“These were the largest saddlebags we could find, Princess.”

Celestia let out a grunt as her assistant accidentally tugged the cinch tighter; he stammered an apology and loosened it as much as he could. “Is that more comfortable, Your Highness?” he asked.

“It's... tolerable.” She shifted a bit, flexing her wings slightly; next to her, Luna chuckled, and Celestia shot her a glance. “If you so much as think the word 'cake', you're going back to the moon, Lulu,” the solar diarch muttered.

“I would scarce dream of such.” Luna gave her sister her best grin, before her own assistant finished adjusting her saddlebags. “Is that a good fit, Your Highness?” asked the Lunar Guard.

“It suffices. My thanks.” Luna tested the buckles with her magic, making sure she could disengage the pack in an emergency. “We are done here. You may return to your duties.”

The two ponies bowed and left the room. After a moment of quiet, Celestia lowered her ears and sighed. “It's been quite some time since we've gone abroad like this, hasn't it, Lulu?”

“You mean, on our own, without a royal retinue?” Luna nodded. “Quite some time indeed, yes. I admit that I have missed the preparations, the anticipation of new encounters and new knowledge. If only the reason for this excursion were more pleasant.”

“Perhaps... but still, I feel a certain eagerness towards having my hooves on the road again.” Celestia stared wistfully through the window. “It was a long millennium without you, Luna. There were days I felt as imprisoned as you were.”

“The shackles of leadership are heavy indeed.” Luna trotted over to her sister, placing a comforting hoof to her neck. “But now we are both unfettered, as caught within the currents of fate as our subjects. I admit, it is at once exciting... and terrifying.”

“I'm far too angry to feel afraid.” Celestia closed her eyes for a moment. “What right do these creatures think they have, to come to our world and murder its peoples like this? To corrupt us, to twist us like puppets on strings?”

“Might makes right, to those with an abundance of it and no morals to restrain it. That was my reasoning, once.” Luna felt the old feelings of shame swell up, before pushing them down. “But now it is time that we taught these demons a different axiom.”

“And that is?”

“Right is might.” Luna thumped a hoof against the floor, the effect only slightly diminished by the thick carpeting. “Come, sister. We have friends to meet up with, and unwelcome guests to escort off of our world.”

The rest of their diverse group had assembled in the throne room, all of them kitted out for travel. Even Sam wore a bright red saddlebag- or backpack, Luna corrected herself- emblazoned with an image of his tattoo on it. She really was beginning to believe the man's assertion that the device that sent him supplies somehow knew just what he needed and sent him exactly that. “Hail, hail, the gang's all here,” he commented as she and Celestia entered the hall. “Time to get down to business?”

“Absolutely.” Celestia trotted ahead to the large table that had been set up at the center of the room, laden with maps and reports; one in particular caught her attention, and she brought it up to read it. “Hm,” she murmured. “Sister, it seems our... special agent still hasn't reported in.”

Luna frowned; she understood what Celestia meant. “Not that either of us ever expected him to be perfectly punctual, but to go this long? Something must have happened.”

Her sister sighed. “Let me see... perhaps Sam, Derpy and I can investigate his last known location. We might come upon some useful information on demonic strongholds.”

“A capital idea.” It was good to see that Celestia hadn't lost her tactical thinking skills over the centuries. “The course for myself, Lara and Zecora is rather straightforward, but along what path will you travel?”

“That's a good question. Sam, this map has a number of sightings of demonic troop movements... what would you recommend?”

“Lemme have a look.” He approached the table, and there began a spirited discussion between the human and Celestia as to which areas to check and in what order, with Captain Armor, Lieutenant Whetstone and even Twilight Sparkle providing input. As they spoke, however, Luna began feeling a strange sense of foreboding, a tingle in her hindbrain warning her of something, though she didn't know what. She found herself resisting an urge to fidget, to glance around for an unseen threat.

She knew better than to dismiss the feeling as her imagination, though. She trusted her senses and instincts implicitly. She gave a subtle glance to Lara, catching her eye, and got an almost imperceptible nod in return; with a couple of innocent-seeming movements, the woman opened the small flaps that held her weapons securely in their holsters, readying them to be drawn at a moment's notice. Most of the others in the room didn't even catch the subtle motions, but a quick glance and nod from Sam showed that he had. If Celestia understood, she hid it incredibly well- but Luna trusted her sister to be alert.

Then, abruptly, in the middle of a discussion about supply routes, the air seemed to turn to ice around them, and every last lantern, torch and candle in the room went out at once, plunging everyone inside into darkness. “Lights!” Sam bellowed.

The horn of every unicorn and alicorn in the room lit up, but what should have been enough illumination to rival direct sunlight seemed to be swallowed up by the room itself; the best they could manage was a thirty-foot radius, beyond which everything was as black as the Void itself. Sam and Lara had already armed themselves, and the Captain and Lieutenant weren't far behind- but there was no sign of the guards that had been stationed at every door, now lost to the darkness.

“Form a circle!” Celestia called out. “Flank to flank! Watch for movement!”

Sam already had his weapon shouldered- a “shotgun”, Luna had heard it called- and was sweeping the barrel back and forth, watching for threats. “Contact!” he called out, firing a shot- and something in the darkness screeched, followed by a thump.

“There's more!” Shining hollered, sending a blast of magic into the the darkness. Luna just caught sight of a thin, bipedal shape leaping past it before the spell's light was swallowed up. An idea seemed to strike the Captain, and he lowered his head, his horn glowing even more brightly- and then a fast, steady stream of magic pulses shot forth from it, streaking into the darkness, chasing the creature he'd just illuminated before. In an instant, Luna calculated trajectory and distance, lowered her own horn and let loose a spell of her own, watching as the nimble shape tried to evade it- only to have the sphere of pure dark magic detonate just ahead of it, blasting the creature into the hard stone floor.

“Above-” she heard Lara cry out, before something shadowy flicked past the edge of her vision and slammed into Celestia, making her lose her balance. Before anyone else could react, the shape practically bounced off the side of the solar diarch and darted by Lieutenant Whetstone- and then there was the flash of metal, a sickening wet sound, and a gurgling cry escaped the earth pony's mouth as he fell, blood gushing from his slit throat.

Twilight saw. “Rarity!”

“I have it! Fluttershy, hold him still!” Rarity had already practically flung herself towards the stricken guard, magic pouring from her horn into the horrific wound as Fluttershy did her best to restrain his wildly-kicking limbs.

And that was all the attention Luna could spare that situation before she turned it back towards the battle at hand. “Captain! Dome!” she ordered.

“At once!” Shining's horn flashed again, and a bright rose-color shield formed around the group- but it seemed shaky, wavering like an invisible waterfall were pouring over it. “Gah- something's disrupting the spell! I can't maintain it!”

Luna's brow furrowed. Maintaining this aura of darkness around them was one thing, but suppressing one of the Captain's shield spells would require a powerful directed spell- and even with her lessened abilities, she would be able to sense it. So what would be able to do so, yet not trigger the wards that protected every room of the castle-

Realization struck her. “The wards!” she shouted. “Twilight Sparkle- our attackers may be using the castle's ward spells against us!”

“But how-” Twilight visibly smothered the question, and instead looked up towards the ceiling and concentrated. Her horn glowed even brighter, though somehow the extra light seemed to do nothing to drive back the darkness.

“Dome's going down!” Shining warned, a moment before his spell gave way; the energy field shattered under the impact of two more of the creatures, who landed at the center of their formation, forcing the ponies and humans to split apart lest they be sliced to ribbons. The demons immediately dove back into the darkness, lost to sight almost instantly.

“Towards the eastern wall!” Celestia ordered. “Lara, Applejack- guard Rarity and Fluttershy! Captain, keep your light on them! Twilight, we need the wards disabled as soon as possible!”

“I'm working on it! Whatever turned them against us made a complete mess of things!”

“When care is not the wisest course, perhaps one must resort to force!” Zecora advised.

“She is right!” Luna fired another blast into the darkness. “Twilight, tear the wards apart if needs be!”

The color of Twilight's magic immediately went several shades darker, and the darkness seemed to somehow flicker around them as though a pebble had been dropped in a jar of ink. An instant later, a dark shape streaked towards Luna; instinctively she flinched backwards- and felt the dagger aimed for her neck clang against her peytral, scoring a mark across the dark, enchanted metal.

An azure blur shot past her, and the creature's planned escape became an uncontrolled tumble as Rainbow Dash's hooves struck it solidly in the back. “Eat that, chump!” she hollered, managing to stop just shy of the edge of the darkness and quickly flying back towards her friends. “Princess Luna! You okay?”

“Yes! Remain vigilant!” They were nearing the eastern wall, if her estimation was correct, meaning that they'd have only half the room to guard against. But their attackers seemed cognizant of that as well, and apparently chose to push their advantage while they still had it- three more of the creatures bounded into the light from the direction the group was heading, all of them angling towards Twilight, their daggers pointed towards her unarmored body.

BOOM

By some miracle, Sam managed to get a shot on the rightmost one without endangering any of the others in their group; the creature's body practically disintegrated, dissolving into smoke even as it hit the ground. The leftmost zoomed by the human, only to find itself on the wrong end of a spear thrown by Captain Armor, the weapon's tip sinking between the demon's shoulder blades and sending it falling off to the side. But nobody had a clear shot on the one remaining creature, and it nimbly evaded a last-ditch tackle attempt from both Dash and Pinkie, sprinting across the few remaining meters between it and its target, leaping into the air-

-and then Twilight glanced down at it, her eyes glowing a bright white, and the creature literally froze in midair as if time itself had been stopped for it. Just the slightest hint of a scowl crossed the violet alicorn's face for a moment, and as her mouth opened, a voice booming like thunder issued from it.

“Get away from my friends!”

The demon slammed into the marble floor hard enough to crack it, rose up, and slammed down again, then flew off to the side as if it were a doll tossed away by a bored foal. Her work done, Twilight returned her spectral gaze to the ceiling. “Jesus,” Luna heard Sam mutter. “Remind me not to piss her off.”

Maybe that example had temporarily cowed their adversaries, or maybe they couldn't figure out how to make an effective approach, but the main group went unmolested once they'd reached the wall- and, by some miracle, so had the small group still gathered around the prone Lieutenant Whetstone. After a moment, Twilight lowered her head again, her eyes back to normal. “Got it!” she declared.

As if a lightswitch had been thrown, the room reappeared around them. The first thing Luna noticed was the several piles of ash that denoted where their assailants had fallen- and the second thing she noticed was the four guards, two at each entryway, who lay in lifeless piles at their posts, surrounded by pools of their own blood. She could see from where she stood that each had had their throats cut, probably all at the same time the moment the darkness had fallen. “Spread out and stay alert!” she called. “The assassins may still remain.”

The others in her group complied, with Sam taking point on Celestia's other side from Luna, and Twilight cantering forward to check on the other group, where Whetstone still lay. “How is he?” she asked.

“Unconscious and in a bad state from blood loss, but still alive, thanks to Rarity,” Fluttershy answered. “But we'll want to get him to the infirmary as soon as we can.”

Rarity approached her friends. “I was fortunate to be able to get to him so quickly,” she said. “I just don't know how we managed to go unattacked.”

Twilight smiled. “As soon as I could, I turned the compromised ward into a shield bubble for you. You wouldn't have been able to get out, but nothing could get in either. I didn't want to risk saying so, though, in case the demons could understand and try to counteract it.”

“Not one for us, though, Twi?” Dash asked teasingly.

“I don't think I could've managed to hold two of them and still work on undoing the wards themselves, especially having to move one. We were mobile and had more force on our side.”

“Wisely done, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said appreciatively.

“Heh, yeah, that actually was a pretty smart play.” Sam rested his shotgun on his shoulder. “Okay. Let's secure the room, get Whetstone patched up and then hit the road-”

“Sam, look out!” Applejack shouted.

Luna's vision just barely caught movement from the eaves above before something dark and indistinct slammed into the human's back, sending his shotgun clattering across the floor and him face-first into the marble. Before he could even react, the demon raised its wicked-looking dagger to bury it in his unprotected back.

BOOM

The shotgun blast took off the demon's arm at the elbow and shattered the dagger; the creature recoiled, clutching at the wound for a moment, then spun and leapt for the window.

click-clack BOOM

The second shot intercepted it perfectly, turning its dive into a tumble; its body slapped against the plate-glass window it had been jumping for, crumpled against the floor, and then dissolved into ash that blew apart in an errant breeze.

Luna looked back to see Celestia help Sam back to his feet with a foreleg; the shotgun floated by her side, surrounded in her magical aura. “Shit,” the man said. “I didn't expect the pretty pony princess to be such a damn good shot.”

“My little ponies are alien to the ways of war.” Celestia arcanokinetically racked the pump, sending another spent shell clattering against the floor, then held the weapon out towards him, fixing him with a solid, steady gaze. “I am not.”

Sam chuckled softly as he took hold of the shotgun. “Princess... I think we're gonna work well together.”

It was a supreme effort of will for Luna not to break out in the silliest of grins.

(-)

“Tender Care has just reported in. Lieutenant Whetstone is responding well to blood transfusions and healing magic, and is expected to make a full recovery.”

Celestia nodded to her aide. “And the four guards who were slain in the attack?”

“They'll be buried with full honors as soon as a detail can be assembled, Your Highness.”

“Good. Tell their families that the Diarchs are truly saddened at their losses, and that the sacrifices their loved ones made were for the protection of Equus itself.”

Shining could barely restrain a snort of derision. What had happened to those guards was hardly a sacrifice- they'd been murdered, plain and simple, struck down without even the chance to raise a hoof in self-defense. But the diplomatic side of him, honed by intense training in preparation to be a co-ruler of the Crystal Empire, understood the need to maintain morale in times of crisis... though that certainly didn't mean he had to like it in any way, shape or form. From his very first day of active duty, knowing that the risk to his life was slim but never zero, his greatest fear hadn't been dying in the line of duty- but rather dying without the chance to fight back.

The attack had cured him of one misgiving about their plans, though. With the castle's wards subverted- a task Twilight said the demons could have been working on for weeks in secret, and didn't that level of pre-planning by their enemy just turn his bowels to ice water with dread- it was no longer even remotely safe for the Princesses any longer. With no other stronghold they could trust, it seemed that the best hope for the country's diarchs was to simply vanish into the countryside, trading being a target within the castle's stone walls for the freedom of movement that the wide-open lands of Equestria gave.

The retinue continued on through the courtyard and out into the city proper, where barricades and observation points were being erected along the roads. Workers and guards alike stopped what they were doing for a moment to watch the group move, either gawking at the Princesses or staring warily at the humans; Shining knew by now that word had gotten out about the alien creatures and their purpose here, but some ponies seemed far too fixated on their resemblance to the invaders to trust them. Others seemed merely curious, though, or even actively interested.

For their part, the humans accepted all of the strange looks with equanimity. Sam, true to his nature, just didn't seem to care all that much, focused instead on what was ahead of him; Lara was careful to give a reassuring smile or wave on occasion, and even spoke to anypony with the courage to come up to her, actually managing to draw out a short conversation or two before the busy ponies returned to their duties.

Soon enough, though, they left the city proper and made it to the makeshift camp below. The noise and the smell were both remarkable- apparently proper sanitation hadn't been set up yet, leaving the smell of sweaty ponies and other creatures, as well as their various waste products in hastily-constructed outhouses, to linger despite the obvious attempts to keep the air clear. None of the Princesses looked pleased at the situation, and Celestia took aside one of the Royal Guards assigned to oversee the camp to speak to her- only to have her frown deepen. “Sister,” she said quietly, “your nephew seems to be making a pain of himself.”

Luna snorted. “Oh, suddenly he is mine nephew?”

Shining could barely keep himself from cringing as an all-too-familiar voice came from one of the administration tents. “...conditions are intolerable! To expect me to sit, to eat, to bathe with the common pony! My request of a half-dozen of these tents to use as my own quarters is entirely reasonable. Perhaps some of the commoners could be assigned to erecting them; Celestia knows the poor beggars need something to do-”

The tent flap practically flew aside as Celestia's wing flung it open, stepping inside to find Prince Blueblood practically looming over a nervous desk clerk; the stallion who Celestia had the misfortune to call “nephew” turned at the interruption, and a broad smile crossed his muzzle. “Auntie!” he exclaimed. “I'm so glad you're here. You would not believe the things I have had to endure since this whole horrible ordeal began! I....” He slowly trailed off, finally noticing the steel-hard gaze she was giving him; once he'd fallen silent, she turned to the poor pegasus mare he'd been berating. “Winter Wind, perhaps now would be the best time to take a lunch break,” she said quietly.

“Of course, Your Highness.” The poor clerk practically zoomed out of the tent, leaving the Princess and her nephew alone inside; Celestia turned towards the others still waiting outside. “Just a moment's privacy, please,” she said pleasantly, but Shining saw her expression grow cold again an instant before the tent flaps snapped shut.

Whatever was said inside was blocked by a soundproofing spell, but apparently took less than half a minute- which was how long it took Blueblood to come galloping out of the tent like somepony had tied a parasprite to his tail. In his panic he just barely avoided crashing right into Sam, and as the stallion skidded to a halt and realized just who was in front of him, he let out a scream at a pitch most mares would find impressive and backpedaled madly for a moment, pupils and irises constricted almost to pinpricks, before taking off at a full gallop further into the encampment, wailing all the while about monsters coming to eat his vital organs.

Shining looked down and noticed a trail of droplets left by the fleeing prince, yellow in color and with about the scent he expected. Sam seemed to notice as well, and his quizzical expression was plain to see even despite his sunglasses; Celestia gave him a brief chuckle and a shrug. “Just a mild rebuke for unacceptable behavior,” she said quietly. “Nothing important. Come, we've much to do, still.”

The glance Sam and Shining exchanged was silent, but the agreement was made nonetheless- don't even wanna know.

They were stopped two more times along the way- the first by Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur de Lis, both looking like they'd climbed through a razor-edged chimney to get there but neither seeming to care about their appearance; the socialites requested permission to return to their estate to retrieve food and supplies for the refugees, a request that Celestia granted, and Shining assigned a small squad of guards and volunteers to assist. The second, surprisingly enough, was by Tree Leaf and his family- five ponies in all. The little colt regaled his relatives with what was probably, judging by their put-upon but understanding expressions, the latest of many retellings of what had occurred in that apartment building, but what happened next actually shocked Shining- the human knelt down and greeted each of the ponies in turn, complimenting the yearling's bravery under stress. Their uneasiness quickly dissolved under his rough-edged but friendly demeanor.

“So what are you guys gonna do now that the city's off-limits?” the man asked.

Tree's father, Windspeed, considered for a moment. “Well... we've got a cousin who owns a nice little cabin out on Unicorn Range. We might go see if we can stay with him for a while. Mr. Stone, if you happen to find yourself out that way... please, by all means, stop by.”

“Sure, you got it.” Sam gave them a brief smile before standing up. “We gotta roll. You guys stay safe out there, alright?”

“Will do, Mr. Stone!” Tree offered a cute attempt at a salute that Sam returned sharply, before the family trotted off and Sam returned to the retinue, responding to the various stares directed at him with a shrug. “What?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing at all, dear.” Rarity's smile practically gleamed, but Sam either didn't notice or refused to rise to the bait. Shining strongly suspected the latter- the man was as stubborn as a minotaur when he wanted to be, he'd learned.

Not much else was said until the group reached the first major intersection beyond the mountain. Celestia came to a stop and glanced behind her. “Twilight, perhaps you should test your communication spell before we depart,” she said.

Twilight concentrated, and her horn glowed faintly; both Sam's and Lara's phones chimed. “It appears to be working on our end,” Lara said with a smile.

“And on ours as well,” Luna added. “You learn quickly, Twilight Sparkle.”

His sister fairly blushed at the praise. “Thanks, Princess,” she said quietly. “I'll try to keep contact limited to important matters.”

The group had already decided beforehoof on their itinerary- the Bearers would return to Fort Latigo to speak to a selection of refugees from various parts of Equestria, to learn what they could of enemy movements and goals; Shining and Cadence would return to the Crystal Empire to rally its citizens; Celestia, Sam and Derpy would venture behind enemy lines to the northwest to find and destroy any demonic installations or equipment they could find and collect whatever intel they came across; and Luna, Lara and Zecora would travel through the Everfree Forest to retrieve every last magical weapon and treasure they could manage from the old castle. Everything beyond that would have to be managed on-the-fly depending on what was found and what exigent circumstances might crop up.

Luna lowered her head for a moment. “Mine friends, mine dear sister, this may very well be the last time I see some of you,” she said quietly. “Know that your bravery and dedication to our world will be spoken of for as long as any of the civilized species of Equus still live. May Fate and Fortune trot beside us as we travel.”

Leaving behind his Princesses, his sister, and his friends on that lonely intersection was one of the hardest things Shining Armor had ever done in his life, and for the longest time it was only his fierce sense of duty- and his wife's comforting presence- that kept his hooves moving.

(-)

“Twi, I know that look.”

Rainbow Dash glanced downwards. Applejack was right- that by-now-familiar expression of self-incrimination was plain to see. “...huh?” Twilight murmured, seeming to come back to reality from wherever her mind had been.

“Tell us what's on your mind, dear,” Rarity said. “It's plain to see that something is bothering you a great deal.”

“It's nothing, girls, really-”

Dash descended until she was hovering just in front of her friend. “Twilight,” she said. “We've known you way too long to buy that. And you've known us long enough to know that we're gonna get you to talk one way or the other... so could you at least save us some time and do it now?”

“It's like you told me, Twilight!” Pinkie added. “A problem shared is a problem halved!”

Still Twilight looked reluctant- until Fluttershy gently laid a hoof on her withers. “Is this about what happened back in the castle?” the pegasus asked quietly.

“No! I mean... well, kind of.” The neophyte Princesses let out a soft sigh. “I just... I can't stop blaming myself for all this.”

“I thought we talked 'bout that, Twi.” Applejack sidled up next to her. “There is no way, no how, that you could'a known what would happen.”

“But... what if we'd done something different? What if there were signs that I missed, clues that could've warned us?”

“Twilight!” Dash landed and immediately took Twilight's muzzle in both her forehooves. “Stop! Just please stop. You're just gonna tear yourself apart thinking like that.”

“Twilight, we've discussed this before,” Rarity added. “You cannot realistically believe that you could have somehow anticipated that our being teleported into Fracture's domain would lead a demonic army to Equus.”

“But why didn't I check for extraplanar fissures? I mean, we'd been shunted through the dimensional fabric into an entirely artificial bubble universe! I should have known there would be some kind of compound quantum disturbance left over- hormph.”

Her rant was cut off by Dash's hoof. “Twi, I don't even know how to spell most of those words, let alone what they mean, but Rarity is right- you couldn't have known.”

“And besides,” Fluttershy said, “if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have Lara and Sam here to help us now! I know you spent so many nights up late researching that spell, reading through some of the biggest books I've ever seen, and all those complicated notes you wrote....”

“Yeah!” Applejack agreed. “I mean, I don't know nothin' 'bout magic, but... findin' two humans whose lives were in danger, and not only savin' 'em, but managin' to bring 'em here so we could ask 'em to help? 'Member how surprised the Princesses were when you told 'em about yer spell?”

“I specifically remember Princess Celestia saying something along the lines of 'unheard-of complexity in the class of scrying spells'.” Rarity smiled.

Dash nodded. “Yeah, not to mention Luna telling you that even that Startwirl the Hairy guy-”

Twilight gave her a look. “Starswirl the Bearded.”

“-right, that guy... Luna said that he would've been proud to put together a spell like that. So nopony can say that you haven't done everything you can for Equus. Especially not you.” She prodded Twilight's chest with a hoof for emphasis. “And we need you to keep that in mind and stop mentally kicking yourself, because right now our whole world needs you at one hundred percent brainpower, Twi.”

Twilight sighed again and lowered her head for a moment, then nodded. “I'll try. I'm sorry.”

“Silly filly, you don't need to apologize.” Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around the unicorn in a hug. “Just remember that you've got your friends!”

“Yeah.” Twilight paused for a moment. “Yeah, in fact... I need you all to do me a favor.”

“Anything, darling,” Rarity replied.

“You all saw what I did to that demon in the throne room.”

“Uh... yeah. Kinda hard t' miss.” Applejack scratched at the back of her neck lightly.

“I just... I need all of you to keep an eye on me. Tell me if you think I'm resorting to violence when I don't need to. Keep me in check.”

Rarity shook her head. “Twilight, I'm sure you don't need to worry about-”

“Yes I do, Rarity. I'm a lot more powerful now than before. Celestia warned me about the road to tyranny, to 'the ends justify the means', and the first step is always rationalization, using more of one's power than necessary for expediency's sake. And I can't guarantee that I won't fall into that trap. Like you girls told me, you've known me for a long time... and that means you can warn me if it looks like I might be going down that road.”

Dash's mouth hung open for a few seconds. She didn't even want to consider that it was possible for that to happen... but the realistic part of her said it could, and maybe more easily than she was comfortable with- Twilight had made some impressive strides in self-control over the years, but if there were ever a trial by fire, this situation was it. So, after a moment, she nodded. “You got it, Twi,” she said, giving her friend a smile. “We'll keep you level-headed.”

“Well, keeping ponies sane isn't really in my skillset,” Pinkie admitted. “But I'll do what I can!”

The other mares agreed as well, and a look of utter relief washed across Twilight's face. “Thanks, girls,” she said quietly. “That's a load off my back.”

The six ponies continued on, though Dash noticed Pinkie take on an odd look after a moment. “What's up?” she asked the earth pony.

“I was thinking of songs we could sing to make the trip go by faster, but... I dunno. It just doesn't seem like the right time to be singing, I guess.”

“That might be for the best, dear,” Rarity said. “Perhaps we might simply reflect upon what lies ahead of us, and save conversation and the like for when we make camp tonight.”

“Yeah... I guess you're right, Rarity.” Pinkie continued on, and Dash kept pace just a little above her friends, for once caught up in her own thoughts.