"How close do ya reckon we're gettin', Twi?"
"To what?"
"Th' river, of course."
"Oh!" The unicorn pulled out the map and took a quick look while they walked. Since daybreak, they had managed to make a remarkable amount of progress, and had already passed the cemetery. They were no doubt getting close to the river, but neither knew just how far away it truly was. "Uhh... looks like we might still be a day away. Maybe less, if we're lucky."
Applejack sighed. "Bah, horseapples."
"It's not that bad, AJ - we're still making good progress. Still, if we can't cross the river by nightfall, we might want to just set up camp and wait until morning. It's probably safest, and I dunno about you, but I really don't want to go through a near-drowning again." Twilight rolled up the map and stuffed it back in her saddlebags, turning her attention back to the path ahead of them. The two of them, throughout their entire journey, had slowly gone from walking in a line to walking side-by-side. It had been a subtle change, but a noticeable one nonetheless. Neither of them were really complaining, however. It felt like they were doing things together, as opposed to one of them seemingly doing most of the work and the other simply following. "I can't wait to get back to Ponyville, though. I just wanna sleep in my own bed again, and see Spike and the girls... and I kinda miss my books too."
The earth pony blinked and glanced over at her friend. "Wait, ya miss yer books? Did I hear that right?"
"Well, I don't miss them as much as I miss Spike and the others, of course!" Twilight laughed nervously, glancing back at Applejack for a brief second before turning away once more. "It's just sorta... my comfort zone, you know? I grew up with books and spent a lot of time around them. It's my own little bubble of sorts."
"Ohh, I getcha now. Yeah, I can understand that a lil'. I used ta always hide in th' barn's loft when I was real little - would just hide up there an' take naps in th' hay. 'Course, Big Macintosh didn't 'preciate that at all."
The lavender mare giggled at that. "I think I can imagine why."
"Hey Twilight, how much ya wanna bet we can reach th' river before sundown?" Applejack glanced over at the unicorn and grinned.
"I dunno, Applejack... that might be hard to pull off, unless we-"
The orange mare broke into a sprint and ran off ahead, causing Twilight to huff. "-sprint for it. You wanna play that game, AJ? Getting fifth place in the Running of the Leaves wasn't a fluke!" Grinning, the unicorn broke into a sprint as well and charged off after her friend. At the very least, she was planning on giving Applejack a run for her money. Unbeknownst to the two of them, a pair of eyes had been watching from a nearby bush, quickly retreating to report what they saw.
"Two mares, an orange and a purple one."
"Mares? Out here? Well, shoot - what'd they look like?"
"One was an earth pony, definitely. The other, the purple one... looked like she had wings and a horn."
"...you're tellin' me you saw a bonafide alicorn? What's royalty doin' all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"No clue, but... instead of the usual deal, what if we just capture her and try to ransom her off? She's royalty, so they gotta be willin' to pay big to get her back!"
"I like your thinkin', kid. Alright, we'll shake things up a bit - wait for nightfall, then go after 'em. Be as gentle with the alicorn as you can, we need her in one piece if we wanna get our bits."
"And the earth pony?"
"The usual."
-----
Neither of them could believe it, but they had actually managed to make it to the river - and before sundown, no less. The two mares had quickly set up camp, and were now going about their business. Twilight Sparkle was taking more notes on the wings, and Applejack was playing another song on her harmonica. "Say Twi, how about we play another song together la-"
Her ears twitched, and she quickly began to glance about. Whatever it had been, it was likely just some critter, moving about in the forest. The earth pony heard another stick break, and she began to look about once more.
"Applejack? What is it?"
"I swear I'm hearin' things. That, or somethin's out there." Just as she began to settle down, she felt that nagging feeling once more - the gut instinct was back. Applejack chewed on her lip and set the harmonica down before looking back over at Twilight. "Twilight, I'm startin' ta get another one of them bad feelin's."
The unicorn stared at her. "AJ, you always get bad feelings."
"But how many times has it been wrong? Never!" The orange mare stared back, and Twilight quickly flattened her ears.
"Okay, so you have a point... maybe it's just an animal, though?"
Applejack huffed, her nostrils flared. "Maybe. Jus'... keep an eye out fer anythin'. Or an ear." Twilight nodded and returned to her notes, but the earth pony had no such interest in returning to her activities. Every single time she had gotten one of her gut instincts, something bad had happened - she wasn't about to get caught by surprise, not this time. Her ears twitched again as she heard another sound, and then another... and then many sounds, all at once. These weren't just sticks breaking anymore, or rustling leaves. These were hoofsteps. "Twi... I'm thinkin' we ain't alone."
"Alone? What do you mea-" Twilight looked up from her notes and was stopped midsentence after being struck in the back of the head with a billy club. She let out a pained groan and struggled to stay conscious before passing out. Applejack was quick to hop to her hooves in an attempt to come to Twilight's defense, but was stopped as stallion after stallion began to emerge from the shadows. It was evident that they were highwaymen, and though most of them were earth ponies, a few unicorns were scattered amongst their ranks. One of them gave the lavender mare's motionless form a prod, something that provoked Applejack to the point of yelling.
"Get away from her! You touch her again an' I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?"
Applejack stopped and turned to confront the voice, glaring at the figure. She was downright furious that somepony would have the nerve to do such a thing, let alone to one of her own friends. "I'll beat every last one of ya within an inch of yer life!"
The stallion spoke once more, and it soon became apparent that he was the leader of the bunch. He was certainly taller than the average stallion, but still proved to be shorter than Big Macintosh. With a stormy gray coat and a missing eye, however, he was still an imposing figure. "Look, miss. I don't know if you saw, but you're outnumbered. Just make it easy for all of us and give it up."
"I ain't doin' a damned thing ya say. You got th' nerve ta pull this off on me an' mah friend, an' now you want me ta surrender? Buddy, if ya think I'm goin' down without a fight, yer just plain crazy." She stomped a hoof on the ground and flared her nostrils, growling and staring down the leader. He idly shrugged instead.
"You got courage - I like that. I'm afraid that's all you got, though. Get 'er, boys."
Even as the first stallion charged at her, Applejack was quick to retaliate with a kick - years of applebucking had greatly developed the muscles on her hindlegs, and she hit the stallion upside the head, knocking him out cold. Another rushed her, and she turned in place, kicked this one in the side. The kick packed enough force to audibly break bones, and the orange mare knew she had cracked several ribs with the resulting kick. She hated hurting others, but this was for self-defense, both for her and Twilight. Stallion after stallion rushed after her, and she valiantly fought on, but soon found herself getting tired. Applejack knew full-well she couldn't keep this up for long, but she had to try. She wasn't about to give up, not when so much was at stake. She had managed to take down several of them, but one of them eventually slipped through, kicking her in the gut and knocking the wind out of her. Despite her best attempts to regain her momentum, she was quickly overwhelmed, and her forelegs and hindlegs were tied - one of the stallions hefted her up onto his back and began to carry her off.
"TWILIGHT! TWWIII-" A gag was hastily shoved into the orange mare's mouth, and she watched in horror as Twilight was picked up and carried off in an opposite direction. This was it. The end of the line.
They had lost.
-----
I think I'm going to be sick. I just... I wish it weren't this hard.
I know it pains you to watch, Daughter of Sol, but you said this was for the good of all. The ends justified the means.
They... they do. I've done this for centuries, though. I've put so many ponies through pain and heartbreak because it would help all in the end. At what point does that loss begin to justify it, though? I always tell myself that some day it'll end, and yet it doesn't.
It will end some day. It must. I simply hope your plan will work.
It will... I know it will.
-----
Twilight slowly came to her senses, groggily watching an orange shape disappear into the distance. Her head was killing her, and she didn't know where she was. All she remembered was sharp pain to the back of her head, and then slowly waking up to see an orange... something disappear. She could have sworn she heard a pony call out her name too.
Applejack. It was Applejack. She grimaced and tried to move, but found she couldn't - they had bound her legs and wings.
"Looks like the princess is up."
She blinked. Princess? She wasn't a princess! She tried to yell out and tell them that it was a mistake, but the gag in her mouth prevented her from doing so. Somehow she hadn't noticed it until just now, but she wished she hadn't. She couldn't even muster up any magic either - something was preventing her from doing so.
"Hey, not so fast missy. No usin' magic on my watch!" One of the stallions, a unicorn, turned and grinned at her.
A magic-nullifying field. What a surprise. Twilight truly felt helpless at that moment, and she felt her heart sank upon realizing that Applejack was gone. Even worse, Twilight hadn't been able to help at all. If she hadn't been knocked out, maybe they could've stood a chance.
But she had been knocked out. Applejack had tried to stand against them by herself, and she had failed. And now?
She didn't know what would happen next.
-----
"I gotta admit, you put up a better fight than I thought. Did quite a number on some of my boys. I'm impressed." The leader grinned and rubbed a hoof against Applejack's cheek, and she would have spat on his face if it weren't for the gag. He briefly wandered off, and she nervously glanced about their little camp. Almost all of the highwaymen were staring at her, but something about it disturbed her. She didn't quite know what it was, but it just seemed... horrid.
"Should we get to it, boss?"
The stallion returned and briefly eyed her with a look of pity. "Yep. Just remember to take care of things when you're done - after all the trouble she's put us through, I'd say you can probably drag it out a bit."
One of the bandits nodded and picked up Applejack, slowly carrying her off. She struggled as much as she could, anything to make their lives more difficult. As they drew away from the camp, however, she began to recognize that look in their eyes. It was one of hunger, not for food, but of another kind. She then knew what they intended, and the realization caused a look of horror to spread across her face.
"Take 'er gag off. It's more fun that way." The cloth was quickly yanked off, and Applejack found herself forced against a tree, whimpering feebly as her captors began to surround her. In that single moment, she whispered into the darkness - what she hoped to accomplish, she did not know. She simply knew she needed to.
"...I'm so sorry, Twi. I'm so sorry..."
-----
Her ears twitched. Twilight looked up and stared out into the night, and though she couldn't truly hear anything, she felt something instead - anguish. Applejack's anguish. Something within her snapped.
Something she had hoped was buried and forgotten.
Something that should have remained dormant, and was instead coming back to life.
Something that had been set free.
"Oh... oh, that ain't good. Hey, uh... something's up with the princess." The unicorn who had been maintaining the magic-nullifying field was growing more nervous by the second. This... this was not normal.
"What do you mean 'something's up with the princess'? What could possibly be... oh. That can not be normal."
The mare looked at them, her eyes ablaze and glowing pure white. Her bindings burst into flame and quickly turned to ash, just from proximity alone, and the stallions who had been assigned to watch over her quickly began to back away in fear. The magic-nullifying field had failed, and Twilight turned to face them, a sadistic grin on her face as her wings flared up. One of the guards stared, wide-eyed, as she began to approach them.
Twilight's fury had been unleashed.
-----
"She's gotten loose?! How could you let her do that!"
"I dunno, sir! She just... she just went crazy!"
"I don't care! Find her! Now!"
She would spare them the trouble. Twilight teleported into the midst of their camp, signaling her arrival with a deafening roar. As the wave radiated outward, fires were snuffed out and tents were toppled. Almost immediately, the bandits attempted to detain her once more. To her, however, they were simply pests, and magic itself was her play-thing. She threw them to and fro, sending some through trees with enough ferocity to often rip the trunk straight from the roots. The chaos of it all had saved Applejack from her fate, and she hurriedly gnawed at her bindings in an attempt to free herself. It took a bit of work, but she managed to rip through the ropes, thankful for her freedom once more. "Now I jus' need ta find Twi before that thing sees..."
Applejack caught a glimpse of the being's cutie mark, and her eyes went wide. This was Twilight - her Twilight. The one she had been through thick and thin with. Something had changed her though, and the earth pony found such a display of power to be frightening. She knew Twilight was considered to be exceptionally gifted, but this... there were no words for it. Such a thing had only been discussed once by the unicorn, an event that had occurred when she had been a filly. An event that had required a trigger. The orange mare swallowed hard as she realized what had happened. "She... she heard me. I was th' trigger."
But this... such destruction, such rage. This was Twilight, and yet it wasn't. It wasn't her Twilight. Applejack was absolutely terrified, and yet there was a soft voice within the back of her head - Twilight's own.
They loved you, Applejack. They were so proud of you, and they never would have abandoned you. None of us would have.
None of us.
She took a step forward, and then another, and another. The very ground beneath Twilight was beginning to burn, and yet Applejack continued to approach. Finally, the orange mare looked up at her and softly spoke. "...Twi, stop. Please. This ain't like you." The unicorn turned and looked at her, those white eyes piercing straight through her. Even while she held one of the bandits in the air, Twilight never looked away. Unnerved but undaunted, Applejack continued. "Twilight, yer one of th' sweetest an' most modest ponies I know. This isn't you. This ain't the Twilight I know. This ain't the Twilight I love. Jus'... stop. Yer scarin' me."
The lavender mare dropped the bandit, and he quickly limped off after landing. Most of them had already fled, unwilling to face her wrath a second time. For the longest time, she simply stared back at Applejack, neither one of them moving. Slowly, Twilight descended to the ground, and upon landing, began to approach the earth pony. The unicorn's very presence had scorched the earth and set the environment ablaze, and yet to Applejack, it almost felt like a soothing warmth. It felt... friendly. Tempered by her own friend's words, the fire within Twilight slowly began to die down, and so too did the magic that had consumed her. Her wings folded up, her eyes slowly returned to normal, and she found herself stumbling about as she regained her senses. "I... Applejack? What even... what happened?"
Applejack blinked at her, shocked. "You... you honestly don' remember?"
"Remember what? Why are you looking at me like that?" The earth pony gestured for her to turn around, and she reluctantly did so. Applejack began to regret even doing such a thing, as even now, Twilight's face was a mixture of disgust and horror. She slowly shook her head, backing away from the devastation she had caused. "N-no. No. T-this can't be real. I... I need to get away from here. I need to get back to the camp." She was shaken by what had just transpired, and Applejack slowly nodded as she lead her friend away from the ruins of the bandit camp.
Some distance from that place would benefit them both.
-----
Twilight Sparkle stared absentmindedly at the fire. Even at Applejack's gentle insistence, she had refused to eat anything at all that entire night. She hadn't said a word since returning to the camp either, something that greatly bothered the earth pony.
"Twi, jus'... eat somethin'. Please. Ya gotta be starvin'." The unicorn slowly shook her head and Applejack sighed, rubbing her head. "I'm worried about you, sugarcube. You've been actin' awful funny since ya found out about what ya did an' all." Twilight scowled at her, and she winced - being the Element of Honesty wasn't always a good thing.
"Just... leave me alone, Applejack. I don't know why you're still talking to me."
Applejack blinked at her and walked over, taking a seat beside her. "Twi, I'm still talkin' to ya 'cause yer mah friend, an' I'm worried about ya. Now c'mon, sugarcube - I poured mah heart out for ya so you could help me, it's high-time ya did the same. I just wanna help ya."
"You wanna know how I feel? Fine." Twilight huffed and continued to stare at the fire. "I'm disgusted with myself. Absolutely disgusted. I'm disgusted, and I'm disappointed."
"But... why?"
She quickly looked up and stared Applejack straight in the eye. "Why? Why?! I lost control, Applejack, that's why! I turned into an absolute monster! I could have killed somepony!"
"Whoa there, settle down. I know yer mighty ticked off right now, but ya didn' kill anypony."
"I could have, though. I could have just as easily killed them, and then what?" The unicorn had since returned to looking at the fire, though it now seemed to be a mixture of hatred and disgust, something hardly surprising given the situation. "I lost control, AJ. I lost control, and that means I failed my studies. I failed, Applejack."
The orange mare placed a foreleg around her in an attempt at a comforting gesture, though Twilight was quick to brush it off. Applejack frowned at her. "Ya didn' fail, though. Ya didn' lose control 'cause somethin' startled ya, like a Sonic Rainboom. Ya lost control 'cause somepony needed ya. 'Cause I needed ya."
"What if I had hurt you, though? Or worse? I wouldn't be able to live with myself!" She sighed and glanced off to the side, her ears flattened. "I'm no better than Night Mare Moon or Discord."
"Twi, don' even compare yerself ta Night Mare Moon or Discord. Yer so much better than them. You did what ya did fer th' good of others, not 'cause ya wanted ta harm anypony." Applejack smiled warmly, though it did little to help Twilight's demeanor.
"I know, I know, it's just... I don't even know. What if it happens again though, and you or the girls aren't around to calm me down? What if I really am a bad student? What if-" Twilight stopped mid-sentence as she felt Applejack give the back of her neck a nuzzle. Even as she felt her face grow hot, she glanced over her shoulder. "...Applejack, what are you-"
"I'm tryin' ta remind you of why it was a good thing that ya lost control." The orange mare quickly sat back up, staring at Twilight. "Look, sugarcube. I dunno if you realized it, but those bandits were gonna kill me an' rob us both. You losin' control ended up savin' us both. Yer spendin' so much time beatin' yerself up over this, that yer not seein' the good that's come out of it - us. We're both still in one piece, and yer scared ta death that yer a bad student and I'm not gonna like ya anymore 'cause you went all glowy-eyed for a few moments. Twi, yer not a monster, an' yer not a terrible student. Yer probably the best kinda pony a gal like me could hope ta be her friend, an' I'm lucky that I already do have a pony like you as a friend."
Twilight sighed and slowly shook her head. "You're... you're right, Applejack. I got so caught up with things that I lost sight of what's important. It's hardly surprising you'd be the one to talk some sense into me, though." She laughed nervously for a bit and looked up at Applejack, a faint smile on her face. "You're not... mad at me or anything, are you? Or scared?"
"Shucks, I can't be mad at ya or scared of ya, Twi. You oughta know that by now. Jus'... do one thing fer me."
"Anything."
Applejack chuckled and reached over, pulling an apple out of her saddlebags and placing it on the ground in front of the unicorn.
"Eat somethin'."