Twilight stared in shock as Dash refused to be her friend in front of all the ponies gathered before her. If she allowed the defiance to go unchecked, the others would soon be refusing too.
Twilight saw Rarity whispering to Spike and frowned. Her eyelid began to twitch as she heard one of them giggling. She tossed a glare out at the crowd, but they stopped their mockery before she could catch them.
“I’ll give you some time alone to think about that, Dash.” She grabbed the pegasus and Lyra with her magic and trotted off towards the prison. “I’m going to have some really delicious cake with everypony else and you’re not getting any.”
“You can’t force me to be your friend, psycho!” Dash screamed. “You promised not to hurt Scootaloo!”
“I gave you and Scootaloo a gift, Dash! The two of you can be sisters forever now! You’ve always been too thick-headed to realize when I do something nice for you.”
Once they arrived, she locked Dash into a replica jail cell and whispered to Lyra. “See if you can convince her to see reason. I need to go talk to the others.” She set Lyra down outside the cell.
“You know, Dash, I could threaten you, or perhaps I’ll just kill Scootaloo instead. If you want to see psycho, then I’ll be happy to oblige. I really hope you’ll let me do it the nice way. I don’t like when I’m angry.” Twilight slid the roof of the prison over the jail cells, sealing them back up.
“You know, Dash, she let you off easy,” Lyra said.
“How do you figure? The part where she promised to let Scootaloo go, and broke her promise? Or the part where I’m stuck here forever?” Dash asked.
Lyra approached the replica prison cell, sitting down right in front of the bars. “Surely you’ve seen how sad she has been this last year.”
“I’ve been kinda busy, but I can see how crazy she’s been. Not two days after I make it into the Wonderbolts and I’m sitting in a tiny plastic prison cell.”
“You know what I think? I think you and the elements were supposed to be her friends. I think the five of you failed her, and here we are! She’s turning everyone into dolls because of you.” Lyra poked her hoof through the bars, nearly hitting Dash. “You refused to be her friend when she needed you most.”
“Hey! I’m still her friend, I’m loyalty after a—”
“No! Even now you won’t be her friend. Imagine how much it must have hurt to lose her brother and Cadance! How long did you leave her to brood here, all alone in her library?”
Dash got up and rushed the bars to the cell. She threw a hoof, nearly hitting Lyra. “Hey! At least we were her friends! I never saw you hanging out with her, not until you have something to gain from it! What’d she promise? To turn you back into a pony?”
“She promised not to hurt Bon Bon,” Lyra whispered.
“A lot of good that did, I saw her corpse on the way in.”
“She. . . did Rarity tell you how her, Bon Bon, and Vinyl locked me up in a chest and threatened to bury me alive? How they tore down town square and got Filthy and Diamond murdered? Bon Bon deserved to—no. She was mean, but it hurts to know I’ll never hold her again. She betrayed me, yet her death still hurts. . . Imagine how many times Twilight will have to feel that loss.”
“Lyra, I had no idea about Bon Bon.” Dash hung her forelegs through the bar and tried to calm herself down. “It was Twilight’s fault she died! She can’t punish ponies for not being nice to her.”
“Exactly! Nopony wants to be nice, stop and see how Twilight feels. Nopony but me. They just blame her for all their problems and take it out on her! I hope she leaves you here until you get that through your thick skull.”
Dash shouted to her before she got out of earshot. “That’s not the Twilight that was my friend!”
“You’re wrong, and you’re still the Dash who was her best friend, so I suggest you act like it.” Lyra turned and walked out of the Ponyville prison. She found Twilight in the middle of town square. She had managed to use her magic to repair all the damage the ponies had done when they razed the town. The corkboard had been raised off the ground so the ponies couldn’t use it on each other.
Twilight had also realized it was not just ponies that could be transformed. She had seen Opalescence eating out of a dumpster and turned her into a tiny toy cat. After that, she went and got Tank, some random critters, and Angel. Fluttershy’s favorite rabbit had been tricky, but now that he was missing it was only a matter of time before Fluttershy came begging Twilight to help.
The final touch to today’s repairs had been adjusting the spell that simulated a day and night cycle. Most of the town ponies were near the town square, watching Twilight work. They were behaving civil, though most were probably off planning further insurrections.
“Hey, Twilight,” Lyra said.
Twilight turned her focus from the extensive renovations to the unicorn. “Oh, Lyra, how was your walk?”
“It was good. Are the animals I’ve seen running around real?”
“Yeah, I thought they’d liven the place up a bit. Rarity didn’t seem too thrilled to have her cat back, but they seemed to calm down after I locked Dash up.”
Lyra followed her to town hall where she was putting the finishing touches on the painted roof. “So are you feeling better? You’ve seemed stress trying to get so many ponies at once, maybe we should take a break.”
“No. I have to stick to the schedule, they’ll come around. You’ll see, they have to love me.”
Lyra looked around and saw Vinyl leaning against a house staring at her. She lifted her sunglasses and smirked. An involuntary chill passed over Lyra, and she could feel the wooden walls of the locked trunk pressing into her shoulder blades. “Can we go now?”
“Sure, the repairs are done. I have a busy schedule today. Want to hear about my plans for the apple family?”
Colgate was headed to the library to tell Twilight her theory about Bon Bon’s murder. Since the police hadn’t believed her, surely the Princess would. She had been on the receiving end of such belief before. If the stories were true, nopony believed her during the changeling invasion or when Nightmare Moon returned. She would have to believe Colgate.
She found Twilight walking away from the library towards the park and ran to catch up. “Hey Twilight!”
The alicorn turned around and after an odd look, smiled widely. “Colgate! I didn’t know you were still in town.”
“It’s strange right? All the ponies moving out of town, but I think I know why.” She looked around and saw nopony was close enough to eavesdrop.
“I’d love to hear it, I don’t want all the ponies to move out of my town.”
Colgate walked alongside her and quickly focused her thoughts. “Okay, so you remember when Bon Bon’s house exploded?”
Twilight twitched briefly, then recovered. “I do, I really hate to talk about it. . . their death hit close to home.”
“I’m sorry, but I think Bon Bon was murdered.”
Twilight stopped and looked around. “That’s a serious accusation, what would make you think there is a murderer living in Ponyville? According to the court archives the last murder was in Fillydelphia twenty-two years ago.”
Colgate smiled nervously at her intensity. She should have known bringing such a serious accusation to a Princess would get her full attention. “Heh, well you see the teeth showed damage inconsistent with a fire, and I’m not sure who in town might have had a grudge against Bon Bon. Couldn’t anypony have created a leak in the gas line, knowing she would bake something and detonate it? Or what if they . . . tortured her, and used the fire to hide the evidence? What if you or I am next?”
Twilight chuckled. “Why didn’t the police believe you then?”
“I don’t know! They said you closed the case, and that I was mistaken because I’ve never studied forensics. . . but I know Bon Bon and Lyra, I don’t think she’d leave the gas on!”
“Look, you can try to move on—like I have—or you can let it eat at you. Ponies die, even alicorns. Unless you have enough proof to take it to a lawyer, I can’t be of much help.”
“I uh. . .” Colgate took a deep breath. “I’m not sure I have enough evidence. You know—nevermind. You’re right. I’m sorry I wasted your time.” Colgate turned and walked away.
“Colgate, I didn’t mean to sound rude. Do you want some tea?”
“No thanks, take care.” Colgate turned back and smiled briefly. “I think Lyra’s conspiracy theories rubbed off on me.” She turned back and walked home, disheartened. The police, and now Twilight didn’t take her seriously. She couldn’t prove who did it, or why, all she knew was the evidence was inconsistent. Colgate knew her friend was murdered, and barely had enough circumstantial evidence to fill half a piece of parchment.
Sighing, she turned down the street towards her house and resigned herself to try and move on.
Twilight answered the door to the library. “Hello, Silver, I’m glad you came by!”
“I was so excited to come over! Do I really get to learn more about the dolls today?” Silver asked.
“Yes, you can play with them too if you’d like.”
“If I study really hard, can we make a doll of Apple Bloom next? It’s fun playing with the fake Scootaloo and Sweetie dolls, but if I had Apple Bloom I could send them on crusades and get them into lots of trouble.”
“Just for you, Silver, we’ll scan Apple Bloom today. After our lessons, you can go and invite her over to the library. Just don’t let Applejack know, she thinks that animating toy dolls is really stupid. I bet Apple Bloom would love to stop by and see them, though,” Twilight explained.
Silver and Twilight walked over towards the basement. Once they went downstairs, they sat at a small table outside the spell keeping the ponies from escaping. Twilight had left Big Mac in her bedroom, it would not do her any good to let him know her plans for Applebloom. Lyra, on the other hoof, seemed to be showing a level of loyalty that would put Dash to shame.
Twilight smiled. “What’s so funny?” Silver asked.
“I was just thinking about Lyra. Of all my new dolls, she’s easily the nicest.”
Silver watched as Lyra smiled up at Twilight, jealous of the perfect doll. “Can’t you just use the spell to make them all nice?”
“It’s not that simple. They keep the personalities and memories of the ponies I make them out of—from,” Twilight added.
“So you said they’re immortal, right?” Silver shifted in her chair.
“Yeah, they’ll last forever as dolls. So long as nopony destroys their head, that’s where the spell is focused.”
Silver smirked. “So I could do whatever I wanted to the dolls and you could fix them?”
“Yes, you could fix them too if you had the right tools and paints. For instance, if you wanted to have Scootaloo get crushed in a rock slide she’d be perfectly fine. She is just a doll, after all.”
“That could be fun! I’ve always wondered what would happen if they tried cutie mark crusader spelunking.” Silver brought a hoof down on the table. “Splat! Then they would have never been around to make Diamond Tiara angry. She wasn’t very nice to me when she was angry.”
Silver looked away from the table and towards the town. She noticed for the first time the small plastic birds flying around. A small rabbit darted between two bushes.
“You can make dolls from animals? This town is turning out better than the real Ponyville.”
“Yes, pretty soon it will be a perfect replica, minus a few defective dolls,” Twilight explained.
“It’s so lifelike. Even if they were real ponies, it’d still be pretty cool to be a doll. You could live forever with all your friends and never have to get hurt or grow old.”
Twilight grinned with mischief in her eye. “Yes, it really would be cool. Perhaps once I’ve taught you all I know about dolls we can research that. First I need that favor. Go find Apple Bloom and invite her back to play. Remember that I need her to stop by just for a minute so I can make a doll.”
“Okay, then I can play with the dolls again, right?” Silver asked.
Twilight smiled at her sweet young pupil. “Yes, bring Apple Bloom and you can spend a couple hours playing with them however you want.”
“I wonder where it all went wrong. What do you think?” Dash rolled over on the surprisingly accurate replica prison bed. It was just as uncomfortable as the one she had slept in when she was caught drinking underage. Now, she was talking to a brick on the wall that almost resembled a smiley face.
“You think it was when I went back to the Wonderbolts training camp right after the suicide? Should I have demanded Twilight spill out her feelings?” Dash sighed and propped her head up on a foreleg. “I hate talking about feelings.”
Dash looked at the brick for a minute in total silence.
“You’re right, I couldn’t have known. . . Applejack is the element of honesty! She is the one who should have known Twilight was lying when she said she was fine. How am I supposed to be loyal if my friends lie to me?”
Dash lay there under the thin blanket. “How can I be cold and uncomfortable? How did she even make my feathe—wait ugh!” She slammed her hind legs against the wall, sliding the bed an inch away from it.
“This is ridiculous! I’m stuck in Tartarus with a psycho and a bunch of crazy plastic ponies. Maybe Lyra is right, and I need to just lie to Twilight too. If she takes me out of the basement, I could fly out a window easily. I wonder how long it’d take to fly to Canterlot at this size. . .”
Dash was about to roll over and go to sleep when she heard a noise. Somepony was entering the prison. She say up on the bed and looked out the bars. Scootaloo walked up to the prison bars.
She had never been so happy to see the filly in her life. “Aren’t you a little short for a police pony?”
“What? I’m here to rescue you!” Scootaloo explained. She pulled a replica key out from under her wing and opened the jail cell. “Twilight was a little too thorough. She put keys and everything in the police station.”
“Awesome! Maybe we can get out of here, I’ll fly you out.”
“It’s okay, I can fly now too. Whatever Twilight did to me, it fixed my wings.”
“Good. We’ll find Vinyl and find a way outside the barrier. Shen she opens the basement door we can escape!”
Scootaloo sighed. “Will it be that easy?”
“Look at me, Scootaloo.” Dash waited until she was sure Scootaloo was paying attention. “Whether or not Twilight likes it, we’re getting out of here. She will not take the sky away from us. I’m going to teach you to fly, properly, and we’re going to get Celestia to fix this all.”
“What Twilight said to trick me. . .” Scootaloo glanced away and fluttered her wings nervously. “If we get out of this would you adopt me?”
“Of course I’ll adopt you, but you have to promise me something. If you get a chance to escape, you take it no matter what. You leave me here if it means getting out. Celestia is the only one who can help us now.”
Scootaloo looked down at her hooves. “I’m not sure I could leave you behind.”
“If it comes down to it, you have too. Understood?”
Scootaloo chewed on her lip for a moment thinking about it. “If it means I won’t have to be alone anymore, I’ll do it. I want to get out of here and fly with you.”
She pushed the unlocked cell door open. “Now, follow me. Let’s go find Rarity and the others.”
Scootaloo and Dash walked out of the prison. They then tested their replicated feather wings. Whether due to Twilight’s spell or their innate magic, the two pegasi were ecstatic to be able to fly. They flew up towards Dash’s cloud home to survey the town. From here they could see Vinyl and Rarity near the border of town.
“Scootaloo, stay here at the house,” Dash ordered.
“But I—”
“No buts,” Dash interrupted. She smiled over and hugged Scootaloo. “You’re my sister now, and you’ll have to listen to me so I can keep you under my wing. Once I find a way out, we’ll make a run for it.”
Dash flew off towards the border of the town without waiting for Scootaloo to protest. She reached Vinyl and Rarity in seconds. They were sliding the faraday tunnel into position.
“Hey, Vinyl, Rarity, Where’s Octavia?” Dash asked.
“She got frozen last time trying to pass through the barrier. We’ll have to wait for Twilight to either re-animate her or for the moon to rise,” Vinyl explained. “Lyra got her to enchant it so at night we won’t have to be stuck frozen.”
“Why not just ask Twilight to do it for you?”
Vinyl looked away from Dash and shook her head. “Because last time we spoke, she promised to kill Octavia as punishment for my escape attempt. I failed her. . .”
Her ears perked up along with her wings. “You almost escaped?”
“Yeah, until Silver caught me, damn fool.” Vinyl pushed the device into the magical barrier, causing the field to dance with lavender sparks.
Dash glanced at the two ponies. “So you’re going through this barrier again?”
“Yes,” Rarity responded. “Though since you can fly I think you should do it.”
“Sounds good, what should I do?” Dash asked.
Vinyl rubbed a hoof over the tunnel for good luck. “Just go through and scout around, and be sure to check that board over there with her plans on it,” Vinyl explained.
Dash saluted and headed towards the tunnel. “Alright, I’m on it.”
“Oh, one more thing. Look for any gaps in the floorboards, or holes we could tunnel too. It’ll be easier to hide this contraption underground,” Vinyl added.
“Sure thing.”
Dash crawled through the barrier and looked at it from the otherside. It was glowing around the tunnel, yet it had worked. Dash took to the air and began to look around from near the ceiling.
The basement was vast, no longer the small room that Twilight liked to run experiments in. She could see the far mountain ranges of Canterlot, the Everfree forest, and the entire town. Her eyes finally drifted to a corkboard and a partition placed to block it from view of ponies in town.
Dash found a wall covered in a confusing mess of photos, notes, and strings. Her picture jumped out to her, so she approached it. Next to it was the photo of Scootaloo, and a string connected that to Apple Bloom. That photo was connected to Applejack and Granny Smith. Strings ran from them to Mayor Mare, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. They fractured further, reaching ponies such as Cheerilee, Colgate, Cloud Kicker, Featherweight, Peppermint Twist, and a few ponies Dash had not even heard of.
She flew down to the ground to examine a photo that had fallen to the floor. Turning it over revealed Silver Spoon’s photograph. Dash looked around for more fallen photos and found a floorboard that was badly cracked and rotted. It’s location left much to be desired, yet it seemed discrete enough to serve as a permanent escape point.
Looking back at town, Dash made a mental map of where this broken floorboard was compared to the town. She would relay this to Vinyl for her tunnel project, then she would get Scootaloo. The two of them had a better plan, they would fly out the door and get help. If they were lucky, Twilight wouldn’t even notice it.
Dash heard the sound of the basement door opening. Without thinking, she took off flying as fast as she could for the tunnel. It almost felt like a mach cone was forming around her, and she blasted through the gap in the barrier.
The entire barrier shimmered and fluctuated for several seconds. Vinyl and Rarity watched in shock as it appeared to vanish for a split second. The faraday device was blown back as Dash flew through the barrier. The pegasus quickly turned around and grabbed the tube, and began to drag it towards a nearby house.
Vinyl and Rarity followed her, as the basement door swung open.
Apple Bloom was swinging on a swing at the school playground. There were faint trails on her facial coat hairs where she had been crying. Her fellow crusaders had left, and had not even said goodbye. Neither Sweetie nor Scootaloo had been seen around town. Both had missed school today.
It was almost a relief when she saw Silver Spoon coming. They’d never been friends, but at least she was still here.
“Hey, Apple Bloom, you ok?” Silver asked.
“Ah don’t know why everypony is leavin’. My friends, my brother. . . Ah heard Diamond moved too. . . ah don’t suppose you want to be friends?”
“That’s why I stopped by. I’m sorry about Diamond. I heard the crusaders left and thought maybe we could go play with my dollhouse. I mean, unless it’s too boring.”
“Ah think it’d be better than sittin’ on a swing all alone, sure,” Apple Bloom responded.
“Ok, follow me!” Silver exclaimed.
The two began to walk back into town. “So y’all really came ta find me and be friends? And ah thought ah’d seen everything.”
“You’d be surprised who wants to be friends. Twilight let me write a friendship letter.”
“Sis says ah shouldn’t be goin’ round Twilight,” Apple Bloom replied.
“Why not? She’s been awfully nice to me. I told her I like dolls and Twilight told me that she made a tiny Scootaloo and Sweetie doll—is that weird? I mean, you could play with your friends.”
“Ah reckon it’s a tad strange, but it might be neat ta see toy crusaders.” Apple Bloom glanced at the library. “This ain’t your house.”
“I didn’t say we’re going there, I moved my dolls and stuff to Twilight’s. She has much better toys than me, want to see? I bet she can even make a doll of you.”
“Well, just a quick visit. My sis would be awfully sore if she knew ah was hangin’ out with Twilight. Ah think they’re havin’ another fight.”
Silver opened the door and escorted Apple Bloom inside. Twilight was waiting for them with some milk and cookies.
“Welcome over, girls. Want some cookies?” Twilight asked.
“Sure!” Silver replied. She trotted up and ate a couple of the cookies. Apple Bloom joined her to eat the cookies.
“Wow these are good, can ah have this milk?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Sure.” Twilight smiled as Apple Bloom and Silver began to drink the milk.
“Say, Silver, why don’t you go get the dolls ready to show Apple Bloom. I’ll be right down.”
“Okay, Twilight,” Silver said.
She went down to the basement while Twilight stood there, silently staring at Apple Bloom.
“Twilight, ah don’t feel so good. . .” Apple Bloom began. She was gasping for air.
“Sorry, I’m not in the mood for any theatrics and Silver wasn’t ready to see this. I’m turning you into a doll, deal with it,” Twilight spat. She charged her horn and fired it into the struggling filly’s face. Applebloom fell over and quickly turned into a miniature doll.
Twilight carried Apple Bloom down into the basement where she found Silver searching for the other crusaders.
“Apple Bloom couldn’t stay, but she let me scan her. Here you go! I haven’t tested her yet so she may act weird when I activate her,” Twilight explained.
“What about Scootaloo and Sweetie, where are they?” Silver asks.
“Let me help you.” Twilight lit up her horn. Soon Scootaloo was floated out of the cloud house, and Sweetie floated out of town hall. “Clever hiding places, but you’re toys and Silver wants to play.”
“Put us down you monster!” Scootaloo shouted.
“Hehe, I think they’re still broken,” Silver stated.
“Yes, but they’re just toys so if they misbehave you can do this.” Twilight levitated two pins from the corkboard and jammed them through Scootaloo’s wings, pinning them to the filly’s side.
“Ahh! Stop that!” Scootaloo screamed in pain.
Silver watched as Twilight pulled the pins out. “Cool, it acts so life-like.”
“Put her down!” Dash shouted. In a blur, she flew out of the cloud house and collided with Twilight’s eye. The alicorn recoiled in pain, reflexively sending out a pulse of magic. Dash fell to the ground, unmoving, and was joined by the frozen ponies around town.
“Ugh, every doll in this town is crazy!” Twilight yelled.
Silver laughed at the dolls, believing it all a game. “Yeah, but it’s okay. I can play with them like this.”
“Hmm, I’m actually kind of tired. Why don’t you go home, I don’t feel like playing.”
“Aww, can I at least take the crusaders home to play with?” Silver asks.
“Sure, just bring them back in the morning. Have fun.”
“Thanks!” Silver picked up all the crusaders in her mouth and carried them over to her saddlebag, which she left near the door when playing. Once she loaded them up, she headed home to play.
Twilight was about to follow her upstairs when she recalled the towns ponies. She grinned, deciding to animate them to worry about the crusaders. With a flash of her horn she unfroze the ponies and locked the basement door behind her.
Once upstairs, Twilight curled up next to her two favorite ponies for some conversation. She cuddled up to her Big Mac plushy, which she usually left at the same size as she was. He was so warm and fluffy to cuddle with at night, and now that he’d promised not to run away it was nice to have somepony in bed with her on cold nights.
Twilight had promised to leave the apple family out of it. That didn’t include preventing Silver from inviting Apple Bloom over to accidently get poisoned. It also didn’t cover what would happen when a furious Applejack came over to find her little sister. She animated Big Mac and hugged him tightly.
“Y’all in a good mood,” Mac observed.
“This is my favorite part of the day. Sometimes I Think you and Lyra are the only ponies keeping me from doing something horrible to myself. . .”
“Y’all shouldn’t talk like that. Ah’m sure Celestia would help ya—”
“No,” Twilight interrupted. “We’ve talked about that. She’ll just blame me, I’m constantly trying so hard to gain her approval. When I needed her most, when Cadance died, she could barely look at me. She sent Luna to comfort me.
“I was laying in my bed with Cadance’s blood all over me, and she sends Luna to comfort me because Celestia was in too much pain to help her favorite pupil! It’s obvious she loved Cadance more than me. She always did.”
Lyra stepped out of the small house Twilight had built for her on the nightstand. It was little more than one room with a roof and a nice bed, but it gave Lyra a place to live safe from the ponies in New Ponyville that hated her.
“Twilight, that’s not true. If we still love you, I’m sure Celestia does,” Lyra said. “Maybe she just doesn’t know how much she hurt you.”
“Well, she’ll know soon enough. I’m sending her a letter to ask for her advice and see if she’ll send more ponies to Ponyville. The town population is getting too low, and I may need to start the dollhouse over.”
“What do you mean start over? Are you going to get rid of all your friends?” Lyra asked.
“No, I’m going to get rid of all my enemies. Maybe I did it wrong, I’ve been going over the spell calculations in my head all day. If I’d been more careful, they wouldn’t all hate me so much. I’m sure that secretly they all hate me because I got to become an alicorn and they didn’t. That’s why they’re all down there right now plotting their escape.”
“But they’re your friends, Twilight,” Mac said.
“I’m not so sure anymore, Mac. If I offered them a choice, either be my friend or reverse the spell, what do you think they’d pick? They’d all want to be normal ponies again so they could turn me in and run far away. They all hate me, and I’m not sure how many more chances I’ll give them.”
“Why don’t you sit down with them and tell them this? They’re just dolls, it’s not like they can do anything worse than say ‘no’. If you give them a chance, be nice to them again, maybe more will like you,” Lyra offered.
“Maybe I coul—” Twilight was interrupted by a scroll materializing in thin air. She was about to shove it in the bottom drawer of the nearby dresser with the rest of them. Celestia had her chance, she left me when I needed her most. . . Twilight shook the bitterness from her mind and noticed the lump in the letter. Curiosity got the better of her.
My Faithful Princess Twilight,
I received a missive recently from Spike. He must have been feeling ill, for the letter was incinerated. All that came through was this charred figurine toy. If you were attempting to send a letter, please re-send it. I have enclosed the doll incase Spike wants it back.
Your Faithful Ruler,
Celestia
“Oh, look! Berry Punch is back!” Twilight paused to cackle before setting Berry down on the night stand. “It’s not an apology, no, she’s probably sent Luna to apologize for her.” Twilight incinerated the letter.
“Hmm, Berry is badly burned but I may be able to salvage her. Maybe returning her alive will make the ponies like me more. Maybe Berry will like me if I save her life, oh Lyra this will be wonderful!”
“I would like that Twilight, and it’d make me real happy too if we talk to everypony tomorrow. How about Mac and I go with you?” Lyra said.
“I. . . don’t know about Mac.” Twilight buried her muzzle in his mane and inhaled. He was such a wonderful stallion. “The towns ponies have been very cruel lately and if anything happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do.” Mac didn’t know that Applebloom had been turned yet. If she could get Applejack, and have Lyra promise silence, she could hide that from him forever. Then, he would be her faithful teddy pony forever.
“Ah don’t much care for the basement anyhow, too depressin’. At least ah’m warm up here and get ta see the sunlight,” Mac replied.
“Oh, thank you Mac.” Twilight yawned and rolled over, pulling him back in close. “Good night, Lyra, Big Mac. And thank you, thank you for being such good friends.”
With a final squeeze, she levitated the blanket over herself and Mac and closed her eyes.