A/N: Alright! The next chapter is going to be the final one for this story, and I really hope that everyone has enjoyed it so far!

Go on, little ones. I'll watch Cherry Crisp for you, I promise.

Silver Spoon watches as the six fillies treck on before her, their heads down and their hooves dragging the ground. They don't understand why Silver Spoon isn't going with them, and the teacher knows that. In a way, she doesn't either - but when the shadows engulfed her and she saw nothing but night and freezing coldness, Silver Spoon came to a realization.

Every pony has a story. A role that they must play, a fight they must win, an adventure that they belong too.

This? This isn't Silver Spoon's story. Hers is the tale of a young filly that went missing and never came home, not of a search for parents, for love untold.

This is their story, and her role in it is done.

-x-x-x

"You said you knew what that was?" asks Moonlight Shimmer, gaze landing on the strange not-pony that walks beside her.

Ursa's gaze is hollowed and frightened, her ears buried in her mane. "Uhuh."

Silence - save their hooves forcing their way through thorns and bracken.

"Are there more of them?" asks Moonlight Shimmer, chest roiling and stomach churning. She can feel specks of blood begin to dry on her pelt.

Ursa's throat is tight, and she gives a single nod. "Uhuh."

Silence - save an impatient snort from Ruby, a frightened snort from Misty Fly.

"Are you going to tell us what it was?" asks Moonlight Shimmer, and she doesn't want to be mean but she is just so scared and lost and alone, and Ursa is not making this trip any easier and Silver Spoon isn't there to offer any more comfort.

Ursa finally stops walking, looks over the other ponies that she doesn't know and doesn't really want too, because her mother always spoke of how cruel they all were to outsiders. "It was sent by the Stars. They want us gone."

-x-x-x-

The deeper into the Endov Forest that the small group of fillies travel, the more dense it grow, until the trees loom above and behind and beside them, and branches scrape their flanks like claws.

No one speaks.

No one wants to lead - but eventually, the path grows too small

too trecherous

too dangerous, and one pony has to go first, leading all of the others. They stand there debating for the longest of times, and who can blame them? This forest is known for bringing an end to all things who enter it, be they lives or journeys or quests, and they have all seen what the creatures dwelling in the steady growing darkness can do.

Lemon Lime thinks of Cherry Crisp and quails backwards. Beside her, Ruby thinks of her mother, of Rainbow Dash, and steps forward - and, oh, she is such a sight to see! Her dark red mane is matted and tangled in briars, her pale coat ruffed and spattered with mud, with small specks of blood from where she has been snagged and tugged backwards.

She looks nothing like the prim and proper pony that Rarity has always dreamt she would be, but rather the fiesty soul that she truly is. Her eyes are bright and, even though she is scared and upset and her flanks heave with each heavy breath, this is what she knows

longs for

has always wanted. This is as close to being free as she has ever been.

"I'll go first," says Ruby, ears flicking at the rapidly narrowing and darkening path ahead of them.

Moonlight Shimmer blinks, steps close to her unicorn friend. "Are you sure, Ruby? You don't need too, we can always try and find another way in."

And they could, supposes Ruby, but she nods anyway. "Our parents are in there, and if this is the quickest way...then I say we take it."

-x-x-x-

They do.

Within moments, they regret it.

-x-x-x-

The shadows here, deep in the Endov Forest, they aren't normal. They are alive, thriving and reaching, as though night had set long ago and gained a mind of its own.

Lemon Lime gulps, shies a little closer to Chaotic Jewel. "Is it just me, or is everythin' gettin' cold all of a sudden?"

The dracoequis nods, a shiver runs down her spine. "I think that it's all of these shadows. They aren't right, Lemon. It's like they're all alive...Like they want something from us."

The earth filly nods, green mane flopping into her face. "That's the feelin' I was gettin' too."

-x-x-x-

Alive indeed, those shadows are, and they race across the ground after the group of frightened mares. Faster

faster

faster, until even Misty Fly has black tendrils trying to wrap into her gray tail. The young filly gives a frightened whinny and kicks out, sending sparks of starshine fluttering out of the blackness.

"Run!" she screams, leaping forward. Her hooves barely graze a protruding root. Chaotic Jewel's catch on it. She trips and goes down.

Misty Fly tries to skid to a stop, but Lemon Lime beats her to it. Spins around and charges at the spot where Chaotic Jewel fell, leaps over the prone filly and in front of the oncoming darkness.

"Git on now," she shouts, striking the ground with one hoof. "Git!"

It takes a long moment for any of her friends to realize that she isn't speaking to the shadows, but to them. Not until Lemon Lime smiles over her shoulder at them and the path ahead seems just a little bit brighter.

-x-x-x-

"Why won't you move?" cries Moonlight Shimmer, trying to force her friend to take another step, to move away from the onslaught of starshine and shadows

deeper into the tunnel of ice and fallen night

closer to the home of a forever dim star and two ponies captured, trapped, twisted to do its bidding.

Ruby snorts and doesn't move. Her hooves are rooted to the spot. Even though she is chilled to the bone

frightened

sore

and lost, she stands her ground. Ruby holds her head up high, challenging all who dare come close to the path that her friends are headed down. When she speaks, it is with all the honesty a mare with nothing left to lose.

"Because I need too," answers Ruby. "I've never been able to make my mom proud, but that doesn't mean I don't love her. I don't want her hurt, and you all can save her!"

"But-" tries Moonlight Shimmer, only to be cut off before she can even begin.

Ruby snorts again, eyes blazing embers. "Go on, guys! Make sure that you find my mom!"

-x-x-x-

Give

give

give, that is the mantra that Misty Fly has lived by. For her parents, for her sister, for her friends, the young earthpony has handed out far more than she has gained. Let dreams be achieved, loves be found, and friendships made into forever statues - all by others, because they deserve to be happy.

I do too, supposes Misty Fly, as she looks into the hollowed tunnel before her. Something inside of it gives a low, trembling growl.

Chaotic Jewel whines low in her throat and backs away, as though she had just been threatened with losing it all. Which isn't far from the truth, actually, but Misty Fly doesn't know that.

Just that this is her moment.

Her last chance to give.

So she tries to keep her voice steady when she speaks; I'll go first and lead it away. Make sure that you stay far enough behind me.

So she tries to pretend that she isn't trembing; it's just the cold and nerves and a touch of excitement at the prospect of really and truly running as fast as she can.

So she tries to tell herself that she can make it; do more than just lead the shadow beast down the tunnel of shadows and bark.

Trying isn't winning though, and it certainly isn't giving.

-x-x-x-

In every story, there is a hero and for every hero, there is someone willing to die in their place.

In this story, this here and now and once upon a time, we started out with seven fillies and a mare, each uncertain of their place in this tale. Now, we are down to three brave fillies - and all but one know their place, know the end to this story, so when the next hurdle arrives they meet it head on.

"Papa always said that if I worked really hard at finding a mentor, I might earn my Cutie Mark," says Ursa, looking up at the looming wall of frozen rock before her.

Moonlight Shimmer shifts closer to the strange not-pony, trying not to attract too much attention from Chaotic Jewel. "Do I know your parents?"

A pause, and then Ursa shakes her head. Golden bangles clack against each other, mix with the sound of heavy breathing and creeping shadows, and they begin to spark with the black of night. "No, but I think our mama's know each other. They don't get along."

"Oh," says Moonlight Shimmer, trying hard not to deflate as she takes a half-step closer to the ice blockage. "I guess that doesn't matter. I mean, I haven't known you for a ver long time, Ursa, but I think you're really nice."

Ursa all but trips over herself as she spins to face the unicorn filly. She looks surprised and desperate and disbelieving all at once. "You do?"

"Mhm," says Moonlight Shimmer. From the corner of her eye, she can see Chaotic Jewel moving towards them. "I think we would have been good friends if you had come to Ponyville sooner."

-x-x-x-

Light flashes. Ice shatters. Ursa and Moonlight Shimmer are gone and, suddenly, Chaotic Jewel is on her own once more.