!?”

“John, stop,” without warning, Ditzy grabbed John’s shoulders. “I know you are a good person. I know you didn’t truly meant what you said, alright?”

“Ditzy, that’s not the point!” he shouted, forcibly pulling Ditzy off himself, making her tumble down. “Just because I can be nice sometimes doesn’t change the fact that I did what did. I was a jerk! An ass! Every terrible word in the dictionary!”

“John… I…” Ditzy looked away, trailing on as if trying to come up with something to say, then suddenly, stood up, turning to John with a fierce glare. “You know what? You are right.”

“Excuse me?” John asked, eyeing her confused. “What do you mean?”

“It was probably your fault Twilight reacted the way she did,” Ditzy continued without pause.

John reeled back, taken aback by Ditzy’s candid response. “I-I see,” he replied, managing a sad smile towards her. “I, um, am glad you understand!” he lied.

“I jus- oh, gosh, I’m just no good at this,” Ditzy sighed, losing the edge in her voice. “What I meant to say is that you might be right—maybe it was you that made Twilight act up.”

“Right,” John sighed, looking away dejectedly. "Right..."

“But!” Ditzy quickly interjected, pulling her face against his. “Listen to me: if there really is a chance that this is your fault, I don’t think spending your time moping will change that. You have to get over yourself if you want to apologize to her! Feeling sorry for yourself is just gonna make you feel worse.”

“Ditzy…” John whispered, barely managing to hold a straight face.

“Oh, I went too far, didn’t I? Oh no! John, I’m so so-” she was cut short, as John suddenly placed a hand over Ditzy’s snout in a gentle hold. “Wah?”

“No, you are right,” John half-laughed, standing back up.

"Are you sure?" Ditzy asked cautiously. "I just don't want to make you feel worse for it."

“Don’t worry, I think I’ll be fine, now," he answered, letting out a shuddering sigh. "Thanks for saying what needed to be said,” he continued, ruffling Ditzy’s mane.

“Yes, but are you REALLY sure?” Ditzy continued, looking side-to-side in a panic fit. “I mean, what if I overdid it? What if I-”

“Ditzy,” John interrupted again, chuckling amused. “This worked because it was YOU who said it. You said what I needed to hear in this situation; you did the right thing,” he kneeled, staring into her eyes,, carefully holding her face.

“I-I um, ah,” Ditzy replied, barely able to hide her crimson face at John’s touch. “T-that’s what special someponies are for, r-right?”

“Then pardon the corniness, but I guess the title fits you, then,” John laughed, wrapping his hands around the embarrassed pony. “Because really, you are something special.”

Ditzy simply smiled, letting her returning embrace do all the talking for her, silently enjoying the moment.

“Hello?” Fluttershy called out, slowly pushing the cart’s door open. Looking around the room, she searched for Captain Patch amid the dozen or so seats, somehow expecting to see her slouching in one of them. “Oh, of course she isn’t here,” she whimpered, realizing she was nowhere to be seen.

“What is it, Fluttershy?”

“Eep!” Fluttershy shrieked, shooting towards the ceiling, breathing heavily as she stared down at the floor, noticing Patch sitting near the door she had come through. “O-oh…”

Taking a few minutes to recover from the shock, Fluttershy finally came down, giving Patch an awkward smile, hoping to see one in return, but getting nothing from the aloof captain.

“Once again: can I help you, Miss Fluttershy?” Patch sighed, not even bothering with a sidelong glance.

Fluttershy flinched, feeling the cold reception in the Captain’s words. One to not give up, she edged closer to Patch, gulping as she said. “A-actually, I’m here to help you, Patch.”

“I don’t need help,” Patch replied quickly, shooting Fluttershy a glare. “I’m just here to keep an eye out on any potential intruders; you never know if we’ll get some flying guests like we did last we rode.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked surprised. “It’s just that I got really worried. It felt like you were trying to avoid Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, is all.”

“How about you just mind your own fuc—” Patch was quick to bite her tongue, letting out a frustrated sigh instead. “Look, Fluttershy, I appreciate that you care about me, but I really don’t wanna talk about that now, okay?”

“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy apologized, putting her head down. “I just wanted to let you know that I still care about you, Flowe- eep!” she quickly covered her snout, stopping herself from spouting something akin to indecent.

“Just… why?” Patch suddenly asked.

“Why what?” Fluttershy asked back, turning her head confused.

“What do you mean ‘what’!?” Patch shot back, slamming her hoof on the wall. “Once again, here you are, trying to check-up on the pony who doesn’t want your help! Why do you do it? Why do you want to deal with my crap so bad!?”

Fluttershy quickly approached Patch, standing no more than a few inches from her, a smile slowly creeping into her face. “Because whatever name you call yourself, whatever pony you think you are, and whatever way you think you want to treat me; I consider you my friend, and I just want you to know that I still care about you.”

Patch suddenly stood up, closing the already short distance until they were face-to-face, staring into each other’s eyes. The scowl she held for Fluttershy was short-lived, however, now replaced by a sad smile. “I give up,”

Fluttershy blinked rapidly, giving Patch a puzzled look. “G-give up? What do you mean?”

“I mean, that you are probably going to keep pestering me no matter what, so I’m giving up. I don’t think I can help myself and just hide anything from you,” Patch said, rolling her eyes annoyed. “Besides”—she smiled, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder—“I like to think I’m okay with having at least somepony I can talk to without any worries.”

Without warning, Fluttershy jumped with open hooves, wrapping Patch in a teary-eyed hug. “You have no idea how happy that makes me, P-Patch!”

“Hey, now! Don’t get too sentimental on me,” Patch laughed, carefully pushing her off. “You came to check up on me, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy replied, quickly wiping any lingering tears. “B-but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force the issue if it’s something that is really bothering you.”

“I appreciate that,” Patch sighed, returning to her seat. “You asked about Cadence and Shining though, right?”

“Y=yeah… sorry about that. I was just assuming, and that’s not very nice of me,” Fluttershy quickly apologized.

“Geez, well, you were half-right,” looking out the window, Patch gazed towards Canterlot. Closing her eyes, she thought of the days before. The months. The years. How long had it been since then? “Do you remember back then? When I asked you if you ever felt that your cutie mark was wrong?”

“I remember,” Fluttershy answered, taking a seat next to her. “Was I right to think you didn’t like botany?”

“Half-right, once again,” Patch said with an awkward laugh. “I actually dropped out as soon as you graduated. I gotta say, though, you are on a half-roll with these guesses.”

“So… was that the reason you became a member of the guard?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Patch anxiously.

“If only that was the full story,” Patch snorted, amused. "Sadly, there is more to it than just me hating botany."

“Oh, really?” Fluttershy stated, taken aback. “No, I’m sorry, I really don’t want to bring up old memories. We are on a mission to find Twilight.”

“You are right. We are,” Patch laughed. “But…”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, noticing the hesitation in Patch’s voice. “Y-yeah?”

“I appreciate that you are willing to listen to me, really. I promise I’ll tell you all about it once this is all over, alright?” placing a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, Patch smiled. “No more hiding secrets from me—it’s a promise.”

Fluttershy returned the smile, barely managing to hide her tears. “Hm-hmm!”

“Alright, alright, I said no tears, already,” Patch laughed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

“Okay!” Fluttershy nodded, opening the door back to their cart. “Oh, and be careful, okay?”

“Will do,” Patch said, smiling as Fluttershy left the cart, leaving her own her once more. “Right…”

Letting out a long sigh, Patch slumped back on her seat. She looked back outside, watching the Forbidden Forest pass by; the seemingly infinite amount of trees setting her into a relaxed lull.

“Too little, too late,” she sighed, jumping back on her hooves, and continuing her silent patrol

“Flower, wake up!”

“Aah!” Flower Patch shot up with a start, hitting her head on the bunk above—something that seemed to happen more often than not.”O-ouch…”

“If you have time to complain, you have time to get up!” a ragged pony growled, glaring daggers at Flower’s pained form.

“I-I’m sorry Tough Spot, sir, ma’am!” Flower quickly apologized, just to unceremoniously fall face=first to the floor. “Oooooouch…”

“Just get the hell up, training begins in ten!” Tough groaned, walking away while mouthing-off silently to herself. “For Faust’s sake, why are you even here! I swear!”

Yet another day passed by in a blur, and as usual, at the end of it all, Patch collapsed back on her bed, groaning at her complaining body. “A-another day down…”

“Oof, you don’t look so good, Flower,” a unicorn told her, peeking down from the bunk over her. “Still can’t deal with the pain, huh?”

“Don’t start, Desert Storm,” Flower groaned, miserably attempting to toss her pillow at the pony, managing to simply make it land back on her face. “Faust, dang it. I suck.”

“At least you still have your self-esteem,” Desert laughed, bouncing on Flower’s bed with a single leap. “Wanna talk about it?”

“I’d rather just suffer quietly, thanks,” Flower cried out, returning to her pained moans.

“K,” ignoring her request completely, Desert laid down, slowly reaching out with her hoof and poking Flower’s side, getting annoyed cries in return.

“I meant on my own!” Flower roared, kicking Desert’s hoof away. “Geez, Desert, what’s your deal?”

“Me?” innocently, Desert rolled side-to-side. “I mean, what even is YOUR deal?”

Flower raised a brow. “What are you on about?”

Abruptly, Desert Storm sat up, giving Flower a glare. “You’ve been here for five weeks now, and you are the only pony who doesn’t seem to care about camp, like, you aren’t trying at all.”

“Excuse me?” Flower chuckled confused, nervously watching Desert’s eyes stare into her soul. “What do you mean? I’ve been trying!”

"Hmm..." Desert hummed with a narrowed look. "It looks like you are trying, and you even seem to think you are trying,” she explained, grimacing. “The thing is, you don’t look like somepony who wants to improve at all! In fact, it’s almost like you are just trying to get through the day! Like you are just doing the bare minimum.”

“H-huh?” Flower seemed surprised by the statement, blinking rapidly. “I mean, I still try to get things done, but isn’t just trying to get through the day what we are supposed to do? What we are all doing?”

“What?” Desert growled instantly, baring her teeth in anger. Her horn shined brightly for an instant, but it subsided as she took a deep breath. “Tell me, Patch, is this what this place means to you? Just something to brute-force your way through?”

“What? No!” Flower tried to explain. “That’s not why!”

“Then why!? Do you have a reason to be here? Or is this just a mockery to you?” she asked in-between breaths. “Tell me you just aren’t here because you felt like you could. Maybe felt like you should be here because you could."

“I, um, but…” failed words was all Flower could accomplish, choosing to look away, avoiding the judging eyes in front of her.

“Whatever,” Desrt snorted, jumping off the bed. “I don’t know if you were just bored of whatever you were doing before, or just wanted to bumble your way to a guard spot, but whatever the reason, you won’t last as one with that wishy-washy attitude—think about that.”

Stunned, Flower watched as Desert jumped back on her bunk. She could hear the voices of the other recruits whispering to one another as lights went out, but as Patch silently laid back down, the words of Tough Spot echoed in the back of her head.

The train finally came to a stop at the station, where the group was welcomed by one of the guards, who quickly greeted the party. They were quickly lead towards the castle, where signs of a fight were quickly caught by the group.

“What happened here?” Shining Armor asked, looking around, noticing the multitude of hurt ponies. “Why are all of you hurt?”

“My apologies, Prince Shining,” the guard answered between rasped breaths. “I was ordered to say nothing of the matter. Princess Celestia said she would be able to fill you on the details soon enough,” he explained.

-I sense dark magic,- Crystal Thought suddenly pointed out for John..

“So dark magic happened here, huh?” John suddenly parroted the comment, getting everypony to turn towards him confused. “Um… I can feel it because of my shield magic?” he lied, trying to avoid explaining Crystal’s words.

“He is right,” Cadence mercifully continued for him. “In fact, this feels eerily familiar. I can only hope that feeling is wrong.”

“A-anyway, will the Princess be able to help us with Twilight? We really need to find her,” John said, trying to change the subject appropriately.

The guard remained silent for a moment before answering. “Her Majesty will answer your questions soon enough.”

John gulped. “That gives me a bad feeling…”

“Wait a minute,” Gleaming Guard spoke, annoyingly staring at the guard. “This isn’t the way to the throne room. Where are we going?”

“Her Majesty is currently… resting,” the guard answered, looking around awkwardly. “Look, I’m really sorry for being so vague right now, but you’ll understand when we reach her room, trust me.”

“Right,” John sighed. Questions regarding Celestia’s well-being popped into his mind, though most of it was quickly overpowered by the thought of Twilight alone. “No, focus! Once you find out how Celestia is, you will find out more about Twiilight.”

Just a few minutes later, they came to a stop near a plain-looking door. They shot the guard wary looks, but were ignored as he simply moved aside, nodding silently.

"Soo..." John hummed, shooting the guard a dirty look. "Is th-"

“Hello everypony, thanks for coming,” a strangers voice interrupted, greeting them from inside the room, and before they had time to mull over it, the doors opened, inviting them in.

-Guess that answers that,- Crystal chuckled.

“Whatever. Who the hell even wa-” John’s question was cut short, coming to a stop as he and the rest of the ponies laid eyes on the bed.

A pink-maned unicorn smiled back at them, giving the group a knowing nod. “Yes, I’m Princess Celestia—it appears we all have a ton to discuss.”

Author's Notes:

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER AMIRIGHT??? *Late Night Edition 2018*

Alright, so there is literally ZERO excuses as to why it took me this long to update. There is nothing to say here other than; yes, I'm back. In fact, I'm so back that I actually managed to write this chapter in a MONTH. And I rewrote it like three times, shortening it over 4K words.

I am fully here, barring any short stories (that will be side-projects to this one) until it is done.

I've made empty promises before, but if there is ever any time when I mean it, it is now. I will be updating this story as chapters are finished, and other than the last two chapters that will come together, I will be posting them asap.

You (may have) waited long enough, and I am not a person who ever backs out on something they have started. Whatever the final reception ends up being when this is done, I am finishing this god damn story.

In any case, feel free to give me any feedback. I always welcome it.

And to finally end this, I truly hope you enjoyed this, and I really hope you look forward to the faster updates.

Until next time!