“I’m gettin’ too old fer this,” Applejack muttered, picking herself off the forest floor. She felt around for her hat, unable to find it until she looked up and saw a pink hoof offering it to her. “You say that [i]every[/i] time we wanna do something fun,” Pinkie said, Applejack snatching the hat from her and putting it firmly on her greying mane. “That’s because it’s true,” Applejack said. “I shouldn’t be out in the dang Everfree.” “If you really thought that, you wouldn’t have left,” Fluttershy whispered. Applejack looked back at her, laying on a travois and shivering under the blanket they’d given her. She’d never have been able to walk there on her own. “Just rest, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, brushing the pegasus’ thinning mane and adjusting her pillow. “We’re almost at the castle.” Fluttershy nodded and settled down again, quickly passing out again. “Do we have a plan for what we’re gonna do when we get there?” Applejack asked. “Whatever we need to,” Rarity said. “I’m sure Twilight will listen when she sees all of us there,” Pinkie assured them, smiling weakly. Applejack couldn’t help but glance up at the sky, filled with auroras and caught between day and night, just like it had been for too long, now. “It’s the good old days all over again, isn’t it?” “Ain’t much [i]good[/i], just [i]old[/i],” Applejack muttered, looking down and using her hat to block out the unnatural sight, focusing on the dark castle ahead. [hr] “Twilight, git out here, we ain’t all immortal an I don’t have time t’ run around lookin’ fer ya!” Applejack yelled, her voice echoing from the ancient stone walls with a fair approximation of the volume of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Go [b]away,[/b] Applejack.” The voice came from everywhere at once. “We came out here because we’re worried for you,” Rarity said, her horn projecting a beam of light as she searched the dark corners for their friend. “Where are you? We just want to talk, darling.” “I brought cupcakes!” Pinkie Pie added, pulling a box from her saddlebags, not quite up to producing something from nowhere today. “I [b]told[/b] you to go away!” In a flash of magenta fire, Twilight teleported in front of them, fuming with anger. The years had been kinder to her than the others, leaving her taller and stronger instead of crumpled and weak. Even Rarity couldn’t hide all the wrinkles she’d accumulated, no matter how many spa treatments she got and how much makeup she used. “If you really want us to go, we will,” Applejack said. “But we gotta set things right, Twi.” “You can’t make things right,” Twilight spat. “We made a stop before we came here,” Applejack said, tugging on the strap of her saddlebags and making a mess of it, the side spilling open. Gold and gems tumbled out onto the cracked marble floor, Twilight recognizing them in an instant. “The Elements of Harmony?” She asked. “Why? Were you going to try and blast me with friendship and rainb-” the word caught in her throat, and she looked away. “I know you miss her,” Rarity said, stepping closer. “We all do.” Rarity’s blue aura surrounded the lone tiara among the jewelry scattered on the ground, settling it on Twilight’s head. She gave the others their elements, adjusting Applejack’s when she put it on crookedly. “We weren’t going to use them against you,” Pinkie said. “We brought them to help you remember all the things we did together.” She hugged Twilight, waving for the others to join in. Applejack and Rarity helped the sleeping Fluttershy into the group hug. Twilight sniffled, tears leaking from her eyes when her friends embraced her. A spark ran through them, and all five of them felt something, a presence that hadn’t been there before. [i]“I’d never leave you guys hanging.”[/i] Twilight gasped and opened her eyes in surprise, and the warmth vanished, the spell broken. Loyalty clattered to the ground, the red gem still faintly glowing. The noise startled Fluttershy awake. “What happened?” She asked, looking around. “I was having a nice dream. Dash was there, and we were all having a nice picnic in the sun.” “We can still have the picnic,” Rarity said, running her hoof through Fluttershy’s mane. “Pinkie brought cupcakes, and Twilight can take care of the rest.” Twilight smiled crookedly and wiped her eyes, nodding. Her horn lit up, and the sun rose over the horizon.