//------------------------------// // The Hardest Part // Story: And Hell Followed // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// Cheerilee was in her room spending her time with the foals that had nopony else: Rumble, Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. The others were with their families, leaving only the orphans to face the end by themselves. As their teacher, she figured that she was the next best thing. Elytra was in here too, just watching over the group silently. She hadn’t said much since seeing Cadance, but even Cheerilee could taste the fear coming off of her in waves. It was something primal and deep. The only guess was some sort of trauma from Canterlot. “I-I-I miss my dad.” Diamond Tiara had her face buried in Cheerilee’s side as she sobbed. “H-he’d know what to do!” Nothing can be done but rub the filly’s back and hold her close. There was that temptation to just tell her that if Twilight didn’t have a plan, there was no way a salespony like her father would know what to do. It was definitely growing, but being a teacher had honed Cheerilee’s resistance to giving in to those temptations. Rumble sat looking out of the window at the circling alicorns as they destroyed the only home he had ever known. The little colt never seemed sad or beaten down, he only ever looked angry since his brother died. Scootaloo was sitting on the bed and staring into space. That hurt Cheerilee the most, seeing how devoid of life the little pegasus looked. Like all of her confidence and drive had been sucked right out. “I know, dear.” She whispered to Diamond Tiara softly as she rocked the filly back and forth. “Trust me, I know.” Cheerilee laid her head on top of her students as she did her best to just calm Diamond down. Cheerilee wasn’t even okay, what was she doing trying to help other ponies? “Cheerilee?” The voice came with a knock at the door. It snapped everypony out of their moods as the door opened without any sort of answer to reveal Twilight Sparkle. “Oh...sorry if I’m interrupting. Cheerilee, Elytra, I need to speak with both of you urgently.” “It’s more bad news isn’t it…?” Scootaloo asked with dread coating each word as it dropped out of her mouth. “That’s all she ever brings.” Rumble grumbled as he shot daggers at the alicorn in the doorway. The words seemed to sink into Twilight in real time as she sighed and lowered her head. She bounced back quickly and raised her head after a few seconds with newfound determination in her eyes. “I need to talk with you both, now.” The alicorn was no longer asking, she was telling them what was going to happen. Twilight turned and left the room, leaving the two adults in the room to look at each other. “I guess...we will talk to her.” Elytra mumbled with a shrug as she began hobbling towards the door. Walking with three legs had gotten easier over the last few hours for the resident changeling, but it was still an effort to move. Cheerilee had to set down Diamond Tiara, which wasn’t easy as the little earth pony clung to her for dear life. Eventually she got the once-spoiled filly to cling to Scootaloo instead of herself and the Crusader was not happy about that one bit. Once both of them were out of the room, Elytra used her magic to shut the door. Twilight was standing on the other side of the hall as she looked out of a nearby window. “We have a plan.” Those four words brought with them the greatest sense of relief that Cheerilee had ever felt. It was like being told that she was cancer free after a prolonged battle with it. Her heart lifted for the first time in what felt like an eternity. “Thank the Queens.” Elytra sighed and threw her head back with a mighty and happy laugh. “I knew it! I knew you ponies had something up your sleeves.” The giddiness started to spread to Cheerilee as well, her hooves tapping against the ground rapidly in excitement. “It’s not…” Twilight looked away as her wings ruffled and fluffed out a bit. “It’s not that simple.” There was no sense of victory within Twilight, not the same that was slowly building in the changeling and the mare across from the princess. “The girls and I have to stay here to fix this, we have-we have to…” Whatever Twilight wanted to say was caught in her throat and wouldn’t budge. “There’s a good chance we might not make it.” She finally spat out. “W-what?” Just like that, the excitement fled from Cheerilee’s mind. “What do you mean?” “There’s a good chance we’ll die saving Equestria.” Twilight reiterated, her eyes never meeting the eyes of the other two creatures. “We can’t leave the castle, we have to stay here...but we need you two to help us out.” “You need us to leave the castle.” Cheerilee mumbled as she looked into Twilight’s eyes. “You need us to go outside.” Drawing that implication from what Twilight said wasn’t hard, but swallowing the fact that she would have to go out there with three alicorns was. “There are two jobs.” The alicorn’s jaw clenched as she looked to the door where the foals were. “We need somepony to get the foals and Spike to safety. What-what we’re going to do might bring the castle down on top of us and they can’t be in here.” “Safety?” Elytra scoffed. “I know we don’t know each other too well, Princess, so excuse me for this-” Elytra swallowed and took a deep breath. “-are you stupid?” That caught Cheerilee and Twilight off guard as both mares looked at the changeling with wide-eyed surprise. “This is safety. Out there is the opposite.” “Trust me, I know how it sounds. Just let me finish, please.” Twilight gave Elytra a moment to respond with a nod. “Thank you. The second job is cleansing the Central Mana Pool with some of the mana from below the castle.” “Where is the Central Pool?” Cheerilee asked with her head cocked to the side out of curiosity. “Sunburst mentioned it, but he didn’t know where it was.” The mention of the pony who had gotten them all this far drove a needle into the mare’s heart. That still hurt. “It’s in the Everfree, below the Castle of the Two Sisters.” Cheerilee nearly fell over from the surprise of that answer. “There was a reason Celestia and Luna built their castle there, and why the Tree of Harmony exists right by it.” That all made sense in hindsight, but it still felt almost surreal how the source of all magic in the world was right on their doorstep. “So where’s safe out there?” Elytra redoubled her efforts to soothe her fears. “One of us has to take a group of kids outside and the other has to go all the way out to the Everfree. That doesn’t spell safe either way.” “Walk with me, please.” Twilight spoke softly as she guided the mare and the changeling over to a window that faced the front of the castle. They all three looked out and saw the three alicorns still turning the once quaint village into nothing but glass. “When they’re done, they’re going to go into the hole. They’re going to do everything they can to break through into the cavern because they know we can’t all leave. Every unicorn that was in town is already down there so they wouldn’t get killed.” “That’s cutting it close…” Cheerilee muttered as she studied the town closer. The entire central core of Ponyville had been destroyed at this point, like the town hall and Sugarcube Corner. The outer core, like Carousel Boutique and the market. Stuff on the outer edges, like the schoolhouse, Sweet Apple Acres, and the clock tower were all untouched as of now. “It will be a race against time.” Twilight confirmed with a nod. “That’s why we don’t have much time to plan or wait around. One of you will have to go to the Everfree while the other finds...some sort of distance or safety from the castle.” The way Twilight spoke was so...detached yet determined. Like she had separated herself from the reality that her mortality might quickly be reaching its end. “You’ll need this.” Twilight’s horn lit up and a bottle rounded glass flask full of electric blue fluid was sat on the windowsill. Cheerilee needed no explanation of what it was. “In the tallest tower there’s a statue of Celestia. Just pull the horn and the passage will be opened to the Central Pool. Without another word, Twilight left. “I’ll take the forest.” Elytra was the first one to speak after minutes of continued silence. “The foals know you, they trust you.” Her dark pink eyes focused on the Everfree in the distance, still lit by the crepuscular sky. “Elytra you can hardly walk! What makes you think you can make it all the way out there?” To say that worry was building in Cheerilee’s heart would be an understatement. The changeling was in no shape to go out that far alone. “I can still fly.” To prove her point, Elytra’s shell parted and her wings buzzed enough to get her off of the ground. “It’ll be quicker than having you run over open ground, and do you even know where the castle is?” “Well no-” “When I found Fluttershy she showed me.” That effectively ended the discussion. Cheerilee didn’t have it in her to argue with Elytra at the moment, nor to try to reason with the changeling. If she was so sure, Cheerilee wouldn’t stop her. She just had one worry to voice. “You’re not strong enough, Elytra. You’ve been drained since last night.” Reading a changeling’s face could be hard, Cheerilee had learned. There’s no dark bags under their eyes when they’re tired, no bloodshot eyes. It was amazing how much ponies relied on flesh to read intentions. “I have an idea, I just need that Heart from Rainbow’s room.” ---- Rainbow Dash sat in the foyer of the castle, looking at the door and just trying to focus. She kept trying to reignite that fire in her belly, the one that had kept her going for so long. It was but a spark now, bucket after bucket of cold harsh reality had reduced it to such over the past day or so. No matter how much she tried to work herself up, nothing seemed to work. It was because of her damned wings. She couldn’t move them, no matter how much she tried. Without the bandages holding them to her sides, they fell limp. It was the most powerless she had ever felt. It wasn’t sadness that filled her heart, it was anger and frustration. She needed to do something! She needed to help by more than just waiting around! She needed to...get her mind off of it. Off of everything happening here. “Dashie?” Rainbow turned to see Pinkie Pie coming down the stairs. The other mare had gone up to say goodbye to Pound Cake and turn him over to Cheerilee for the coming events. She could see the pink fur around her eyes darkened with tears. “Are you okay?” “Forget about me, what about you?” Rainbow Dash stood and walked over to her friend. Instinctively, she tried to drape her wing over the back of Pinkie, but shook her head and cursed under her breath when she realized she couldn’t. “You’re the one who’s been crying.” “It was just...tough to say goodbye.” Pinkie sighed and leaned against Rainbow, closing her eyes as she did. “I told him to be nice to his sister when they get reunited and to listen to...whoever takes care of them.” Dash wasn’t good at this stuff, the mushy feeling stuff. Especially with somepony who liked her as much as Pinkie did. She had one coltfriend when she was in school over ten years ago, but other than that she had no experience with this kind of thing. Competition, the grind of getting better, had always come before anything else. Now it was different though. She had nopony to compete against, no great physical hill to climb. When Pinkie had first kissed her after she came back, it had been like a baseball bat to the back of her head. It sent her spinning into a whole new world that she didn’t even understand. That world was coming to an end, just as this one was. “What do you think about this, Pinkie?” Dash wanted to move away from that train of thought, she could already feel it dragging her down even more. “You think we’re gonna make it?” “I don’t know…” They both sat down in the middle of the floor, their heads leaning against one another as their tails crossed. “I wish I would’ve told you sooner, Dashie.” And obviously Pinkie didn’t want to move away from the topic of their demise. “I-I was always so scared.” “Yeah.” Dash nodded. “Maybe we could’ve made something of it.” As it stood right now, Rainbow had told her friend that they should wait until after this to pursue anything more than just feelings. Look where that led. “Maybe.” “At least we’re here together now.” There was a comfort in that thought, of being at the end of the world with somepony that...that she cared for a lot. It was something else to fight for, right? It was one more thing to push to save, to keep safe. That fire in her belly roared once again at that thought. She could fight for maybe, she could challenge the end of the world and her own death. She could compete with fate. If her wings worked, they would’ve flared and flapped feverishly with the newly found drive. “Yeah. Together.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes once more and smiled. She liked the challenge of fighting through this. ---- Applejack took a deep sigh as she pushed open the door to her room. She’d had a lot of hard conversations with Applebloom in her life, and they always involved death. When she was old enough to understand what happened to their parents, two months ago when she had to explain what was happening with Granny. It never got easier, and this wasn’t going to be an exception. Applebloom was sitting on the bed, coloring. The filly’s detachment from everything was something that Applejack had no idea how to approach or help. Since this all had started it seemed like AB had just ignored it and tried carrying on like nothing was happening. She even went to great lengths to avoid her best friends in the world so she didn’t have to see them in their hurt and wrecked states. There had been moments when the old Applebloom had shone through, like when Scoots first showed up, but they were few and far between. The oldest Apple approached the bed slowly and sat on the edge. She reached out and put a hoof on her little sister’s head. The hoof ran through that pretty red mane, briefly twirling around the pink ribbon in it. She reminded Applejack so much of their dad that it hurt sometimes. “You okay, Applejack?” She sounded so...normal. So uncaring about what was happening beyond the walls of the room. “No, no Ah’m not, Applebloom.” Sweet Celestia it was already getting to her. The tears were already starting to well up in her eyes as she spoke. “Put down your colorin’, sugarcube. We gotta talk.” Applebloom did as she was told and picked up the paper she was doodling on and sat it aside. The filly shifted and sat right beside her older sister, but never looked at her. There was that distant look in her eye still. How was Applejack even supposed to start? “A-Ah…” Tears started to roll down her cheeks when the first word barely left her mouth. “Ah’ve done my best with you, Applebloom. Ah want’cha to know that. Ah know Ah’ve been harsh sometimes, said things Ah shouldn’t have and maybe didn’t raise you the way mom and dad would’ve.” That finally got the filly to look up at her, a hint of emotion returning to her orange eyes. “Did my best to raise you right though.” “AJ, what’s goin’ on? Why are you cryin’?” Applejack pulled her sister into a tight hug and squeezed. She wanted to remember this feeling for however long she had left. She wanted to remember her little sister, and she wanted Applebloom to remember her in kind. “We gotta save Equestria, Bloom.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. Her throat hurt already as she choked out the words. “We gotta do it and there ain’t no other way...and Ah probably ain’t comin’ back this time.” “W-what?” Finally, tears started to fall from the filly’s eyes. “N-no. No. You’re Applejack, you always come back. You gotta. We’re the last Apples, you can’t leave.” That finally broke Applejack. It shattered her already heavy heart into a million tiny pieces. She was right, they were the last ones...and soon there would be only one left. It hurt so much to think about all of the ponies they’d lost from the family over time, it would be enough to crush anypony else. Applejack had stayed resolute through all of it, until now. “A-ah know...Ah know.” She finally let her sister go and took one of the little yellow hooves in her own. She looked right into Applebloom’s eyes as the next words came out. “It’s gonna be just you now, though. It’s gonna be hard, Ah know, but you’re an Apple. Ain’t nothin’ easy for us.” “B-but…” Applebloom was shaking now as she openly weeped. Almost two months of death and despair finally crashed down on the filly and engulfed her as she collapsed onto the bed under a tidal wave of grief. “You gotta keep goin’ on, Bloom.” Applejack was telling the filly exactly what Granny Smith had told her when she was the same age. “Remember them-” She realized she was soon going to be in the pile of ponies to be remembered and corrected herself. “-us. Remember us, keep us in your heart and see us at night when you look up at the stars...but please...don’t let us weigh you down.” She couldn’t talk anymore as the pressure in her throat grew and grew. Instead she just laid on the bed with her little sister one last time and held her close. ---- Fluttershy settled onto her bed with a light sigh. Her thoughts were as heavy as everypony else’s but she knew that what they were doing was for the best. She was just as scared as them, probably moreso. The heart in her chest hadn’t stopped racing since Twilight first revealed that the other princesses were on their way. “So?” Discord appeared above her in a flash of light, his head resting on one of his hands. “You all were down there for quite awhile, what happened?” He had that mischievous smirk on his face, the one he always had when he thought he knew something. “Find a way to save the world through the power of friendship, hmm? A lesson and a big group hug do the trick?” Fluttershy giggled and smiled up at her friend, her best friend probably. That had once been Rainbow Dash, and while their friendship went all the way back to foalhood, they had drifted apart more recently. Discord had been someone that always made her smile, even though he got on her nerves sometimes. She would never tell him that though. “Oh, I guess you could say that.” Telling Discord was going to be one of the scariest things she ever did. Scarier than fighting him or any other villain in Equestria, because it was going to hurt him in a way she never wanted to. “We-we did come up with a plan.” “Oh? Do tell.” The draconequus landed on the bed right next to her, his head propped up in his hands while his legs kicked the mattress. “Spill the tea, as they say.” She could only roll her eyes with a faint smile. Long ago, she had learned that bravery was not ignoring fear. It was pushing through it. Bravery was accepting your fear and accomplishing your task in spite of it. It had been a hard lesson to learn, and one she had to be taught in a myriad of ways. All of that was coming in handy right now. “Well...Twilight says we can get all of the bad magic out of the air with the Elements of Harmony and the castle, and she’s sending somepony else to clean out the big mana pool too.” Remembering all of the words and phrases Twilight had used was a little difficult, but she was getting the general idea across well. “There’s something else…” Discord ferreted out the details she was purposefully leaving out, just like she knew he would. There was no hiding anything from him. “What are you keeping from me?” “W-well…” Fluttershy cracked under the scrutiny and shifted her mane so it was hiding most of her face. “...Twilight...um...Twilight doesn’t think we’ll…” The next word out of her mouth was practically a squeak. “...survive.” “What.” Discord’s red eyes looked deep into her, just looking for a hint of a lie. “Oh no no no my dear Fluttershy, you must’ve misheard.” He chuckled and patted her on the back. “Twilight Sparkle would never endanger her friends like that, oh no. She would always have a way out. Trust me, I’ve talked to quite a few creatures who thought they’ve had you all.” “Discord.” For a split-second, she hardened her gaze to let him know just how serious she was. “It’s the only way, and we don’t have a lot of time. This is it.” The words smacked the chaos spirit upside the head, his grin falling and leaving only behind a stone-faced frown. “No.” He stated flatly with a shake of his head. “I refuse. You are not doing that, I won’t allow it.” He raised his claw and prepared to snap. “I have enough juice to get us both back to my dimension, I will-” “This isn’t your decision, Discord.” She put a hoof on his claw and lowered it. “I..I want to do this.” Fluttershy had been the first to speak up for a reason. She hadn’t been here for her friends when they needed her, they had been subject to all the cruelties the world could foist upon them while she had been safe. The least she could do now was one final act of kindness to the world, the animals, the ponies she loved and cared for. “I need to.” “Y-you really mean it.” He looked into her eyes again and leaned in. “Dear me, you really mean it.” She nodded in response. “Fluttershy…” “Twilight says you can’t stay either. What we’re going to do is going to...um...use a lot of harmony. She thinks you’ll be turned to stone and...and without us around.” The look of hurt that spread across his face made Fluttershy want to curl up and hide forever. “You want me to leave…” “No.” Fluttershy shook her head and put a hoof on his cheek. “I need you to leave, because I care about you.” Discord closed his eyes and leaned into the hoof as he took a long slow breath. “I know this is hard, but you’ll be okay. Just please...help ponies after this. They need somepony like you to cheer them up.” “Can I stay for a while longer?” His voice was quiet and devoid of the usual energy. “Can I just...enjoy your company a little more?” “Of course, Discord.” ---- “Sweetie Belle, darling.” Rarity practically whispered as she entered the room. The pearl white unicorn made sure to keep her right side towards the door where her sister couldn’t see it. The last thing that Rarity would ever want was to be remembered like...this. Her sister was looking out the window, mumbling something to herself. That was not an uncommon occurrence since coming back, they had found. Those cursed orders kept rattling around the little filly’s brain and would not leave, no matter what they did together. “Sweetie.” Rarity sat right behind her little sister and reached a hoof out. As soon as it touched the other unicorn’s back, the filly shuddered and pulled away. All the while, her eyes never left the window. “I have something to tell you, but I’m not sure how to say it.” There was no better way than to get out with it, she supposed. “We are going to save Equestria and get rid of that nasty magic that...that hurt you and turned everypony into those ghastly beasts. Though, it will come at a cost...I might not make it back.” That got Sweetie Belle’s attention and finally made her turn around to face the mare. That faraway look in her eyes finally dissipated and she stared up at her older sister with those big green eyes. Rarity wasn’t sure how much of her little sister was still in there, or how much was left undamaged by that King Bullion monster rampaging around in it, but she was going to pour her heart out regardless. “If this works...mother will be fixed.” Thinking about what happened to their father, beaten by Big Macinstosh and tossed into the Everfree like scrap wood, that still stung. “You will need to find her and be there for her, just as she’ll need to be there for you. It will be difficult, I assure you, but we thrive under pressure.” Rarity was one for big dramatic statements, not intimate motivational moments. She was struggling to come up with more to say other than just how much she loved the little unicorn filly in front of her. Sweetie Belle’s last memory of her should be more than seeing her a blubbering mess. “Do not let this quiet you forever, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity continued as she pulled her sister into a hug. “Let the world hear your voice when this is over. I fear Equestria will need music more than ever after all is said and done, and they deserve to hear you sing.” She finally choked up, tears staining her cheeks and falling down into Sweetie’s mane. Every word she said, she meant. “You are a brilliant star and I do not want any of this to diminish you.” Finally, she felt a pair of little hooves wrap around her and squeeze. It made her melt and give into the desire to bawl her eyes out. She sobbed loudly as she clung to the filly who meant so much to her, who she had practically helped raise. “Do remember me as I was, not as I am.” That was Rarity’s biggest wish, just short of a miracle getting them all out of this alive, was being remembered as the vibrant and beautiful pony that she was before this mess. “You’ll always be beautiful to me, Rarity.” Sweetie’s voice was so quiet, almost a whisper but filled with sadness to a staggering degree. “No matter what you look like, you’ll always be the prettiest pony in Equestria to me. Forever.” “And I’ll always love you, even if I’m not here to say it. Never forget that, please.” Rarity was shaking now, her vision blurred from the tears. “You are the most wonderful sister that a pony could ask for, darling.” ---- “Hold still, Flurry.” Twilight had her hooves around the alicorn foal, attempting to keep her as still as possible while she worked the inhibitor ring down the spear of a horn that sprouted from Flurry’s curly mane. It didn’t help that she apparently knew what the ring was and didn’t want it on. “C’mon. You need this on.” The little black ring would inch towards the foal’s horn, and get pushed back by the intense magic of the young alicorn. Twilight had already somehow gotten her old winter wrap up vest onto her niece to keep her wings from becoming a problem for whoever had to carry her outside. The last thing they needed was Flurry to want to fly away, because Twilight doubted that anypony could stop her. Finally the ring slid all the way down and made a little click as it locked around the base of Flurry’s horn. She whined a little and tried to pull at it with her hooves, but to no avail. Twilight felt bad, of course she did, it was her niece. But this had to be done. “It’ll be okay, Flurry. This nightmare will be over soon and...and you’ll have your mom and dad back.” She tried to smile, but it faltered and fell into a frown. That was supposed to be a happy thought, Cadance and Shining Armor being back and not being terrible monsters...but she knew what it meant for her and her friends. “Twilight...can we...talk?” A purple glow encased Flurry as she was placed onto the older alicorn’s back. They turned to face Spike, who was sitting on the bed twiddling his thumbs. “Because I really feel like we need to.” “Yeah, yeah. Of course. I’m sorry, Spike.” Twilight trotted over to the bed, setting Flurry Heart on one side of the baby dragon while she sat on the other side. “I wanted to get her ready before anything else, you know how difficult she can be.” It wasn’t a good excuse, just one she needed to use. Twilight knew this talk was coming, and she had been avoiding it. “What...what happens to me after this?” Spike didn’t sound broken, he just sounded lost. He was losing the one constant in his life, the one pony that had always been there. She understood that, and it hurt. “I-I don’t know what to do without you.” “Hey.” One of her wings unfurled and pulled him into her side. “You’re still family. To me, Shining Armor, even Flurry Heart. You’ll always have a place as long as one of us is still around, you’re not alone.” It was something she didn’t say to him enough, something she regretted not telling him more. Spike reached a claw out to Flurry, who gladly grabbed it and fumbled with it in her hooves. She babbled and giggled at the scaly digits, which drew a smile from both of them. There were times when a foal was a good thing to have around at the end of the world. They could still smile for no reason. “Take care of her until Shining and Cadance are back to normal.” Twilight continued. “If her Aunt Twilight won’t be around, at least her Uncle Spike can be.” She smiled and kissed the top of her assistant’s head before leaning on it. “Keep her safe.” “I can do that.” Spike pulled Flurry onto his lap and just looked at her. “Uncle Spike is good at protecting stuff, trust me.” The only response he got from the foal was a raspberry blown in his face and spit covering his scales. “Ugh…gross.” “I think that means she trusts you.” Twilight let out a little giggle, it was all she had left. They all sat there for a few minutes longer, just enjoying a little more family time before they had no more, before she spoke again. “I never told you this, and I’m sorry, but you’re the best little brother I could’ve ever asked for.” “Y-you mean it?” Spike and Flurry both looked at her as he spoke. There were tears in his eyes, ones that he quickly brushed away. “I didn’t think-” “You’ve always been our little brother. I was just too stupid to say it.” She shook her head. “You know me, I’m awful with that kind of stuff.” They both shared a short, bitter laugh. “I love you, Spike. I’m glad I hatched that egg, and I’m glad you came to Ponyville with me.” “I love you too, Twilight. I’m going to miss you a lot.” “I’m going to miss you too.” They sat there for a bit longer, hugging and shedding silent tears. Spike had always understood Twilight better than anypony else in Equestria, he just got her. Spike knew that when she was focused and dialed in, there was no turning her away so he knew not to fight her because he knew that she couldn’t be dissuaded. That made it hurt more. “I have one more thing to deal with, Spike. Mind going to Cheerilee and Elytra?” Twilight stood up slowly, folding her wings in and helping the dragon down. She gave another small smile as Flurry Heart reached for her hooves. “No, you’re going with Uncle Spike now.” “Hey Twilight?” She blinked and looked down at Spike. “Just...goodbye.” “Goodbye Spike.” As soon as the door closed, she broke. The tears started to come out in waves and her knees shook. She had held it together so well when he was in here because she didn’t want him to remember her as a crying mess. Twilight Sparkle needed to be remembered by someone as something other than a monster or a mess. It took a bit, but she eventually composed herself and left the room as well. The last thing she had to do wasn’t pleasant, and it wouldn’t be an easy thing to ask. As with everything else, though, it was a necessary evil. Her hoof raised and knocked on Rarity’s door when she got to it, and she waited. The door opened to reveal her fashionista friend, eyes red from shedding tears and mane a wreck. It wasn’t something that Twilight was used to seeing. “Rarity...I have one more thing.” “Oh Twilight, darling. I’m sorry.” Rarity’s horn lit up a soft blue as her tears were wiped away and her mane was fixed with practiced ease. “I was just..talking with my sister.” Even still, Twilight had to admire just how worried Rarity was about how she was perceived. “What is it?” “It’s about your sister, actually.” The very worried look that she was given by her companion was not unwarranted, in fact it was right on the money. “We only have one inhibitor ring, Rarity...and it’s on Flurry Heart. Sweetie Belle needs to go outside too.” Twilight craned her neck to look at the filly in the room. “I’m sorry but…” “Twilight-” Rarity put together the puzzle pieces presented to her quickly, her eyes filled with that cold realization of what the alicorn meant. “-you...you want me to?” Twilight nodded. “I’m sure if...if you can’t, which is perfectly understandable, somepony else can. The last thing we want is for her to turn again out there, Rarity.” It was a disgusting act, made all the more gross by the fact it had to be done by a sibling. Even asking such a thing left a bad taste in Twilight’s mouth. “I...I have to do it. Nopony else...it would hurt too much” Rarity concluded as she shut the door in Twilight’s face. The princess waited by the door and listened. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her friend, she just needed to make sure the act was carried out. Twilight heard the quiet conversation happen, one that was punctuated by short sobs from both unicorns inside. Twilight heard the final ‘I’m sorry’ from Rarity. Twilight heard the sound of a horn cracking and the small burst of magic that followed such an act. The whole castle heard the filly scream in pain. It was horrific. It was gut-wrenching. It was no worse than what was waiting for them all in the very near future.