Twilight's eyes were full of tears. "I wish you would reconsider, Fluttershy. I know you love him, but we love you too."
"I love you girls too Twilight, but this is my decision and I'm not backing down from it."
Everyone around the campfire was silent, staring at the flames flickering across the wood Applejack had gathered earlier. None of them could think of anything to say for what seemed like forever, until Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"You know what? Flutters you won't be doing this alone. If you are tying your soul to Dis-I mean, Ebony, oh whatever his name is, then I am tying my soul to yours. I've protected you from bullies since we were fillies, and I'm not about to lose you over something like this."
"No, Rainbow! You can't!" Fluttershy cried out desperately.
"Yes I can. Just like you said, this is MY decision."
"Actually Rainbow, she's right, you can't." Twilight was looking sadly at the ground, and as she spoke she lifted her eyes to Rainbow. "A soul-twine is an extremely difficult task, as it is I need to ask for Rarity's help in performing it. I simply don't have enough to cast one soul-twine, let alone two of them."
Rainbow dejectedly sank down to the ground, the unfamiliar look of defeat splayed across her face. Rarity's eyes shot to Twilight, anger filling them.
"Absolutely NOT Twilight!! I will not help you bind our poor Fluttershy to... to... him!" Rarity harrumphed and stuck her nose in the air, looking away from the others.
"Rarity." Ebony hadn't said a word for the entire conversation, but was now looking at Rarity with eyes full of tears.
Rarity opened one eye and looked at him for only a moment before shutting it again, her nose still in the air.
Ebony took a deep breath and started to talk. "I don't want her to do this either, you have to understand that. I hate the thought that she may have to pay for my mistakes. But I also understand that this is in fact her decision to make. I don't want to be in the way of her making a decision for herself. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that she is willing to do this, because to be completely honest I'm scared out of my wits about facing her again. I know if I have Fluttershy by my side, I will be able to face Misfortune." He paused for a moment, walking over to Rarity and taking her hooves in his own, staring into her eyes. "You have my word that no harm will come to Fluttershy. If it takes every last breath in my body, every last drop of magic and strength, she will be safe."
No one doubted the sincerity of his words. Applejack was pretty good at detecting a lie, and there was not one smidgen of doubt in her that Ebony meant every single word he said. Rarity was looking at him in amazement until her eyes started to fill with tears. She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Alright, fine. I'll help you cast the spell, Twilight."
Twilight nodded, feeling much more confident about casting the soul-twine after Ebony's promise. "We need to get started right away then. Fluttershy, stand here next to Ebony and face me. Rarity, get behind them."
Once everypony was in position, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her horn slowly started to glow, and Fluttershy could feel the pressure of magic in front of her and behind her as Rarity's horn also began to glow. Fluttershy's insides started to feel as though they were going to burst out of her chest, and she shut her eyes tight against the pressure. When she opened them again a small strand of pale pink was being pulled out of her, and a similar, purple strand was being pulled out of Ebony. Twilight's horn was like a beacon now, sparks flying off of it and lighting up the forest around them as if it was daylight. The two strands met and started to twine together, slowly swirling until it was hard to tell where Fluttershy's strand was and where Ebony's strand was. in a flash the strand was gone and all four ponies fell to the ground, exhausted.
"There..." Twilight said, panting with her eyes half closed. "It's done. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep." She slowly got up and tottered off to a soft spot in the grass, laying down.
Rarity looked as if she was going to be sick. "Oh dear... she wasn't kidding when she said it was a big spell..." Rarity too went off to sleep, leaving Fluttershy and Ebony on the ground together. The spell must have taken hours, because the other three Elements were already fast asleep. Ebony looked over at Fluttershy.
'How are you feeling, my dear?' He asked her, reaching over to touch her mane.
"I'm... fine. Just really tired." She said, panting.
'You don't have to speak, you know. Since we are soul-twined I can hear your thoughts,and you can hear mine.'
Fluttershy looked at him sharply, as the realization hit her that he hadn't been speaking, only speaking to her mind. 'You can hear my thoughts?'
Ebony simply nodded in response and scooted his exhausted body over to her. He reached out and held her close, knowing that she had possibly sacrificed her life to save his. She gently nuzzled against his chest as he used his wing to cover her up, and thus they fell asleep.
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The four ponies who were involved with the soul-twine were incapable of moving very much the next day, and so spent the entire day lying on the ground recovering. Twilight was suffering the most out of all of them, experiencing severe headaches and muscle cramps from hell. By the end of the day Fluttershy, Ebony and Rarity were able to get up and walk around, but Twilight was bedridden for the entirety of the day. After two days of caring for Twilight and making sure she was regaining all of her strength in preparation for their battle with Misfortune, everypony was ready to set off again, slowly at first.
Right around midday, after eating a small lunch, they came to a town. The town itself was eerie, showing no signs of life , no signs of anypony living there for quite some time. They walked slowly and cautiously through the abandoned streets, listening to the sound of the wind banging broken window shutters against the walls of the houses. Everypony felt it, but Rainbow Dash was the ony who said it: "Something doesn't feel right here..."
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than six ponies sauntered slowly out into the middle of town. They seemed to come from no where, and the Mane Six and Ebony stopped in their tracks as they watched the strange ponies advance toward them, only to stop a few paces away. Each of the strange ponies were the same color of grey, but what was the strangest was that each pony looked exactly like a member of the Mane Six.
"What in tarnation is go-" Applejack started, but was interrupted by the alternate AJ.
"We are the Elements of Misfortune, created by Misfortune herself to help her in her quest to rid the land of useless ponies such as yourselves. I am Deceit, and my companions are Cruelty, Treachery, Selfishness, Despair and last but not least, Enmity." As Deceit said this she pointed in turn to the alternate Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight. Deceit turned her gaze onto their colorful counterparts. "We know why you are here, and we cannot allow you to move forward any further."
The Mane Six gulped and looked at each other.