The light, emerging from a pure white blanket of clouds, illuminated the ocean far below it. The water was calm yet barely moving until… Gasps of air escaped from the mouths of six ponies – one with a horn, two with wings, one with both and two without – and a baby dragon, having managed to barely escape from their watery graves and make their way to an isolated, unfriendly beach.
The place was the perfect reflection of their current situation, as they have ultimately lost their chance of saving their home and the world with the help of foreign creatures living in the sea, thanks to the Mane Six's leader's greatest sin unimaginable. The five ponies – blue, orange, white, yellow and pink – were still shocked to have nearly met their watery graves, whereas the pony in front of them managed to keep her nerves.
The purple baby dragon, Spike, wrung his tail like he would do to a wet cloth to get the excess water out, while the orange pony, Applejack, was the first to speak.
"What were you thinking?" she asked with a Southern American accent. "I mean, stealing their pearl?"
The purple Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle, sadly sighed to herself. "It was the only way to save Equestria." The pink pony, Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, was not having any of it.
"Except it wasn't. The Queen was going to say 'yes'; we did what you told us, and that's what made her realise we were ponies worth saving." A gasp escaped Pinkie's lips as she came to a shocking realisation.
"Unless… you didn't really want us to show her the best time ever. You just wanted us to distract her!" The other ponies gasped at Pinkie's correct assumption and Twilight's despicable deed.
"I never would have done it," Twilight responded, angrily turning to her friends. "But this isn't Equestria! We can't just dance around with con artists, make rainbooms in the sky and expect everything to work out!" The blue Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, remembered her foolish action and immediately came to regret what she did back then.
"It's not enough!" Twilight concluded. "We are not enough."
"No, Twilight." Pinkie countered. "We stuck together. We were gonna get the help we needed! The only thing that stopped us was you!" Pinkie stated, as she approached Twilight before accusingly pointing her pink hoof at her.
"Well, I'm doing the best I can!" Twilight yelled, harshly shoving her face into Pinkie's. She then turned around with a worried expression. "It's all on me; I'm the one Tempest wants, I'm the last princess."
As Twilight was walking away from Pinkie, Pinkie decided to speak her mind. "You're also the only one who doesn't trust her friends!" This was enough to get the Alicorn riled up, but not enough to make her say something that she will regret later on.
"'Doesn't'?!" Twilight snapped, furiously turning around and marching towards the angered pink pony. "Who are you to say that I am the one 'who DOESN'T trust her friends'? I couldn't trust ANY of you after all the times you screwed up and put yourselves and all of us in danger!"
The other ponies were astounded by Twilight's angry and frustrated tone being taken out on them, whereas Pinkie was undeterred. However, her friend's upcoming words were about to change all that. "You decided to attract attention to ourselves and nearly got yourself and my friends killed on our way to the airship," Twilight called out to Pinkie, whose expression slightly lifted after hearing those words.
"You gave away our location when you decided to do a Sonic Rainboom," Twilight called out to Rainbow Dash, who gave off a disappointed look to herself. "And the rest of YOU... what have you ever done to help with the mission? In fact, what have ANY of you ever done to help?!" The shy yellow Pegasus, Fluttershy, and the graceful white unicorn, Rarity, were shocked at their leader's words.
The five ponies' hearts began to sink at the sheer thought of not doing much to help with the mission to save Equestria, but Twilight was not finished yet. "I feel like I am the one who understands the danger we and Equestria are in, whereas the rest of you don't! So I thought... that the only way to save Equestria was to resort to drastic measures."
Twilight's irate expression then quickly changed to sorrow and guilt, as did her voice. "I admit, I did a stupid thing. A VERY stupid thing. And I'm sorry for what I did back there. Using your talents to steal the pearl was despicable of me and I'm sorry for doing that. I don't know whether or not Queen Novo was really going to give the pearl to us because I wasn't there at the time, but blaming me for every thing that went wrong isn't going to help anypony."
The ponies were still in shock, but chose to listen intently to everything else Twilight had to say. Twilight began to walk towards them, being sure to make eye contact with them as best as she can, only to end up in the middle of the group. "As a matter of fact, we are ALL to blame for every thing that went wrong, and it's up to US to make things right. Because if we don't... sigh, if we don't make the time and effort to make things right, to save Equestria... then there is no hope for us. ANY of us."
Twilight was still filled with guilt for what she had done, yet she knew that the best way to solve the problem was to stay calm and choose her words carefully, still doing her best to make eye contact with her friends. "Equestria needs its heroes to save it and its citizens. We have all made mistakes along the way. I would never abandon any of my friends for the mistakes they made. So please... don't do the same to me."
The shock and disappointment that was once written on the ponies' faces ceased to exist, with a new expression written on their faces: concern. "Please give me the chance to try harder," Twilight pled. "To be a better pony, to find another way to make things right and save our world."
The Mane 5 maintained their concerned expression as Twilight began to walk past them. "But... if you choose to give up on me at any point in time," she stated, turning around to face her friends. "Then... I wouldn't blame you, not even for a second." The Mane 5 were shocked to hear Twilight say such words. However, Twilight was not yet finished.
"As much as I deserve to be deserted for what I did," she announced with her head down in shame, before lifting it up to face them again. "I don't want to be. And should I be deserted, I'll have to save Equestria myself or die trying." With that, Twilight's speech was over and she immediately turned and walked away from them.
Sometime later, Twilight was sitting on a stony cliff above the edge of the turbulent ocean. The other ponies, not too far behind, followed her to her location. Pinkie Pie was the first to break the ice.
"Twilight?" Pinkie called out to the Alicorn, who began to turn around with a nervous expression. The pink pony sighed with sadness and regret. "You're right, we all messed up and we're sorry for all the times we messed up. We didn't mean for things to go this far. We just wanted to make new friends so that they can help us."
Rarity was the second to speak, with an English-American accent. Her face, riddled with sorrow and guilt. "We should have known better than to ignore you and to focus on ourselves and our selfish needs when, in fact, the mission was more important than anything."
Applejack, wearing a sad frown, took after Rarity. "You were right about us. We did goof up, big time. You did too because... you were so desperate to save our home. We just didn't know how desperate you were back then, and we wish we had done so sooner."
Twilight, taken aback by her friends' words, was still upset at what she did. "You guys, I…"
"Not so fast." Rainbow Dash interrupted. "We've all done things we weren't proud of. All we ever did was mess around, but you had the determination to save Equestria, and when the Queen refused to give you the pearl... you felt like you had no other choice. You knew it was the wrong thing to do... but you did it for the right reasons."
With a smile aimed at Twilight, the Alicorn gives a sad smile in return. She started to tear up, having been overcome with emotion. "I'm really sorry, you guys."
"We're sorry, too," Fluttershy replied with a kind, compassionate voice. "And it's OK. We understand how hard things have been for you. And like you said, it's up to us to make things right."
Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Her friends were still going to help her, still remaining with her, even after what she did? The Mane 5 approached her, with looks of understanding and smiles to match. Fluttershy spoke up again.
"Did you really think we were going to let you do this on your own? You need us, and so does everypony... and everypony needs you too." The Mane 6 then closed the gap between them with a warm, friendly hug. A hug that said, "It's alright. You are forgiven." They gently released Twilight, who was content and no longer in despair.
"Thanks, guys." Twilight uttered gratefully. "And I'm really sorry."
"Enough already." Pinkie interrupted, putting a hoof to Twilight's mouth. "We know you're sorry for what you did. Nopony's perfect." Pinkie smiled up to her ears at Twilight, who smiled back.
"Now, come on, everypony! Equestria isn't going to save itself." And with that, Pinkie Pie bounced away, with the other ponies – excluding Twilight – running after her in excitement. Twilight giggled at the sight and was the last to follow. "Hey, guys! Wait for-"
Just then, a giant metal bird cage quickly descended from the heavens, capturing its purple prey. The Mane 5 turned around, in shock, to see their friend trapped inside as the cage lifts her off the ground. "Twilight!" they all called out. Rainbow Dash grabbed onto Rarity and flew towards the ascending cage, where Rarity was able to stop the cage from moving any further for a brief period of time.
The white unicorn could feel her strength sapping away from her, as the cage was succeeding in resisting her powerful magic. "I can't hold it!" Rarity cried, losing her concentration in exhaustion.
"Rarity!" Rainbow Dash cried out. She looked at a helpless, frightened Twilight as the cage began making its way up to the entrance of a titanic enemy ship. "Twilight, NO!" she cried, horrified at the sight.
"GUUUYYSSS!" Twilight screaming at the top of her lungs was enough to cause the Mane 5 to do the same.
"TWIIILIIIIGHT!" And with that, Twilight was gone.