Twilight had seen many grizzly scenes in her life before, but for some reason nothing could amount to what lay before her right now. The sight she saw was neither gory nor bloody in any case. It was just alarming and unnerving to see to the average pony, but for Twilight…it brought back the faintest memory that had been locked away inside of her mind for years. And it was all rushing back to her as she stared at the pale body of Sandalwood strewn over his cot with the smallest hint of a shadow lying right over him, covering him like a blanket.
It all happened on the same day Twilight had gotten her cutie mark. The same afternoon Princess Celestia had declared her to be her newest student. Twilight had been on her way home to her house so she could pack her belongings. Princess Celestia had given her the offer of living in Canterlot Castle with her, so of course Twilight couldn't resist. She was walking down the cobblestone pathway with her parents side-by-side with her when something dashed past them in the corner of her eye. She had turned her head to look around for whoever had caused that movement to happen, but there was no pony there.
Shrugging, Twilight leaned a bit closer to her father in case she saw the shadowy figure again. Another five minutes passed before she had the oddest sensation that she was being watched. Her eyes flickered back and forth and her breath was caught in her throat.
"Twilight, what's wrong?" her mother frowned at her daughter's sudden intense behavior.
"Huh?" Twilight jumped, "Oh, it's…nothing."
Twilight's lavender-colored eyes scanned her surroundings once more just to make sure she wasn't imagining things again. And then she saw it. It was only there for twenty seconds at the most before it vanished seemingly out of thin air, but Twilight had it stuck in her mind for a while. She had glanced over at one of the buildings, the one that was right next to the bookshop, and saw a dark, misty pony galloping by. The only thing was that there came an audible, choked out cry from the pony as it trotted away as fast as possible. As Twilight leaned in a bit closer to see, she could see that it was in fact a tall, brown stallion with a large, black sheet of shadow wrapping him up in such a way that it was strangling him.
Twilight closed her eyes tightly as she let out a frightened scream. When she opened her eyes she was standing right in front of Sandalwood's bed. His eyes were bloodshot and his mouth hung ajar but in that moment before the shadow completely covered him, he breathed out just three words.
"They aren't…c-c-c-lones."
And then he went limp. The shadow began to quickly disappear, sinking into Sandalwood's sandy coat. His body went three shades darker than before and his eyes fluttered shut. Twilight let out an alarmed scream again as she took a step back.
The door to the room opened and a light yellow pegasus poked her head inside, "Twilight, what's wrong? Oh no!"
Fluttershy's eyes focused on Sandalwood's body, "Is h-he dead? Where are the doctors?"
"I-I don't know," Twilight gasped, "He-He…"
Cloudy Sky just managed to poke her head in along with Fluttershy's when Sandalwood suddenly sprang back to life. His eyes narrowed into slits and he smiled cruelly up at the three ponies.
"I thought you said he was dead." Cloudy turned to look at Fluttershy with a panicked grimace.
Sandalwood threw off his blanket and in rigid motions began to slowly rise from the bed. Fluttershy and Cloudy took multiple steps back in fear. Twilight stepped forward.
"Sandalwood?" her voice rang out in the short stretch of silence.
The Sandalwood that stood before Twilight let out a sharp crackle, whipping his head back viciously before answering her question, "You have no idea."
Before Twilight could decipher what he meant by those words, he began to dig his hoof into the floor, getting into charging position.
"Run!" Twilight burst out, "Run you two!"
Cloudy Sky and Fluttershy didn't need to be asked twice. Fluttershy's wings opened up as she soared toward the gaping entrance of the door, trying not to go too fast. Cloudy sprinted for her life; just a few strides shy of Twilight. This new Sandalwood however was already flapping his wings open with a mighty snapping noise. Twilight glanced over her shoulder just in time to see him take off, reaching outwards for Cloudy Sky.
"No!" Twilight skidded to a halt, her heart hammering loudly.
Without time to even breathe let alone think, Twilight shot out a spark at the incoming Sandalwood. His manic grin froze in place along with the rest of his body before he simply vanished. Cloudy Sky, who had stopped running and was simply cowering, just stared at the puff of smoke that indicated where Sandalwood had been. Twilight breathed in and out slowly and deeply.
"D-Did you kill him?" came the soft voice of Fluttershy from her position near the entrance.
"No," Twilight shook her head, "I just teleported him. He's somewhere in the Badlands now."
"What exactly happened in there?" Cloudy Sky gawked at Twilight.
Twilight sunk to the ground until she sitting in a heap on the floor, "I don't know. He had this…shadow thing covering him. It was killing him, I think. Or-no…it couldn't have…"
Fluttershy let out a small, shrill, yelp as Rainbow Dash landed right next to her, "The pegasi aren't falling back, Twilight. Do we need backup? Uh, where's Sandalwood?"
Twilight spun around to see her cyan blue friend poking her head from the charred remains of the two doors. Her eyes hung on Dash before she spoke up, "He's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Rainbow Dash attempted not to show the panic in her voice, "Is he dead?"
"No…he's-he…he turned into something. I'm not sure what, but I sent him to the Badlands."
"Why'd you do that for?"
"Well, since he came back from the dead to attack us…you're right. We should've just thrown him a surprise party instead," Cloudy didn't even try to mask the sarcasm in her voice.
"Hey, watch the tone, pegasister," Rainbow Dash snapped, "Or do I have to beat it out of you?"
"Bite me," Cloudy shot back.
"Be careful what you wish for," Dash let out a heavy snort from her nose.
"You guys, stop it. We're already in a war and we don't need another going on in here, okay?" Twilight stomped her hoof in defiance.
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort but thought better of it. Cloudy Sky merely let out an unregistered grumble. Fluttershy glanced between ponies with her slanted, teal eyes. Twilight stood back up.
"That's what I thought," she barked, "Now, I say let's go back outside and fight while we still can. And don't worry; back up is on its way, Rainbow Dash. Let's move on out."
The three other ponies followed Twilight out of the battered doorway and into the open. A small bomb exploded in the air overhead, showering down orange and yellow flames onto the street. The pegasi in the air had thinned out by quite a lot in number. Rainbow Dash flung herself back into the air while Twilight shot at other pegasi. Cloudy Sky dodged a flaming piece of wood miraculously and ran off without warning, leaving Fluttershy by herself. Fluttershy trembled in the midst of this chaos surrounding her. A loud series of booms caused her to look up into the sky.
"The back up is here!" Twilight laughed as she shot a freeze spell at a furry pegasus speeding toward her, "They're here!"
In the air were the unmistakable, soaring back-up Twilight had mentioned. Their uniforms were curved around their winged bodies and their goggles were fully polished. The remaining loyal Wonderbolts were in position with Spitfire in the middle. Her jet-orange hair was slicked back with perspiration and wind. Lots and lots of wind. Fluttershy almost missed them as they broke the speed of sound.
Hail Storm, who was on the ground getting her wing bandaged by a white earth pony, smiled from ear to ear. She punched the air with her good foreleg, hooting as the dozen or so Wonderbolts passed her overhead.
Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. To be honest, she had been expecting a few dozen more unicorns with the exception of Pinkie Pie with her party cannon strapped to some flying contraption, but this…this was more than she could've imagined. She found herself screaming with joy as her idols turned a sharp right one at a time, shooting themselves toward the nearest enemies.
Even Cloudy Sky was enthused by the winged ponies' appearance. She stared at the sky, awestruck by all that was happening so fast, unaware that something had caught fire next to her.
In the end, the last few pegasi remaining high-tailed it to Cloudsdale before anyone could shoot them down. The all-clear siren was barely heard over the few hundred ponies shouting in victory. Many were gathered around the marketplace, celebrating, laughing, and singing. A hundred voices were heard around Fillydelphia for the first time in weeks if not months.
"We won! We won!" Rainbow Dash had chanted when Twilight joined her and Fluttershy by the marketplace.
"So I've heard," Twilight chuckled, "Pretty neat, huh?"
Fluttershy smiled lightly, "How'd you get the Wonderbolts as back-up Twilight? I thought they were imprisoned."
"Well, a few were taken as prisoners, but I think the unicorns were able to get them before the changelings cloned them," Rainbow Dash answered before Twilight could.
Twilight suddenly remembered Sandalwood's last words. They aren't clones. If they weren't clones…what were they? And what happened the night Twilight saw the shadow thing? Twilight opened her mouth to tell Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy this, but the sound of a horn interrupted Twilight, or rather the sound of a certain flugelhorn. Pinkie pie was marching to the marketplace from the pathway to Zecora's shack with ten royal guards marching in two lines behind her. She blew the horn again, causing the remainder of the ponies to look at her.
Pinkie Pie spat out the mouthpiece of the horn with a grin, "Mares and Fouls, I present to you...Princess Cadence!"
A few hoof claps followed, but not many. Twilight looked around the sea of faces. Some looked a bit unhappy to have been interrupted in the middle of their celebration while others were more perplexed. In their minds' eyes, Princess Cadence had been the only princess in Equestria left and she didn't do anything to help with the war. But here she was after sending a hundred unicorns out to battle with the pegasi. Most of the ponies standing around the marketplace didn't really know whether to think of her actions in perfect timing or a little belated.
Two royal guards stood to the right and left of Cadence; one holding a royal banner and the other holding a small saddlebag. Twilight let out a small tsk at Cadence's shy expression. Even Cadence knew the feelings of the ponies around her. But now was not time to dwell, it was instead time to talk. She levitated a scroll of paper out from the saddlebag and began to read aloud.
"My dear citizens of Equestria…" Cadence began, "You probably have been wondering more than ever why there has been no help from the unicorns until now. I will tell everypony here what happened, not because I want my conscience cleared, but because I want everypony here on this day to know the truth. "
And then Cadence launched into story about how Prince Blueblood was running a tyranny in Manehatten. How there was nothing she could do to him because he had Shining Armor dangling in front of her like a puppet. How Twilight saved her husband and was able to recover a small detail about who started the war. This left many ponies wanting to know that little detail, anything that may give away who had caused this living hell for everypony.
"Who is it? What pegasus would cause this?" a few earth ponies in the crowd heckled in the middle of Cadence's speech.
"It is no pegasus," Cadence murmured slowly, "But rather...an earth pony like yourselves."
Gasps were passed around in unison. One of their own kind had been the one behind this the whole entire time? It just seemed like a cruel trick now. A few colts and fillies burst out crying. Everypony was yelling and hollering. Twilight shot a single blast of fire out from her horn to silence the angered crowd.
Cadence cleared her throat, "Thank you, Twilight. Well, we want to end this war more than ever. I, Princess Cadence, officially declare the unicorns to be part of the earth pony reliance. Whenever there is a battle between ponies and pegasi…we will be there. Whenever there is famine, hardships, or tyranny running amuck…we will be there. And when the pegasi are defeated once and for all…we will be there!"
The entire crowd of ponies burst into applause. Even the ones that weren't clapping along had huge beams on their faces with the faintest tears running down their cheeks. This was a dream come true. They had driven pegasi out of their camp for perhaps the final time. They won the battle and had the proof to show it. And now they had an ally in this whole war.
Cadence turned away from the cheering sea of ponies and instead turned to face Twilight and the others, "You guys have to go to Canterlot and find the source of the war. I've already called for Rarity and she's on her way. Use the elements of harmony and Zecora to get there."
"But what about Apple Jack?" Pinkie Pie frowned as she bounced up and down, "She isn't here. We can't activate the elements without her."
"Find her as fast as you can then," Cadence finished, "Equestria lies in your hooves from this point forward. I'll assist you as much as I can. I promise."
The four ponies bowed to the princess in an according manner before galloping off to Zecora's hut, leaving the other ponies behind to continue their festivities, completely unaware or the worries the mane six, or five for now, felt. But why would they have to? It wasn't their quest. To them, their quest was completed when the last pegasus cowered away from their fireballs and spells.
As the four were trotting down the weed stricken dirt road, Twilight let out a defeated sigh, "You guys, there's something I need to tell you guys about what happened at the hospital…"