"Hello?" A soft voice asked over the cell phone. "The ID says it-"
"Yes Apple Bloom, it's me." Applejack responded, smiling happily. "Where are you, are you OK?"
"Applejack!" The girl shouted, a tearful smile overtaking her as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle yawned and woke up, looking at their cheerful friend. "I can't believe you're safe!"
"Neither can I, sugarcube." The cowgirl confessed. "I'm just glad you three aren't here... where are you anyways?"
"We're at Scootaloo's house, her parents are having us hole up in the basement for our safety." Apple Bloom rubbed the cement floor, wishing she'd gone camping like Twilight and company had.
"Scootaloo has parents?" Applejack asked Fluttershy, who was busy trying to clean her friend's blood off and repressing this experience. "She never talked about 'em." The orange girl said, humming and sighing sadly. "Anyways, I'm sorry about what happened. I-It's our fault for trusting you with a group of strangers."
"Applejack?" The girl asked. "Are you feeling OK? You just went from happy to confused to sad in three sentences..."
"Just a bit woozy, I'm probably a bit funny on account of the surgery."
"Surgery?" Apple Bloom parroted. "The hospitals are all clogged up, how did you-"
"Let's- I'll explain later. For now, I gotta meet up with the rest of the girls."
"Wait. Do you know if Rainbow or Rarity are-" she paused, unsure how to say this without upsetting her friends.
"No, no I don't." Applejack sighed, the heavy feeling crashing down on her that her friends were gone. Both sides were silent, the two wishing they were together to help each other. "I have to go now, Apple Bloom. Stay strong, we'll get through this." Hanging up, Applejack let out a deep breath while Fluttershy finished washing her hands. The cowgirl looked at her companion with a quiet gratitude. "Let's go to the girls, maybe they'll know what to do." The quiet girl nodded solemnly in response, setting her bloodied gloves in a trash can.
Back at camp, Twilight and company had begun packing up in anticipation for Inapan's inevitable strike. Well, what was left of them. Spike, Sunset, and Pinkie Pie worked on packing up while Twilight took a deep breath and tried to relax.
"We don't have to do this, you know." Sunset said, worried.
"No, we do. Inapan's getting stronger and smarter every day, even our friends can't be trusted anymore. I'll stay here and tell Applejack and Fluttershy the new hiding place. If they don't show up within three hours, I'll come to you. If I'm not there by the stroke of noon, assume the worst." Twilight said, taking a deep breath and putting on her mask.
"And if you're late?"
"Then it won't be me. Ask me a question, a question only the eight of us know the answer too, something Inapan would never know even if it was staring her dead in the face. If the answer's wrong, then you'll need to fight for your life."
"I'm sorry it came to this, Twilight."
"I am too." The two hugged as Pinkie hefted the tent and supplies onto her back, struggling to move.
"Pinkie, maybe we should leave the others' supplies here." Spike said, putting a paw on her leg.
"No!" Pinkie shouted, "no. They'll want their stuff when they come back."
"What makes you think they'll come ba-" Spike cut himself off, realizing what was happening. "I mean... why don't you let Sunset and I help? You might hurt yourself." Pinkie gave a small smile and set the supplies down, looking through it and passing Spike Rarity's small 'Hope Chest' and setting aside Rarity's backpack for Shimmer to pick up.
"Thanks, Spike."
"It's what friends do."
As the group went their separate ways, Twilight sat down and opened her backpack, looking over her journal. There had to be something, something from the ship, from the fights, something that would tell her how to deal with Inapan. Even with their powers the stakes grew ever more dangerous, and if they didn't do anything Inapan would soon overtake them. The unusual weapons, the power limiters, the cloning tech, everything she read and reread just showed her how outgunned they truly were. The more she read of the aliens the more furious she grew until finally she threw the book into the dense woods, embedding it in a tree. She tore off her mask and held her head in her hands. All signs pointed to failure, no matter how she sliced it. She was stuck.
Then it hit her. Not an opponent like she had feared, but an idea. Stuck, the power limiters, their powers. She knew how to defeat Inapan! She began laughing and running to her mask, picking it up and cleaning it off. "I have it, I have it! I know how to kill her!" She announced, not just to herself, but to a rustling in the bushes. She stopped, realizing the attention she must have drawn. She stood stalk still, hoping it was just a wild animal. As the rustling grew louder and louder she felt relaxed actually, happy with her eureka moment. All she needed to do now was to tell her friends.
"Kill who?" Asked a sultry, bitter voice. Twilight slowly turned around, shuddering as she hoped it was a passing stranger. As the figure entered her vision, she saw the purple and silver jumpsuit. She saw the flowing red and yellow hair and matching wings. She saw the heartless red eyes. She saw that the figure was taller than she was. She saw Second Sunset, and began backing away.