Danganronpa: In Harmony's Wake

by Dewdrops on the Grass

Chapter Six: Dead in the Water Part 5

I floated in an endless abyss, lit only by the occasional starlight twinkling every now and then. A sense of peace and tranquility filled me as I listened to the sound of silence. “Am I dead?” I said, my voice sounding incredibly loud compared to the silence.

There was no response, not that I expected one. I continued to float, with just enough weight in my stomach to feel like I was sinking, but not very fast. “Is this what being dead feels like?”

Still nothing, but I wasn’t too worried. The stars were pretty. I could see nebulae now in the distance, great clouds of gas swirling about. It was absolutely beautiful. It was peaceful. “This isn’t so bad.”

Galaxies swirled, their spiral arms like strings of fairy lights swinging around a weather vane, in an endless array of colors. “I could get used to this.”

“You’re not dead.”

The shock of hearing a voice talk to me brought me back to reality just in time for my ass to smack against the ground. I was suddenly standing on a grassy field at night looking up at the moon, starlight dotting the sky like sprinkles on a midnight blue velvet cupcake. “Wha?”

Two hands reached under my armpits and dragged me up to my feet before spinning me around. Aqua eyes framed by light amaranth and daffodil shaded hair stared into my own. “You’re not dead,” repeated the other Sunset Shimmer. “You’re alive.”

“Woah!” I leapt back from her, falling back onto my ass and catching myself with both hands. Then I held up my left arm, which was hale and unharmed. My ribs didn’t ache when I breathed. “What--who---huh?!”

“Listen to me!” the other Sunset shouted. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste here.”

The sense of calm that had filled me slowly dissipated, replaced by a rising tension. “W-who are you?” I asked as I climbed to my feet. “You’re not me, are you?”

She slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned. “Oh Celestia, Sunset, why are you so dense sometimes? Yes I’m you! Well, sort of. I’m the leftover magic in you, the part of you that still remembers everything Cozy stripped away from you.”

Frowning, I brushed the grass off my butt and crossed my arms. “Oookay. If you’re me, where are we then? Why was I seeing stars and galaxies? Why am I standing in a field? What--”

“Would you shut up and let me answer you?” Sunset groused, glowering fiercely at me. “Good grief, no wonder we always go down the wrong path during a trial. You don’t shut up and listen often enough.”

My lips curled up into a deeper frown as I returned her glare. “...you’re kind of an ass, you know that?”

She snorted a laugh. “Yeah, well, you’re kind of an ass to yourself all the time.”

“True,” I said, my frown dropping. “Okay, so if you’re me, my memories or whatever, prove it.”

Sunset arched her eyebrows, then held up a hand and snapped her fingers. In the air before us a massive screen appeared, like a jumbotron off of a football stadium. On the screen was none other than Cozy, her teeth bared in a savage, predatory grin as she bore down on me with a swirling vacuum of roiling green and purple magic, her wings spread, her eyes full of delight. I could see to my left Rarity staring out at me, her mouth wide open, her eyes bugged out to the furthest extent possible, her hands rising to slap her cheeks. To my right, Scootaloo looked equally horrified, her hands rising, beginning to ball into fists to try and pull me away. In my peripheral I could just see Tiara and Applejack moving towards me.

Everything I saw was happening in super slow motion, like someone had taken reality itself and played it back frame by frame. “That, right there?” the other Sunset said. “That’s what’s happening right now. Cozy’s in the middle of killing you. She’s sucking your life away. The only reason you’re not writhing in agony right now is because you had enough magic left in you to create a mindscape. We’re running at the speed of thought.”

“And I was able to do that because my talent is… mind magic,” I said, still feeling more than an inkling of doubt.

Sunset sighed, her left hand balling up by her side like she was aching to plant it in my face. “Yes, Sunset. Well, technically, it’s empathy magic with a focus on seeing people’s memories and thoughts, but ‘mind’ magic is close enough.”

“Look, I’m sorry if I sound like I don’t believe you,” I said, dropping my arms to my side. “But this just feels… weird. How did I have enough wits about me to do this? Why didn’t I do this before, when Adagio trapped me in the archives?”

She growled something under her breath that sounded like “fucking skepticism” before looking me directly in the eye. “You’ve done this before, Sunset. A few times now.” With a snap of her fingers, a fresh screen appeared, this one showing flashes from my dreams. “Remember your dreams? That was really you tapping into this. You used this mindscape to view your own memory of Princess Twilight telling you about her adventures. You did the same thing when you called upon the countersong, because the guitar acted as a channel, and a reminder. You didn’t use it when you were trapped by Adagio because you were focused on trying to escape. It’s also why you kept passing out every time you tried to remember something. Without a source of magic, like your guitar, you could only tap into this when you were unconscious or asleep.”

She gestured towards the massive screen, and then pointed a finger at me. “This, right now? This is an emergency. This is your last hope to survive. You’re burning magic like crazy just to manage this. And like I said, we’re running at the speed of thought. Time is still passing out there. We waste too much of it, you’re dead, and so’s everyone else you love and care for.”

“Okay, okay.” I waved my right hand, asking for silence. “Look, even if I believe you… um… Sunset, what’re we doing here, exactly? What can I do to stop Cozy? We’re sunk.”

“No, that’s wrong!” she said, the right side of her mouth quirking up in amusement. Then she snickered. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” Her mouth flattened into a serious expression. “I can’t answer everything for you, Sunset. I’m just a part of you. I’m literally just an avatar you created to help you comprehend what’s going on while you’re dying.”

I glanced over at the screen, and saw a ripple in the magic pulsing into me. It moved towards the screen till it filled it, and as it did, I saw a few stars in the sky erupt in brilliant explosions before going dark. “Okay, I see what you mean. Then we’re going to have to figure this out together.”

“You mean, you figure it out. I’m you bouncing ideas off--”

“Yeah, I get it, Sunset,” I interrupted with a swipe of my thumb across my throat. “Okay, let’s think about this. What do we know about Cozy?”

“Besides the fact that she’s a fucking psychopath?” Sunset said with a wan grin.

Rolling my eyes and grinning back I replied, “Yeah, besides that. We know she can absorb magic, right?”

“Right, she’s shown us that before, with Rainbow,” said Sunset. Snapping her fingers, another screen appeared, that showed my memory of the event as a soundless video. “As soon as Rainbow Dash showed any trace of magic, she panicked.”

I nodded. “Which means she did it from all of us. We know we had magic before now.”

“We did,” she said. Another finger snap produced a memory of me examining the photo album with the pictures of the Battle of the Bands, the one that had sealed Adagio’s fate. “Seven of us did. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and you. Me.” She spun her hands in the air. “Whatever.”

Nodding again, I took a moment to look at the screen with Cozy. I saw her teeth start to part, a bit of magic flowing into her mouth like she was taking a taste. More stars shining above detonated in brilliant flashes of light, and a pair of meteors streaked across the sky, far closer to the ground than I would’ve liked. “Okay, and we know she’s consuming my life force, which uses a magic ritual. Meaning she has to be turning it into magic and then absorbing that into herself.”

“Yesss…” Sunset said, her amused mood vanishing, replaced with impatience. Meanwhile three more meteors burned white hot trails, searing above us so close I could feel the heat of their passing. One of them proceeded to impact the far horizon with a loud crashing noise “Think faster, Sunset!” she waved her arms for emphasis.

I pressed my knuckles to my chin as I considered this. “But we also know from what Princess Twilight said that the portal strips magic away from you. So while she has to have a base level of leftover magic she’s able to retain from what she absorbed in Equestria, most of her power has to come from the magic she’s absorbed here on Earth, right?”

“Yes!” the other Sunset shouted, throwing her hands up in disgust. Even more stars detonated, the sky going dark rapidly. “Sunset! Think. Faster!”

“Fuck, okay, I get it!” I shouted back. I glanced towards the screen, where I could see the flow of magic into Cozy’s wand dwindling. Like there was less and less to pull with every passing second. And as I took that in, the ground all around us shook like crazy, knocking me over onto the grass. “Shit!”

“I can’t do this for you, Sunset!” reiterated my mindscape avatar as she reached down to give me a hand up. “If I could, I would, trust me. But I can’t. You have to do this yourself.”

I grunted as I got to my feet. “I know, thanks.” I took a moment and closed my eyes, trying to focus my head, and ignore all the sights and sounds of things exploding around me. The mental representation of my outright dying was not helping. “So, how does absorbing magic work? Magic is like electricity: you can’t just pick it up with your hands and force it into a battery. You have to convert it. You have to adjust the connection to be compatible. Ugh, I wish I could’ve seen the spell matrix for this ritual she’s using. It would make this so much easier…”

“Running. Out. Of. Time!” Other Sunset screeched. Another massive earthquake, lasting far longer than the previous one accompanied her statement.

“So, so, if you have to convert it, that means you have to make the connection compatible!” I babbled, desperately trying to tune out my avatar screaming in my face. “And in order to convert my magic and body into something she can use, the ritual has to impart some of her own magic into me. Meaning the connection flows both ways.” My eyes snapped open. “So if it’s flowing both ways, that means if she can take magic from me, I can take my magic back from her! She’s left herself open!”

The other Sunset let out a loud sigh of relief and clapped her hands in applause. “Okay! Great! How do you do that?”

“Uh…” My blood ran cold, my face paling. “I, I, I, I don’t know!” I replied as panic filled me. More stars vanished from the night sky, leaving so few left we were shrouded in near pitch black darkness. “I know what to do but I don’t know how to do it!”

“Well you’d better think of so-eth--g,” the other Sunset said. Her words cut out as her form rippled, turning translucent and staticy, like an old television sans signal. “Bec--se I d--n’t thi-- --ur gon-- la-t -uch longer.”

“Right, right, so... so… augh, fuck!” I shouted, wishing I had something to punch or kick other than myself. “I wish I had my horn back. If I was a unicorn this would be a snap!”

And then just as suddenly as I’d thought it, my form shifted. Hands became hooves, arms became forelegs, mouth and nose became muzzle, ears shifted to the top of my head, my eyes filling my skull. “What?” I muttered as I held up my left forehoof to examine. I could feel the horn on my head surging with… well, surging was the wrong word. Sparking, perhaps. A trickle of power. Very little was left.

“It’s a mi---cap-, Su---t! Yo-’re in con-------” The other Sunset tried to answer me, but her answer disintegrated into meaningless noise. Her form was so full of static it was like looking at a moving snowfield.

“A mindscape… I’m in control…” I repeated. Then a confident smirk split my muzzle. “Of course. It’s mind magic. It works on thoughts, on desires. All I have to do is will it.”

The last star vanished from the sky in a brilliant conflagration. The ground shook and shattered, pieces falling away into an empty abyss, and unlike the one I floated in before, this didn’t look welcoming. Clumps of soil and grass spilled out into the emptiness in waves, closing around me until my avatar--now a complete mess of unrecognizable static--and I were trapped on a tiny island with barely enough room to stand. The only thing visible left was the screen on which Cozy sucked my life force away, the stream of magic winnowed down to a funnel barely two inches wide.

But it was enough. The connection was there. I knelt my head down, activated my horn, and willed.

A great surge of energy surrounded me, a wash of dark amaranth and golden colored flame, warm and soothing like the sun. It coalesced around me, forming twin wings of fire that unfurled like the wings of a phoenix. Then the energy moved along my body into my horn and fired at the screen like a sizzling bolt of electricity.

On the screen, I witnessed Cozy’s expression slowly begin to change, from savage, sadistic glee to confusion, annoyance, then outright terror. The flow of magic on the image shifted too, the funnel doing a one eighty spin until it was sucking energy out of Cozy and into me, the color of it shifting to match my amaranth fire. My mindscape avatar reformed, the static clearing. The landscape repaired itself around me, the ground restored, stars returning to shine above until, over the far horizon, the sun rose in the west. Just enough to sit on the horizon, coloring the clouds in reds and purples. A perfect sunset, shimmering in the sky.

I didn’t even notice as I continued to take back my magic that my form had shifted back to human, only this time with the added pony attributes I witnessed in the photographs. Pony ears appeared atop my head, my hair extended like a tail. The fiery wings remained in place, shifting in form to match with my changed body.

“That’s it! You’ve done it!” my avatar cheered. She applauded and bounced in place, sounding for all the world like my own internal fangirl.

Then she reached forward to embrace me. I blinked, momentarily confused, then smiled in understanding as she slipped into me, our forms merging together.

And.

I.

REMEMBERED.

Memories flooded my mind, hundreds of thousands to millions of individual little moments here and there. Bullying students, until a wave of rainbow light told me how wrong I was. Working together with my fellow Rainbooms to stop the Dazzlings. Saving Twilight Sparkle from her own possessed self. Journeying to Camp Everfree and stopping Gloriosa Daisy from when she trapped us all as Gaia Everfree.

More and more and more flooded me until every last speck of stolen knowledge was returned. Emotions flooded me in waves, physical waves of water washing over my mindscape, a different shade for every emotion. Green for every bit of envy I’d ever felt. Red for anger. Pink for love. A sour brown for shame. Chartreuse for despair. Each one accompanied by flashes of hundreds of little moments, teaching me all about my friends.

And oh the waves of blue sorrow and grief. Pouring over me, inundating me anew, every loss in the killing game suddenly fresh, like a wound inflicted bare moments ago instead of old scars. Memories of the killing game mixed and blended together with older memories, weaving together a new tapestry of understanding of everyone. I understood why Wallflower was bitter, why Sweetie had lost herself in hatred, why Twilight had made such a foolish mistake, why Timber cared so much about Gloriosa, why… Trixie… cared for me… cared deeply, far deeper than I’d realized. I learned so much about my friends.

All of my friends.

Even… her.

I remembered now, how we met. I’d had a long conversation with Scootaloo, who had spent some time volunteering at the Youth Center, paying forward what had been done for her. She’d made it sound like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d try it out too. I didn’t want to mentor anyone too young, but I figured a teenager of sixteen or so, that I could manage.

She didn’t call herself Cozy Glow, when I saw her. Of course she didn’t. I knew that name. Princess Twilight had spent hours upon hours with me every few months desperately searching for any sign of Cozy, Tirek, or Chrysalis on Earth. Oh, the very first time we found a social media profile for the human Cozy Glow, but we dismissed it, figuring it wasn’t her, that the pony Cozy would be acting out, trying to be evil. No, the name she gave me was Heather Heart.

Nor did she resemble her real self. Unsurprising, given she’d absorbed Chrysalis’ changeling magic. She’d altered her eyes to a saffron gold, her hair to amber waves, completely unlike her actual curls. Her skin tone had shifted too, deepening to a dark bronze. She acted shy, but playful, with a pleasant, even charming voice, standing in sharp contrast to the bucketfuls of syrupy sweet saccharine of her real voice. She knew exactly which buttons to press to make me like her, getting along splendidly from the start. And she knew how to keep me from reading her mind. She’d told me from the start that she “hated being touched” and always made sure she was far enough I couldn’t read her.

We were fast friends, and in many ways I felt like an older sister all over again. I’d had that feeling around Trixie for a while, of course, especially after high school, but Trixie and I were more or less the same age. This was different. It was… fun. Very fun.

Heather, as I knew her, made every hangout a blast, and had a bit of a morbid sense of humor. In retrospect looking back that should have been a sign, because her humor was just on the bad side of sadistic, but being rather morbidly inclined myself at times I didn’t notice. As such, I decided to show her Danganronpa.

The instant she began playing it, she was hooked. Like giving a person prone to drug addictions their first hit of cocaine, it was all she wanted to play whenever she came over. It was all she wanted to talk about, how excited she was. How she speculated over each case, and found Junko Enoshima to be an amazing, enthralling character when she finished it. That alone should’ve been a bad sign, given Junko was the mastermind.

She was even more over the moon when it came to the second one, and the third one completely blew her mind. I fell in love with the series all over again right along with her, and even though I knew what would happen, who would live, who would die, it was still an exhilarating journey.

Every now and then, whenever we hung out, she’d carefully direct the conversation towards my friends for a little bit. Just long enough to get a piece of information or two. She liked to scribble in her diary. Always scribbled in her diary. I asked if I could look at it once, and it was the only time she ever became upset with me, so I left it alone.

Then came just a month prior to the killing game. She claimed it was her seventeenth birthday upcoming, and she’d never had a party before. Well, I wasn’t about to let her go without celebrating, so I offered to have Pinkie Pie put one together. She convinced me to make it a surprise, and even suggested the idea of giving away a prize to one lucky winner at the party, some sort of party favor or other connected to the decorations theme; it didn’t matter. What mattered was, it was enough to convince me to make those invitations, and send them out.

A few of my choices were strange, in retrospect. Adagio Dazzle? We knew each other. After meeting again at the PostCrush concert, on a whim I’d tracked down the Dazzlings and slowly, over time, got them to be something closer to resembling good. She never became a friend friend, but she and I were cool. Never once crossed my mind to sleep with her though.

Of course I had to invite Trixie and Wallflower. Trixie and Wallflower loved to hang out together, getting along so well it sometimes made me wonder if they were romantically involved. They weren’t, but they might as well have been, for how close Trixie was to her. And with Trixie being kind of like my other little sister, how could I resist?

Diamond Tiara, I did that on insistence of Scootaloo, when I was giving her her invitation, since I hadn’t figured out who would be the sixteenth invitee yet. I knew Diamond Tiara, but only distantly. We were friendly. She was actually quite nice, compared to how she’d been in high school. She was nothing like the way she’d acted for much of the early killing game. Instead she was a lot more like how she’d turned out to be: scared, occasionally mouthy, but willing to get along, and someone who enjoyed a good laugh as much or even more as Pinkie Pie did.

Timber, of course, that was a guarantee. Although he and Twilight had a nasty breakup, they eventually patched things up and became friends again, and she thought he’d appreciate the chance to get out of the woods once in a while and get some time away from his sister… which made his reasons for killing in the actual game all the more heartbreaking.

Flash had been a good friend of mine for a long time. We’d flirted with the idea of dating again, after the end of high school, but we’d both mutually decided that would carry with it too many bad memories from the first time, and we were happier as friends anyway. He was a reliable, cool, chill guy, and I figured Heather would like him. Especially since Twilight sure did. He and Twilight had gotten together a long while back, just after Twi's breakup with Timber, and had been flirting with the idea of marriage before this all went down.

Everyone else, of course, they were my closest friends. My dearest friends… my most magical friends.

I should’ve known something bad was going to happen. My stomach had fluttered with nerves the day of the party. I’d spent a large sum of money putting it altogether, but I’d thought it was worth it. We all arrived at or around the same time, and were escorted into what I thought would be the private dining room I’d decorated.

Oh it was the private room alright. But she’d lined it with traps. Runes like the ones she would later use to trap Princess Twilight had been carved all over the restaurant, and she activated them at once, keeping us from using our powers long enough that she could drain them. It was only after she’d sucked us dry that she shifted her form and revealed who she was, cackling like crazy, saying we were going to have such a wonderful time together aboard a lovely ship.

And then she grabbed me in her magic. She tapped into my head, into the imprint the Memory Stone had left behind. She had to do it this way. Absorbing the magic let her cast the spell, but she could only do so by using me as a focus. I remembered horrifying, head-splitting pain, everyone screaming my name. Then nothing.

She must have knocked us out for transport to the ship, because the next thing I remembered… well… none of it ended up mattering, because she wiped our memories again after three weeks at sea. I’d worry about those experiences if I made it out of this alive.

All along, Cozy had played me like a well-tuned instrument. She’d used and abused friendship with a surprising amount of skill, given how impatient she’d been during the game itself. Perhaps it was the stress of running the game, or maybe she was just so fed up after the initial shenanigans of the journey that alone was enough to wear out what was left of her patience.

Then again, managing sixteen people is quite a different experience from playing around one on one. Maybe that was the real difference.

Whatever the case, I knew one thing. With my magic back, with my memories back, we had a chance. I couldn’t drain back anyone else’s magic, of course; I didn’t have that power. All I could do was take back what was mine. But with it, and the knowledge that came along, a plan formed in my mind. A possibility. A slight possibility that we could maybe, just maybe, squeak by with a win after all.

I opened my eyes and looked at the screen one last time. The super slow motion Cozy upon it was furious, practically frothing at the mouth as she struggled to try and retake control over her ritual spell, to drain me again. But she wasn’t going to succeed. Not now, not when I was ready and able to resist. It would be hard. Very hard, but I could do it.

I hoped.

So, after taking one final breath for calm, I let my mindscape fade away, and returned to real time, to consciousness.

The instant I did, everything hit me at once. Pain screamed up and down my body, the razor wire of broken ribs returned to embrace my lungs like an old friend, accompanied by an excruciating burn that wore its way through my entire body, but centered itself on my left arm. One quick look at my arm told me why: the ritual spell had worn it down into barely more than a husk. Just touching it with my right arm caused pieces to crumble to dust. That sent my stomach churning, but I fought off the need to vomit. I’d worry about my lost arm later.

Rarity, who like everyone else had been flung against her podium like Cozy, gaped at my sudden movement. “Sunset? Sunset, darling, are you… are you…”

“Yes, Rarity,” I said with confidence, giving her a wink. “I’m alive.”

“Yes!” Scootaloo cried, pumping her fist in the air. “Go Sunset!”

“Thank god!” I heard Diamond Tiara mutter from behind her podium.

Applejack let out a loud sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness. Ah was afraid you were gone for sure!”

“Uh, well, I’m not in perfect shape,” I muttered, holding up my husk of a left arm for a moment. “But I’m here.”

“What… what happened?!” Cozy shrieked, throwing her arms up in disgust. “What did you do?!”

Before Cozy could move, I called upon my magic. Just like in my mindscape, pony ears appeared on my head, my hair extended, and even my clothes shifted in design, almost like a magical girl transformation. Didn’t do anything for my arm though, or my ribs for that matter. But the display still caused jaws to drop around the room, especially Princess Twilight’s.

“What I did, Cozy,” I said, bringing up my one hand, magic glowing in my palm, “was to take back what you stole. My magic is mine, not yours.”

“Aaaargh!” Cozy raised her wand and fired a jet of scarlet light at me, one I easily deflected into the ceiling. She continued to fire a fresh jet with each new word she spoke. “How. Is. This. Possible?!”

“Like I told you, it’s my magic,” I replied, laughing at her twisted up face, the bared teeth and hideous eyes. “But then, you’d know that, wouldn’t you… Heather Heart?”

That caused her to halt. She froze like she’d been doused in liquid nitrogen, her pupils dilating from horror. “H-h-heather H-h-heart? No…”

“Uh, not that it’s not great that you’re alive….somehow…” Applejack gulped, staring at me with an uncertain expression on her face. “But whaddya mean by Heather Heart?”

“Ask Cozy,” I replied, grinning even more at Cozy’s terrified expression. “She could tell you all about it.”

“No, no, no…” Cozy shivered and shook. “This isn’t possible…”

Diamond Tiara poked her head up over her podium. “Wow, Sunset,” she gasped. “You look… cool!”

“Cool? Try awesome!” Scootaloo corrected. “Look at those wings!”

“Wings?” I blinked in confusion, then glanced back. To my shock and surprise, the fiery phoenix wings from my mindscape had followed me into reality. They were translucent, swirling with magical energies, like self-contained fire made manifest. “Huh. Whaddya know.”

“How… how… how are you doing this… this can’t be real…” Cozy babbled, lost in her own confusion. She’d slumped against her podium, her wings drooping, her ears disappearing into her mess of hair.

“Heather Heart?” Twilight spoke up. “Wasn’t that the name of the friend you sent me letters about? Just before…oh!” Her eyes widened in realization. “That was… that means… you remember!”

Rarity cocked her head to the side, stunned. “You… you remember? You have your memories back?!”

“All of my memories, yes,” I said proudly. “I remember everything. Everyone I ever forgot. Everything she took from me.”

Cozy gasped as if I’d punched her in the stomach. “No, no, no,” she whined. “You can’t! You can’t do this!”

“Now hold on there, sugarcube,” Applejack said, holding up a hand. “If you’ve got your memories back, do you, uh… there any chance you can restore ours too?”

I considered that. “Probably,” I answered after a moment. “If they’re anything like mine, they’re not destroyed. They’ve been locked away in your head, deep inside, where they can’t be accessed by you. Might not be easy though. My memories were associated with my magic. You might have to get your magic back first.”

“But what about us?” Tiara said, holding her hands and gesturing to herself and Scootaloo. “We never had magic… or did we?”

I shook my head. “No, you never had magic.”

Scootaloo’s face fell. A few tears appeared at the corner of her eye as she sniffled. “Does… does that mean we’ll never… never get our--”

“I didn’t say that, Scoots,” I replied with a grin. “Just that it might be hard, that’s all. We’ll figure it out. I’m not going to let any of you go without your memories. You’re my friends, after all.”

“Friends…” Cozy took in the word, chewed on it, working her jaw. The more she worked the more her face tensed up. “...friends…”

Scootaloo grinned right back as she wiped her tears away. “Yeah, I guess we are, huh? You probably know waaaay more about us now.”

“Ooooh yeah,” I said with a laugh. “Are you kidding me? I’ve got years of memories up here I’m still sifting through.”

Cozy vibrated at her podium like an angry bumblebee. “...memories…” she ground out between gritted teeth.

“Even me, right, Sunset?” Diamond Tiara asked with a hopeful look on her face.

“Aaah… I don’t know you as well,” I replied, scratching the back of my head. I jerked a thumb towards Scootaloo. “You and her were pretty close though.”

Scootaloo snickered. “Oh really…?”

Tiara whirled at her podium, her cheeks instantly aflame as she realized what Scootaloo was implying. “I doubt she meant like that, dumbass!”

A light blush came to my own face. “Uh, actually… you did start dating. Just before this all happened.”

“What,” Tiara said flatly, her pupils shrinking to dots. “But… but I don’t… I don’t like…”

Scootaloo stopped laughing, embarrassment overtaking her. “I… we did, huh?” She tried to wink at Tiara, but it was clumsy, her movements flustered. “Guess I’m your exception?”

At that, Tiara shook her head rapidly, as if to clear cobwebs, then gave Scootaloo an appraising look. “Hmm…”

“Hmm indeed,” Rarity said, rubbing her chin and looking at Tiara, then Scootaloo, then back to Tiara. “They would be adorable together, it is true…”

“Uh, y’all, much as Ah’d like to shoot the breeze all day,” Applejack said with a gulp, “We’re still kinda up a creek right now. Unless you got somethin’ you can use against Cozy, Sunset.”

“Oh don’t worry, Applejack, I’ve got a plan,” I said, smiling confidently. “I’m… pretty sure it’ll work.”

Twilight looked up at me at that point, eying me quizzically. “What’re you thinking?”

“Well,” I replied as I eyed Cozy, who was still vibrating like crazy, a look of sheer fury contorting her face. “I was thinking of taking a page out of your book, Twilight.”

“My book?” Twilight arched an eyebrow. “Huh? I don’t follow.”

“Yeah, Sunset,” Cozy snarled, finally waking up enough to talk back to us. She held her wand down at her waist, which I eyed warily in case she brought it up to fire another salvo. “What book are you talking about?”

“It’s--”

Cozy’s wand shot up to point at me. “Actually, you know what? I don’t care. I don’t! I’m so done with this! Whatever plan you’ve got, you’re not going to win! You don’t have the power, Sunset!”

I raised my hand in turn, ready to use my magic in self-defense. “Power isn’t everything, Cozy. Take it from me. I know.”

“Wrong! Power is everything! Power is my whole reason for living! So let me show you what real power can do, Sunset Shimmer.” Cozy spun in a circle with her wand, instantly summoning up that same horrifying purple and green necrotic aura she’d used on me the first time. “Let me show you why I’ve already won, and you’ve lost!”

She fired her spell, sending that green swirling funnel towards me, eager to suck down my life force. But unlike last time, I was ready. I used my magic to form a shield, blocking the necromantic magic from having an effect. It splattered against the shield till it resembled a constant bolt of energy, pressing against me harder by the second. “Okay you guys, we’d better hurry up and get started on my plan now!” I shouted, my voice a bit jumpy.

“But, but, what do we do, y’all?!” Applejack stammered, her eyes agog as she watched the struggle of magic.

“The same thing we always do, Applejack!” I replied. “Friendship!”

“Huh?!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are… but Sunset, didn’t you hear Cozy? She was right! Even with the power of friendship, you don’t have enough people or the right Elements to overwhelm her! You can fight her off, but you can’t win! She’s too strong!”

I grinned at her, the eerie light probably making it look more menacing than reassuring. “Twilight. Come on. You of all people should know by now that’s not how it really works. It’s not about how many friends you have, or even what elements they hold. It’s about friends working together.”

The Princess of Friendship blinked owlishly at me. “But… but… it’s always required six people before. The same six Elements.”

“No it hasn’t,” I replied. “Didn’t Celestia and Luna use the Elements on Discord by themselves? Didn’t Celestia use all six by herself? The seven of us against the Dazzlings? The Pillars? Your students?”

Dawning comprehension filled Twilight’s face with a happy glow. “Of course! Okay, Sunset, take it away! It’s up to you.”

“Oh no, Sunset!” Cozy roared, intensifying her beam. It grew half again in size as it battered against my shield. “I told you before, I’m not going to let that deus ex machina bullshit happen to me a third time! You’re not friends anymore! Maybe you have your memories back, but they don’t!”

I grimaced from the strain and poured more of my own magic into my shield. “So what?! We’ve still made friendships along the way! We’ve grown closer together, despite everything you’ve put us through!”

Cozy erupted with laughter. “Oh please! You’re not close! Just ask Rarity and Applejack! Tell me, how many times did Rarity say Applejack should die again? Because I can tell you right now, it’s a lot. I was watching!”

I took a moment to glance at Rarity, who’d turned away, hiding her face in shame. A look over at Applejack showed she was likewise staring down at her podium, her mouth twisted into a sad frown. Damn it! This isn’t going to work if we can’t be friends together. “Applejack!” I cried.

“Huh?” Applejack looked up at me, startled. “Wha-what?”

“Listen to me. What’s the one thing you’ve always stayed true to on this ship, no matter how tough things got, no matter how rough it was? When you lost Apple Bloom, when Rarity said she’d leave you, what did you stay true to?”

Applejack shook her head, utterly nonplussed. “Sunset, Ah don’t get what you’re sayin’. Ah… Ah guess I stuck true to… mahself?”

I nodded even as I flinched back from a bit of Cozy’s magic that had washed over the shield, like a stray spark from a welder. “That’s right! Yourself! You’ve stayed true to who you are no matter what you’ve been through. Even when you were at your lowest point, do you remember what you said?”

~*~
“Ah hope it’s clear, but Ah didn’t kill Rainbow Dash either. Just because Ah threw a pill bottle away in the same trash bin we found two other pieces of evidence in don’t mean a thing.”

Tiara eyed her warily. “You say that, Applejack, but can we believe you? I mean, the motive’s pretty tempting, for someone like you.”

Applejack glared at her from underneath her hat, then nodded. “Eyup. You’re right about that, Tiara. It was pretty temptin’. And for a bit there Ah didn’t think Ah had much to lose either, what with Rarity dumpin’ me, and my sister bein’ gone…”

Rarity snorted. “Dumping? You make it sound like it was a simple fling. Try divorce, if we ever get off this ship.”

Scootaloo looked up at the farmer, her breath hitched as she took a step back. “Applejack, you’re not saying you actually considered killing someone, did you?”

Applejack hung her head low and took off her hat, placing it on her podium. She propped herself up by the palms of both hands, her whole body slumped in shame. “Ah did. Not Flash. Not Rainbow Dash either. But Ah did. Ah didn’t think about it for very long or hard before Ah realized Ah was bein’ nuttier than cow droppins, but Ah still considered it.”

“Who would you have killed?” Trixie breathed, leaning forward with naked curiosity twinkling in her eyes.

“It was me, wasn’t it?” Scootaloo blurted, her voice full of fire. She clenched both fists at her sides as her face twisted up in horror and fury. “You were going to kill me.”

Applejack slowly nodded, then fell to her knees, sinking beneath her podium. “Don’t ask me how, cause Ah don’t know.”
~*~

“You could’ve fallen to temptation then! You could’ve given in to Monoponi--to Cozy, given her what she wants! You could’ve killed Rarity, or Scootaloo, or who knows who else! But you didn’t. You stayed true to who you were. When you admitted to it, you were ashamed, because you know you’re not a killer. Cozy threw the best motive she had at you, in the best circumstances, with the best chance you’d ever have… and you didn’t take it. You kept your integrity. You stayed true to you.”

She perked up, nodding in understanding. “Ah didn’t, didn’t Ah? Ah stayed true to me, ‘cause Ah know who Ah am!”

A grin of satisfaction crossed my face as I saw sparkles of magic beginning to flare around the farmer. “That’s right. You’ve always kept true. And you’ve always stuck by your friends. We’re all your friends. We’ve had struggles. We’ve been dealt blow after blow. But we’re all together in this.”

She gave me a proud smile, then turned to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, Ah know Ah scared you somethin’ fierce, when Ah said Ah considered killin’ you. It was wrong, and Ah’m sorry. You’ve been nothin’ but kind to me here, and Ah almost repaid that with the worst kind of double-crossin’ low down snake behavior Ah could’ve done. And Ah’m sorry for all the suspectin’ or runnin’ or anythin’ Ah’ve done since.”

Scootalo’s lips twisted into an uncertain frown as she took a step back, scratching at the back of her head. “I dunno, Applejack… you’re pretty scary when you’re mad, you know? And you get mad. A lot. And you kept being pretty mean to a lot of people for no good reason, even when we tried to help you.”

Rather than look away in shame, Applejack simply nodded in acceptance. “You’re right. Ah was, Ah am, and Ah did. And Ah’m sorry for it all. Ah can accept mah mistakes, and Ah’d like to try and make up for ‘em too.” She stuck out her hand. Wisps of apple red and granny smith green energy twirled around her in pairs, forming lines like rows of square dancers. “Are you gonna let me?”

Scootaloo glanced back at me, fear in her eyes as she watched my continued struggle against Cozy’s magic. She turned back to Applejack and closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a sigh. Then she opened them again, and held out her hand in return. “Okay. I can do that.”

As the two shook hands, Applejack was engulfed by an aura of magic that transformed her, providing her pony ears and an elongated hairstyle, coloring her hair with multiple streaks matching the colors of her new magic. Smiling at Scootaloo, she released the younger woman’s hands, and her eyes met mine. “Let’s git’r’done, Sunset!”

“What?!” Cozy howled, her whole body recoiling in sheer disbelief even as she continued to power her endless attack. “How in the… you can’t do that! You don’t have your memories! You don’t have your magic!”

“Ah think you’ll find Ah’ve got what really matters, Cozy,” Applejack retorted. She raised a palm in my direction and unleashed a beam from her hand, joining together with me and reinforcing my badly battered shield. “Ah don’t need anything you’ve taken from me. Ah’ve got friendship. Ah’ve got family who love me. Ah don’t need no fancy tricks or wands or nothin’. Ah just need mah friends.”

The outraged Cozy Glow gritted her teeth in a fierce glare, turning it on me. “Oh you are not going to get away with this, Sunset!” With a loud wordless roar she doubled down on the power she was throwing against me, forcing Applejack to extend the shield just to keep Scootaloo from being caught in the crossfire. Scootaloo hunched down behind her podium and covered her head with her hands, screaming in fear.

“Scootaloo!” I called, grabbing the young woman’s attention. “I know you’re scared right now, but you’ve gotta listen to me too, okay? We can’t do this without you.”

“Me?” Scootaloo looked up at me, flinching at every fresh burst of magic against the shield. “But, but, I don’t have magic! I don’t even have a freaking talent! What can I do?”

I rolled my eyes good naturedly and grinned. “Scootaloo, you don’t need a talent or magic or anything else to help out. You never have. But you’ve always been there for us anyway. You’ve been looking out for people from the start. Whether it was helping Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie in the kitchen before the pool party, or exercising with Rainbow Dash, or taking an extra shift when we all did guard duty. Or when Diamond Tiara was hurt, when Applejack was hurt, when I was hurt!”

“What’re you talking about?” Scootaloo retaliated, disbelief coloring her voice. “I-I haven’t always been nice! Don’t you remember what I said about Timber? I called him a dirty, stinking murderer!”

Grinning back, I replied, “True, you haven’t always been the nicest person. But you’ve still looked out for everyone. Even Trixie and Tiara told you that once!”

~*~
As we moved on to the locker rooms, we found we had to scan our Monopads to get in. The doors only opened up one at a time, and closed behind us as soon as we walked through. The locker rooms contained the usual assortment of small lockers for valuables, showers, and toilets. Scootaloo was in the middle of dressing up in her own tracksuit. “Oh hey there,” she said, grunting as she zipped up the suit. “Pretty nice fitness center, huh?”

“It’s not bad,” I agreed. “What’re you up to, Scootaloo?”

She shrugged. “I figured I’d just go lift some weights. I could use the pick-me-up after…” she sighed, her body shrinking down as her eyes misted up. “After last night. Besides, I want to stay near Rarity and Applejack. I’m worried about both of them, especially Rarity.”

Trixie smiled at that, and clapped a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “That is very kind of you, Scootaloo,” she said as if she were delivering a pronouncement from on high. “Trixie is certain they’ll appreciate you watching out for them.”

“Heh, thanks,” Scootaloo said with a sad smile. “I just don’t want anyone else hurt, you know? We’ve lost too many people already. I don’t want to lose any more friends.”

“Good to hear,” Tiara said, slapping both hands on her hips so she could loom like the authority figure she purported to be. “Keep at it, Scootaloo. Keep them safe.”
~*~

“You’ve always looked out for others. You even took the time after the fourth trial to study up on medicine just to be more helpful. You’ve been devoted to helping others, no matter what you had to do to accomplish it. Do you know who you remind me of, most of all, now that I have my memories back?”

Gaping in naked shock, she uttered, “Who?”

More of Cozy’s magic flickered over the shield as a large crack formed in the center. I refused to give it much thought and focused on answering Scootaloo. “Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. You’re like the little sister they didn’t have. You’re just as kind, caring, and compassionate as Fluttershy ever was, but you’ve also got Rainbow’s sense of justice, of loyalty, of care for her friends. You don’t need to have a talent or magic to be useful. All you have to be is you!”

Scootaloo’s mouth closed as tears filled her eyes, happy tears, tears of laughter. “I… I have, haven’t I?” she said as she leapt to her feet. Fresh wisps of magic began to swirl around her, in shades of cerise and dark orange. “I have been useful. I’ve been doing everything I can to help everyone.”

“That you have, sugarcube,” Applejack seconded, clapping her free hand down on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Ah gotta say, you’ve been a real treat to have around, even when Ah wasn’t on mah best behavior.”

Rarity, who, like Tiara, had been cowering behind her podium, watching silently, chose this moment to call out, “And I really appreciated it when you watched out for me after Sweetie’s trial, darling! I know Sweetie and Apple Bloom were your friends. I know you miss them. You’ve been a joy to have around, my dear. I am honored to call you a friend.”

“Yeah, what she said!” Tiara seconded. “I-I don’t know anything about what you or I might or might not have together, but you know what? I’m willing to give you the chance to find out!”

That did it. Scootaloo let out a loud triumphant laugh as magic swirled about her, transforming her. She gained pony ears in a shade of orange just slightly darker than her skin tone, and twin wings spread out from behind her back. And upon her shirt appeared the shield with the lightning bolt symbol that was her mark, framed by a trio of transparent butterflies and backed by a ghostly reflection of a cloud with a rainbow bolt. “Fuck yeah, let’s bring Cozy down!” she shouted.

Cozy recoiled in horror once more, even as Twilight, Rarity, Tiara, and Applejack all let out cries of happiness. “What… how… you never had magic! You don’t have your memories! You’re nothing! NOTHING! How are you doing this?!”

Scootaloo spun on her heels and brought up both hands, unleashing streams of cerise energy into our shield, reinforcing it. The crack I’d been worried about sealed itself immediately. “Because I care about my friends, Cozy! They’re what’s most important to me. They’re what matters. Other people matter, Cozy, regardless of what you think.”

“No they don’t!” Cozy screeched. “Power! Power is what matters. And I still have the power to crush three of you!” Spreading out her wings, she pulled from deep within, her eyes blazing solid scarlet now. The beam beating against our shield split into three, assaulting each of us individually, trying to break us apart.

“Hang in there, Sunset, Scootaloo… and you too, Applejack!” Rarity cried as she flinched back away, the heat of the magical battle too hot for her to handle. “It seems like you’ve got this!”

“But we’re gonna need you too, Rarity!” Scootaloo replied, wincing as she focused on maintaining her part of the shield.

“We can’t do this without you!” Applejack seconded.

Rarity blinked, pointing a finger at herself. “Me?”

“They’re right, Rarity!” I said. “You’re our friend, and we value your friendship. You’re dear to all of us. We care about you, and we value you.”

Rarity’s eyes twinkled despite the frown of uncertainty on her face. “Well that’s good to hear. I suppose I know what my element is. Generosity, right? Just like my pony self. It was listed in the book.”

“Pfft, yeah, you’re so generous,” Cozy mocked with a laugh. “Giving away things for free that you made with free materials. Uh huh.”

“Forget about that, Rarity,” I said with a shake of my head. “Forget about what the book said. Forget about what Cozy’s saying. It doesn’t matter what your element is. What matters is what’s most important to you! And as much as you’re a generous person, Rarity, that’s not what’s most important.”

Rarity’s frown deepened, her brow creasing in thought. “I don’t understand darling.

“Then let me make it clear, Rarity,” I replied with a similar smile. “You value your friends to the point that you’re willing to forgive them when they show proper remorse, even for the worst crimes.”

~*~
“I’m not asking for you to be her friend, or to like her. If I want to talk to her though, that’s my business.”

“Well, I for one think it’s a good thing you’re trying to repair your friendship,” Rarity said, smiling at me. She let out a quiet sigh and leaned against Applejack, snuggling into the farmer’s shoulder. “I suppose if you’re able to find it in your heart to try, perhaps I should do the same. I did quite like the dear before… well.”

Applejack frowned at Rarity and pulled away from her, leaving Rarity letting out a quiet whine. “Ah’d prefer if you didn’t do that Rarity. Because the way Ah see it, Trixie don’t deserve much mercy. Ah ain’t sayin’ I’d string her up or nothin’, but Ah wouldn’t be too sad if she went to jail forever. And Ah’m not sure she deserves regular visits neither.”

Rarity shot Applejack a dark glare, but said nothing, and quietly scooted over further away from the farmer.
~*~
“Be quiet!” Rarity thundered as she stood up. A black look of pure rage crossed her features as she approached Applejack and belted her across the face with the palm of her hand, sending Applejack spinning to the ground from the sudden unexpected force. Applejack managed to catch herself on one knee at least. “You utter hypocrite! You claim to apologize to me and then you toss me around like a child throwing a tantrum. All I wanted to do was take some time to speak with someone who shows proper remorse for her misdeeds, unlike a certain farmer I could name!”
~*~
“Trixie knew Adagio was an awful person from the start,” Trixie said, every word drenched in hot anger. “This is why Trixie tried to rescue Sunset, because she was scared.”

“Well, as far as I’m concerned Trixie, you can consider yourself forgiven, at least by me,” Rarity said, reaching out to pat Trixie’s shoulder. “You’ve shown nothing but contrition and remorse for your actions.”
~*~

Nudging with my head I gestured to Applejack. “You’ve shown you have the ability to forgive even the crime you hate most. You forgave Trixie for killing Pinkie Pie. The way you can help us most is by forgiving the one among us you haven’t yet, and by reclaiming the friendship that I know you still treasure, no matter what you say otherwise. Maybe you won’t be in love with her when all of this is over, but you can still be friends.”

Applejack looked up in shock at that, her eyes meeting Rarity’s, filled with a mixture of apprehension, uncertainty… and hope. “Like Ah’ve said, Rarity, Ah apologize for all Ah’ve done. Ah do care about you. Ah just want you to be happy.”

Glancing back at Rarity, I saw her shrink back, her body language anxious. “I… I’m not sure if I--”

“Oh my me would you all shut the fuck up?!” Cozy interrupted with a magically enhanced voice. “You keep talking and talking and talking and talking and I am so sick of it!”

Rarity’s lips thinned as she leapt out from behind her podium, standing up straight to glare Cozy in the eye. Pale blue and white wisps danced all about her like snowflakes in a whirlwind. “Perhaps you should learn to have some patience, then! You kept asking us for it, time and again while you prattled on about your insane plan to rule Equestria. Try swallowing your own medicine for a change!”

“You little shit…” Cozy growled, her lips pulled back to expose her teeth as she readied to blast Rarity for all she was worth.

Rarity, despite the obvious trepidation in her movements, ignored the insane pony girl and faced Applejack, holding up her hands curled together. “Applejack, you’ve hurt me. You’ve not just hurt my feelings, but my heart. I wanted to rely upon you as a rock when I was lost, and for a while there, just a short little while, it seemed like I might. But then the waves came crashing in. We fell apart. We...we’ve both lost someone near and dear to us in this game. We’ve both lost our sisters, and I suspect that will always stand between us, memories or no memories.”

Applejack gulped and nodded. “Ah, Ah know, Rarity, but…”

Rarity held up a hand to ask for silence. “But Sunset is right about what she says. Something in my soul attracted me to you when we first awoke. I didn’t recognize it for what it was until after our sisters passed away. It was the leftover impression, the memory of what we had before, our… marriage. But what I truly wanted… was friendship. Romance is nothing without friendship. I don’t know if we’ll ever get back together, but… even if we don’t, I don’t want to lose what we can still have. I will take the first step. I forgive you, Applejack! I forgive you, for everything!”

And as she said those words, she was engulfed in an aura of pale blue, just in time for Cozy's annihilating magic to bounce off it like a wooden arrow against stone. Like the others she transformed, gaining a set of white pony ears, her hair restored to its full splendor and more besides. Of course, her outfit changed too, becoming even more stylish, festooned with gemstones. Her boots transformed into fashionable heels. A cocky smirk graced her face as she spun on her newly acquired heels and raised her left hand, manifesting a gemstone shaped shield to block another burst from Cozy. With her right hand she extended our primary shield, merging her gemstone into it. “Darlings, I am prepared to fight alongside you!”

“This is impossible!” Cozy screamed, beating her free hand against her podium a good five or six times before she crunched a hole in it, tearing through the wood with magically enhanced strength. “This won’t work! I won’t allow it! I won’t lose again!”

“You won’t?” I taunted, laughing bubbling up in my chest.

“No, I won’t!” With a wordless roar Cozy pounded one foot on the floor, right atop one of the runes connected to Twilight’s trap. I heard Twilight scream in pain, writhing as her power was drained out of her. “Maybe it’s not as efficient as the ritual,” Cozy sneered, “But I’ll never run out of power as long as I have her to draw on. I don’t care what kind of bullshit new magic you pull out of your asses, you’ll never have the strength to stop me!” She whipped her wand around, splitting her attack beam into a fourth section, each one doubling in size as well. Then she rolled her eyes. “Oh what the hell am I doing. Hey, you, Tiara!”

“W-what?!” Tiara shouted back.

“DIE!”

With a single flick of her wand Cozy’s onslaught shifted its target, firing all four beams directly at our most vulnerable friend. The magic screamed through the air and disintegrated her podium in an instant before exploding on the spot, filling the area with smoke.

“Tiara!” I cried, afraid we’d just lost her.

But then, as the smoke cleared I noticed the orange wings wrapped around Tiara, shielding her from the magic. The wings had been horrifically singed, many of the feathers burnt off or crumbled to dust. The shirt underneath had been partially destroyed, and what skin we saw under that was covered in burns and scalded flesh.

“Don’t worry, Tiara!” Scootaloo shouted, grunting in pain as she picked up the rich elitist and carried her behind our shields. “I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.

“Aah! Aaah! Aaah! I almost died! Aaaaaah!” Tiara screamed, tears streaming down her face. She wrapped her arms around Scootaloo, hugging the poor girl so tight she nearly cut off Scootaloo’s air. “Don’t let me die-hi-hiiii!”

Scootaloo chuckled and held Tiara closer in a warm embrace. “I won’t. I won’t, okay? I’ve got you.”

“Scootaloo, what about you?” I said, taking in the damage. It wasn’t… the worst damage I’d ever seen. She could still move her wings I saw, as she folded them behind herself even as I spoke. It wasn’t like she’d lost them like I had my arm. But it was still bad. “Are you going to be alright?”

Scootaloo eyed me and gave me a firm nod. “Yeah. Hurts like hell, but I’ll be fine.”

“Damn it!” Cozy shouted, stomping her feet like the petulant child she was. “You cheater! You cheating, cheating cheater! That blast should’ve annihilated you! How did you survive it?”

Moving my magical focus I sealed the shield around us till it was more of a bubble, just in case Cozy got the bright idea to bounce her magic off the wall and into our backs. “How many times do we have to tell you it doesn’t work that way, Cozy?” I said in response. “It’s not about power. It’s about who you value, who your friends are! And Scootaloo, she values her friends over herself. She always has. She’ll protect them even if it costs her her life.”

Cozy groaned, and made a mocking gesture with her hand as if she was talking with it. “Mememe, it’s about who you know, waaah. I can still kill you all.” She pulled in her wand, swished it one, then unleashed the largest beam of necrotic magic yet, large enough to encompass our entire shield bubble.

“Hoo boy, this is gettin’ hairy!” Applejack murmured as she continued to hold the attack back. “We gotta finish this soon Sunset.”

“I know, I know,” I replied. I looked down at Tiara. “What about you, Tiara? You okay?”

“No! No I am not okay!” Tiara shouted. She let her face fall into her hands. “I want to go home. I don’t want to be here. I’m so scared!”

“Me too, Diamond,” Scootaloo said, wrapping one arm around Tiara’s shoulders. She used her other hand to gently nudge Tiara’s chin up so she could wipe her tears. “But we’re going to need your help to do it.”

Tiara’s lips pulled back in her usual sneer as she raised a hand to beat Scootaloo’s away, then relaxed and dropped it, reforming her expression into one of contrition. “But, I don’t know what I can do. I’m… I’m too scared.”

“Exactly, Tiara,” I said with a smile.

Her face went blank as she stared up at me. “Huh?”

“You’re scared. You’re feeling helpless. And you’re able to admit that about yourself. Do you know how amazing that is, considering where you came from? It’s incredible. And it’s far from the only way in which you’ve changed. Remember what you were like when we first came aboard the ship?”

~*~
I pointedly walked away over to the other woman standing at the bar. She favored me with a sneer and a raised eyebrow. “At least you’re not talking my ear off,” she said after a moment.

Oookay…. I stuck out a hand, giving her a friendly grin. “Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

She looked down at my hand and snorted, her lips twisting in a disgusted grimace. But she extended a hand and took mine, shaking just long enough then dropping it. “Charmed. Diamond Tiara. I’m guessing you’re not one of the help, either. So are you a deckhand? Perhaps you work in the engine room?”

My face scrunched in a mild sneer of my own. “Excuse me?” She was already reminding me of the nobility back in Equestria, all high and mighty rich folk with messed up ideals about their inherent superiority and no manners.

She let out a quiet little laugh. “Forgive me, I just assumed, what with your shabby appearance and that… jacket… that you couldn’t possibly be a passenger.” Her mouth twisted into a patently insincere simper. “My apologies.”
~*~
“You were an asshole. You admitted this yourself earlier, when you shouted down Cozy. I was impressed by that speech, and not just because you got under her skin, but because of what it says about you. How you’ve grown as a person.”

Tiara’s cheeks flushed as she looked away from me. “I… have tried to change. I’ve tried to be a better person. I never liked who I was before. It set me apart from other people. It made me… it made me just like my mother. And I never wanted to be my mother.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “You’ve shown you have the humility to accept your mistakes, to grow from them, to take responsibility for how you’ve hurt people. You recognize now that you’re not more special than others just because you have more money or political influence or anything of that nature. You’ve found yourself. And you’ve found friends.”

Balls of cornflower blue and magenta light flickered into existence above Tiara’s head. More lights appeared around her body as she gave me a small smile. “I guess I have, huh? Friendship… it’s pretty special. Now that I have it, I… I don’t want to lose it!”

“Well you certainly have my friendship, darling,” Rarity said.

“And mine,” I added.

Scootaloo wrapped one arm around Tiara’s shoulder and gave her another reassuring squeeze. “And you already know you’ve got mine too.”

Tiara nodded to all of us. “T-thanks, guys.” Then, hesitantly, her whole body shaking from anxiety, she turned to the one person who hadn’t spoken. “Um… hey, Applejack.”

“Hey, Tiara,” Applejack interjected, glancing down at the younger woman. “Ah’ve been listenin’ to what they’ve been sayin’. And Ah heard your speech to Cozy earlier. You mean everythin’ you said?”

“I, I did,” replied Tiara with a shaky nod. Tears filled her eyes as she spoke. “L-listen, like I said before, I’ve been a real jerk to you. It’s not… it’s not right to treat you the way I did. Any of you. I truly am sorry, Applejack.”

Applejack nodded. “Ah hear you, Tiara. And likewise. Ah’ve been lettin’ mah own biases cloud mah mind, focusin’ too much on your money, and not enough on you. You’re a person. And you know what? If you don’t mind, Ah… Ah’d like to be your friend.”

As the tears continued to fall, a grateful smile blossomed on Tiara’s face until it spread ear to ear. “Definitely, Applejack!” she replied. The magic swishing about her bloomed until it formed a magnificent aura. “I’d love to be your friend too!”

As she was subsumed in her newly gained magic, a pair of magenta pony ears popped into existence atop her head. The pajamas she’d been stuck in ever since the investigation disappeared, replaced by her usual outfit, with a few extra touches, like twin bracelets around her wrists. Her hair practically dragged along the floor when it extended, almost impractically so. “Wow,” she said, looking herself over. “This is really cool!” Then she locked eyes with Cozy and her lips pulled back into a savage grin. “And it means we can kick your ass!”

“Oh I cannot believe this!” Cozy roared back, throwing out her free hand to flip Tiara off. “You really think you have what it takes? Diamond fucking Tiara? Don’t make me laugh!”

Diamond Tiara raised her hands to add her magic to the shield. “Like I said before, Cozy, I’ve accepted my mistakes! And because I accepted them, I found friendship. And friendship matters! Not that you’d know anything about that!”

For a moment, just a moment, I saw a flash of pain, real pain on Cozy’s face, but it vanished so fast it made me question if I’d seen it at all. “Like I care! Friendship doesn’t matter. Power does. How many times do I have to say it?”

“You can say it as many times as you want,” Scootaloo spat, “it doesn’t make it the truth!”

“There’s something you lack, Cozy Glow,” Rarity added. “Something that makes it impossible for you to truly understand.”

“Oh yeah? What?”

“Ain’t it obvious?” Applejack said with a laugh.

“It’s empathy, you dumbass!” Tiara added with a cocky grin. “Do you know what that means, or do we need to spell it out?”

“It’s the ability to understand and share feelings with others,” I said, feeling my magic swell within me as we spoke. “To recognize when they’re hurt, or feeling down, and to find ways to care about them. We’re all capable of doing that, and that’s why we work together as friends. It’s why we survived, despite everything you threw at us. It’s why we’ll never give in to your hate and despair, because we support each other. We’ve all lost someone in this game. It’ll have its effects on us for the rest of our lives. But we’ll be able to handle it, together, as friends!”

I held out my hand to Rarity, letting her take it, while gesturing for Tiara to lay a hand on my shoulder. The rest linked hands in turn as our auras flared and began to merge, forming a rainbow of light.

Cozy blanched, ceasing her magical attack. “Oh… oh shit.”

Twilight let out a cry of happiness.” You did it!”

“Told you we would, Princess,” I replied, winking at her. “Okay everyone, let’s free the Princess first, shall we? She’s our friend too, after all.”

Cozy, who’d been scanning the room as if searching for an opportunity, focused on Twilight, her eyes narrowing. “Oooh, it’s funny you say that, Sunset,” Cozy interjected, her voice dropping, becoming low and sinister. “It’s so funny because it’s not even true! Let me tell you aaaalll about something your precious pony Princess did while you were all trapped here!”

~*~
Shining leaned forward and placed his elbow on the desk so he could rub his forehead with his thumb and index finger. “I’m going to have to discuss this with Chief Spitfire. I think it’d be a good idea if you met up with her. I’ve been keeping this case from going to the state or federal level so far, but with what you’ve told us--”

“We can’t involve your government,” Twilight declared with all her princessly authority. Shining instantly sat up straighter. “I can work with you, Shining, and the local police department, but no one else. Remember our agreement.”

“Keep the existence of Equestria secret,” Shining responded. “Frankly, that might be more difficult than you might think. That cruise ship is operating in international waters. If my Twilight is right and they’re in the south Pacific, we might have to deal with multiple foreign governments. This could easily turn into a global incident, and I can’t promise they’ll keep things secret.”

“I’m well aware of the state of Earth’s geopolitical situation.” Twilight's words cut through Shining’s argument like the proverbial hot knife through butter. “That’s exactly why we can’t involve them. I’ve kept them from finding out about Equestria and Equestrian magic so far. I don’t intend to let them discover us anytime soon. You know why.”

Shining nodded, and she swore his hand started to raise in salute before he let it drop. “That’s going to severely limit our options, then.”
~*~
Spitfire nodded once when Twilight was finished, then steepled her hands on the desk. “I won’t lie to you, your highness: what you’re asking for isn’t easy. I have half a mind to call up the state governor right now and explain everything. These people’s lives are on the line, and we can’t afford to screw around with delays.”

“But--”

“Please allow me to finish,” Spitfire interrupted, holding up a hand. “I also understand and respect your world’s need for secrecy. I’m more aware than most how shitty the human race can be, and how much shittier we would be towards a whole world full of magic aliens that can cross over through a lot of different portals we have no control over. So in light of that, I’m going to grant your request, and keep this secret. But let me clear about one thing.”

Spitfire stood up just enough to get her face quite close to Twilight’s, just a few inches away. “Every single person that dies on that cruise ship that we might’ve been able to save had we gone through the federal government and the military? That’s on you. You’re going to be the one to talk to their families. And if they ask for something to keep things secret? You give it to them. You’re the leader of your nation. I’m sure you can authorize something from your treasury.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said, despite the churning emotions swirling throughout her body at the thought.
~*~

The rainbow fizzled out like a wet sparkler as we took in those details. “Twilight…?” I said, a note of sadness entering my voice. “Is this… true?”

Twilight’s face was horror-stricken as she replied, “H-how could you possibly know about that, Cozy?!”

“Ahahahaha!” Cozy laughed, holding her free hand next to her mouth as she leaned back while keeping her wand squarely on the five of us. “You think I could put together a plan like this and not have sources in the Canterlot police department? I knew you’d go to them once you started trying to find the ship. I just didn’t expect you to do that! Oooh I wish I’d been able to share these juicy details sooner but there just wasn’t the time… oh well!” With a sudden wave, she resumed her barrage, the dark magic sizzling as it once again struck our shield.

“Then… but why?” Scootaloo gaped. “You could’ve saved us sooner! You could’ve had the Navy involved! Fuck, you let one of your own ships, eight hundred ponies, die because you didn’t want to involve our government?! What the hell?!”

“Why are we trusting this pony Princess again?” Tiara questioned. “Doesn’t sound like she was looking out for friends to me.”

“No, please--aaaaagh!” Twilight wriggled and writhed, her muscles taut with strain as the draining runes worked their horrible effect upon her. “I didn’t… I wouldn’t have… I had no choice! I had to protect Equestria!”

“Protect Equestria?!” Rarity repeated, utterly baffled. “Whatever do you mean?”

“What she means, Rarity,” Cozy said, her voice soaked in sadistic glee, “is that she doesn’t really care about you at all! She cares more about her own precious ponies than she ever did about you.”

Applejack’s nostrils flared. “That’s a lie! Ah can smell it! Somethin’ don’t feel right, y’all. Ah don’t think Cozy’s tellin’ the whole truth here. We ain’t about to start trustin’ her now, are we?”

“Well, no,” Scootaloo answered, doubt crossing her face even as she strained to keep powering the shield. “But still.”

“Li-listen to me please!” Twilight cried. She’d ripped her gown to pieces at this point, between the magical ropes binding her and her own attempts to wriggle her way out from the pain. “Equestria--Equus--it’s a whole world. Millions upon millions. Not just ponies! All sorts of species. Magic. And it’s vulnerable! Why do you think someone like Cozy would have a chance of taking over an entire planet with just one ship?”

“It’s not a chance, it’s guaranteed!” Cozy retaliated. She adjusted her hold on her wand, and a tiny bolt of green lanced out to zap Twilight.

“Fwaah!” Twilight screamed as she managed to block the magic with her arm just in time to keep it from hitting her throat instead. It still wore away at her skin till she was bleeding in multiple places. “R-r-remember! Cozy s-said there were thousands of p-portals! But she doesn’t know the true scale. It’s more like hundreds of thousands! Millions, even! Our two worlds are so interconnected with these portals that they’re practically one planet! The only reason they’re not is these portals aren’t stable!”

Wait… I think I see where she’s going with this, but she needs to say it. “But, Twilight, how does that lead to protecting--”

“Because if Earth’s governments found out we exist? They’d see us as a threat!” Twilight focused her gaze onto me, pleading desperately for me to listen. “And magic’s become so common on Earth now that it’s not a question of if! It’s a question of when! Do you get it now, Sunset? I couldn’t just come rescue you and damn the consequences! I had to protect Equestria too. I had to do both! It’s why I’ve been trying to build up Equestria’s military, s-so we can defend ourselves when Earth finds out about us. If they found out like this? By discovering a single pony had the ability to command entire corporations, take over the largest cruise ship in the world, and kidnap sixteen people without anyone knowing where they’ve gone? They would invade just to make sure it didn’t happen again!”

Cozy rolled her eyes. “Oh save me the hypocritical bullshit, Princess. Let’s all be honest here. You idiots like honesty, right? Well here a big heaping pile of it: Princess Twilight does not care about you, does not love you, and most definitely is not loyal to you. Turn her logic on its head and you’ll see she had to come “rescue” you just so she could make sure I didn’t expose Equus to Earth! It’s not you she’s here for. It’s me!”

Even Applejack seemed to take a step back to consider that statement, but the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t accept it. “No, that’s not true, Cozy. If anything, what you’ve told us about? It proves she’s our friend!”

“What?” Diamond Tiara questioned, eying me. “How?”

“Oh this should be good,” Cozy snorted.

I smiled as I spoke and all doubt in Twilight was dismissed from my mind. “Look again at what she did. If what you’re saying is true, Cozy, and all she wanted to do was take you out? She didn’t need to bring a ship with her. She could’ve come here by herself, sank the ship without ever setting foot on it. There’s ways she could’ve done it, ways you couldn’t have prevented. But she didn’t do that, because it never even crossed her mind!”

Twilight flashed us a strained smile despite the pain wracking her body. “That’s right! I would never do that! I love you all too much to do something like that to you. You’re my friends, all of you, and I would do anything to keep you safe. Just like I’d do anything to keep my country, my world safe.”

“Wow. When you put it like that, it makes perfect sense,” Scootaloo said, the doubt disappearing from her face.

“Ah gotta agree,” Applejack nodded. “Maybe Ah don’t remember you right now, Princess, but if Ah’m your friend, it was for a good reason. And Ah ain’t gonna take it back now.”

Rarity gave a similar nod. “I concur with Applejack. And I trust Sunset. She’s the one who remembers the Princess, after all. If she trusts her, I trust her.”

I glanced down at Tiara after a moment, having expected her to chime in. “Tiara?”

Tiara let out a groan, then chuckled under her breath. “I get it. I get it! Okay, Princess Twilight... you seem pretty good to me. I’m with them. You’re our friend.”

The rainbow of light surged to life once more, wrapping around us like ocean waves crashing upon the shore. “So then let’s free our friend, everybody!” I shouted. We all raised our hands together, and pointed them at the Princess.

“No!” Cozy cried as she unleashed her magic at us yet again. But it bounced off the rainbow like a rubber ball, deflected into one of the wall screens, while our harmony magic surged forth and embraced the Princess. While one part of it focused on burning away her ropes, little bolts peeled off the main rainbow and tracked all the little runes on the floor, blowing them out of existence with dozens of pops and bursts.

A loud riiiiip! echoed through the half-destroyed courtroom as Princess Twilight broke free of her bonds. She immediately flew away from the runes and joined up with us. Bruises covered her exposed flesh, along with several cuts, along with that nasty burn down one arm, but she smiled at us nonetheless. “Thank you, Sunset, everyone, for believing in me,” she said, her eyes filling up with tears.

Cozy let out a sudden scream. She stumbled away from her podium, her head spinning a moment. “What… what have you done?” she muttered. “What have you done?!”

“You okay, Twi?” I asked.

Twilight cocked her head, then sighed. “I don’t have much power left in me, if that’s what you’re asking.” She looked down to a necklace I hadn’t noticed hanging about her neck, one covered with amethyst and jasper stones. Most of the stones were cracked and ruined. “Actually… I barely have any at all.”

“Then stay back,” I said with a nod. “We’ve got this, okay?”

Twilight took a few steps back, enough to give us space. “Of course.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no no!” Cozy screamed as she clutched her head with both hands before shaking it clear. She focused her cold eyes on us and raised her wand back up. “I don’t understand how you broke her free of my trap, but it doesn’t matter. She won’t make a difference! I still have enough power to kill you all and get her back under control. I haven’t lost yet!”

I shook my head. “Cozy, you lost the moment you began. You were never going to win. No matter who you killed, who survived… this was always going to happen, because you don’t understand friendship. But we do.” Gripping Rarity’s hand and nodding to the others, we summoned up the rainbow of light, which grew and grew until it filled the room.

Cozy’s mouth fell open. Her arms collapsed to her sides, her wand clattering to the floor as she took several steps back, raising a shaky arm to point behind us. “W-w-w-what?! But… that’s impossible! You don’t exist anymore! You can’t exist anymore! Souls don’t… they don’t…”

I turned my head to see what she was pointing at...and stumbled, almost falling to the floor in shock. 

Behind us, highlighted in the rainbow glow, like ghostly washed away afterimages… was everyone we’d lost, standing together as a group. Trixie and Wallflower, hands interlaced, smiled at me and waved. Pinkie Pie bounced for joy between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who were both waving happily at Scootaloo.  Timber Spruce, an apologetic grin on his face, stood next to Flash and the human Twilight, who’d each had an arm on the other’s shoulders. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood side by side, both with their hands raised to their mouths to cheer their sisters on. 

Adagio… she stood off to the side, a look of profound shame on her face.

As my fellow survivors each took in the sight and gasped, I looked right at the spectre of Adagio, and whispered three words.

“I forgive you.”

She inhaled a sharp breath, took a step back… then slowly smiled. She said something in reply. I couldn’t hear it, but I could read it.

Thank you.

The ghostly Adagio then turned to Trixie, and held out a hand. Forming a chain, the spirits of our departed friends all linked up together, just as we had, adding their strength to our magic, causing the rainbow to pop and double in size, like a fire with a log tossed in.

Buoyed by their support, I turned back to face Cozy, a determined frown pulling at my face. “Time for you to face the music, Cozy.”

Rarity turned back as well, her eyes full of happy tears. “Indeed, darling!”

Applejack was likewise overwhelmed as she squeezed harder on both the hands she held. “Ah’m ready for this to end.”

Scootaloo, grinning like a maniac, let out an excited laugh of anticipation. “This is for everyone you’ve hurt!”

Diamond Tiara laughed right along with her. “For everyone you’ve killed!”

“No. No. Not again. Not again not again not again! I won’t let this happen again!” Diving back onto the floor she scooped up her wand and fired off a massive necrotic fireball right at my face. Like before, it bounced off, blowing out a few lights in the ceiling. Cozy fired many more bursts, exploding against us like scattered grapeshot, but every little piece pinged off to no effect. “This is impossible! I can’t lose again! I can’t lose again! I can’t lose again!”

“Sorry, Cozy,” I said as my friends, the spirits, and I rose into the air, the rainbow light intensifying till it was brighter than the sun. “All together now everyone, for the last and final time…”

The rainbow of light shot forth, consuming Cozy, burning away all her accumulated magical powers in one brilliant flash of light and sound. Her wand, caught in the blast, shattered into pieces that then crumbled into dust. Her pony ears vanished, as did her wings. Her fancy outfit was replaced with a plain, simple pink dress marked on one corner by her rook cutie mark. From seemingly nowhere a book bound in what looked like leather warped into existence only to be torn to shreds by the Elements until nothing was left.

Only then did the spirits of our departed friends fade away with a final wave.

And as we lowered back down to the floor, our power spent, exhaustion filling us all, I beheld Cozy’s fate. I’d expected her to be imprisoned in stone again, since she’d been so afraid of it. But she wasn’t. Instead, in a way, what’d she’d suffered was worse.

She’d been stripped of everything that made her powerful. She had no magic of any kind. She was plain. Ordinary.

Powerless.

I kept my distance as she climbed to her feet, letting out quiet gasps of horror as she took in her own changes. “My power… my power! It’s gone. It’s all gone! My wand… Grogar’s book… it’s all gone!” Tears began to fall from her eyes. “It’s all gone…”

Twilight took a step forward. “It’s nothing less than you deserve, monster. We’re going to commandeer this ship now. I’ll be taking you back to Equestria to stand trial. We’ll find a way to punish you this time that you won’t be escaping from.”

Cozy’s eyes bugged out of their sockets as her face twisted up in rage. She backed up away from us till her back hit her throne. “No way. Not again. I won’t let you do that to me again. I won’t be put in stone again! I’d rather die than suffer that.”

Twilight stood up straighter, adopting a regal bearing so intimidating I almost bowed as a reflex. “Unfortunately for you, Cozy Glow, that’s not an option. Equestria will not subject you to capital punishment. There will be no execution for your crimes.”

Cozy grunted with fresh anger and hopped up onto her throne, standing just in front of the device she’d placed there earlier. “Oh yes there will be, Princess! Because if you don’t? I’ll break free again. And this time, I’ll make sure you die. I still remember the ritual, up here.” She tapped her head. “Maybe you stole everything I had here, but the instant you take me back? I’ll escape. I’ll do it! I won’t let you imprison me in stone again!”

“Really?” Twilight crossed her arms, her regal demeanor overpowering Cozy’s self-righteous fury and reducing the villain to a quivering puddle. “Because I don’t think you have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” Cozy retorted as she took a final step back, bumping the back of her body into the device. She glanced behind her at what she’d touched and frowned. Then a smile began to form on her face, spreading wider and wider til it stretched ear to ear. “You know, we never did find out what this thing you brought with you is. Is it a bomb, Princess? I’ll bet it’s a bomb. Well let’s find out!”

“No!” Twilight cried, stepping forward. Then she stumbled to one knee, the exhaustion of her injuries overwhelming her. “S-stop her!”

“On it!” Applejack said, surging forth with a burst of speed. I joined her, as did the others.

But we were too late. Quick as a flash, Cozy spun around and tapped three keys on the giant keypad. As Applejack scooped her up and tossed her away from the throne, we all heard a voice call out, “Timer set. Thirty minutes until detonation.”

“Oh this is bad. This is bad!” Twilight cried, slapping both hands to her cheeks. “Bad, bad, bad! Oh we are dead. We are so dead!”

“What? How?” I replied, gesturing towards the bomb. “Just turn it off!”

“I can’t,” Twilight growled in response, her ears going flat. “I had it configured that way on purpose. It was supposed to be my last resort in case Monoponi--Cozy--overwhelmed me.”

“W-well it can’t be that bad, right?” Tiara stammered, pressing her forefingers together. “I-I mean it’s not that big a bomb. We just gotta leave this room… go to the other side of the ship… we’ll be fine, right?”

Twilight’s face paling by the second told me all I needed to know. “Twilight,” I gulped. “What kind of bomb is this?”

The Princess of Friendship’s face split into a demented grin as she reached out to stroke her hair, holding it like it was a security blanket. “Oh nothing bad, just a simple implosion based device with two separated pieces of super dense fissile material that upon detonation are fired down a barrel at each other to form a supercritical mass that splits atoms apart! Nothing bad at all!”

Rarity, Applejack, Tiara, and Scootaloo’s faces went blank, looking at me for understanding. But my heart rate shot straight to the moon, it was beating so fast. I hyperventilated like crazy, bending over wheezing, causing more stuff to crumble off my husk of a left arm as I gasped, “You… you brought a nuke?! You brought a fucking nuke?! Why?! What the hell is wrong with you?! How do you even have the tech for that?!”

As the others all screamed in panicked understanding, Twilight giggled like a loon and babbled, “Well we maybe used magic to s-speed up the uranium hexafluoride refining process to enrich the uranium and to skip about ten or twelve other steps, because I wanted to have something around as a final level deterrent against an invasion from Earth, a-a-and I figured I had to make sure Monoponi couldn’t escape so I needed something big and this is what I had so I was like sure bring it it’s just a backup I won’t use it nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan!” She flashed her toothy grin at me. “It’s only about thirty kilotons! It’s not even that big!”

“Oh my goood, Twilight…” I moaned, covering my face with my one hand. “It doesn’t matter if it’s thirty kilotons or three kilotons. We’re dead either way. There’s nothing we can do.”

“T-minus twenty-nine minutes until detonation.”

Cozy cackled with fresh mirth as she strolled casually back over to her throne, hopped up onto it, and took a seat next to the nuke, cuddling up to like it was the family dog. “Welp, guess we’re all dead! Been nice knowing you morons! At least if I’m dying, you’re all going down with me. I still killed Princess Twilight in the end! Ahahahahaha! Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!”

As Cozy’s laughter echoed off the courtroom walls, I felt the grip of despair once again take hold of my heart. We’d won, but we’d lost at the same time. There would be no escape.

We were going to die, and there wasn’t a damned thing we could do about it.