Ponystuck

by confoundtheseponies

Chapter 42

"Well, she should be here soon," Patchouli sighed. "For now, I suggest you-"

"Twilight!" Spike cried, leaping from behind a bookcase towards Twilight.

"Spike!?" Twilight blinked. When had he left her side? Patchouli watched as the dragon and the mage reunited, before coughing politely.

"How do you know my assistant?" Patchouli asked. Twilight blinked again, before glaring daggers at Spike.

"Is that how it is?" Twilight asked. "We get separated, and you sign up to be the assistant of the first librarian you meet?"

"N-no, that's not it..." Spike sighed. Now that she knew he was safe, Twilight had no problems with making fun of him every chance she got. Luckily, he was spared from any further questioning as a gap opened up in a nearby bookcase.

"... Twilight?" Celestia blinked. She couldn't believe her eyes. Neither, apparently, could Twilight, who leapt towards Celestia with tears in her eyes. "Hey, calm down, no need to get all emotional on me."

"Sorry, I just... I can't believe you're here!" Twilight sighed in relief. Maybe now things could be pieced together a little. "I... do you know where we are?"

"Yeah. This is Gensokyo. It's a different universe to any of the ones you and I have ever been to before." Celestia smiled. "We all got thrown around the place, into different universes like this one. But now that we're together, we have a chance of fixing it."

"Huh?"

"Put simply," Celestia said, warming to her explanation, "all the others are out there, somewhere, falling through gaps just like you and I did. If we can all meet up then I'm sure we can get back to where we need to."

"Even if you say that," Twilight said, "what happened? Why are we all spread out like this? Come to think of it, how do you know about any of that?"

"I'm the Mage of Space, remember," Celestia said happily. "And as the Mage of Time, you should also have some inkling that what I'm saying is true. The instant before we came here, all of space-time was shredded into a billion tiny fragments. Now, as for why that was, I have no idea... but we need to unite everyone again."

"Huh." Twilight shrugged; it didn't really matter whether she understood it or not. "... All of time as well, you say? Does... does that mean-"

"Who knows?" Celestia sighed. "We'll have to wait and see. For now, follow me."

Lesser ponies would have taken the better part of a month, or longer, to have finally reached and killed Alduin. Of course, Ember Glow was not a lesser pony. Forsaking such things as food or sleep, he had made it to the top of the mountain and killed the dragon in less than a week. But he felt like there was something missing. He felt like everything would have gone even smoother and quicker if he'd had his warhammer, but no matter what he did he was unable to recall where he'd put it.

Or, for that matter, why he was so intent on using warhammers. Or, for that matter, what Space had to do with anything. He didn't see what relation it had to him, but he had an undeniable feeling that it definitely did have some importance. These, and other concerns, all weighed down on him as he sat alone atop the mountain.

"What do I do now?" he said aloud, to nopony in particular.

"Stand up," a voice behind him said. "Your fight here is done. It's time we went back." Turning, Ember found himself confronted with two ponies he recognised in an instant. Summer Dawn and Destiny. Both of whom were dead. This meant-

"Am I dead?" Ember asked bluntly.

"No. And, for the record, neither are we," Summer said calmly. "I don't know what you idiots did but something's been massively screwed up."

"So... why... huh?"

"We're from a different timeline," Destiny explained. "Or not. We might be from the same one but earlier on. To be honest it doesn't matter since there aren't any timelines anymore."

"The point is," Summer said, "whatever you guys did, a lot of worlds have become fragmented and intersected. Our whole group is scattered all over the place. Some of us are just slotted in alongside the rest of whatever universe we appear in. Some of us actually take the place of someone who used to be there."

"Uh... huh?"

"Ember. Listen to what we're saying," Destiny said patiently. "All of us are lost, spread out around who knows how many different universes and timelines. Summer and I are gathering everyone together so that we can try to find some way of fixing it."

"But... huh?"

"OK, this isn't working," Summer said. "Ember. If you come with us we'll take you to someone big you can smash up."

"Oh. Sure," Ember said, as he equipped his warhammer, relieved to finally be back in his comfort zone.

Mikoto had neglected to follow Comet into the windowless building. He couldn't blame her, really. Once he was out of here, this mess would be cleared up as far as he was concerned. She would be left to deal with the consequences. It had probably been for the best that she had bid him farewell before he entered. He just wondered why she had been blushing quite so much the whole time.

Not that it mattered. Popping several decades into the past and then forwards again had deposited him inside the building. That's what he assumed, at least. Being windowless, it wasn't like there was anything to tell him where he was exactly. But none of those things concerned him. All that he was concerned about was the all too familiar figure floating in a vat of liquid in front of him.

"Oh, Comet, so nice of you to visit," Discord said happily. "I knew you were coming, but I'm not really in any position to be making cakes." His smile hardened. "Are you here to try and kill me?"

"Frankly I don't care why you think I'm here," Comet said. "What the hell are you up to?"

"Good, good, straight to the point," Discord said. "What am I up to, indeed. Well, last I knew, I'd broken reality into lots of tiny little bits..." He laughed. "And to think that we ended up in the same portion of what was once a coherent universe... I can't tell if that's coincidence or just terrible misfortune on your part."

"So? What was your plan? It doesn't look like you really benefited from this if you're stuck here as well." Comet briefly wondered where the others were, but dismissed the thought. They could manage by themselves for now. "Don't tell me ending up like this was really your plan all along?"

"Hm... I wonder," Discord said. "You're right, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd go to all this trouble for, does it? If you want to know the truth..." he trailed off. "I got a little ahead of myself. I may have made a small miscalculation on the reality-destroying front."

"You think?" Comet raised a hoof to his head and sighed. "So you're just as helpless as all of us, then? Why can't we fix this?"

"I've no doubt that you can," Discord said. "You idiots always seem to survive my traps. The only way of killing you permanently seems to be fighting you directly. For now, though, it's in my best interest that you sort all this out."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

"I could care less," Discord shrugged. "Either way, I'll be waiting here until you sort it out."

"Don't just tell me to fix your mess, you idiot. I don't even understand what happened, much less how to actually do anything about it." This was ridiculous. Comet couldn't believe that their archenemy would do something so stupid. Maybe he wasn't everything the stories had made him out to be.

"On that front, we have a few ideas," Twilight said, as she and Celestia appeared behind him, a gap closing behind them. Comet span around, then glanced quickly between Twilight and Discord. He was unsure who he felt safer turning his back on.

"Oh. Hey Twilight." Comet waved slowly at her. "Why are you here? Don't tell me that not even the dissolution of space-time itself is enough to keep you from me?" Twilight coughed politely. "... or, not even the dissolution of space-time itself is enough to save me from you?" From the scowl on Twilight's face, the second option seemed more likely.

"I don't have time for this," Twilight growled, knocking Celestia on the head. "And stop giggling." She shook her head. "Anyway, Comet. We're here to bring you with us. We're running through the gaps and gathering up everypony. And once we do," she glared at Discord, who was watching the scene with mild interest. "We're going to come back here and smash in that crooked face of his."

"You are, are you?" Discord asked. "Interesting. Suppose I cut you down where you stand before you carry on with your recruitment plan. Like it really matters to me whether I get back to that study; being in control of Academy City isn't a bad gig either. You know, you should check out some of the things this guy was doing before I took his place. He's even more messed up than I am."

"We're leaving," Celestia said, a gap opening up behind her. "We're going to sort out what you did to reality, and then we're going to pay you back for it."

"I'd wish you luck," Discord said happily as the three ponies stepped through the gap and into a universe beyond. "But I think you're setting the bar a little high there. No one can repair space-time now. There's no hope."

"True," Celestia said, smiling evilly at Discord. Just as the gap drew shut behind her, she saw Discord's eyes widen at her words. "That being the case, we'll just have to go find some."

"I went and spoke with the door mainframe. Let's just say he won't be... well, living anymore."

The voice cut out again as Acapella chuckled joylessly at the comment. The door finally opened and she strode forwards into the next chamber. Or, so she would have done, except a hoof lightly tapped her on the shoulder. She span around.

"Hey," Comet said. "It's been a while."

Applejack sat alone in the train station. It was far too late for anyone to come visiting for a while, so the others would have time to find and stop her. No one else needed to get hurt because of her. That was what she kept telling herself, at least. The sound of echoing hoofsteps reached her, as Rainbow Dash finally walked over to her and sat on the bench beside her.

"I finally found you," she breathed, exhausted from her journey. Applejack didn't even turn her head, continuing to stare at the ground. "You know, AJ, you can be really stubborn sometimes."

"Sorry," Applejack said finally, without looking up. "Ah guess y'all have wasted your time for me."

"... what's wrong with you? You're acting strangely," Rainbow said.

"Yeah, Ah guess," Applejack said quietly. "That's because Ah don't really care anymore. About what Ah was doing, or what Ah thought Ah could do. It's all gone now." Rainbow looked at her in concern. Applejack smiled sadly, as she lifted her hooves - beneath them lay the small round gem that was her soul, although it was almost unrecognisably covered in a dark, black colour. Rainbow recoiled at the sight - this was worse than she had expected. "Do you remember when you told me the balance has to be kept between hope and despair?" Applejack asked. "Now Ah see what you meant."

"AJ... you can't-"

"Somepony has to be cursed to balance another's happiness," Applejack said. She lifted her head, tears falling from her eyes as she smiled sadly at Rainbow. "Ah'm... Ah'm really stupid."

With that, a sudden explosion knocked Rainbow backwards in a blast of pure despair, as Applejack collapsed onto the ground in the centre of the vortex, her soul gem lifted above her in the eye of the storm.

"Applejack!" Rainbow yelled, as she grabbed onto a railing and held on for dear life against the raging storm. Was this it? Was this the end?

As if to answer her question, a pony she had never seen before suddenly appeared next to her, leaping off of the railing and flying into the heart of the storm. She was a blue pegasus, although it was a far deeper blue than Rainbow, and was holding a large rifle in one hand. Reaching Applejack, she dragged the farm pony to her feet and shook her awake.

"Yes," Summer Dawn said, hugging her as Applejack's eyes opened sleepily while the storm raged on around them. "You really are." And with that, she did her Lighty thing.

Silently, Discord fumed inside the reinforced container in which he gently bobbed around in. Celestia's last remark was still burning away at him. Of course, he should have realised immediately. Little things like being dead or permanently trapped in another universe didn't mean much when the rules had been torn to shreds. There was every possibility - no, it was an absolute certainty - that Silver Heart was somewhere out there.

That was a name he didn't want to think about. Doing so did nothing but remind him exactly what she had thought of him before sacrificing herself. It was also the reason he didn't immediately leap outside to try and find her. What would be the point?

Still, what could they do? Even if things were repaired, he would just kill them and start over. No matter what, no matter how long it took him, he was going to get the ending he wanted.

"Huh," Star Swirl said, as he and Luna appeared in a dark, quiet city along with the others. "Nice place."

"Yes, it is a bit horrid, isn't it," Comet said, as he surveyed their surroundings. There were lights all around them, but the entire city seemed to give off an air of pure hatred and isolation. In the clouds above, a storm was brewing.

"It's only natural," Rarity said, as the new arrivals noticed her for the first time. "Given what's fast approaching."

"And what is fast approaching?" Celestia began, but before Rarity could answer she and her friends were suddenly knocked to the ground by an overjoyed Twilight. "Oh, look at that. How cute. She turned to Luna. "Hey, how come we never have teary reunions like that?"

"Maybe it's because neither of us are dead," Luna pointed out, before turning to look at Summer. "I suppose you can clarify what's happening?"

"This city is about to become a battlefield," Summer said. "Some kind of terrible, super-powerful witch is going to appear and kill everyone. These girls were meant to stop it, but frankly I don't see how it's possible. Given what I know, that is."

"Me and Acapella are witches, too," Luna pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is a different universe. Different rules. Here, a witch is more like an entity of pure despair. Just by arriving in the city, thousands of ponies will die," she sighed. "This one is particularly dreadful, too. I don't know much about the mechanics of this universe, but I know enough to be worried when Rarity told me all the stories that she'd gathered about it."

"So... let's get out of here quickly, then," Star Swirl summarised. "No sense in sticking around to save this universe, is there?"

"Ordinarily I would agree," Comet said. "However. Everyone's now gathered except for Diamond, Silver Heart and Pinkie Pie."

"And Mild," Destiny added, but no one heard her.

"I believe that by combining Pinkie's power with Twilight and Celestia's, along with some help from Silver, reality can be sorted out," Comet continued. "The mages of Time and Space should at least be able to influence all the scattered shards. Pinkie can help their power reach through the nothingness between them, and Silver can cross her hooves or something. That usually seems to work."

"OK," Star Swirl agreed, "and all of that means we can't leave because..."

"What'll happen once we leave? We're going to return to where we were? About to be crushed beneath Discord and the King?"

"Don't tell me," Rainbow Dash said, worming her way out of Twilight's hug and walking over to them. "That we're just going to leave things like this?"

"That's not what I meant," Comet said. "All but two of us have assembled now. We're almost at our optimum fighting ability. All of us are Gods except for Swirly, Destiny, Summer and Fluttershy. You three," he gestured at Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack. "You were powered up to the level of Gods when you accepted Angel's magical suicide pact or whatever it was. You're not literally Gods so you can't do any of your fancy shit like we can, but you're still very powerful. Not sure if that'll last once we get back to the game." He paused. "Come to think of it, I'm not sure if you'll die once we get back to the game."

"What's your point?" Summer asked.

"My point is, it'd be quicker and easier to take care of that," Comet pointed behind them. "While we have the chance." The others turned, staring in shock and awe at the mighty being which was slowly descending upon the city. A colossal figure, whose body seemed to emanate sheer dread.

"Well, there's a surprise," Celestia said, as the King made his appearance.

Although the snow was now thick, Pinkie could not feel anything. After all, her body was made out of scrap. She couldn't feel the cold of winter any more than she could feel the warmth of her friend. She knew it was cold, however, because her friend was beginning to become slower. When she slept, she remained asleep for longer and longer.

Maybe, if the world became entirely white, she would fall asleep forever. Then Pinkie would be alone, in this empty world.

And so Pinkie had convinced her friend to help her build something. A machine that could take them to the sky, where they could escape this lonely world and return to a place full of friends and warmth.

She only hoped that they would finish it in time.

"Damn it." The chunk of skyscraper hurtling towards Ember fell into a pocket of space and promptly fell into a black hole several billion light years away. "I don't care if it's a witch, or a king, or whatever," he said, as he began his attack, transportalising away the countless lumps of metal and rock that the King was throwing towards him. "I'll kill it no matter how long this takes."

"Your determination is admirable," Twilight said, as a huge boulder instantly aged twenty billion years and collapsed into dust just before hitting her. "But if anypony has any clever ideas it would be much appreciated."

"It's hard to come up with strategies that work against something so unfairly big," Acapella said. "I don't suppose we could challenge it to a game of chance? I mean, we have Summer..."

"That's surprisingly underhanded of you," Summer complimented, as she activated her fraymotif. A hundred million rifles appeared around the King, and began firing a constant barrage into his carapace. "But I don't have enough control over Light at the moment. Maybe if I was God tier it would be a different story."

"Ya still managed to get lucky enough to save me," Applejack pointed out, evoking her Lifey thing to perform the most powerful of all life magic. Very little happened, although the King's shoulders began to steam slightly. "Not that Ah can see how ya could get this thing to agree to something like that. Damn, this thing's tougher than Ah gave it credit for."

"What was it you said, Comet?" Rarity asked, as she and a million clones attacked the King from all angles. "Quicker and easier, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and I stand by that," Comet said. "This is still more in our favour than it would be if we didn't have the extra help." Disappearing back in time for a few seconds, he reappeared with a large diamond-encrusted book. He swung it into the King, whose entire body shook from the impact. The assembled ponies paused for a few seconds, to inspect the damage. A panic quickly spread through the group when they realised there wasn't any, and Comet found himself falling through the air as Celestia teleported him out of the way of the King's retaliation. "OK, screw this bullshit. What the actual hell are we supposed to do?"

"OK, let's think about this a different way," Luna said. "This guy's carapace is stupidly powerful, right? There's literally nothing we can do to get rid of it. Which means if we did manage to get rid of it, I bet the inside is really weak and squishy. So once that's out of the way this fight will be doable."

"That's wonderful news Luna," Destiny said approvingly. "Except there's literally nothing we can do to get rid of it."

"We've been spreading out too much," Ember said. "If we all focus on one point at the same time then we might be able to make a gap in the armour." There was silence as everyone tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"Did..." Fluttershy began, "did Ember just..."

"Have a good idea?" Acapella finished.

"Now I can die without any regrets," Comet said, just before Celestia had to save him again, the ground beneath him melting away. "OK, maybe I'd like to stop this thing first. And finish my book. Come to think of it I still have plenty of regrets. Let's kill this bastard."

"Fine by us," a voice behind him said. Turning, a small smile crept over Comet's face. Behind him stood a group of ponies he didn't recognise, but at the front was a grinning Misaka Mikoto, a small coin hovering beside her. Next to her stood Patchouli Knowledge, Itsuki Koizumi, and - to Destiny's great joy - some kind of giant yellow rat.

"Heheh," Comet grinned. "This just keeps getting better."

"Hm? Who's this?" Mio asked, as she and Ritsu entered the club room. The others were happily sat around the table, along with a rather conspicuous grey unicorn.

"Oh, Mio, Ritsu, come over here!" Yui said excitably. "This is Mild! He's only just got here, but he's already settling in just fine!"

"He really is," Mugi said happily, as she set about pouring some more tea. "Sawa-chan was just here, and she thinks that with a bit of practice he'd have a wonderful singing voice."

"Huh, really?" Ritsu looked the unicorn up and down, before shrugging and picking up her tea. "Well, the more the merrier."

Mild sighed and drank some more of his tea. These girls were insufferably slow and terribly dull company, but he supposed that there wasn't anything else he could be doing while he waited for the others. He'd been feeling rather stressed lately, after all. What would be the harm in having a few cups of tea while he waited for the others?

After all, surely it was just a matter of time before they came to get him.

"Sun Sign - Royal Flare!" Patchouli cried, the air around her erupting into a brilliant supernova of magic, knocking away the King's attack with ease. While the King was stunned, Ember leapt into the sky and once again performed his most devastating attack.

Once again, the entire universe paused to watch as even the King was knocked to his knees by the single most devastating attack known to science. As she watched the mighty inferno, Patchouli frowned.

"I swear I've seen that before..."

"You can worry about that later," Celestia said, warping her gaps around the King as he threw an arm forwards. "Stop hitting yourself," she said, as the King's fist slammed into the back of his knee. "Stop hitting yourself," she said, as the King's head rose up and collided with his back. "Stop hitting-FUCK!" she yelled, as the King's sword cut through her spatial distortion and almost killed her before she was knocked out of the way by a stream of purple light. Once she reached safety, it reformed into Koizumi.

"Love Sign - Master Spark!" Star Swirl yelled, firing the giant laser which had quickly become his favourite attack into the King, knocking its fist backwards at an unpleasant angle. Patchouli frowned, looking towards him with a curious expression.

"I've definitely heard that one before."

"Doesn't matter," Comet said. "Although, Swirly, I see you've chosen to keep up with yelling its name like I told you to."

"Force of habit, really," Star Swirl replied, before leaping into the future to dodge the King's retaliation.

"It looks like we might be getting through," Acapella said. "Luna, aim at the neck."

"Sure," Luna said, unleashing a billion arrows on the King from every direction, which drove into the plating around his neck. Most bounced off or snapped, but a good number managed to stick into the carapace. "Looks like he's getting worn down," Luna commented. "Anyone else got any bright ideas?"

"Of course I do," Rainbow said, as she and Fluttershy dove towards the King. "Are you ready, Fluttershy?" She nodded, and Rainbow did her Windy thing. A powerful gale suddenly picked up, and the King was buffeted from all sides by the sheer force of the wind. As he span around, Fluttershy flew straight through the storm, lance in hoof. Ducking beneath a limb which vainly attempted to swat her out of the sky, she drove forwards and stabbed the lance into the base of the King's neck. Finally, after the countless attacks on the carapace, a small crack appeared, and the lance forced the shell open. The King roared, and the two pegasi were knocked away, crashing into the distant buildings.

"OK, we've got somewhere now," Comet said. "It's time to-" Before he could finish, Applejack ran past him towards the King, equipping her most powerful scythe. "AJ, wait, we're not-" Ignoring him, Applejack leapt towards the exposed gap in the King's shell, slashing into it with all of her strength even as the King's sword came slashing up towards her.

"AJ!" Summer cried, flying towards Applejack just in time to knock her out of the way, but not in time to get out of the way herself. Applejack fell to the ground, as well as most of Summer. The King, bleeding profusely from his wound, and with more of his carapce torn off by Applejack's attack, still stood, just as imposing as ever.

"..." Comet closed his eyes slowly, far too late to avoid seeing one of his friends getting cut in half by the unfairly overpowered offspring of bad luck and his own incompetence. "... Mikoto." The Railgun looked at him quizzically. "Please. Just finish this." She nodded, turning towards the King and eyeing the small gap in his armour as he swatted away the barrage of attacks from the others.

300-400

"Damn it all again," Diamond said irritably. Just when it had seemed like things were going away, she had been pushed into a corner like this. With 2 Hyper-Venom counters in place, Silver was going to win next turn. There was nothing she could do, except... she smiled as she drew her last card. "Or maybe not, after all. I summon 'The Six Samurai - Yariza' in attack mode!" Her final monster appeared beside her. "Now, I activate the trap card Return of the Six Samurai to special summon Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan from my graveyard."

"Yawn," Silver said, rolling her eyes at Diamond's struggle. "Let's get this over with."

"Yariza's effect means it can attack directly while I control another Six Samurai monster. So..." Diamond smiled viciously. "I win." Her monster leapt towards Silver, who simply burst into laughter.

"Oh, my, you win, do you?" Her gaze hardened. "Well, we can't have that, can we? I activate the trap card 'Fairy Wind'. It destroys all face-up spell and trap cards on the field and deals 300 damage to both players for each card destroyed."

"But... but that means..." Diamond looked at the field in a panic. The only face-up card was Ultimate Offering, which made it 300 damage to both of them.

"Game, set," Silver began, "and-"

"I activate Swiftstrike Armour!" Diamond cried in a final desperate bid for survival, as her hidden trap card now opened to reveal itself. Now there were two face-up cards, making the damage 600.

"What?" Silver shouted, fuming at Diamond's trick. "But... what... you mean it's a draw!? What happens now!? What if-"

Before she completed her thought, the two ponies, and the entire stadium, were engulfed in a sudden flash of light, followed by darkness.

"... is it... over?" Luna asked, as she tried to look up and failed miserably. She was lying on her back in a pool of water, rubble scattered all around her. Something had ended, she just wasn't sure if it was the battle or her life.

"I think so," Star Swirl said, lying in a similar manner beside her. "I think we won, Luna."

"Thank the six that you're still alive," Luna said. "I was worried about you when you used that master spark again."

"Heh, sorry to worry you," Star Swirl said. "... urgh, I feel awful."

"So do I," Luna replied. "What about the others?"

"I think a lot of us did die," Star Swirl said. "Luckily I don't think it was anyone who wasn't already dead." This struck Luna as incredibly sad. Slowly, painfully getting to her feet, she looked over at Twilight, who was standing with a dark expression after losing her friends twice.

"... what now?" Luna asked.

"Now?" Twilight smiled grimly. "Now, we find Silver and Pinkie. Now, we get back to the game and find Discord. Now... now I make him pay for even thinking of hurting me and my friends."

"Silver?" Now that the others had arrived in this lonely world, Pinkie had found herself able to talk again. She pulled on Silver Heart's hoof, trying to get her friend to stand, but she remained lying in the ground, her eyes closed. Snow was beginning to cover her, so Pinkie pulled even more urgently.

"Hey," Silver whispered, causing Pinkie to pause in disbelief. "... you're there, right?"

"Of course I am," Pinkie said. If she had a real body, she might have been holding back tears. For however long they had been there, she and Silver had been each other’s only company. "I'm always by your side, right?" Silver smiled sadly.

"Thanks." She was silent for a few minutes, while the blizzard continued raging around them. "I was having a dream. I learned a lot of things... about myself, about you."

"Yes," Pinkie said. "We were in a game together. We never met, but we were on the same side. We were never meant to meet here. We were meant to meet in the other world, and become friends there. That's why you and I have to go back there now, right? Everyone's here to take us back." Silver sighed, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I have to stay here. Because in this world... no, I am this world. I am what is keeping this place here." For a fraction of a second, the scene changed - Silver was not lying in the snow in a dead world, she was staring into the fires of oblivion as the light of Skaia grew to envelop her. "Nothing can save me from this. I will forever stay here, on the brink of the Scratch." In that instant, Pinkie understood. She stood in silence, barely registering that the blizzard had stopped.

"But... I can't..."

"It's OK," Silver said. "I will be waiting here, forever, but that's fine. You have to go with the others, back to the world filled with friends and warmth, to save it. Just... just promise me one thing." Pinkie nodded, taking Silver's hoof again.

"What is it?" Pinkie asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Silver smiled as her eyes drew shut. Behind her, Twilight and Celestia followed suit, and the air began to glow. "... Silver?" Suddenly, the glow burst into a bright flare of light, swallowing up everypony present. And yet, as she was thrown through time and space, Pinkie knew that Silver had been left behind, her last words ringing in Pinkie's ears.

"Please save my Golden."