Twilight stood up, barely able to keep her eyes open. "Luna, get out of here." she said weakly.

"Are you crazy? You need to get to Canterlot!" Luna exlaimed.

"I know and I will, but only if you leave! I'm going to cast another spell that will kill all of them. I don't know if it affects other ponies that aren't targeted since it jumps from one to another. When I cast it, you need to come back and take me to the others." she explained.

"I cannot advise this!" Luna shouted.

"You'll do it if you want Equestria to be safe!" Twilight shouted back. A zombie had popped up behind her. Luna shot it with a magic bolt, sending it flying back into the horde.

"Damnit! Fine! I hope you know what you're doing!" she shouted and flew into the air.

I hope this works. If not, well I was going to die anyway. she thought. She drew the energy to cast the spell, feeling her body grow colder and colder. Her vision started to fade, blurring the horde of zombies in front of her. When she had built up enough power for the spell, she cast it at the nearest zombie.

The creature disintegrated in a flash and was followed by the two behind it, then the next four. In a few seconds the entire field was clear. Twilight felt a smile grow on her face. "Thank Celestia..." she said, before collapsing on her side. She saw Luna flying towards her.

She blinked and saw her standing over her, shouting her name. "Twilight! Wake up!" Luna exclaimed, shaking her.

"Did they make it?" she asked, losing feeling throughout her body.

"Yes they did. Now stay with me, Twilight." Luna said calmly.

"Good." Twilight said with a smile. She saw her vision start to close from the sides. She saw Luna casting a spell and felt herself slip away.

Luna flew back to the other ponies, carrying Twilight on her back. Spike was the first to run over to her when she landed. "Twilight!" he exclaimed. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know. I hope so." she said. "We need to move though. There's a place we can camp out North of here. Once we're there I'll send a message to my guards to head there instead of Canterlot."

"Is it safe up there, your highness? With both Applejack and Twilight unable to fight, we are drastically hindered." Rarity said.

"Ah can still fight, ya'll." Applejack said.

"Stop being so stubborn, AJ. You're leg is still hurt. The ponies back at the cave did their best, but you are still not able to fight." Rarity replied.

"Can we just go to the safe place? I don't want to see anymore of them." Fluttershy said.

"We'll be fine. Princess, how far away is it?" Rainbow asked.

"A few miles. I can carry Twilight until we reach it, but we'll have to stay there for a little bit. At least long enough for Twilight to recover." she replied.

"Umm...Princess Luna? Can I-" Spike started to say, but was cut off as Luna picked him up and put him on her back with Twilight.

"Of course you can, little one. We'll leave in a few minutes. I want to see if Twilight may become conscious before we leave." she said.

"Ah'll be fine on my own now, Rarity. But thanks for helping me out when Ah needed it." Applejack said with a smile.

"You're welcome deary." she said. She noticed Sweetie Belle by herself a few feet away, poking at the ground. "I need to talk to Sweetie Belle and see how she's doing. A lot has happened to her recently."

"You do that. She needs her big sis after all." Applejack said.

Rarity walked next to Sweetie Belle and sat down next to her. "Hey, Sweetie. How are you doing?" Sweetie didn't say anything and kept poking at the dirt. "We're going to be leaving soon."

"Will she be alright?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Why of course she will, darling. It's Twilight. She's a strong mare." Rarity said.

"Is she like this because of us?" she asked.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"Because we left her there. We didn't help her." Sweetie Belle said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey. We left because we had to take care of Applejack. Rainbow was keeping you and the others safe. Twilight only did what was best for us." Rarity explained.

Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight's limp body. "I wish I could help her in some way. I may be small, and not able to do a lot of magic, but I want to be of some use. I hate feeling like I can't do anything." she said, kicking a rock away from her.

"Hmm, I think I know how you can help out if you really want to." Rarity said with a small smile.

"Really? Like what?" Sweetie Belle said, her face lifted.

"You see Spike? He's the one who's dealing with this the worst. Why not go over to him and comfort him a little?" she suggested.

"But he's with Twilight. I don't want him to think I'm being uncaring." Sweetie said.

"You'll be fine. He's an understanding dragon. He'll know that you are there to help him." Rarity said. She nudged her sister to him and Luna. "Go on."

"Okay." Sweetie Belle said. She turned her head to her big sister. "Thanks Rarity." she said with a smile and ran over to him.

Rarity laughed lightly to herself. I'm glad she's lucky to have somepony during this troubling time. she thought. She looked to Applejack and saw her talking to Fluttershy. And I'm lucky too.

"How ya' doing sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, well, I'm okay, I guess. I haven't been bitten, so that's good." Fluttershy said quietly.

"Ah'm glad that you're doing well. How's Rainbow doing takin' care of ya'?"

"She's doing great. She always keeps me moving, even when I'm too scared to run away." she replied.

"Well, that's Rainbow for ya'. Always there for her friends." Applejack said with a smile.

"There is one thing, though, that I want to ask you." Fluttershy said in a hushed voice.

"What is it?"

"Well, it's about Twilight. The Princess claims that she is the only one who can help cure this...thing. If that's the case, why didn't she teleport her to Canterlot?" she asked.

"Remember what Twilight said? She doesn't have the magic powerful enough to send eight ponies, plus the guards, and Spike to Canterlot. It's too much for her." Applejack pointed out.

"Well, yes, but why not just send Twilight? We could have made our way to Canterlot by ourselves, and by that time, Twilight could have found a way to fix it." Fluttershy explained.

"She would never do that. She wouldn't leave us to fend for ourselves."

"But look at her. This is the second time she's knocked herself out, and if it weren't Princess Luna, Twilight would be dead. What would we do then?" she asked, nervously.

"Then we would find another way. And Twilight knows her limits. Ah know she wouldn't do anything to put herself in danger." Applejack said uneasily. "And don't think like that. We're all going to make it to Canterlot, safe and sound."

"Oh, I hope so. I don't want to imagine what would happen if we were to lose someone else." Fluttershy said.

"We ain't gonna lose anymore ponies. We'll keep each other safe. Ah promise." Applejack said, pulling her yellow friend into a hug.

"Okay. I'm just so scared." Fluttershy said.

"Ah know. But we'll be fine. We got the Princess and Twilight here to help us. Not to mention you got Rainbow Dash. She'll look after you." Applejack said.

"I know. But I think she's getting annoyed with me. I've done nothing but be a burden." she said, hiding her face.

"No you haven't." Applejack said.

"What have I done to help us?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well..." Applejack trailed off. She hasn't really done much. She hasn't fought any of these things and we're going to need all the fighters we can get... she thought. "Well, you took care of the little ones and you voiced your opinion on what we need to do in certain situations. We're a team, and every ponies opinion matters. That's how you help us." she said.

"But I mean physically. I can't fight them. I can't hurt another pony, even if I need to."

"But they're not ponies. They're monsters. Ponies don't eat each other. Only monsters do." she said.

"They look like ponies though." Fluttershy said.

"Ah know. But we just have to remember that they aren't actually ponies. It'll be okay. We'll get through this. Hopefully we won't have to fight anymore of them." Applejack said. She held Fluttershy comfortingly and hoped that Twilight would become conscious before long.

Rainbow Dash sat away from the others. Twilight is doing so much for us. And she keeps putting herself in danger to save us. she thought. There has to be an easier way for her to get to Canterlot without us hindering her.

"Hello Rainbow Dash. What are you doing here, away from your friends?" Luna asked as she took a seat next to her.

"Nothing, Princess...I've just been thinking about a way to keep Twilight from constantly saving us. It feels like she's doing all the work while we're just tagging along for the ride." Rainbow replied.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well she saved us in Ponyville, she saved us at AJ's farm, she saved us in the cave, and she just now saved us from that horde. She's passed out twice, and we've done nothing more than put her in danger. She's needed in Canterlot to save Equestria, so why are we here?" she asked.

Luna looked at Twilight. "From my understanding, she loves all of you. You're her friends, and she wants to make sure what happened to Pinkie Pie doesn't happen to all of you. It's hard enough on her as it is that Pinkie is gone and I don't think she could survive another one of her friends turning out like her."

"But we seem to always put her in more danger. Luna, I hate that Pinkie is gone, she was a really good friend of mine. I don't think anypony here could survive another friend going like she did." Rainbow said. "We need to do something to help save Twilight and Equestria. We're the Elements of Harmony for ponies sake!!" she exclaimed. "Well, we're five of the Elements of Harmony."

"While there may only be five of you, the Elements can still do great things. The elements are just that. Elements. It's the ponies who wield them that give them their power. As long as you stay true to them, your elements may just save your life and your friend's lives." Luna explained.

"How? Without Pinkie Pie's element they're completely useless." Rainbow Dash said.

"Only in the way that you know. I've been gone a long time and my memory of the Element's powers are bleak, but when one element loses it's beholder, it channels itself into the others, and gives them the magic of that element. So when you think about it, Pinkie Pie isn't really gone. There's still a part of her that lives in you." Luna explained. "We should get going. We can't stay here too long. If you could go rally up the girls please."

"Yeah. Will do." she said. She walked over to Fluttershy and Applejack first. "Hey, Luna says that we're leaving soon. Get ready."

"Alrighty sugarcube. I'll go tell Rarity." Applejack said as she limped over to her friend.

"Hey Fluttershy. You alright?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy just shook her head. "I know you're scared."

"Why can't I be like you? You're not afraid of those things. You're not afraid to do what you need to do." Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash looked around carefully, making sure nopony was in ear shot. "Well, the truth is that I'm really scared. I don't show it, but everytime I see one I'm afraid. Not because I may die, but because of you. I don't want anything to happen to you or any other pony."

"You're afraid?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah. I'd be insane not to be. But being afraid is okay. Fear gives you a reason to fight for something. It's why I fight to protect you." Rainbow Dash said quietly.

Fluttershy looked at her with admiration. "Okay. I guess I can be afraid. But what if I can't fight them?"

"Then you run. You may not be able to fight them, but you can outrun them." Rainbow said.

"Okay." she said. She stood up and smiled at Rainbow. "Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome, Flutters. Now let's get back to Twilight." she said.