On Wings of Change

Chapters

Thunderstruck
Hello Tomorrow
Bridge Burning
Divenire
Prodigal
Glorious Dawn

Thunderstruck

The world was dark, stars danced around like so many parasprites driven into a frenzy by the scent of food. It made Twilight's head hurt, or was it because of the stars darting all around? She walked toward one in particular. It was brighter than any of the others in this inky blackness, which was part of the reason it seemed to call to her. She reached out her hoof and touched the glowing shard of light.

The light pulsed slightly at her touch, growing larger and encompassing her vision. It stung her eyes, but eventually it began to diffuse into a mottled colored mess as she found herself waking up.

Everything blurred together in a haze of green, blue, and grey. Twilight had a hard time focusing on anything in particular, there was just so much going on. While the colors were what she was interested in, the whole situation struck Twilight as odd for multiple reasons.

She didn't recall falling asleep with the window open, yet there she was waking up to a gale wind blowing through her mane. ‘Come to think of it, I don’t remember falling asleep at all.’She was tempted to just drift off again, but something told her she shouldn't. Something told her she should hurry: she was short for time. That nagging feeling puzzled her. Twilight was pretty sure she didn't have any plans for the day, but the nagging feeling in the back of her head didn't subside.

She could figure her plans out later, her window was far more interesting at the moment. The wind was getting rather annoying. It's whirling chill met with her soaked coat, wracking her body with brutal shivers.

‘Wet? Why am I wet? Is the ceiling leaking again?’

She looked up, but she failed to see the familiar tree rings that should have been there.

‘Curious. I’m pretty sure my ceiling isn't that shade of green. Nor should it be spinning in such an erratic...’

She was tired, but it didn’t matter; it was such a fantastic day. Not only was Twilight getting to use the royal observatory for her stargazing that night, but being there for two nights would allow her toperhapsdelve into the archives for some of the books on her “to read” list, talk astronomy with Luna, or generally do what she did when she was in Canterlot: study magic.

Normal circumstances wouldn’t warrant a trip to the royal observatory for something as simple as stargazing, but that night wasn’t going to be a normal night for stargazing. No, it was going to be one of the most spectacular meteor showers that Twilight would ever see in her lifetime. Both she and Princess Celestia were looking forward to the event, as well as some time away from the nobility to simply talk.

The sight before her cut off her thoughts for a moment. The mountain where Canterlot rested was just in sight. It was a comforting sight to her. Twilight always felt a deep sense of belonging and “home” when she was within those walls. She also felt the nagging pain in her rump from the six hour flight. She didn’t care though, her mind was somewhere else. She was happy to make the lengthy journey to revisit the safe, warm, welcoming city. It was just another reason she was happy to be stargazing there.

The chariot coasted down toward the platform as the sun hung over the horizon. She smiled and rubbed her eyes with a foreleg.‘Note to self, sleeping on a moving chariot: really difficult, not very restful.’ It was probably best to not try that again. Her heart skipped as the spires of the castle came into view.

Rows and lines of criss-crossing streets flew by beneath Twilight as she hung her head over the side of the chariot. The warmth in her heart and the smile on her face continued to grow as she searched for familiar buildings and the memories that came with them.

Doughnut Joe’s bakery, the place she would go to when she needed a midnight sugar fix to push through a particularly hard subject she was studying.

Her favorite park, the place she used to go to for a quiet moment. Twilight couldn’t help but close her eyes and smile as she remembered the feeling of the sun on her back and the company of a good book.

Twilight caught a glimpse of the royal gardens, where Celestia taught her all sorts of interesting things about magic. ‘And then there was that one water fight we had in the...’

Twilight’s reminiscence was gently interrupted as the chariot slid to a stop atop the landing platform emblazoned with a shimmering emblem, arcs of light twisting and reflecting the very sun it represented. A chorus of taps rung softly across the polished surface and into the air. She quickly leapt from the chariot into the embrace of Princess Celestia. Neither mare said anything, both simply smiled as they walked into the castle.

Yup, it was going to be a fantastic weekend.

‘Right, I’m not in the library. So where am I?’

Twilight spat a stray strand of her mane out of her mouth and looked around for a sign of where she was. The blurry walls made her eyes hurt when she focused on them, so she looked elsewhere. The ground seemed awfully far away, though she couldn’t quite remember if that was normal or not. It also appeared to be made of dark black cotton, or possibly clouds. ‘Yeah, those are clouds. So does that mean I’m in Cloudsdale? If I’m in Cloudsdale, how did I get here from Canterlot? Maybe he knows.’

He looked like a royal guard, if a bit on the small side. His lips were moving; but Twilight, for the life of her, couldn’t understand what he was saying. ‘Come to think of it, why don’t I hear anything? Everything’s so quiet; not that it matters, he probably isn’t talking to me anyway.’

Nestling her conclusion into her mind, Twilight looked back at the guard. She tried to figure out why he was flailing on top of what appeared to be a rather strange looking machine. The rivets and rope, strewn across an odd assemblage of charred and splintered wooden timber, were twisted in such a way that she could not tell if the guard was strapped in or strapped to the foreign piece of equipment. The very nature of this mass of wood and fiber eluded her attempts to understand its functionality. For all its convoluted angles and materials, it looked somewhat like a filly’s attempt at making a derby cart.

She allowed herself a moment to mentally chuckle at the thought.

Twilight tried walking over to the guard so she could ask him, but two things became immediately clear to her.

The first was the realization that her moving legs were not actually taking her anywhere.

The second came by way of a cloud that caused a whooshing sound as it zipped past Twilight in a vertical direction.

The small part of her mind that said she should hurry was now also telling her that she should be concerned that she was floating. She wanted to tackle the issue of the first two problems, when a third, far more pressing issue presented itself. In the advent of her returned hearing, Twilight came to a stunning understanding that the funny dancing guard wasn't speaking to her. In fact, he wasn't talking at all.

He was screaming in terror.

“Books? Check!”

Twilight hated this part of visiting Canterlot, the part where she had to leave.

“Brush? Check!”

The past two nights had been wonderful, but the third day at Canterlot castle was, regrettably, her last. She loved spending time with the Princesses; every time they talked, Celestia would answer any questions that were raised. But last night was different: while stargazing, she prodded the Princesses about psychology, life beyond Equestria, and the myriad forms and modes of magic. Celestia was willing to answer most her inquiries, but her vague responses often left Twilight with more questions than answers. Luna simply dodged most questions altogether. While she still wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, she was certainthe Princesses had their reasons.

Twilight glanced at the clock and trotted toward the door with a smile. She leisurely grabbed her saddlebags and headed out, thirty minutes earlier than she had planned.If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was punctuality.For a flight that would take about six hours, it was in everypony’s best interest to be punctual and keep things going smoothly.

The scent of candles wafted through the aging, yet unmarred,stone hallways as Twilight latched the door shut behind her. The platform was on the other side of the castle, but she had time. She turned a corner, gazing into a stained glass portrait of herself, five other ponies, and Discord: the God of Chaos. Twilight smiled as she passed it, looking down across window after window filled with depictions of events from Equestria’s past. The defeat of Nightmare Moon, which she and her friends also played a part in. The founding of the Equestria under the three tribes unifying under one banner. A stained glass mosaic of Starswirl the Bearded. Further down, even depictions of the crusades against the Umbratic legion were present.

No matter how long she gazed at the windows,and despite the many events that had shaped Equestria,she couldn’t help but notice just how many of them remained empty.Twilightwondered who else would adorn the glass for generations to come.

The hallways were largely devoid of other ponies, which was understandable when she considered what hour of the morning it was. The staccato of hoofsteps slowed as memories assaulted her,memories of her time as a filly living under the tutelage of Celestia. Who, she remembered, was waiting for her on the chariot platform beyond the doorway.

“Good morning my faithful student.” The Princess smiled off to the side, elegantly trotting up beside her. “You were up much later than you should have been, I was worried you wouldn’t sleep well. I really ought to remind you not to push yourself so hard so often.”

Twilight blushed sheepishly and returned her mentor’s smile. “I suppose that I overdid it last night, didn’t I? But really, can you blame me?” Twilight pinned her ears back and pawed at the ground. ”You’ve been alive for millennia, you know more than anypony else, about so many things! I just want to learn whatever I can.”

Celestia lifted her head and shielded her gaze away from Twilight. “Some stories are not meant to be shared with ponies who were never there, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight slowed and fell a few hooves behind Celestia. She wanted to apologize, something told her she said something wrong. Maybe she didn’t. It was hard to tell with Celestia, Even if her voice was still gentle, and her smile was still there. She picked up her trot and walked abreast with her teacher.

“When will we be able to get together again, Princess? It seems we never spend as much time together as we used to.” Twilight looked away, “This was a great visit, I was just hoping we would be able to do it more often.”

Celestia turned her head, beaming down at Twilight with a chuckle. “Well, Twilight Sparkle, ultimately that lies with you. You are your own mare now. I’ve had the fortune of watching you become a strong-willed, kind-hearted mare over the years, and I’m proud of you. You know my doors are always open to you, I’ll always have time for my faithful student.”

Twilight nodded, bouncing lightly with each step as she rounded a corner, looking upon a chariot, and two nearby guards.

Both of the guards saw Celestia at the same time. The huge, muscular,and very stern looking guard snapped to attention immediately. The lithe, taller guard simply bobbed his head.

“Oh. Hey there,Celestia.”

“Lieutenant!” The gruff guard shot a look at the taller pegasus that made Twilight’s blood freeze.

Celestia chuckled and lowered her head next to Twilight’s ear. “I took measures to ensure that you wouldn’t be bored to death on the ride back, I hope you don’t mind.” Celestia winked and turned to address the guards. “Major, Lieutenant, at ease. I’m glad to see you getting along so well.”

The rugged looking guard relaxed and nodded. “We even managed to get the chariot prepared despite the Lieutenant’s insistence in making light of every situation.”

“By the way,” the Lieutenant chimed in, looking at Celestia. “Can you give me my friend back? He hasn’t been the same since you slapped that title of Major on him.”

Twilight giggled a little and saw the corners of Celestia’s mouth turn upward as the Major seethed quietly behind the Lieutenant.

“Anyway, all good fun aside. This is the lucky passenger, huh? The one and only personal info-sponge of Princess Celestia?” The Lieutenant chuckled.

“Hey now,” Twilight hopped into the back of the chariot and smirked. “If you insist on that name, at least say it right: ‘The one and only Faithful info-sponge of Princess Celestia.’ ”

The Lieutenant had just finished fastening the thick cloth bindings of his harness when he turned to his friend. “I like her already.” He flared his wings and did a few small stretches as he continued to speak.

“Welcome,Miss Twilight Sparkle to Equestrian Air, Flight tag: Parasprite - Zero - Nightmare - Three.”

The muscular guard sighed and facehooved. “Lieutenant, please. The Princess is present.”

“We are required to inform you of emergency procedures should the situation arise in your flight.” Continued the agile, spunky guard; completely unabated. “Emergency exits are over every railing, and out the back. To use these exits, simply crouch, then leap as hard as you can toward your chosen exit. Curl into a ball and refrain from wanton flailing: one of your pilots will assist you. If they want to keep their job that is.” The tall guard chuckled and bumped into the stockier guard jokingly. “There were supposed to be refreshments on this flight, but I lost the money to get them in a bad game of dice. I would tell you to fasten your harnesses and prepare for take off, but you don’t exactly have a harness back there, so I suppose you should just prepare yourself for take off.”

The Major sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia that’s over.”

“You’re welcome.” Celestia deadpanned.

Everypony simply chuckled.

“Oh, one last thing you should probably know before we take off; your pilots today are Major Biggs, and yours truly, Lieutenant-”

‘Wedge! That’s Lieutenant Wedge! Why is he screaming? And where is Biggs? What is going on here?!’

Twilight’s eyes snapped open. Her head hurt as the scene spun wildly, colors blurred together as she searched. The nagging voice in the back of her head that was complaining about time before was now throwing a full-blown tantrum. She really wished that mental voices came with an “off” switch. She looked around frantically; still no Biggs. Her mind screamed out in protest as she tried to wring it for information. Twilight grimaced, and shrieked in frustration.

‘What is wrong with me? Why can’t I think straight? Where am I? Where is-?’

Suddenly, she spotted him.

Twilight looked over the side of the chariot as the countryside passed below her. Save for a single wagon she saw on the road below a short while back, the roads were mostly barren. It was rather strange though, as it was nearing the time for the Running of the Leaves. Usually,the roads would be packed as ponies traveled to the race’s various starting points.

“HeyTwilight! You strike me as the number-crunching type. You’ll like this one.” Wedge chuckled with a sly grin. He had spent the majority of the flight just talking with her to pass time. “So if you take root beer, and put it in a square glass: do you just get beer?”

“No of course not, the shape of the container doesn’t have any bearing on the molecular composition of a liquid itself. To change an object’s molecular composition, you’d have to subject it to extreme heat or add different ele-”

“Really, Twilight, really? Square... Root... Beer? Nevermind.” Wedge sighed.

Biggs rolled his eyes at Wedge, “She doesn’t get it because it’s not that good of a joke.”

Wedge turned to face Biggs and stuck his tongue out in defiance, only to let it hang there loosely. Slowly Wedge’s face went blank as he locked his eyes on some point in the distance.

“Uh... Major, sir? You know that thunderstorm we’ve been watching for the last half hour...?” Twilight half expected Wedge’s lower jaw to fall off with the look he had written on his face at that moment.

Biggs turned to face the storm. He furrowed his brows with steely determination as he spoke to Wedge; his eyes still locked on the thunderstorm.

“Lieutenant, we need to break cloud cover.”

“W-whoa, whoa!” Twilight’s, voice hitched as she stumbled for words “Wha- what’s going on here? It’s just a thunderstorm.”

Biggs turned to face her with a solemn glance. Twilight’s spine crawled with a feverish chill from the intensity of his expression. “We were expecting a thunderstorm later today, but not this soon.”

“So? Doesn’t that mean you can just wait it out in Ponyville?” Twilight twisted her face in thought. “I don’t see how that’s a...”

Wedge cut her off as they met each other’s glance.

“No, that alone wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s overtaking us against the wind.”

‘We were outrunning a thunderstorm. But I thought we made it? I thought...’

A white and fluffy something smacked into her, knocking the air from her lungs and set her spinning even more erratically.

‘Whose idea of a joke is this? I just want to go home; my head hurts and this place is confusing and nothing makes sense and I’m-’

The voice was reaching a fever pitch, further distracting Twilight.

‘-confused and I feel sick and I don’t like all this falling and spinning and Biggs is out co-

‘Falling?’

“Wedge! Pump those wings harder; we needed to be above these clouds 30 seconds ago!”

“All due respect sir, DUH!”

Twilight curled up against the side of the chariot and looked at the looming grey mass above her. Yellow, blue, and purple streaks tore across the surface of the cloud in arcs that bristled with ominous energy. The arcs themselves seemed to tear the cloud apart as she was showered with drenching waves of merciless rain. The wind whirled around her as if looking for any opening to drive the freezing rain down through her fur. Flashes bounced out of the corners of her eyes, she felt numb, but not cold. A bolt of lightning tore through the air past the chariot, leaving the heavy smell of ozone in the air.

She then understood exactly why her body was shaking.

She looked up, droplets of water lit up gently as her hair began to stand on end.

The world went white. She felt pain, and then...

She felt nothing.

Realization hit almost as hard as the lightning bolt. She was falling to her death. They hadn’t made it out of the storm, they had been struck before they could escape, and they had only a few moments until they were all going to die.

Another cloud zipped past as Twilight’s heart raged inside of her chest. She wanted to help Spike grow up. She wanted to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders accomplish their crusade and earn their marks. She wanted to be there when Rainbow Dash was accepted to the Wonderbolts. She wanted the chance to take it all back. She wanted another chance to get away from that accursed storm. She wanted another chance to see her mentor again.

All she wanted was another chance.

Twilight’s fear and hatred of death swallowed the world in a scream and visions of white.

The verdant blades rippled in the breath of the world. The light teased at her eyes, but the echoing songs of a hundred birds harmoniously teased at her ears, lulling her back to sleep. Her body felt so light, like she would be able to simply float up into the sky amidst the swirling vortex of colored blurs. She gently pushed herself upright as two of the colors detached from the rest and bolted down to her. They were birds, brilliant plumage adorning their small bodies as they chirped at her and darted off to the forest.

The air smelled as pure as water from a mountain spring. Twilight threw her gaze in an arc, drinking in the scene as it presented itself to her. A stream ran nearby, and from Twilight’s view on the hilltopit looked like a sapphire serpent, lazily coiled and gliding between the large solid domes oftree-speckled hilltops. She stood up, drawn to the glassy river. The reflection smiled up at her, almost beckoning her to commit to the embrace of the water. Gently, she teased the placid surface of the stream with small taps of her hoof, watching the ripples spread outward and fade away into the calm waters farther out.

Suddenly, a sound caught her attention. A fish leapt from the stream a short way away before an echo of the splash resounded a moment later. The sound rang out again, it wasn’t the fish she heard the first time, it was something else. A voice? Was there somepony else here? Curiosity took the reins as Twilight found her gaze being lifted toward a hilltop and the voice she heard.

Her head throbbed in a slow yet steady rhythm. She groaned as the aches crashed into her eyelids like waves of pure kinetic force.

The sensation lingered, all was quiet save for the rhythmic beating in her chest. A sharp whistle tore at her ears as she breathed deeply; grasping for every breath and coughing as she rolled onto her side.

The light burned when she opened her eyes, it could wait a few more minutes. The intermittent ringing in her ears was annoying, at least, it was annoying until she recognized what the pauses in the ringing meant.

‘I’m breathing... I survived...

‘I’m alive!’

She could hear Biggs and Wedge in the distance, but knew better than to try and look for them. Twilight lay her forelegs to the sides, the blades of grass gently yielding and absorbing the heavy fall of her fatigued gesture. She breathed deeply as the throbbing dulled. Crisp. Clean. She knew this smell, but knew not where she remembered it from. The sunlight danced across her closed eyes where little specks of light played happily across her vision. They seemed to etch a searing trail of pain at first, eventually leaving dazzling colors of light in the black void of her mind’s eye.

Running water splashed in the distance. Over and over the splashes repeated until finally Twilight could hold her curiosity in no longer. She opened her eyes. Two bright birds darted across her field of vision, causing her gaze to follow them to the Major. Biggs was rigid, stoic as ever, blankly staring into a nearby stream. Slowly she got to her hooves and managed to half-stumble, half-trot over to the motionless guard.

The reflection in the stream smiled, but was lying to her. For all that had happened, she looked horrific. She placed her hoof to the face of the reflection, trembling all the while. The face distorted and faded away, the fractured pieces of her visage seemed more than eager to grab the ripples and flee her touch.

Twilight dunked her charred mane and fur into the river. The icy-cold caress of the stream sent thundering torrents of life back into her sluggish self. Eyes wide, the scene seemed more a junkyard than the site of a miracle, but she would take it for what it was. And for all it was worth, the fleeting serenity was more than welcome.

“Twilight?”

The wind seemed to almost caress her mane as she sat down on the riverbank and closed her eyes.

“Twilight!?”

‘I’m safe, I’m alive, I’m going to be just fine.’

“Twwiiiiiiiliiiiii-!”

Her vision responded far too late to allow any physical attempts at evading the brightly colored cannonball headed straight for her. Twilight briefly ran a list of possible projectiles through her mind. That thought was expelled from her mind as quickly as the breath from her lungs.

Dirt tasted terrible.

Twilight considered a verbal response, but found that all her body would muster at the moment was an unintelligible cacophony of grunts and mumbling. She shifted slightly and willed her eyes open to a pair of magenta irises peering intently at her, upside down. Twilight rolled over onto her stomach and looked up at Dash with an expression that fully conveyed her current mental acuity.

The two mares were a mere inch apart as Dash vomited a typhoon of words at Twilight.

“I-saw-a-storm-and-then-there-was-a-flash-and-I-came-as-fast-as-I-could-and-then-there-was-a-super-bright-light-and-I-knew-something-was-wrong-because-the-storm-just-disappeared-then-I-saw-you-and-and-you-weren’t-moving-so-I-rushed-as-fast-as-I-could-and-I-thought-you-weren’t-breathing-and-I-was-so-scared-that... that you ha-” Dash sucked air violently for a full ten seconds.

“Rainbow. Rainbow! Rainbow! I’m fine! Stop crushing me.” Twilight’s eyes stung as she rubbed the dirt from her face. “Care to explain what that was all about?”

“You first!” Rainbow cracked, waving an forelimb across the scene. “Look at this place!”

Twilight followed Dash’s hoof. The chariot lay in shattered pieces strewn over the hillside. A wheel stuck out of the ground, embedded deeply in the hilltop a short distance away. A few of the side rails were blown apart, as if by some heavy object, and while others were on fire. A shiver crept up Twilight’s spine as she sluggishly came to the realization that she was mere inches from, if not directly in, the area of the strike.

‘I shouldn’t be alive...’

Wedge was curled up against the side of the blackened boards of the chariot frame. He shivered as if cold, but the weather was perfectly warm out. That fact didn’t bring Twilight much peace as she stood up and faced her friend.

“I-I don’t r-remember, Rainbow, it all happened so fast.” Twilight stuttered, kicking her hoof at the ground. “There was a storm, and there was falling and I saw Wed- Oh ponyfeathers! Wedge and Biggs! We need to see if they’re okay!”

Twilight took off toward the fragmented chariot, Dash easily closed the distance, flying backwards to face Twilight “Wow, you sure recover quickly. I guess crashing into you so much helped toughen you up after all.” She smiled with twinges of concern still written in her face. ”So who exactly are these two?”

“Biggs and Wedge? They’re the guards who were taking me to town when we got hit.”

“No, really Twilight? You don’t say?”

“Well... uh, yes?” Twilight whimpered.

They both stopped as they neared the wreckage. Biggs had stopped staring into the river and stood nearby, looking at his fellow guard. The silence was punctuated by the sporadic mutterings of Wedge, somewhat akin to a newborn foal taking its first breaths in its new world.

“Seems Wedge is pretty shaken up.” Biggs sighed, a deadpan expression carved out on his face.

“I’m no mind-brain-thought doctor: but I’m pretty sure that Wedge has the proper response to being dropped out of the sky by a lightning bolt.” A half-joking laugh accompanied Dash’s words as she faced Biggs. “And how are you feeling?”

Biggs looked off into the sky, “I’m feeling a little uncertain as to what happened, but I’m sure that given enough time, Miss Twilight, Wedge, and I will be...” A slight grin teased the corners of Biggs’ mouth, “Just fine; Thank you. I’ll make sure that nothing happens to him until the rescue team arrives.”

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash whipped their heads toward Wedge as he sat up and stared through them both. “I see the lights sir, they’re flashing everywhere! Struggling against the shadows. Fighting against suffocation, fighting to shine! We need to help them, Major!”

Again, chills slithered their way up Twilight’s spine and into the back of her head, making her ears twitch nervously. Fortunately, Wedge curled back into a ball and resumed his personal ramblings. A moment passed where Twilight mulled over the guard’s words, but a slight nudge broke Twilight from her contemplative trance and brought her back to reality.

“Ignore him, he’s been rambling about lights since he woke up.” Biggs scowled.

“Probably because of that lightning storm.” Dash added. “I’m sure he’ll snap out of it though. My team is already on their way to go get a medical chariot from Canterlot. I’ll guess I’ll be carrying you back myself though, Twi; a regular stormchaser squad doesn’t bring transports with them.”

Rainbow seemed exasperated as she glanced around, suddenly her wings sprung upward as she locked her gaze onto the charred remnants of the chariot. “Right!” Twilight jumped as Dash whirled around to face her “You never answered my question, what happened to you guys?” Twilight stumbled backward as Rainbow stepped forward, wings spread, only to fold them to her sides and raise a hoof to her chin. “Well, aside from the obvious I mean. How did you end up in the thick of a storm, and what was that flash that made the storm vanish?”

“I-I, uh, don’t remember exactly what h-happened.” The hoof pressed to her temple didn’t do much, but it did help a little as Twilight continued on. “I r-remember little b-bits and pieces, but I still can’t put the big picture together, it all just happened too fast.” Twilight swallowed back her choked up voice as she faced her friend.

“Well, you can tell me what you do remember on the flight back. I’ve been chasing that storm all day and I need to know what you know.” The pegasus arched her back and spread her wings, “So are you ready to go?”

Twilight looked back at Biggs and Wedge, the former was standing near the latter; still mumbling quietly to himself. “Rainbow, are you sure it’s a good idea to leave them alone out here? Maybe we should stay and wait.”

“Twi, Biggs already said he can take care of Wedge until the chariot comes.” Rainbow turned and nodded at Biggs, who responded with a nod and a very small smile.

“We will be fine, Miss Sparkle. I offered to stay and watch over Wedge, I can help him...” the gruff-voiced guard turned and looked at the mumbling white ball of nerves, “quiet down in the meantime. We are trained for emergency situations anyway. It’s no trouble, I wouldn’t offer to stay if I didn’t think I could handle it.”

“See?” Dash smirked, “Now stop being so stubborn, we need to get you checked out.”

Twilight grimaced and blinked a few times, “I feel fine, Rainbow. Really, I just need to go home.”

“Twi, you were just hit by lightning! I mean, I’ve been hit by lightning, but you’re no pegasus, and you’re definitely not as awesome as me!” Rainbow Dash beamed as she struck a pose. “So if it were me, I’d be fine. But you aren’t me, you aren’t fine.” Twilight jerked away from Dash’s hoof as it accusingly rocketed toward her face. “I’m no egghead like you, but even I know that nopony could make the walk back after getting hit by a lightning bolt.” Rainbow's chest swelled as a confident grin crossed her face, "Well, I probably could, but I'm not your average pony."

Typically, Dash wasn’t the voice of reason in a conversation. She was the type to suggest ideas such as strapping fireworks to Scootaloo’s scooter to make it faster. Yet here she was, using logic, against Twilight no less. ‘As if the day couldn’t get any weirder.’

‘Why is she the one telling me this? I should have known that.’ All Twilight could muster was to screw her face into a defiant scowl. “Right, well I still don’t think I need to go to a hospital. I’m pretty sure I don’t have any broken bones or serious injuries.” Twilight sighed as she drooped her head and ears. “I want to go home, I’ve been riding in a chariot all day and I don’t want doctors poking me all over to tell me something I already know.” Twilight grumbled.

Slowly, a nagging feeling washed over Twilight as she watched the rainbow-maned mare don an expression that was far more serious than normal for the, usually positive, pegasus. “There’s no way that there’s nothing wrong!” Twilight tilted her head as Rainbow Dash paced back and forth. “Think about what you just said, Twi; it doesn’t make sense. Why aren’t you hurt at all? You just fell from a couple thousand feet up.”

Again, Twilight’s face painted a picture of her mental process while her haunches dropped to the ground. ‘Wow, that’s two strikes against me. My head feels so heavy, I can’t believe she’s thinking clearer than I am.’Twilight paused her thoughts a moment to consider the circumstances of her current situation.‘Well, she didn't get struck by lightning. That’s probably a big part of it.’ The unicorn realized.

‘Okay, time to think Twilight.’ She lightly rapped her hoof against her head. ‘Why aren’t you hurt? What happened up there? What’s the last thing you remember?’

The scene fell silent, save for the occasional soft whimper or erratic sputtering from Wedge. A gentle wind blew across Twilight’s coat while her eyes were closed. She slowed her breathing as her eyes danced madly beneath her eyelids; again and again she plunged into the nearly-unassailable fog that pervaded her memory, only to retrieve a fragment at a time.

The silence was punctuated by the dull thud of a hoof striking the ground. Twilight pneumatically ejected her contempt toward her befuddled state and lifted her face toward the sun. The bright sphere hung there as if merely observing, a passive sentinel that was content with nothing more than casting rays of light to illuminate the unseen. One such ray of light found its way through Twilight’s mind and pierced her haze.

“I remember a light,” Twilight’s eyes darted searchingly, “but then everything went blank. The next thing I remember after that was waking up on the ground and seeing you come over the hilltop a little while after. I can’t seem to remember much beyond that right now, Rainbow, I’m sorry.”

“Haha, assuming that’s true.” Rainbow started ignoring personal space as she continued, “Next thing I know you’ll be telling me that it was you that managed to teleport two other ponies, and yourself-”

“Actually Dash, it’s ‘yourself, and two other ponies’ if you want to be correct.” Twilight grinned.

“Whatever. ‘Yourself, and two other ponies,’ while falling, after being hit by lightning, and having just woken up from being knocked out?”

Twilight could see the various shades of magenta in Dash’s irises at this point. “I guess so? Actually, it’s about the only thing that makes sense, otherwise I’d be... er, let’s not think abo-”

“It’s all over me! You can’t stop it, I... I... I can’t push it back, sir! It just keeps creeping forward and smothering everything with darkness! W-we’re all going to die if we don’t do something!”

Both Dash and Twilight looked at the jumpy guard curled on the ground and took a tentative step in the other direction. Biggs merely gave the two mares a shrug while Dash leaned in close with a hushed voice.

“Twi, that Wedge guy is giving me the creeps. Can we talk about this on the ride home?”

Twilight took one last glance at the two guards. The morality in her told her to stay; that it wasn’t right to leave them alone out here. But for all the reasoning in the world, Wedge was the deciding factor. The creeped out part of her mind jumped on that train of thought and took the controls, it was time to get the buck out of dodge, she had enough freaky things to think about as it was.

“Yeah, let’s get back to Ponyville,” Twilight replied flatly. “My head is still all jumbled up and I need a nap.”

Her somber, tired, and creeped out demeanor was quickly thrown to the back of her mind as it was arrested by the sheer panic. The feeling of momentary weightlessness hit her hard; and it was a feeling she was not eager to relive so soon. She flailed her limbs, searching for any kind of stability when suddenly they wrapped around something tangible.

Twilight’s eyes were bolted shut as she clung to Dash’s neck. Her heart began to race as she heard the all too familiar sound of wind whipping through her mane, but her insatiable curiosity goaded her eyes open to see what exactly was laughing at a moment like this.

The first thing Twilight saw was a cloud not four feet from her face that dissipated on impacted, and covered her in dewdrops. ‘Fantastic.’ She groaned to herself as she shook her head and looked down to the source of laughter.

She quickly realized where, but more importantly, how high up she was. Immediately, she slammed down against the back of Rainbow’s head with her arms wrapped around her friend’s neck in utter terror. An inferno began to build within Twilight as the heat cooked her cheeks to a hue as red as the strip in Dash’s mane. “Rainbow Dash! Don’t do that to me again! What in Equestria were you thinking?”

The weightless feeling returned as Dash’s voice squeaked out over the whipping wind.

“Twi... can’t... breathe.”

The feeling of stability returned as Twilight loosed her death-grip around Rainbow’s neck. A full fifteen seconds passed while she debated whether or not slapping Dash across the back of her head was a good idea. Ultimately, she couldn’t seem to get a thought in edge-wise from the amount of interruptions today, the latest of which was her friend’s ability to rebound back into conversation.

“That. That was so worth it. I wish you could have seen your face as you were flopping around mid-air, Twi: priceless!” Rainbow was already nearly hysterical with laughter, Twilight wanted to berate her friend for such a tasteless joke, but she was too busy hyperventilating. “I swear it was funnier than that one time Fluttershy freaked out over her own shadow!”

“Next time give me a warning at least! I- you- ugh, forget it.” Twilight resigned the argument, she honestly didn’t have the energy to berate Dash’s actions due to a distinct lack of life threatening events to keep her mind in overdrive. Slowly, she slumped forward against the rainbow colored mane and let her eyes slide shut.

The peace and quiet didn’t last long, she felt her weight shift ever so slightly and instinctively plastered herself against the back of Dash’s head almost instantly. Twilight let loose a breath of relief, which was followed by the gentle chuckling of her friend.

“Geez Twi, don’t fall asleep.” The pegasus gave Twilight a small bump into the air. “It’s a lot easier for me to carry you when you’re awake and trying to stay upright than if I have to balance you. If you’re really ‘that’ tired I could always put you down for a quick nap, I really recommend you try a cloud-” She chuckled.

“No!” Twilight clung tighter as Dash continued to beat out a steady rhythm with her wings. “Not a cloud, just get me home as fast as possible. The last place I want to be right now is off the ground. Do me a favor and don’t bring it up, okay? I’m trying to ignore it!” Twilight found herself nearly choking her friend as her eyes slowly opened.

The wingbeats audibly slowed. “Edgy much? And you seriously think I’d be that uncool to you? Maybe you really do need to be checked out, Twi. I think you’ve got brain damage or something.” A gentle smirk crossed Dash’s face as she resumed her previous speed.

Twilight pushed herself upright and looked over her friend’s head toward the horizon. Ponyville wasn’t even on the horizon which meant that they still had at least an hour or so until they’d get home. ‘Nopony would be able to see the storm from town, we aren’t even in line of sight...’

“Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash’s ear flicked, “Hmm? What’s up?”

“Do you think I really have brain damage?”

Twilight felt Dash falter and drop a little before leveling out and turning her head to face her. The silence between them was palpable and incriminating, Twilight couldn’t help but fidget under the magenta gaze. The half-second response seemed to take a year, if only for the icy feeling that she got from that look.

Dash turned her head forward without a single word, merely shaking it slightly from side to side. Twilight got the feeling that not much else would await her if she pursued that path. Both were quiet for a time when a feeling, a tickle, grew in the back of her mind as another question sparked to life from her lips.

“Rainbow?”

A sigh. “Yes, Twilight?”

“How did you find me all the way out there? I mean, we’re nowhere near Ponyville.”

“Oh, well that’s actually a really long story,” Dash chuckled sheepishly, “but, I suppose we have nothing but time, right?” Rainbow Dash took a quick look around the countryside before continuing. “Anyway, I was just getting up to do some early morning rounds when a letter came in from Hoofington.” Dash waved a forelimb in a wide arc in front of her as she pressed along. “Apparently, somepony dropped the ball and lost track of the storm system that our weather team was preparing to route over Sweet Apple Acres.” Rainbow muttered under her breath a while before she became audible again. “I can’t believe those guys! This is the third time this year something like this has happened. Most of the time it's either us or the Trottingham team cleaning up the mess. It’s the same. Bucking. Thing. Every. Sing-”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Rainbow,” she chuckled, “I think you were telling me something along the lines of how you found me.”

“Right, sorry. So anyway, Hoofington lost their storm system and sent out an emergency message to all the other weather teams to keep an eye out for it; so that’s what we did. We didn’t have any other weather, except that storm scheduled for today, so we devoted all our effort to finding the thing. As luck would have it, Derpy, of all ponies, spotted the storm and rushed back to town to tell the rest of us.”

“Wait, the mailmare spotted it?” Twilight cocked her head to the left. “The wall-eyed mailmare spotted the storm that your entire team was looking for.” Twilight picked her jaw off of Rainbow’s head.

“Let me finish, Twi, sheesh!” Rainbow laughed. “She was delivering mail to Zecora in the Everfree Forest and saw it partially hidden behind a mountain peak in the distance.” Rainbow pointed off toward some mountains. “So, naturally the first place I sent the team was the last seen location, except it wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t there?” Twilight’s ears perked in rapt attention. “Storms don’t just ‘disappear’, that’s not scientifically possible.”

“Well as fast as that thing was apparently moving, it may as well have! We got there and it was nowhere in sight, so we split up. I went north with the ponies you saw, and the other divisions went in separate directions.” Rainbow tucked her head and drove forward with a particularly strong flap, a buffet of wind crashed against Twilight a moment later as Dash continued to speak. “We found the storm, and it was really far away. But even from that distance it gave me the creeps. But you know me, there’s no room for fear when you’re filled with as much awesome as I am. So anyway, I was flying as fast as I could toward that thing, and I thought I was making some fantastic speed when I realized something.”

“I’m going to guess that you realized it was flying toward you against the wind, right?” Twilight murmured.

Rainbow’s head whipped around at Twilight with wide eyes. “Yeah! How did yo-”

“Biggs and Wedge made a comment that it was overtaking us against the wind. I figured you would probably realize if a storm was doing that.”

“Whoa, whoa. Overtaking you?” Dash’s brow furrowed as she faced forward. “I knew that it was going against the wind, but overtaking you?”

The silence continued for a few minutes with a soft rhythmic wingbeat punctuating the air each second. Twilight threw her gaze everywhere but the ground as she thought, paying close attention to formations of clouds and the slowly lagging wingbeats of her friend.

“How are you holding up Dash?” Twilight inquired. “You’re starting to sound a little bit tired.”

“I am really tired; I’ve been flying... all day, and you aren’t... aren’t exactly easy to carry. It’s just getting hard to fly so fast.” Rainbow Dash shook her head and pressed onward.

“Are you sure w-”

“We’ll make it.” Rainbow replied flatly. “Just keep me talking and don’t let me focus on it.” A few seconds passed. “So the storm overtook you against the wind, and then what happened to you?”

“It’s kinda fuzzy,” Twilight closed her eyes and tried to remember as she spoke, “but I remember that we got hit, and then we were falling.”

“Hmm, I’m just curious. Do you remember a big flash and the storm disappearing, at all? As I was flying toward the storm there was this weird black and purple explosion of some kind and then the storm just kind of... faded away.”

Twilight’s ears flopped back as the image of a spinning green field filled her vision. “I remember a really bright light, yes. But then I woke up on the ground and you were coming over the hill.”

Dash let out a heavy sigh, “Well, I’m glad you’re alive, but I don’t know where that storm went off to. I don’t know how in Equestria we are going to pull off an emergency storm so quickly.”

Neither mare spoke a word for the better part of a half hour after that. Twilight remained calm and tried her best to not fall asleep by looking toward the horizon and when Dash chimed up once more.

“We’re going to be home soon.”

“Mrphmm,” was all Twilight could manage.

“Twilight?” Dash asked with a wavering voice.

“Yes?”

“I’m really glad you’re alright, I thought I lost one of my best friends today.”

Twilight sat upright, blinking with her mouth slightly agape as the rooftop of the Library came into view.

Twilight used to be a fan of flying. However, she was not, at any point in her life, a fan of the falling part that went with it. A close cousin to the feeling of falling was Rainbow Dash taking a hard landing just outside the library and bouncing a few times before coming to a full stop.

“That was awful.” Twilight deadpanned.

“Give me a break, Twi,” groaned Rainbow Dash. “You act as if you’ve never been tired before.”

“You could have tried to land softer you know.” Twilight immediately jumped off Dash’s back and stood there on four stable, albeit shaking hooves. “Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but that was awful.”

Dash groaned “So was carrying you. I’m not used to lugging anypony around further than a couple hundred feet. I’m going to go grab Fluttershy to check you out if you’re going to be stubborn about not seeing a doctor. Just wait inside okay? Don’t go wandering off. I don’t think I have the energy to haul you back a second time.” Dash smirked and turned away, flapping pitifully to try and become airborne, only to hover and fall to the ground a moment later.

“Buck it, I’m walking.”

“Thank you Rainbow.” A small smile escaped Twilight as Dash trotted off. She turned to the doorway as her hooves dragged beneath her. The thought of a cup of tea, a light sandwich, and a nap was so incredibly enticing, that she didn’t even register Rarity and Spike calling out to her from the atrium as soon as she opened the door.

“Twilight, there you are! I was beginning to wonder if you were staying longer without telling us. Come dear, Spike was just treating me to a light tea break. How was your trip to Canterlot?” Rarity lilted as she levitated a cup of tea out of Spike’s claws. The young dragon spared no time once his claws were liberated to latch around Twilight’s neck.

“So great to have you back Twi, it was really quiet just having Owlowiscious around. How were the Princesses? ...Twi?”

Twilight felt the little dragon’s grip slide away as she threw herself face first onto the couch and closed her eyes, she spoke in response to her friends but all that would come out was an incredibly intelligent: “Mbh Grbh shblbck buh lignhithing”.

“I’m sorry darling, but I didn't quite catch that.” Rarity swished her tea in its cup. “Do you think you could say that again? Perhaps without speaking though a couch cushion?”

Her head felt like it was made of stone as Twilight rolled onto her back and looked over at both the dragon and pony eyeing her with equal parts concern and confusion. Part of her mind told her to just say something simple and mundane such as ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I had a long flight’. But that part of her mind was apparently on vacation still since she blurted out “I was struck by lightning.”

Almost instantly the change of expression was immediate on her friend’s faces. Rarity looked horrified and Spike appeared to have gotten his face stuck in the most unusual pose. Neither of them made any attempt to approach as they blankly stared at Twilight.

Rarity was the first to break the silence.

“So, I can assume that you are well? You seem rather, unphased for a mare who’s just been subjected to the elements in such a... brutish manner.”

“I feel fantastic, I’m just really tired and hungry. Speaking of which; Spike? Can you go get me a dandelion sandwich? I’m reeaaally in the mood for dandelion.”

The dragon was standing by Rarity’s side, Twilight speculated he was actually paralyzed. His gawking face and immobile stance clearly conveyed what was going through his mind, it was not however what Twilight wanted from him at this moment in time.

“Spike,” Twilight groaned, raising her voice a bit. “Can you please get me something to eat? I haven’t eaten since morning, and I’ve been having a pretty bad day.”

The small dragon took a few seconds to process the request before wordlessly stumbling into the kitchen, complete with double-take.

Twilight sighed and faced Rarity with a slouch. Both mares looked at each other for a time, blinking occasionally and listening to the sound of tea being sipped.

“Twilight, dear.” Rarity took a deep breath, remaining composed, but still letting worry bleed into her words. “Perhaps a cup of tea would help calm you down? You seem very frazzled, goodness knows that it can't be good to just hold that kind of stress in. I know you want to talk about-”

Twilight huffed at her friend, “No, Rarity, I’d rather wait for Fluttershy to get here.”

The teacup clattered to the table nearby as Rarity leaned forward. “Fluttershy?” Rarity gasped at the notion, "Darling, you should be seeing a doctor if anything. Far be it from me to say what you should and should not do, but I merely question your choice because I’m worried for you; surviving a lightning strike is not something I can ignore in good conscience!”

“If you really cared then you’d listen to me, I don’t need to see a doctor, nothing is broken, nothing is seriously wrong. I don’t need a doctor unless I’m seriously hurt, I just need sleep and that’s that.” Twilight whimpered as she folded her forelimbs and pinned her ears back. It wasn’t something she liked doing, she mulled over her actions for a moment and shot a glance at Rarity. A teacup rested in a soft aura of magic as she stirred it almost wistfully, her eyes downcast and her ears pinned back.

“Rare-”

An all too familiar voice cut Twilight off, “Dandelion sandwiches! Just the way you like ‘em.”

One of the comestible creations was offered to Twilight and her stomach rumbled in agreement with her eyes: it looked delicious. “Thank you Spike, it looks fantastic.” Twilight reached out with her magic to grab her lunch, rather, she tried to reach out and grab her lunch.

The room fell silent as Twilight tried over and over to grab a sandwich with her magic. It would wobble slightly in the air before slipping out of the lavender aura and onto the platter. Eventually Twilight groaned and settled for physically picking it up in her hooves, almost immediately inhaling the sandwich. She bit down and the sweet taste of fresh dandelion exploded against her tongue. Something tickled the back of her throat however. She coughed a few times with tears in her eyes.

“Geez Twi,” Spike raised an eyebrow, “I knew you said you were hungry but you don’t need to hurt yourself, there’s always seconds.”

The itch burned, it felt like whatever was tickling her throat was stuck to it. She coughed a few more times when out shot a small lavender feather. She looked down at the offending object with wide eyes and a gaze mirrored by the only other beings in the room.

“Um, Spikey, You didn’t manage to... slip that into the sandwich perchance?” Rarity inquired, one brow raised high as she did so.

“No! Of course not, you know I wouldn’t do something like that! I must have just, spaced out or something.” Spike wrung his claws and turned to Twilight, his ear-fins drooped low and his head hung slightly. “Sorry Twi, I guess I overlooked that.”

Twilight coughed and shook the tears from her eyes. “Overlooked? Spike, it was a bright lavender feather! How-” Twilight loosed another cough into her foreleg, “How does anypony miss that?”

“I- I don’t know, Twi. I really don’t know.” Spike began punctuating each point by counting off on his claws. “What I do know is that I made a bunch of sandwiches the way you always like them. I know that there were no lavender feathers in them when I made them. And we all know that the feather you just coughed up was obviously in the sandwich...” The claws balled up as Spike pounded his curled fist into the palm of his other claw. “It was obviously...! Some... pony? I don’t know. I got nothing.”

Twilight sighed and turned her attention back to the sandwich. Her stomach grumbled as she lifted the slices of bread apart and peered within. The distinct lack of any lavender color inside whatsoever brought a smile to her face as she tore into the sandwich hungrily.

Rarity raised an eyebrow at Twilight, “Dear, aren’t you curious how that even got there?”

The second sandwich paused mid-air. Mere seconds from joining it’s comrade in Twilights stomach. “I suppose I’m a little curious,” Twilight paused only briefly before sealing the second sandwiches fate. “but it was just one feather, and these taste just fine to me.”

“Darling, that’s not the point.” Rarity watched another sandwich leave the ever-shrinking pile on the tray. “What would a purple pegasus feather be doing there? I don’t know that we even have any pegasi here in Ponyville that are that shade of purple.”

Spike twirled the feather around and peered intently at it. “It’s a really nifty shade of purple too.” The feather stopped spinning in Spike’s grasp as he lifted his eyes toward Twilight and the nearly empty platter of sandwiches.

“Whoa. Geez Twi.”

Everypony looked at the mostly barren platter as Twilight licked the last remaining crumbs from her muzzle. She sighed contentedly, leaned back, and looked to her friends. “What, I was hungry. I can’t eat and talk at the same time?”

Spike and Rarity glanced at each other, then back at Twilight. Both of them shared the same question written on their face.

“Um, Twilight.” Rarity looked over her cup of tea at the few remaining sandwiches “Are you feeling quite alright?”

Twilight glared at them both. She couldn’t fault them for being so concerned, but at the same time she had told them that she was waiting for Fluttershy to arrive. She lowered her gaze to escape those prying eyes, it wasn’t like them to push her this hard. She knew where she stood, she just wanted to stop feeling like she was being interrogated.

“Listen everypony, I know you’re both curious, but I’m not up to answering any questions until Fluttershy shows up. It’s nothing against you,” Twilight’s ears flopped back as she wrung her hooves, “but I’d just feel better having to explain it once. Maybe you could tell me what’s been happening around here since I’ve been gone, to just pass the time?”

Rarity made the biggest pout that Twilight had ever seen, but it was quickly replaced by a proper, dignified, lady-like posture as the white uncorn poured herself another cup of tea. “Very well, I suppose it can do no harm to wait a while longer. More tea, Twilight?”

Spike was already pouring a cup of tea for Twilight as Rarity spoke. Thin curls of mild aroma wafted out over the lip of the cup as Spike gently carried it over toward the librarian; his concentration etched resolutely on his muzzle as he kept the cup steady.

“Thank you, Spike, I’ll take it from here.” Twilight reached out and surrounded the cup with her magic, easily lifting it from her assistant’s claws, and brought it toward her face. She breathed deeply, inhaling the steam as it rose from her drink. She lifted the cup to her face only to be greeted by blunt force as the cup struck her at a surprisingly high velocity. Immediately afterward, the sensation of the scalding hot tea soaking into her fur finally registered.

She always wondered what being banished to the sun would feel like. Granted, the searing agony she imagined was restricted to only her eyelids and muzzle, but it didn’t make her want to scream any less. She managed to save face, only uttering whimpers as her hooves rocketed to cover her face.

“Twilight!” Spike eyes flew open as he frantically darted to her side.

“Darling are you quite alright?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine, really.” Twilight sputtered, “I just lost my grip is all.”

“You really ought to be more careful!” Rarity’s eyes flew open as a handkerchief flew out of her saddlebag and into Twilight’s hooves. “A lady must always be ready to deal with stressful situations, and must always be able to remain composed under dure- yes, Spike?”

Spike shot a befuddled look to both mares before slowly lowering his claw, “I’m just curious; Twi is the element of magic, right? I find it kinda weird that she’d just ‘lose her grip’. I mean, she did just get hit by lightning, but that wouldn’t make her magic stop working, right?”

Twilight felt a heat, greater than the tea on her face, begin roasting her cheeks. A sympathetic look at Rarity was all she could muster, but she knew there was no dancing around the issue.

“Well, Spike” Rarity seemed to savor her lower lip for a moment as she chewed it over. "A unicorn does not simply... Oh, how does one say it?” Everypony seemed to gravitate toward Rarity during the ensuing pause. “A unicorn does not simply lose control over magic that easily; it would be much like you forgetting how to breath fire, or for a pegasus to suddenly forget how to fly.” A nervous chuckle accompanied a small distraught gulp as Rarity continued, voice quivering all the while. “However, in the case of magical creatures, such as Twilight, it can also show up in surges of power as well as the lack of it. To have this happen and have it be out of control of the unicorn is actually,” Rarity cleared her throat and left Twilight a pitying glance, “Embarrassing, to say the least.”

“Okay,” Spike cocked his head to the side and held it in his palm, “so she’s hitting herself in the face with food and levitating objects is really hard for her. Does that mean Twi is just having trouble controlling her magic and how it comes out?”

Twilight followed Spike’s gaze to a puddle of tea on the floor.

Spike paused a moment. “This sounds like bedwetting for fillies and colts. Magical bedwetting.”

The library echoed with an awkward silence; everypony in the room held their tongues far longer than Twilight deemed necessary. She couldn’t bring herself to speak up; as far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter what she said: the damage had been done.

Rarity gawked and merely cleared her throat. “W-well, I would dare not say anything so... crass. However, I suppose one would be hard pressed to say that any better.”

Twilight buried her face into the couch, she swore she could smell the fabric burning from the sheer heat of her face. Out of all the connections Spike could make, he picked the one that he would no doubt tease her over for days to come.

“Well would ya look at that! Heh, heh.” Spike looked at both mares with a very forced smile, followed by a glance at the now empty tray. “We’re all out of sandwiches! I’ll just go get some more then I suppose, back in a minute.” Spike grabbed the tray and darted out of the room, leaving both Twilight and Rarity to give each other looks of varying pity.

“Darling, you know I didn’t want to say anything more to him, but I couldn’t simply lie to the poor dra-”

“Rarity, it’s fine. Can we please... Can we please just put it behind us? I don’t want to think about it.” Groaned Twilight as she sat up and scowled at nopony in particular.

“Absolutely, absolutely.”

The silence returned in force, the only noise in the room were the soft sounds of a knife chopping up dandelions from the kitchen.

“Yeah, thanks.” A few more seconds droned on as Twilight locked onto a curl of smoke drifting up from the spout of the tea kettle. She tried to imagine all the tension she felt wafting up and away just like the curl of st-

“So, a strange pony showed up today in town.” Rarity blinked calmly as she finished a drink of her tea.

Twilight perked her ears and leaned forward, eager for a bit of conversation that wouldn’t end up embarrassing her further. “Strange pony? In case you forgot what I said on my first night here, ‘Everypony in this town is strange’. So what happened?”

“Oh no, darling, I haven't forgotten that little outburst.” Rarity chuckled, “Just something humorous I heard. This pony apparently bought a baker’s dozen from Sugarcube Corner for no other reason than to see if Sugarcube Corner actually sold a baker’s dozen of doughnuts, or cupcakes, or some such thing. Then I hear he just gave away the entire box for free. The next thing the poor Cakes know is that half the town is inside their shop asking for a baker's dozen for every kind of pastry under the sun.”

“Well, isn’t that a good thing?” Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof. “They’ve been pretty slow recently, haven’t they?”

“Well, yes, but the key word there is 'been'. They're absolutely swamped now without Pinkie there to help,” Rarity furrowed her brow and leaned forward. “I just find it odd for Pinkie to be gone so long, nopony knows what in Equestria she’s up to, but it must be something big.”

“Rarity, Pinkie carries around a cannon in some sort of null-space. She does what she wants; I don’t question anything she does anymore.” Twilight lifted the tea-kettle. She scowled at the offending villain; a metal shell of empty promises and lies.

Rarity glanced up at a window and sighed as she too placed her empty vessel down. “Even if it were a case of Pinkie being Pinkie, I still wonder where she disappeared to. She is supposed to be here to help make sure that everything is to go smoothly over the next few days.”

Twilight cocked an ear and stared at her friend. She wanted to speak up, to ask what she meant, but a small demure knock on the door drew the attention of both.

“Fluttershy? Is that you? Come on in.” Twilight raised her voice as she took one more look at Rarity. She couldn’t help but wonder what her friend meant by ‘everything going smoothly over the next few days’.

“I’ll get it!” Spike half-shouted as he rocketed by, leaving another tray of sandwiches and a second kettle clattering on the table as he opened the door for their guest. A bright yellow pegasus mare with a long, flowing, pink mane gave Spike a curt nod and walked inside.

“Hello girls,” Fluttershy walked over and took her place between Twilight and Rarity, giving a small smile to them both before continuing, “I don’t know the full story, but Rainbow Dash said that Twilight would fill me in when I got here.” Fluttershy turned to Twilight, looking her over with a concerned expression. “She said you had been hurt, but didn’t tell me how.”

Rarity leaned forward expectantly. “Yes. Please, Twilight, tell us what happened.”

“Yeah!” Spike nearly jumped into the air. “Tell us how you managed to survive that lightning bolt!”

Twilight heard a very soft, “Oh... my,” from her right.

There were certain immutable truths that Twilight had learned upon moving to Ponyville. The first was that Pinkie can just be Pinkie, even if it makes no sense what-so-ever. The second rule is that Fluttershy has a motherly nature stronger than biological mothers, and that she will dote on anything that is injured; visibly or otherwise.

Twilight then realized what had just been said.

“Oh you poor thing!” Twilight pinned her ears back as Fluttershy started looking for scrapes or bruises. “Hit by a lightning bolt, you must be traumatized!” Twilight felt her head get turned to the side as Fluttershy looked her over. Oh. Oh my, tell me everything, I’ll grab my things and fix you up. Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?” Twilight stared blankly at Fluttershy. The pegasus’ eyes grew wide as Twilight gave herself a small shake. “Oh... you look cold, let me get you a-”

A purple claw reached out and grabbed the frenzied yellow pegasus, silencing her with a gentle, “Eep!”

Spike smiled up at Fluttershy and filled the teacups sitting on the small table nearby. “Go on, Twi, Rarity and I have been waiting to hear this too.”

A magenta aura surrounded another sandwich on the tray, “Alright, but I’m going to tell you right now that I may not remember everything perfectly. Most of what happened is still blurry and confusing.” The sandwich levitated and started moving toward Twilight when, suddenly, it vanished. The sandwich reappeared back on the platter; complete with a brand-new, and very spiffy, handle-bar mustache.

Spike covered his mouth with his paws and slunk off to the kitchen where the three mares heard stifled laughter. Fluttershy tilted her head, "Um, Twilight," She hesitated briefly, "not to question you... why did you give that sandwich a mustache?" The room grew silent as Fluttershy processed Twilight's less-than-excited facial expression. "Oh dear, you're not losing control of your magic are you? Oh, my, that's very serious..." Fluttershy’s voice trailed off with worry.

Twilight felt her entire body burning up, the snickers from the kitchen did nothing to boost her self confidence. “I-I’ll talk about it later; it’s not important right now. I’ll just start from the flight itself.”

Fluttershy nodded and procured a small stethoscope from her bag. “I’m just going to make sure everything checks out... if that’s alright with you that is.”

“Of course, Fluttershy. Now let’s see; we were a couple hours out of Canterlot when Wedge, that’s one of the guards, spotted a thunderstorm off in the distance.” Twilight paused to hiss a little air out as the cold metal disc pressed against her side.

“S-sorry.”

“No, it’s alright, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled gratefully and gave her pegasus friend a small nod. “As I was saying, Wedge was telling a joke, everything was going really smoothly, But then we all saw this thunderstorm off in the distance.” Twilight shrugged, “I personally didn’t think too much of it, but Biggs and Wedge were really jumpy about it.”

“Well, obviously they had every right to be.” Rarity brushed her mane out of her face as she continued. “You did get caught in it after all. Whatever happened to them?”

The words rushed to her lips, only to be arrested from utterance by a stray thought. ‘I really don’t want the girls to worry anymore than they already are. I don’t need to tell them how Wedge was acting I suppose.’ Twilight smiled, “I’ll bet that they’re both back in Canterlot joking about the whole situation right now. Anyways, back to what I was saying: I remember waking up to-ow!” Twilight’s leg gave a small kick. “Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy grinned sheepishly as she hid a rubber hammer-like tool behind her back.

Twilight continued with a deadpan stare. “I had a weird dream about stars and lights before I woke up, and then I started having my life flash before my eyes. Everything I had done this last weekend came back to me, but there was this one parbth eher...” Twilight raised an eyebrow at the tongue depressor in her mouth. “Thlughlershy, ith now thuh thime?”

“Can’t be too careful, Twilight.” Fluttershy nodded matter-of-factly, “I have to check everywhere to make sure you don’t get sick. Or worse.”

“Righ...” Twilight spat the tool out of her mouth as Fluttershy turned back to her bag. “So, I was falling and I saw a white light on the ground. The next thing I know there was this really weird flash...” Twilight lightly stomped her hoof. “Ugh, I can’t describe it. Anyway, I guess I blacked out and had another flashback, except it didn't..." Twilight absently turned her gaze toward the floor, "well, I'm not so sure it was a flashback."

Both mares paused and leaned toward Twilight as as if to say: “Yes?”.

“It wasn’t something recent; like everything else was. I don’t even know if it was a mem-”

“What? I missed it?!” Spike stood in the doorway with his ears drooped. “I thought you were going to wait for me!” he whined.

“Story isn’t over just yet, Spike.” Smiled Twilight as the little dragon sat next to her. “I was telling them about a strange little light I saw.” She rubbed her hoof on his head.

“As I was saying, Rainbow comes over a hi...”

“... and then we arrived in Ponyville, and I came in here and waited for you to show up.”

Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked at each other, wearing the same expression; gawking, speechless, and baffled beyond thought. And then came the questions.

“Wait, so you said something about a small little light? Tell us more about that!”

“Who was the pegasus on the ridge? Do you remember?”

“Why was it so hard to tell the color of the flash? Did you see how you managed to land safely? I-I mean, It’s okay if you didn’t; I was just curious...”

Twilight held her head in her hooves. “Whoa! Whoa, not all at once! I’ll explain one at a time, I don’t need you all yelling at me.” She uncovered her face to see her friends seated quietly opposite her. “Thank you. Now, Fluttershy, what were you saying?”

“I um, I was wondering why you couldn’t see what the color was. I was just curious if um... you could try and explain a little more?”

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to think back. From the darkness exploded vibrant hues that escaped definition. Impossible spectrums danced within her mind, rushing and spiraling toward her as if guiding her toward something. Twilight tried to focus on the ‘something’, but it simply refused to be clearly seen. The lights suddenly froze in place, a sense of dread filled her heart as the spectral images rushed away into the darkness.

“It’s because I can’t explain it with words Fluttershy.” Twilight sighed and opened her eyes. “No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t seem to find the words to describe it.” Twilight’s ears flopped back as she let out a defeated sigh. “I guess the closest definition I can give you girls is a light that wasn’t light. And that’s really bad for a comparison as it is.”

“And this is when you blacked out the second time?” Rarity blew the steam off another cup of tea, daintily testing the temperature with a sip. “Do you remember anything else besides the flash?”

Spike huffed impatiently. “Like the speck of light before the flash, did you get a good look at that? I’ve been wanting to hear about that since you brought it up!”

“Well, yes and no. It looked like just a spot of light, but at the same time, it wasn’t uniform like a spot of light should be.” Twilight took another bite of her sandwich, ignoring the confused stares of her friends. “I really couldn't tell what it was exactly, it looked like it was a shape rather than a point of light.”

Fluttershy remained silent, Rarity raised an eyebrow at Twilight, and Spike merely responded with a grunt of acknowledgement.

“What?” Twilight looked around at her group of friends; she licked the last few crumbs from her muzzle as she reached her hoof down toward the platter; empty.

“L-loss of magic, increased a-appetite, t-tiredness, fatigue, and m-moodiness,” Fluttershy whispered. “Twilight, while you were in C-Canterlot, you didn’t happen to… lecture anypony on certain insects and... um... avian friends.”

The color bleached from Twilights face as her vision narrowed and her head swam, “NO! I would neve- Urg, NO. I never did anything like that!”

Rarity leaned in with furrowed brows. “Oh how scandalous! Twilight my dear, you simply must give me all the juicy details. Who is the lucky stallion? Is he handsome? How did you meet? Details darling, details!”

“I-I didn’t do that! M-me of all p-ponies? H-ha. Ha ha. Fluttershy, Rarity. Arg... y-you can’t seriously think that I’d ju-“

“Twilight, there’s no use hiding it.” Rarity pouted disapprovingly at Twilight. “You put away two whole trays of sandwiches by yourself.”

“Wh-what!? No I didn-”

“Um, excuse me?” Everypony turned and looked at Spike. Standing off to the side with a simultaneously blank and perplexed facial expression. “What exactly are we talking about here? What did Twilight do wrong?”

Both Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to lock up instantly. Rarity looked like she was about to go into hysterics. While Fluttershy looked like she wanted to just vanish into thin air, or maybe become a tree. Twilight could only imagine how they were panicking for a way to avoid telling Spike what they were thinking.

“N-nothing darling, it was just an idea that Fluttershy had, about Twilight’s, erm, illness.” Rarity chuckled nervously, shooting Fluttershy a knowing look

“Um... Y-yes, just an idea is all. I’m almost sure that it isn’t the right one. Twilight seems quite sure, I think you should listen to her... If you want I guess...”

“Fine,” Spike crossed his arms and pouted. “All that matters is that she’s okay right now.”

“Well, yes... But that doesn’t mean that she’s all better just yet. I care for a lot of animals and sometimes, they come down with something that just doesn’t make sense. It’s usually stress though, and I think that’s all Twilight is dealing with right now.” Fluttershy gave a compassionate smile as she got up and walked toward Twilight. “All you need to do is get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll come check up on you in the morning, okay?”

Again Twilight’s spine was wracked with chills, but still she nodded her head in agreement. Stress seemed as likely a cause as any at this point. Despite all her reading, the one thing that she never really spent enough time delving into was medicine and the finer points of diagnosis. ‘And it’s times like this that I hate myself for saying: “Oh, you won’t need that anytime soon, go ahead and read those astronomy books.” ’

“Well, I do believe I shall be going then. You know how Opal gets if I’m not there with her dinner on time.” She brushed her mane to the side as she nodded toward Spike. “Thank you for inviting me to tea Spike; it was far more... interesting than I believed it was going to be.” Rarity stood up and started toward the door, “And do take care of yourself Twilight, we will be here to make sure you come out of this whole ordeal better than ever!”

‘You’ll make sure I come out of this better than ever?’ Twilight mused to herself, ‘What does she mean by that?’

Fluttershy stood up and followed Rarity to the door, looking back through a strand of pink mane. “Please get some rest Twilight, I mean, you don’t have to... but it’s probably for the best. I’ll be back in the morning. Plenty of liquids, a-and don’t think too hard about anything; nothing but relaxation tonight, please?”

“Of course, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled, “I’ll take it easy tonight, and thank you girls. You’re the best friends a pony could ask for.”

After a few moments, all was quiet in the library. Twilight looked back to the empty seats and lifted the empty tray nearby. ‘Did I seriously eat all that? I don’t feel full...’

“Hey, Twilight?”

Twilight spun her head around to see Spike standing in the doorway of the kitchen twiddling his claws nervously. “Yes Spike? What is it?”

The small dragon moved aside as Twilight walked into the kitchen. “Well, I was just curious; when Fluttershy came up with that list of symptoms, and then you got really pale... What did she mean by that? I’m still a little confused is all.”

Twilight nearly dropped the tray she was carrying as Spike spoke. She would have liked to tell him, but something told her it was a bad idea to tell him that Fluttershy meant.

“Uh,” The breadth of Twilight’s smile made her face hurt. “Maaaaybe when you’re older, Spike.”

“Oh come on!” Spike’s foot thudded against the wooden floor. “You keep saying that! Why can’t you just tell me about all this stuff you and your friends keep talking about?” he whined.

“Because I love you, silly,” Twilight kissed the the green fins atop the small dragon’s head as she passed into the kitchen, tray in tow. “No little brother of mine needs to know about certain topics like that before he’s ready.”

Twilight turned the knob for the sink, much too far, the ensuing torrent splashed water onto the floor. While the repercussions of magic loss were really starting to irritate her. She assured herself that it would only last so long as she carefully turned flow down.

Small footsteps came up behind her as she washed the tray. Each step sounded slow, heavy, and full of thought.

“So because you love me, I’m not supposed to know how it feels to know I nearly lost my sister? Am I not old enough-” A sniffle. “to feel that, Twi?”

Twilight’s stomach wrenched hard as she dropped the tray into the sink, she felt pressure against her side as she turned to see spike burying his face into her fur. She sat back, and wrapped her forelegs around Spike, quietly repeating ‘shhh’ into his ear. Minutes passed as she simply held her little brother.

“T-tw-Twilight?...”

“Yes, Spike?”

“I’m really glad you’re still here.”

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’ll always be there for you, Spike.”

It was hard for Twilight to concentrate. It wasn’t the itch on her back she wasn’t able to reach, nor was it the pile of snapped quills off to the side of the desk. It was a matter of mentality, and Twilight’s mentality was largely absent at the time. She looked down at the paper, the only thing within thirty feet that was more blank than her mind.

‘I have to at least write her, let her know that I’m alright. I’m her faithful student, I need to tell her.’

Slowly the words came to Twilight as she put her quill to the paper and tried, for the twelfth time that night, to write Princess Celestia a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’ve learned to never take the life I have for granted.

Today, falling from the chariot, I was more frightened for myself than I have ever been. I became truly aware, for the first time in my life, how fragile we all are. I realized how life can change in an instant. How sometimes, no matter how much we believe ourselves to be in complete control over our own lives, we may still find our plans tumbling down around us.

Sometimes misfortune is simply unavoidable.

The most we can do is take it in stride. Get back up, dust ourselves off, and continue onward, having learned our lesson. Although that fall was the most terrifying event of my life, it was strangely the most enlivening.

I found myself thinking of everything I would not be ableto do, to see, to experience. I found myself longing for the simple joys I had hardly paid any attention to prior to this. A quiet get-together with friends. The taste of a freshly picked apple from Sweet Apple Acres or of Pinkie Pie’s newest cupcake creation. Stargazing. Spells.

Every part of life is an adventure. Life should beenjoyed thoroughly, appreciated to the fullest. That is something I intend to do from now on.

I explained the situation to my friends, and they were more than relieved to see me okay. However, Spike pulled me aside tonight, devastated by what could have been. I gave him a few words of reassurance. He seems to be doing better now, but I still feel like he is not fully convinced. What didyou do when you needed to give someone reassurance, but just didn't know what to say?

My recovery is underway, I have been told to get rest and relaxation to help shake off the stress. I have been fortunate to not have incurred any physical injuries, but I will be the first to say that both my mental and magical faculties are suffering dramatically. It was incredibly hard to concentrate at random intervals throughout the day, and my magic has been fluctuating in strength in equally random intervals. I hope that Fluttershy is correct in her assumption that it is nothing more than a case of strained nerves.

I wish Major Biggs and Lieutenant Wedge a swift recovery. Please let them know I’m grateful for them taking me to Ponyville.

I eagerly await your response,

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

PS: Upon further recollection, I do believe this storm was not a mere stray storm. I would hypothesize that the storm itself was tinged with magical energy, unfortunately I cannot support my hypothesis since the storm disappeared shortly after the chariot was struck.

Twilight rolled the letter up, setting it on the lampstand by her bed as she looked out the window. The peaceful, if staggered, snores of her trusty assistant loaned a certain rhythm to the nightly chorus of crickets and other creatures of the night.

She peered down between her bed and the wall, fishing around with her magic for a particular tome. It was her bastion, her refuge, the only place that made her feel nearly as safe was her own mind. She knew that she didn’t need to, but she liked having a record.

She leafed open the book, skimming through the walls of words and various illustrations she had written and drawn over the years. She snuggled into her covers as she turned to the dog-eared page. Twilight paused for a moment, then grabbed her quill from the desk as she gathered her thoughts.

The tip of the quill quietly dropped to the page.

Dear journal,

Exciting day today. I ran into a thunderstorm on the flight back home. Nopony was seriously hurt, thank Celestia. I, myself, am not feeling so great, but I am sure it is nothing more than a case of nerves. At least, that is what Fluttershy suspects. Rarity seemed rather calm about the whole situation, but I suppose that it’s just how Rarity carries herself.

Poor Spike, he took the shock the hardest. After the girls left he simply broke down and cried. I never wanted to put him through something like this, but he was terrified that he would lose me. I told him that I will always be there for him, he seemed to be reassured by that, but I did not feel any better saying it.

I have always believed myself to be a fortunate mare. From the time I was a small filly,everything seemed to go mostly right for me, even if there were hiccups along the way. From my entrance exam, to my first day here at Ponyville.

I cannot help but wonder what it would have been like if I had not made it. I am sure that Rarity would have taken Spike into her home without question. Maybe Applejack, or Fluttershy. The girls would be crushed if things went badly today. But they didn’t, and that worries me.

Why did I live? I am nopony special really, just a unicorn. What if it were somepony else? Would they still be alive? Did I live because I managed to teleport everypony to safety with the last fleeting moments of consciousness? What would have happened to Biggs and Wedge if I were not there? Would they be dead?

I hate questions like this. I really hate questions like this. I like something I can study, something I can analyze. I like to be able to pick up and look at a problem or object from all angles, break it down in my mind and see how it works, then put it together again and draw a probable conclusion from what I learned. But I can’t do that with death. There are no tests for nearly dying. This is something I may end up wondering about for the rest of my life, and I hate it.

I never asked for this, I never asked to be some sort of hero who triumphs against all odds. I guess today was just another item I can add to my list of fortuitous happenings that I have witnessed, right next to “The defeat of Nightmare Moon”, or “Overthrowing the King of Chaos”, I can add in “Today I nearly died”. I suppose it could be worse. The next item on the list could be the alternative, written there by somepony close to me.

My friends mean well, and they want me to take it easy. They seemed a little off to me, but I suppose they were as shocked to hear what happened as I was to have experienced it. But despite what they said, I cannot honestly take it easy. Underneath the calm face they don’t see the little filly crying in fear. I do not think they understand what it felt like to look down at the world spinning beneath you and have the cold heartless realization that you had a few moments left to live slam into you.

I can’t fault them for not understanding, I don’t feel like I fully understand them sometimes. The important thing is that they care, and I know they want me to just look forward instead of backward. I really should, it is getting late, I need to follow Fluttershy’s advice and get some sleep.

Tomorrow is the Running of the Leaves, and from what I understand, everything will be going smoothly. Rarity was able to tie up the final loose ends for the event in my absence. After all that I have had to deal with, I look forward to something simple. I can’t imagine anything going wrong.

-Twilight Sparkle, Nov 26, 1001.

Interesting Anecdote: Those last few breaths I took while falling, felt like the most clean, pure breaths I have ever breathed.

Hello Tomorrow

This place. A familiar place.

A familiar window, a familiar moon.

A familiar bed, left too soon.

A familiar book, a familiar vase.

A familiar look on a familiar face.

This face.

A special face.

I know this face

Just as I know this place.

For this familiar place is my home.

And this familiar face is my own.

At my reflection I do stare.

In my reflection is a mare.

In it’s eyes I do behold.

A world of wonders.

New and old.

Wonders great.

Wonders bold.

Yet I fear

Of horrors told.

It’s terrible cunning.

Emotions cold.

It is I but is not.

For I am it but am not.

Away

Away I run

Through the door

Down the stairs

Into a room

Where the carpet flows

And the curtain blows.

Where the books are trees

With words for leaves.

These words are knowledge

But they are not smart.

These words are empty

For they are not truth.

The bust is singing

~Twilight~ Its words ringing.

A lonely chorus.

~Please, don't cry for me.~ In this empty forest.

And yet

~I know you never meant for this.~ All too quiet.

The clock ticks.

~I love you,~ The clock tocks.

A Tick.

~Completely~ A Tock.

Tick.

~Just remember that~ Tock.

Knock.

Door. ~If I should leave you now,~

A door.

The door. ~Then in my final hour,~

It calls.

I answer. ~I pray this message finds you well,~

Out the door.

Darkness... ~Before it all goes to hell.~

Darkness...

All around. ~He could never cage the world.~

Broken land

Like grains of sand ~It's too big for anyone,~

Cast about in this sea of hearts sorrow

~And soon the dark will pass.~ Broken homes

Islands of brome

~I want so much to be with you~ Strewn about in this land of no ‘morrow.

Darkness...

~But in my heart I know, Twi,~ Darkness...

Doom abound.

~This planet needs you now!~ Burning one.

Burning all.

Burning tree.

Burning back.

Burning hope. ~This planet needs you now!~

Another turn upon the rack.

Darkness...

No escape.

An Alicorn

Of justice she shines Twilight,

Horn of light

~This planet!~ With which she fights

And wings of change

On which she rides.

Darkness...

You’ve sealed your fate.

When you see Lyra Drifting, flitting

Falling, flying ~This planet!~

There is no up

No down

No solid ground

Into darkness

Into despair Tell her to wait for me.

~This planet!~ Into nothingness

Into Chaos

For Chaos Is

For Chaos Was

For Chaos Will Be

I still have work to do.

All

Twilight bolted upright in a cold sweat.

‘Quill. I need my Quill.’

She tossed her bed sheets aside and dove frantically into her drawer. Over and over the images played out in Twilight’s mind as books, feathers, and assorted nicknacks fell to the wood floor. ‘Can’t forget, where is it?’ A frigid shiver crawled up her spine as the fleeting images of her dream faded away by the moment, overshadowed by a nagging feeling. She scratched her back briefly as she focused on the dream, trying to piece it all back together. She looked to the side as she saw a mirror, and walked up to the reflection.

“This face, a familiar face...”

‘No, stop. Focus. I can’t let myself forget, this is important... Where did I put my quill?’

The clock on the wall glared down ominously at her as it taunted her with it’s constant tick-tock, tick-tock. ‘Statue was singing to me, someone I know, I knew, or will know?’Time was racing against her. ‘Library on fire, Singing statue, broken mirror.’ Off to the side Twilight noticed a stack of tied paper and a small bag.

‘Spike restocked while I was gone! I knew I had him do that for a good reason!’ Twilight Quickly ran over, ripping the packages open and throwing them onto her desk. ‘Burning mirror, broken statue, singing library.’ She pulled out the stopper to her inkwell and heedlessly threw it across the room. ‘Mirror, Statue, Library.’ The quill tip plunged into the ink, and hovered over the paper in a purple aura.

‘Mirror... Statue... Library?...’

The quill trembled as as droplets spilled onto the page.

Twilight’s room was completely silent.

‘... Buck, what was I going to write?’

“What was all that noise just now?” Spike chanced a few steps forward into the room and tilted his head quizzically. “Twi, are you okay? What are you doing?” A pair of green eyes peered over the edge of the desk. “You were looking for a quill and paper?”

Twilight grit her teeth and groaned out loud, “No, no, no, no! I can’t forget! There were trees... no, it was in the library. I remember the bust, it was singing...”

“Twilight?” Spike furrowed his brow and shook Twilight’s shoulder. “What are you talking about?”

“Dream! Shh! Was that Luna? Or Celestia? Ugh...” The quill fell to the table as Twilight cradled her head in a hoof and rubbed her back against the seat. “They told me when I see... They told me to tell somepony... Tell them to wait for Luna, or was it Celestia... Who was it?” The barely legible scrawl dripped down the page, overshadowed by a distraught mare with shaking hooves. “Ugh, forget it.”

“Twilight, relax.” Spike reassuringly pat Twilight on the back as she leaned into his claw. “You’ll remember eventually. I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“Sorry for worrying you, Spike. I guess you’re right. Still, I wish I could remember what was so important.” Twilight flopped her ears back as she levitated her hairbrush. “Anything happen while I was asleep?”

“Well, we somehow managed to completely run out of food overnight.” Spike scratched his head with a rolled up scroll sealed with the mark of Celestia. “Oh! Right, Celestia wrote you back. That’s why I came to find you.”

‘Hm, she wrote back already. That was really quick.’

Twilight set down her comb and gently took the scroll from Spike’s claws. As she opened it, a small smile played at the corners of her mouth. ‘I wonder what she has to say’

To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

Life should never be taken for granted and I am most certainly glad that you realize this. Misfortune happens upon all ponies at some point in their lives. I am extremely glad that you are well and that you have recovered completely and swiftly.

Yesterday,a Ponyville weather squad entered Canterlot and requisitioned an emergency response cart and set out to find your escorts. They returned with neither Biggs nor Wedge however. The report that they submitted stated that there were hoofprints leading toward the Everfree Forest, but the rescue team was unable to determine where in the forest they are.

We plan to send out search teams later today. If there was any sort of information you could offer to assist with the search, please let me know. However, if you feel that your memory is impaired, I’d rather you take time to rest. Please write me after your recovery; I’d prefer that you not worry yourself with a response.

Concerning your mention of the storm, the report I mentioned before stated that the Ponyville weather team saw the storm “go poof”, as they said. I have no doubt that this storm was of unnatural cause, I will do what I can to find the responsible party.

Signed,

-Princess Celestia

Twilight slowly rolled up the scroll and set it next to her bed, turning to face Spike.

“Well?” The little dragon leaned forward slightly. “What did it say?”

“Well...” Twilight fidgeted and gently scratched at her back. “The two guards that were bringing me back to town seemed to have made their way to the Everfree to make camp, but now the rescue team can’t find them.” Twilight paused and put a hoof to her chin. “At least they couldn’t find them yesterday, it probably got too dark to find them. The Princess is sending out another search party today.”

“Huh, well I hope they’re alright.”

“Me too, but there really isn’t anything we can do.” Twilight rubbed her hoof against her assistant’s head. “Princess Celestia has it under control.”

“Well, alright.” The dragon darted off to the corner of the room, grabbing a fresh quill and paper from the desk before dashing back to Twilight’s side. “Ready when you are, Twilight.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a little as she left her room. “Not today, Spike. Princess Celestia told me to not worry about the letter unless I could remember anything important.” Twilight furrowed her brows for a moment. “And to be honest, I can’t remember anything that would help them find Biggs and Wedge. I don’t think we need to send her a letter just yet.”

“No... Letter?” The quill twirled about in Spike’s grasp slowly. “Drats, I even got the good quill out too.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” A mischievous grin crept across Twilight’s face as she skipped downstairs with Spike in tow. “We’ll find a chance to use that quill soon enough. But first, breakfast!”

“Hehe... Well...” Spike seemed rather interested with the tree rings on the kitchen floor as he wrung his claws behind his back. “Not really, it seems your friends aren’t the only thing that disappeared overnight...”

“Clever.” Twilight deadpanned. “But seriously, what do you mean? It’s just breakfast, you know: Buttered toast...”

“Nope, bread has been banished.”

“Apples?”

Spike shook his head, “Annihilated.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Twilight facehoofed and sighed, “Any vegetables?”

“Vaporized. And before you ask; the condiments were consumed too.” Spike frowned softly as he spoke.

“What? I thought you were kidding.” Twilight tilted her head and stared at Spike a moment. “And since when did you become so verbose?”

The response that Twilight received was not a verbal response, but a gaping mouth and a disbelieving stare.

“Twilight, we’ve lived here for over a year.” Spike blinked slowly at the unicorn. “In a library.”

“Eh heh heh... Right, sorry.” The air hung awkwardly still for a few moments as Twilight clacked her hooves together. “Anyway! Woo, derailed train of thought! Back to the issue: what happened to all our food?”

“I was hoping you could tell me about it.” Spike shrugged, “You were up last night.”

Twilight shook her head and furrowed her brow, “What? I was? When?”

“Well, when you got up last night, you weren’t exactly quiet. You nearly fell on your face when you got out of your bed.” Spike snickered until he met Twilight’s stare.

“And did you see when I got back...?”

Spike shook his head and scowled, “Nope, I crashed pretty hard after you left. No idea what happened then.” He paused for a moment. “You were eating a lot yesterday, maybe it was you.”

‘That sounds like a cover-up to me.’ A grumble emanated from Twilight’s stomach in protest. ‘Well, that rules out breakfast. Maybe I can grab some lunch from Sugarcube corner while I go shopping today.’ “Eh, I suppose it doesn’t matter, we need to get started on getting the library all set up.”

“But... But... Today is the Running of the Leaves! The library is supposed to be closed today...” Spike groaned. “Can’t we just take a break?”

Twilight scooped Spike onto her back as she cantered into the main lobby area. “Nope! Because the library is closed today, it’s the perfect day for...”

With a gentle bounce, Spike was tossed from Twilight’s back onto a small throne of knowledge. Twilight twirled about on her rear hooves as numerous books levitated from the floor.

“Organizing!”

“Oh, come on! Not this again!”

“Spike, grab that quill. We’re going to need some checklists!”

The scene was superb. The picture of perfection. The very magnum opus of order itself. Stacks of tomes towered along the inner walls of the library with Twilight and Spike at its center.

“Fiction?”

Spike dashed over to one of the stacks, eying it for a moment before turning back to Twilight. “All accounted for!”

Twilight rubbed her back against a bookshelf as she peered over the thick scroll with a smile. “Excellent! Fiction: Check! How about the history books?”

The sound of skittering paws across a wood floor was followed by an enthusiastic: “Yup!”

Another check mark. Twilight smiled and looked up at the pillars of paper; She organized the library almost bi-weekly. She knew she didn’t need to do it, but something about making sure everything fit in it’s proper place was therapeutic at times. “One last category, and we should be done.

“Alright.” Spike settled into a half-crouched stance and twitched his claws, poised to attack at his caretaker’s command. “Which one?”

Twilight grinned at the little dragon, giggling as she drew out her words. “Find...”

“Yes?”

“Me...”

“Yes?”

Twilight leaned forward and half-closed her eyes with a devious smirk on her face. She leaned her muzzle down by Spike’s ear as she whispered, “Reference guides.”

Spike gave a quick salute and disappeared into the forest of stacked books. Twilight bobbed her head side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of purple amongst the multi-colored pillars. “Spike? Spike, did you find it?”

“I’m having some trouble, Twi. Give me a m- Ah-hah! Found it!”

A check mark dashed its way across the square next to the entry labled: Check each pile after sorting books to make sure that all genres were accounted for when sorting. “... And check. Alright, Spike. Let’s put these away.”

“Aye, aye, Admiral Sparkle!” Spike walked out from between the stack of foreign culture guides and the manuals on astrology, nearly knocking them over. He quickly wrapped his tail around the astrology stack and hugged the guides to him as they both stopped wobbling. “Heh heh... Whew.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her assistant and chuckled. “‘Admiral Sparkle’? I thought you would have gone for ‘Sergeant Sparkle’ since you seem to like alliteration so much.

“Curses, I knew there was a better match for that.” Spike started shelving the astrology almanacs and chuckled “But hey, I tried at least. I can’t come up with perfect line every time!”

“Whatever you say, Spike.” Twilight hummed to nopony in particular as she levitated another pair of medicinal manuals to the top shelf. She reached a hoof back to quell the burning sensation on her back, toppling a very large book off of a stack. Twilight paused and picked up the massive tome. ‘Medical Mysteries and Odd Afflictions: A Comprehensive Compendium of Uncommon Illness. Huh. I wonder if they have anything for itching along the spine...’ Twilight pulled the book out and began flipping through the pages.

Somewhere between tap-dancing toothdecay and the clown cold was where she became completely immersed in the book. Twilight found the numbers on the pages growing faster and faster, not heeding the time or the shrinking piles of books around her. She stopped as she saw the word “itch” numerous times across the page. She leaned forward, studying the text for any clue that could relate to a progressively worsening itch, when a soft triplicate of solid taps shattered her focus.

Twilight whirled around abruptly as the book she was so intently invested in was sent hurtling through her front door. The reading-material-turned-ballistic missile flew into the distance behind Fluttershy’s head. A bag from Sugarcube Corner lay on the ground in front of the pegasus‘ hooves as Twilight assessed the situation. Fluttershy stood on trembling legs, looking at the wooden fragments that now adorned her mane.

Fluttershy stared at Twilight. Her eyes growing wider as she looked over her shoulder and watched the book achieve low orbit, then back to Twilight. “Nice to see you... too?”

Twilight balked at the situation, any number of responses would have filled the appropriate quote for nearly taking your friend’s head off with high-speed literature. But, ultimately, between her empty stomach and the aroma wafting from the bag, Twilight’s vacant stare traveled down to the cinnamon roll laying on the ground.

“You going to eat that?”

A short while later after a few nervous laughs and a speedy reshelving, Twilight was happily devouring her third strudel of the morning from the bag Fluttershy brought. The pegasus and Spike sat on the couch opposite Twilight in awkward silence.

“So... um... anything new happen so far, Twilight?” Fluttershy tried with a gentle tone, “Still having... uh, problems with your magic?”

The last bit of strudel number three disappeared into Twilight’s mouth as she rubbed her back up and down against the chair she sat in. “Yeah, magic is still acting a little crazy. But everything else seems fairly normal.”

“Ha!” Spike interjected as he jumped up. “Normal? You ate all the food in the library!”

“Now hold on a second.” Twilight flopped her ears back and huffed indignantly. “We can’t prove that it was me.”

“Oh... oh my, still having hunger issues then?”

It took Twilight a few moments of blissful silence and rubbing her back against the chair to realize that Fluttershy was directing the question at her. “Uh, yeah. Hold on a moment. I’ve got an itch I want to finish scratching.”

She resumed her rubbing her back against the seat in uninterrupted silence for a full half minute; far too long for any length of silence. When she opened her eyes, she was rewarded with varying degrees of confusion from Spike and Fluttershy. The looks they gave her bore nothing judgemental, but carried plenty of concern.

“So... um, how long have you had this itch?” Fluttershy furrowed her brow and quickly crossed the room to Twilight’s side.

“Not too long,” A pair of hooves prodded at Twilight’s back as she spoke. “I’d say since this morning?”

Fluttershy first gently poked, then rubbed the spot that Twilight had been scratching, stopping only when Twilight’s leg twitched and she let out a small sigh. “That’s perfect, Fluttershy. A little higher perhaps?”

“Uhm... Sure?” Fluttershy turned to look at Spike, all he gave was an indifferent shrug as she stepped back, leaving Twilight a bit bewildered on the couch.

“Aww, that felt great; why did you stop?” Twilight half-drooled with a dopey grin plastered on her face.

Twilight tilted her head as Fluttershy’s lips moved, but didn’t utter a sound. “Um, Shy?”

“Huh? Right, I’m sorry... I’m not sure what the itch means. It seems to be pretty minor, but your magic is still acting up.” Fluttershy lightly brushed her hoof across the floor. “Perhaps you should come with me to Zecora’s house... She may know something about what’s going on. That is, uh, if you aren’t busy...”

“Well...” Twilight stole a glance at the doorway, still fragmented in tiny chunks scattered around on the ground. “I’d like to fix the door first. I’m not so sure th-”

“Just go, Twilight.” Spike grinned and shook his head. “I’ll take care of it, it’s not like I haven’t replaced the door before.”

Twilight blushed softly and nuzzled Spike’s head. “Right, right. Don’t need to remind me about that. I’ll be back in time for the Running of the Leaves, okay?”

Two claws pushed against Twilight’s haunches as Spike chuckled. “Go! Get fixed up. I’ll be waiting for you to come back.”

One last loving smile was shared between Spike and Twilight before she followed Fluttershy outside. She gingerly picked her way between the wooden fragments littered about and out into the sunny day. A cool fall breeze was whirling about the town as Twilight walked through town toward the park.

“So then, nice day isn’t it?”

“Well, yes... It’s...” Fluttershy looked around with a tiny smile. “Nice.”

The two continued on in an awkward silence as the conversation died down as quickly as it started. Twilight wasn’t exactly sure what to say; half because she was trapped in the ensorcellement of an open-ended pause, and half because she was enjoying the quiet.

Eventually, Twilight decided to try again. “So... How’s Angel? Still being as pushy as ever?” She chuckled. The part of her that was compulsively trying to initiate conversation was now being bludgeoned to death by self-criticism.

“Well... um, he’s fine I suppose. Keeps being more picky than pushy I’m afraid.” The pegasus chuckled quietly and smiled softly. “Why do you ask?”

“Uh, no reason really. Just wondering how things were while I was gone.” Ears pinned back, Twilight returned the smile and quickly looked in the other direction when a soft melody caused her ears to perk up.

~...el something inside

When I start to realize

The Elements of Harmony...~

Twilight tilted her head and looked around the park for the source of the energetic music drifting through the air. “Huh.”

“What is it, Twilight?” Fluttershy slowed down and walked near Twilight while looking around.

“Do you know who normally sings here at the park? I’ve never heard them before.”

“Well... No.” Fluttershy gave Twilight a quizzical stare. “The only real musician we have native to Ponyville is Lyra, she’s usually up by that bench ahead.”

As they continued onward toward the Everfree, the music seemed to grow louder as they approached a turn in the path.

~… Together...

Together...

We'll save everypony!~

As the final notes of music faded away, Twilight and Fluttershy rounded the corner to see a mint-green unicorn sitting on a bench putting her lyre away. Wordlessly, she levitated her saddlebags and began to trot back toward town.

“Awwww, she’s already done?” A few steps away Twilight turned to Fluttershy with a smile. “So, that was Lyra?”

“Mhmm! I really like her, she’s really good with that lyre of hers.” Fluttershy smiled. “She can play all kinds of music with it!”

Twilight nodded, “I agree, she’s a really good singer too.”

Fluttershy stopped in the middle of the path and tilted her head at Twilight. “Um... I’m going to let you finish that thought. But um... Twilight, uh, you do realize that’s impossible, right...?” She chewed her lip a while in awkward silence. “She’s mute.”

Eyes wide, Twilight spun to face her friend and then whirled around to catch a glimpse of Lyra’s mane disappearing around the bend. Twilight turned to Fluttershy with her brows furrowed and hushed her own voice, “What do you mean mute? I heard her singing! Heck, I heard it from all the way down the path!”

Fluttershy backed away a little bit and squeaked in surprise before quickly sputtering a response. “Twilight, mute ponies don’t talk! I think your brain just got knocked around a little by the lightning stri-”

“I. Don’t. Have.” Twilight closed her eyes and half-screamed, half-whispered, “Brain damage! I’m telling you I heard her singing! I’ll prove it to you!” Twilight whirled about to face the park, only to find the lyre-wielding unicorn already gone. “Forget it. Doesn’t really matter anyways...”

“Come on, Twilight. The sooner we get you to Zecora’s and fixed up, the better.” Fluttershy gently tugged Twilight’s mane and nodded her head to the entrance of the forest off in the distance. “You can prove me wrong when you’re all fixed up, okay?” Fluttershy looked around nervously. ”But right now, you’re sick and need help. So just come with me a-”

Twilight sighed, “I’m not one of your animals, Fluttershy.” She flopped her ears back and glared back at the empty bench. ‘I know I heard you speak, Lyra. I’m not crazy, I’m right!’ Twilight lifted her head to face Fluttershy. “Just, ugh, let’s go. We’re wasting Princess Celestia’s daylight.”

Fluttershy slowly nodded and headed down the path toward the forest with Twilight in tow.

“It’s actually really nice out here in the Everfree today. It’s usually really dark and...” Fluttershy swallowed as she looked around. “Scary...”

Twilight had been less than talkative after the incident at the park. The entire fifteen minutes they had spent in the forest consisted of Twilight trying to ignore how she had an outburst, ignoring the burning itch on her back that had traveled down her sides, and ignoring Fluttershy making a small jump at every noise she heard. “Yeah, it is kind of nice I guess.” She replied.

The overgrowth only became more and more dense as they trudged onward into the forest. Unknown sounds danced along the edges of hearing and eventually gave way to silence which Fluttershy promptly broke.

“Twilight?”

Twilight blinked to attention a few times and looked to her friend. “Yes, Fluttershy?”

“Are you... um, are you...” Fluttershy hid her eyes behind her mane and whispered only barely audibly. “Upset, with me? About the whole, um...”

“Right, that.” Twilight scratched at the ground awkwardly, taking the start of the conversation as an opportunity to utilize a nearby tree branch as a makeshift back scratcher. “No, not upset. I’ve just been thinking about... things.”

“Oh, I see.” Fluttershy met Twilight’s glazed over gaze and quietly turned down the path again. “I don’t think that it’s... Um, much farther to her home. Do you need some more time, or are you ready to go? We can wait as long as you need, I don’t mind.”

Twilight stopped rubbing her back against the tree and gave herself a small shake. “Sure, I’m ready.” She cantered over toward her friend. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at Fluttershy when she noticed yet another odd glance from the pegasus. “What?”

“I-I’m just worried about you is all.” Fluttershy turned her face forward and kept her eyes that direction. “Not to say there’s anything wrong, but uh... You just seem really distracted and scattered.” She paused a moment, “How’s your itch? Getting better?”

The mere thought of the itch seemed to make it even worse than it was. “Worse.” Twilight sighed, “I really wish I knew what this was. Maybe I have bedbugs at home. Between the magic fluctuations and this itch, I can hardly stay focused.” Head hung, Twilight stared at the wisps of fog lazily curling around her hooves as she trudged along beside Fluttershy.

“Twilight, it’s not so bad. I’m sure that Zecora will have just what you need to fix you up and get you in running shape by the time we-” A huge wall of fog blew in and smothered the two mares as they clung to each other in a moment of fear. “Get... back. Maybe... I should take back what I said about it being a, um... Nice day.”

“No kidding. Where did this fog even come from?” Twilight looked around, dismayed at density of the fog around her. She nudged Fluttershy and pressed herself close. “It doesn’t matter. Just don’t wander off, I can’t see any further than you are. Do you still know the way to her house from here?”

“M-maybe? Let’s just follow what little path we can see an-”

Twilight was not granted even a moment of warning as a shrill scream shredded her eardrums and sent her mind reeling in confusion as she stared at the offender. “Fluttershy? What was that about?” A hoof pressed to her own temple did nothing to ease the throbbing in head as watched the fog swirl away from Fluttershy. “Why would you scream like that?”

“S-s-something... b-brushed by m-me...” Fluttershy’s pace quickly accelerated and her eyes darted every which way. “I’m sorry, Twilight, I’ve always been jumpy... It’s the fog, and the forest playing tricks with me.”

“It’s fine, just don’t run off.” Twilight felt Fluttershy press close to her, trembling hard enough for both of them. Each step forward felt like the fog was pulling her hooves down. “I can’t even see you.”

“It’s so strange...” Fluttershy whispered, “The fog usually doesn’t roll in this quickly. It usually has some sort of warning before it gets this bad...” The air grew silent in the noiseless mist for a few minutes as the two mares pressed on, only to start seeing the density of fog beginning to lift. “Oh good, I think I see the end of the fog bank up ahead, maybe.” Fluttershy gulped and looked around. “I hope...”

Unaware she was even holding her breath, Twilight heaved a great sigh of relief. “I hope so, that fog was just as unnatural as that thunderstorm yesterday. Do you think Zecora is much f-”

Flashes of white, blue, and green filled Twilight’s vision as her heart pounded. She knew this feeling. She hated this feeling. She knew exactly what was happening.

She was falling.

All Twilight could do was scream as she felt weightlessness grip her. Images of everypony she loved flew through her mind at breakneck speed. She wanted to cry, but there was no time for that, somepony was telling her to stop screaming and stop scaring them. But how could she stop? Twilight was no pegasus, so either the voice was mad or...

Twilight opened her eyes and slowly quieted her screams. She looked at Fluttershy with dilated eyes and the most confused expression she could muster.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Am I dead?”

“No... Twilight.”

Twilight looked around, seeing the fog roll away and the flat expanse around them.

“Fluttershy, where did I fall off of?”

The yellow pegasus looked toward the retreating mist and then back to Twilight. “Well, I was walking next to you, and then I saw the fog clearing up. Then you took a step forward into a hole in the fog, and you just started screaming... It, um... Well... Looked like you were walking on the fog.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I thought only pegasus can do that!”

“W-well, what about that cloud-walking spell you used?” Fluttershy squeaked. “You could have accidentally, you know... cast it.”

As her heartbeat slowed, Twilight sat back on her haunches. “So I didn’t die, I didn’t fall...”

“Well, no and yes?” Fluttershy tilted her head at Twilight. “You seem perfectly fine to me, I’m sure it’s just your magic acting up ag- um, T-Twilight... Wait!”

Fluttershy’s voice grew distant as Twilight skipped happily through the forest reveling in the realization that she didn’t fall to her demise. Only to realize that she was now struggling to slow down. She opened her eyes to see a small, unassuming rock in her path. As she spent what felt like an eternity watching it draw maliciously nearer, Twilight could only think one thing:

“Oh, horse-apples.”

The rock caught Twilight’s hoof and sent her tumbling down the hillside, bouncing off of rocks and battering her sides and back with bruises from all angles. Slowly she rolled over, clutching her forelegs around herself and groaning. A gentle flapping drew near as time went on as well as the words, “Oh my goodness.” repeated over and over.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes, Twilight?” Fluttershy’s voice was shaking in fear.

“Am I dead now?”

A sigh.

“No, Twilight. You just tripped.” Fluttershy nosed Twilight gently, causing her to wince. “Can you get up? We need to get you to Zecora...”

“A scream I heard from yonder hill.

You’ve brought me Twilight, be she ill?”

Both Fluttershy and Twilight cheered and groaned, respectively “Zecora!”

“A fall so large may cause a sprain.

Tell me Twilight, is there much pain?”

Twilight worked her hooves beneath her and found herself able to stand with only slight effort. “Actually, it doesn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would.” She took a few steps, her knee buckled. Twilight closed her eyes and braced for impact, only to be caught by Fluttershy and Zecora.

“My home is quite near, friends. A rather short walk.

Save your strength, Twilight. We shall make time to talk.”

The door to Zecora’s shack opened with a creak as it always did, the masks on the walls saying ‘Hello’ and ‘Welcome’ in their own special way. Off in the corner lay Rainbow Dash; passed out on a hammock.

Fluttershy and Twilight looked at Rainbow, then to each other. Twilight stumbled in and half-collapsed in a seat near the cauldron.

“The second pony I’ll be treating today.

What problem caused you to come this way?”

Zecora walked to her fireplace and retrieved a kettle and some cups. She poured tea for for the three of them as Rainbow Dash began to stir. “Whuh? Huh? Oh hey, Twilight. Fluttershy.” Rainbow stretched her wings and legs as she yawned. “When did you girls get here?”

“Oh... only a little while ago.” Fluttershy replied. “We figured Zecora would have something to help a unicorn with, uhm...”

“My magic is acting up randomly.” Twilight groaned with a monotone inflection.

“Errant spells and drifting thoughts?” Zecora gasped, “Do you know when it was caught?”

Twilight scrunched her face as she recalled the day prior. “It started yesterday after my ride to Ponyville got hit with a lightning storm.”

“And then I rescued her!” Rainbow interjected before Zecora could reply.

“Rainbow shared a story of you.

at first I did not think it true.”

“Hey!”

“But now I see with my own eyes

The words she spoke; not boast or lies.”

Twilight chuckled softly as Rainbow scowled from the corner. “No, she was telling you the truth. She carried me all the way back here to Ponyville by herself.”

“Which is why I’m here in the first place,” Rainbow groaned. “My wings and back have been sore and cramping up like nopony’s business.”

“Same.” Twilight replied, drawing odd glances from everypony in the room. “I mean about the soreness; not wings, obviously.”

Rainbow tilted her head and cocked an eyebrow as she got up and joined the group. “What’s your deal? You were fine when I dropped you off yesterday.”

“Well...” Fluttershy clacked her hooves together slowly, “There was this book that broke a door... and the itching... and this fog... and then the hill...”

“Indeed, she tumbled down a hill.

From what I saw; was quite the spill.

So added to your muddled brain,

Your muscles suffer aches and pains?”

Zecora turned to her cauldron and threw a menagerie of plants and extracts inside.

“This bitter drink is what you need.

T’will grant you clarity and speed.

For the muscles; a poultice I suspect.

But to be sure; Twilight, I should inspect.”

“Well, alright,” Twilight shrugged. “You’re the one with all the healing know-how after all.”

Zecora chuckled and began to prod Twilight’s shoulders and neck gently. Her stare intent as she searched for injury.

“You’ll need to tell me where it smarts.

These pressure points are not my art.”

Zecora’s hooves pressed lightly against Twilight’s back and sides, trying to provoke some sort of response from her. Twilight gave a few short gasps and hisses of breath between her teeth as the hooves pinpointed the most severe bruises.

Fluttershy could only sit nearby and give Twilight an empathetic stare as the unicorn squirmed under the examination.

“What is this, my friend of purple?

Such a bruise upon your curple.”

Rainbow stared at the ceiling for a moment with her mouth hung open slightly. “Wait, isn’t purple one of those words that doesn’t rhyme with anything?”

Twilight gave a small jerk as the hooves worked down her back to her sides. “Gentle, gentle...” She turned to Rainbow with gritted teeth. “N-normally, that would be the caahhhh... case; there is no word in our language that rhymes. But curple is slang for flank in some cultures.”

“Ah, right you are, my wise friend, Twilight.”

Zecora smiled, moving her hooves down to the good sized bumps on Twilight’s sides

“Be still, lest you wish for pain to bite.”

The moment Zecora applied pressure, Twilight yelped and grit her teeth. Fire poured through her veins as every muscle in her body contracted. She sucked air through her teeth and slammed her eyes shut as she slowly curled into a ball.

On the opposite end of the room, a bookcase sheathed in a light purple aura, slowly crumpled as Twilight curled into a ball. The sound of splintering wood echoed throughout Zecora’s hut until the only thing that remained was a small wooden marble, suspended in the air.

The four mares looked awkwardly at each other when suddenly the wooden dot dropped, shattering the wooden floor and leaving a small crater in the dirt. The group got up and walked to the little wooden sphere.

“What magic have I seen this day,

that makes my shelving act this way?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Twilight got up and frantically trotted in place with her ears pinned back. “I didn’t mean to, you just hit a nerve and the next thing I know is I hear wood splintering...”

“Rainbow, stop!”

Everypony looked to Fluttershy who had her hoof outstretched toward Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, in turn, had her hoof mere inches from Twilight’s side and a guilty expression on her face. Zecora, Twilight, and Fluttershy stared at Rainbow until she spoke up.

“What?”

“I see intent inside those eyes.

I do not think your actions wise.” Zecora deadpanned with an icy stare.

“But... But... Crushy button...” Rainbow whined. “It was so coooooool~!”

“As interesting as it was to see.

I’ve lost some precious property.

These symptoms do cause me alarm,

I do not wish my home more harm.”

Twilight whimpered softly. “Zecora, really... I’m sorry.”

“Why wear a frown upon your face?

‘tis nothing I cannot replace.”

Zecora trotted over to the cauldron and ladled out some of the mixture into a cup for Twilight. Twilight stared into the swirling mixture, taking a sniff out of curiosity. The smell punched her in the face with the strength of Applejack bucking a tree, but the smell wasn’t bad, just potent. She took the cup and guzzled it down, shaking her head.

“That was nearly as bad as when I stumbled into Celestia’s liquor cabinet that one time...” Awkward silence and wide eyed stares met her own. “I didn’t know better! Trust me, I learned a great many lessons that day...” Twilight giggled, “Like learning what the conversion rate between proof and alcohol by percent...”

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy gawked at Twilight, then each other, and back to Twilight,

“Whoa, wait.” Rainbow sputtered “You drink?!”

“On occasion.”

“The Princess has a liquor cabinet?” Fluttershy blinked a few times and stared at Twilight.

“It’s hidden, but yes.” Twilight grinned. “Uses it frequently during the nobles’ appeal sessions.”

“You’ve never told us about this before,” Rainbow inquired. “Why didn’t you tell us you were so... crazy?”

“Well for starters, I’m not crazy!” Twilight pointed her hoof accusingly. “Secondly, you never asked! It’s not a habit, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Zecora smiled and stood between the Twilight and Rainbow.

“Indeed it is a potent brew.

I made it special, just for you!

It’s task was simple: to clear your thoughts.

So tell me Twilight, what has it wrought?”

Twilight closed her eyes and explored her mind. No longer the foggy clouded mindscape which she had grown accustomed to battling through. Everything came to her so easily. Every thought, every spell, every memory rushed to her command. “It worked great! I feel like I’m operating at peak mental performance!”

“That is good news, very good news indeed

but there is one last thing you’ll both need.

For your aching muscles, some herbal paste.

We must hurry, lest you miss your race.”

“Oh horse-apples!” Rainbow immediately bolted upright and began trotting in place. “We need to get moving guys; it’s gunna start soo- mmm...” Rainbow’s magenta iris fought valiantly against her eye-lids as Zecora pressed some paste against her wings and slung a steaming cloth over her. “Zecora, you’re amazing.”

Zecora only chuckled at Rainbow as she dabbed her hoof into the jar of paste and began to brush it against the sore and bruised spots. Her hoof carefully traced back over Twilight’s side, pausing a moment as Zecora furrowed her brow and continued. Moments later, a second steaming, white cloth fell across Twilight’s shoulders as her back untensed and even the persistent itch eased up.

After another round of tea and ten minutes of warm, soothing bliss. Zecora lifted the towels from both Rainbow and Twilight’s back.

“Awww,” Rainbow flapped her wings a few times and gave herself a little shake. “Well, I feel a lot better. Besides, I was getting bored of just sitting there.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, and nodded to Zecora. “Thank you, Zecora. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I simply am glad I could assist in your plight.

come see me tomorrow, if you aren’t well tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan.” The door to the hut opened in a soft purple glow. “I hope to see you under better conditions soon Zecora!”

Zecora ushered the trio out the door and waved from within.

“The same to you, my purple friend.

I hope your wounds will swiftly mend!”

“Man, I feel great!” Rainbow did a quick double-barrel-roll before landing on the ground next to Twilight. “She’s probably got some crazy witch-doctor thing going on.”

“I think you mean shaman...” Fluttershy met with Rainbow’s glare and squeaked.

“For the love of Celestia,” Twilight groaned and stopped in place, half shouting at her present company. “She is an alchemist! Zecora works with plants and natural ingredients; no black magic, no voodoo, no shamanism.” A heavy sigh escaped Twilight as she swung her head between Rainbow and Fluttershy. “I thought I already told you girls the difference?”

“I’m...” A small cloud of dust rose at Fluttershy’s timid hoof-scratching. “A little forgetful sometimes. I-I usually think they mean the same thing.”

Rainbow laughed. “Oh, I remembered, I just love seeing you flip out over the little things. I was just trying to get you to talk, you’ve been awfully quiet since we left.” Rainbow explained as she jokingly bumped against Twilight.

A dull burning exploded from Twilight’s side, up her spine and into her brain as she winced and gave Rainbow the coldest glare she could muster. “Be careful. That hurts. A lot.”

Rainbow back-pedalled briefly, muttering something about a button before slowly approaching. She lowered her head as she approached Twilight. “Geez, no wonder. That looks pretty bad, what exactly did you do to yourself?” She gave Twilight a concerned look. “It looks really bad, it’s all swollen and everything.”

“Well I fell down a cliff, Dash. There were rocks, branches, trees...” Twilight shuddered as she played the experience out in her head. “Among other objects which were none-too-kind on me.”

“Uhm... Girls... It was a hill...”

“Well, yeah. I guess.” Rainbow shrugged. “I still say you’re pretty lucky to have gotten out of that with nothing more than a few scrapes.”

“Girls.”

“You’re telling me, I would hate to have broken something; I would have had to miss the race.”

Rainbow gawked at Twilight. “You’re planning on running?” She pointed a hoof at Twilight’s bruised and swollen sides. “Like that?!”

“Girls!” Fluttershy paused with her legs locked and her eyes wide as she stared at Twilight and Rainbow. “Do you smell that?...”

Twilight paused and gave the air a quick sniff. As she recoiled in disgust as the most foul, unholy, putrid smell assailed her nostrils. It reminded her of the time that the magical safeguards on the castle larder failed. She swore that nothing would smell worse than that.

Until today.

“Oh sweet Celestia.” Twilight gagged as she covered her muzzle. “What is that?”

The nasally, but unmistakable voice of Fluttershy with her nose covered, answered. “I-it’s awful, that’s what it is...”

Rainbow coughed. “It’s freaking horrible!” She blinked away a tear of pain. “Alright, which one of you was it? Fess up; cuz it wasn’t me!”

“It’s probably something here in the forest.” Fluttershy broke into a gallop down the path. “It’ll probably go away when we get out.”

The three mares bolted down the path, coughing and trying to ignore the permeating scent of... Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on it. ‘Nothing alive could possibly smell this bad. But, maybe something that was...’ Twilight’s eyes snapped wide open as her heart raced. For the Everfree, perhaps this was a common scent. But, it was not common to her. For a moment, she was grateful for the nagging itch on her back that was distracting her from the smell. But now that the imagery had been formed in her head, Twilight couldn’t help but analyze every shadow that the group dashed past.

“Ugh, of course.”

Twilight looked up, Rainbow stood before a fallen tree trunk, weathered and beat from years of withstanding the elements. It was charred and blackened, looking nearly as dead as the smell that assaulted Twilight’s nose. She trotted closer to get a better look.

‘These logs in the middle of the path... They weren’t here before.’

Fluttershy gently poked the log and scowled. “I’d suggest going around, but...” Fluttershy looked to the steep cliff overlooking the three mares on the left, and the drop-off into a river on the right. “It seems like the only way forward is to climb over these trees.” Another poke. “But they don’t exactly look sturdy.”

“You know Twi, I would offer to carry you, but I really don’t want to push my luck right before the race.” Rainbow grinned sheepishly.

Twilight loosed another sigh. “It’s fine, I’ll just climb over and we can move on.” She took a breath, only to cough with tears in her eyes. “...and get out of this nasty smell.” She gently placed a hoof on the log, testing it with a small push. When the log held, Twilight put both forelegs atop the tree.

And then everything went mad.

The tree seemingly vanished in a cloud of dark smoke as a malicious voice cackled somewhere in the distance. Twilight jumped back and shouted in surprise. The smoke curled down toward the ground, weaving it’s way between her legs as if measuring her up; observing her. It was at that point, when the smoke began to come close to the ground, that Twilight saw the most horrific thing in her life.

Snakes.

Dozens and dozens of horrible, black, dangerous-looking snakes.

The ball of writhing serpents slid and pulsated like some malignant tumor. Slowly it made its way toward Twilight as hundreds of beady red eyes bore through her. Twilight’s heart beat faster as she backed away, she looked up to her friends; both hovered in the air, mouths agape.

Twilight’s heart jumped into her throat as one of the snakes hissed at her. They moved as one, all focused upon her as they bore fangs far sharper than ever need be for any normal serpent. She continued backing away until she was pressed against a tree. Twilight wanted to scream, but the snakes would be upon her before she had a chance, she did the only thing instinct told her to do.

The next few seconds were nothing but a blur for Twilight. Over and over she pounded her hooves into the ground ahead of her. A wave of nausea shot through her as she heard the sickening crunch of bone, but almost instantly was replaced by the imagery of a hundred fangs rushing toward her.

She felt as if she were nothing more than a piece of driftwood stranded on a beach, caught in a never-ending crashing tide as the sound of the serpents breaking beneath her hooves greeted her with each strike.

But by the time it was over, all that remained were a few small craters and a half dozen or so unmoving snakes. Most were flattened in multiple sections, some even rent by the force of her blows. Twilight backed away and fell onto her rump as she stared at the scene before her. ‘I... what was that? Oh no... Shy? Dash?’ She glanced around for a moment before seeing Fluttershy’s tail from behind a bush. “Fluttershy!”

In the two seconds that it took Twilight to get to her friend, she realized that something was very, very wrong indeed. It didn’t take much to make Fluttershy cry, but it took something horrible to make her unresponsive.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight put her hooves on the yellow pegasus’ shoulder and gave her a soft shake. “Fluttershy, are you alright? Did they bite you?”

“Why?...” Fluttershy whispered.

“What?”

“Why did you kill them?... They... they were running away... you just...” Fluttershy gave a small sniffle and gently lay down the motionless snake in her hooves, turning to face Twilight with tears in her eyes.

“Geez, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash stood there by Fluttershy, blinking at Twilight. “What was that about?... I’ve never seen you act like that before.”

Twilight recoiled as she stared back at where she stood. Her lower jaw quivered as she looked at the good sized indentations her hooves left as she beat back the snakes that were charging at her.

‘They were charging me, right?’ “Girls, I can explain. They just exploded out of that log and started coming at me! You didn’t see the way they looked at me! They wanted to hurt me! I wasn’t just going to let myself get bitten.”

Rainbow looked at Twilight, then back to Fluttershy. “Yeah, I’m glad you’re alright and all... But that was a little unnecessary, Twi. Fluttershy was right, you didn’t have to turn on them; they would have just left you alone.”

“Those poor little snakes...”

Twilight sighed and looked at the shadows surrounding her. The forest seemed like it was out to get her since she entered it, and now it seemed as if her friends didn’t care if she- ‘No. Not Fluttershy. Maybe she’s so upset because... because they were her snakes? Did she set me up? Is that what this is?’

Thought’s raced around in Twilight’s head, spinning further and further out of control until she gave herself a mental shake. ‘What is wrong with me!? They’re my friends, they would never do that.’ Twilight looked up to see Rainbow consoling Fluttershy, who was now on her hooves. ‘But there is a possibility...’ Twilight slowly approached her friends and pawed at the ground. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I guess I got a little scared and freaked out.”

“I don’t blame you, Twilight, but...” Fluttershy gagged and looked at the casualties strewn about the path. “It doesn’t undo what just happened.”

Twilight’s heart sank as Fluttershy picked up one of the snakes, a single tear welling in the corner of her eye. Moments after, Fluttershy held a hoof to her mouth and darted into the brush.

Twilight’s heart sank as she tried to block out the sound of retching. She flattened her ears to her head and put some distance between herself and the bush. Twilight looked back down at the snakes, tempted to join Fluttershy as the feeling she felt mere moments ago assaulted her mind. She leaned down and stared at one of her victims, her eyes growing wide as she did.

The snake appeared to have chunks of its scales fallen off, or missing entirely. Others were missing the bottom halves of their jaws or were showing bone due to bites of flesh ripped from them. Twilight realized that her hooves couldn’t do that kind of damage to these snakes. She pressed her hoof against one of the corpses that had a large section of it’s side missing, only to have it dissolve into black goop that slapped against her hoof before dissolving into the ground.

“Hey.”

Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin as she snapped her gaze to Rainbow Dash, who had managed to sneak up behind her.

“You scared me!”

“Sorry about that.” Rainbow replied morosely “Listen; I’m glad you’re okay. I really am. But you’ve been acting really weird lately.” Rainbow’s expression shifted from nervous to authoritative. “The Twilight I know would have just ran and waited for the snakes to leave. I don’t blame you for what you did, but you did that in front of Fluttershy. And that is not, cool.”

The expression on her face shifted to one of concern. “I’ve known Fluttershy since Junior Speedsters, and she’s just not able to deal with stuff like that very well. Just cool off okay, Twi? You’re pretty cool for an egghead, just don’t hurt Fluttershy again.”

Words leapt to Twilight’s tongue, but she swallowed them and nodded meekly as Rainbow smiled and ran off to get Fluttershy. Twilight heard mumbling off in the bushes for a short while, followed shortly by the two pegasi coming into view.

The forest around them was unusually quiet. Fluttershy sniffled and wiped away a tear, “We should at least bury them. We owe them that much.”

Twilight nodded solemnly as she turned around, Rainbow and Fluttershy standing on either side.

The path was devoid of any snakes, alive or otherwise.

“...”

“Twilight?”

“Yes, Fluttershy?”

“I think we should go.”

“This just took a wrong turn into freaky-town. Let’s bail.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“...nd when we get to Whitetail Wood, I’m going to drive myself really hard on the uphill. Get some distance between me and AJ so I can just coast down the other side of that one hill. You know the one I’m talking about, right Twi?”

A gentle nudge to the shoulder momentarily snapped Twilight out of her trance. “Whuh? Oh! Yeah, sure.” Rainbow beamed and continued her description of her ‘flawless’ game plan to crush Applejack this year. As intriguing as it was, Twilight couldn’t help but be distracted by other, more interesting things; a large rock on the side of the road, the prickling on her back, two birds chasing each-other. Eventually she ran out of things to half-stare at and turned to Fluttershy, “Does she always ramble on like this about sports?”

“Only when it’s a competition,” Fluttershy giggled softly and returned the whisper, barely audible over Rainbow’s incessant prattle. “I’m used to it though, I’m her cheering squad after all.”

Twilight balked. “You’re not going to race?”

“Nope, I’ve been practicing my cheer.” Fluttershy took a mighty inhale, spreading her wings as she readied for the showstopper.

“Woohoo.”

“That’s, uh, great work Fluttershy.” Twilight chuckled. “Will you be cheering for me too?”

Twilight’s vision was assaulted by a technicolor display of hair, followed by two magenta irises staring intently at her. “Honestly Twilight,” Rainbow shook her head, “I can’t believe you’re going to race in your condition.”

“Well, couldn’t I say the same about you?” Sidestepping Rainbow, Twilight continued toward the banners flying in the distance. “I probably won’t win, but I can at least enjoy it like I did last ye-”

“Rainbow Dash! I got a few choice words for ya, you two-timin’ low-down lazy...!”

Twilight watched as Rainbow ducked behind Fluttershy. “Fluttershy. Hide me.”

“Um... okay?”

Applejack marched toward the group with a scowl etched into her face, heading straight for the multi-hued tail laying on the ground behind Fluttershy. Rainbow bolted upright and faced Applejack with a sheepish grin. “Oh, hey there Applejack. What’s uh...” Rainbow took a hard gulp. “What’s up?”

“Oh, I don’t know Rainbow, why don't you tell me ‘what’s up’? Because the only thing that’s up right now are the apples in those trees I needed your help with yesterday!” Applejack glared angrily at Rainbow who had her wings pinned to her sides and her ears folded back. Twilight took a step forward and poked Applejack in the side.

“AJ, Listen, I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to blow you off...” Rainbow pouted.

“Blow me off?!?” Applejack leaned into Rainbow’s face and threw her hat on the ground. “You’re the gosh darn element of loyalty Rainbow! How does leaving one of your closest friends hogtied embody that in any way, shape or form? Explain that to me!”

“A-AJ... Really. It won’t happen again... I promise!”

Applejack’s nostrils flared as she glared at Rainbow.

Twilight stepped between the earth pony and pegasus. “Applejack, listen. It’s my fault she couldn’t come.”

The earth pony picked up her hat and turned to give Twilight a quizzical look, “What do you mean, sugarcube?”

“Well, I don’t know if you heard. My ride back to Ponyville took a rather... unexpected detour... into the ground.” Twilight looked at Rainbow and smiled. “Rainbow was out looking for the storm we got caught in and found us instead. So she carried me all the way back to Ponyville on her own.”

Applejack glanced back and forth between Twilight and Rainbow. ”Well shoot, are ya’ll ‘right? And Rainbow, why didn’t you tell me? You know I would’a understood.”

Rainbow Dash looked off toward the starting line and fidgeted quietly. “W-what does it matter? You know what happened and I’ll help you later to make up for it. N-no problem!” She took a few steps toward the starting area before Applejack put a hoof into Rainbow’s chest and held her in place.

“There is a problem, Rainbow. You’re a loyal friend, but you know there’s one thing I can’t stand being lied to. T’aint fair to yourself, or to me.” Applejack lowered her hoof and smiled at her. “So what’s wrong?”

Silence hung in the air for far more than a few moments as Rainbow fidgeted uncomfortably. Her lips were pursed as she gave Applejack the most pleading glare she could muster. When that inevitably failed, she turned to Twilight with an equally fruitless attempt. Rainbow swallowed hard, and spoke up in a voice that would have done Fluttershy proud. “I didn’t want to admit to you that I couldn’t handle apple bucking and carrying Twilight in the same day.”

“So ya wanted us to think ya’ll were lazy?” Applejack laughed and put her hat back on, giving Rainbow a friendly pat on the shoulder. “That dun make no sense at all! You should’a just told me!”

The shame that Rainbow wore shattered as a smile finally broke through. “Thanks AJ. Listen, I promise it won’t happen again. But I couldn’t just leave Twilight hangin’.”

“I know sugarcube. Now come on, the race is startin’!”

Twilight smiled as Rainbow followed Applejack to the starting line, talking and laughing all the while. Aside from the itch which had recently started to become fairly annoying, everything was starting to calm down.

“Well, if it’s alright with you, I’m going to go get a seat... Good luck Twilight.”

Twilight smiled over her shoulder at Fluttershy. The pegasus gave a curt nod before heading to the stands; leaving Twilight alone. Twilight stood in the open for a moment before she was able to process what Fluttershy meant. ‘Right! The race is starting.’ She took a moment to locate the staging area in the distance. Twilight galloped up to Applejack and Rainbow, and the three of them continued toward the starting line.

“You’re just lucky it wasn’t a Pinkie promise.” Applejack chuckled. “If there’s anything I know, it’s that nopony breaks a Pinkie promise. If you think I’m harsh on somepony that breaks promises...”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Rainbow smirked, “Speaking of Pinkie, where is she? I haven’t seen her in days. Isn’t she supposed to be the announcer for the race again?”

Twilight scrunched up her face in thought. “You know, Rarity mentioned something about Pinkie missing as well.”

“Nopony knows where she went.” Applejack shrugged, “But if ya’ll really wanna know what I think, I think she’s planning a surprise party for somepony.”

“Must be some surprise.” Rainbow Dash snickered. “I can’t think of any good reason she would miss being the commentator on the Running of the Leaves.”

“Me neither...” Twilight jumped as a nearby loudspeaker blared to life.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, the Running of the Leaves will begin in five minutes! I repeat, the race will begin in five minutes!”

“Geez, we couldn’t have cut that any closer, huh, Rainbow?” Twilight looked around, “Rainbow?” Rainbow Dash and Applejack were nowhere in sight. ‘They must have already gone ahead.’’ Twilight trotted ahead into the colorful throng of ponies gathered at the starting line. The air was alive, it buzzed with the energy to move, to win.

It was infectious. It made her want to move, for the race to start. She filed away looking for Applejack and Rainbow until after the race. The voices seemed to egg her on, feeding to the already high energy levels in the starting zone.

Run.

The voices died down after a few minutes as again the loudspeaker blared to life.

Sprint.

“The Running of the Leaves is about to commence! Last call for all participants! One minute remaining until the Running of the Leaves!”

Move.

Silence washed over the crowd as Spike walked to the side of the track, holding a green flag high in the air. Twilight couldn’t help but tilt her head as her faithful assistant scowled at her.

“On your marks!”

“Get set...”

Go.

“Go!”

The throng of ponies leapt ahead of her as she raised an eyebrow to Spike who running along side her to keep pace with her brisk trot.

“Slow and steady, huh?” Spike flatly commented. “Same as last year?”

“Mhmm,” Twilight nodded, “I don’t really feel like I should be pushing myself too hard, but I’ll run a little toward the end. See you at the finish line!”

“Yeah, good luck, see you there.”

With that, Twilight picked up her pace, always keeping the main pack in sight as she trailed a short distance behind. Twilight looked at the ground ahead of her and watched her hooves gallop forward.

Before long however, she heard her own hoofbeats joining others. Twilight looked up to see the main pack was significantly closer than she had expected. Every step brought her closer to the group, with every second the road seemed to open up before her as ponies began to fall behind her. Step after step fell. She saw blue and orange hooves ahead of her, blocking her way. She slowed, weaving left and right, trying to find an opening, trying to keep moving forward.

Suddenly the orange and blue broke way to an empty brown dirt path.

Twilight bounded ahead to the front of the pack as she saw the road open up before her. Trees, like so many explosions and fireworks, dotted the landscape and lined the path. Every manner of orange, yellow, and red imaginable bloomed before her as her hooves flew down the path.

It wasn’t long until Twilight felt each and every hoofbeat in time, a repetitive melody that lulled her into steady pace. She held her breath for a moment, the timing had to be just right or she would ruin her rhythm. Every last bit of the melody, her melody, depending on the harmony between herself and the path.

She breathed deeply and pushed herself a little faster.

Leaves flitted and danced around her as she galloped onward. The cool air tickled her skin beneath her coat, driving her mane back as it whipped in the wind. The edges of her vision began to blur as Twilight focused in on the road. The sound of her breathing, the beating of her hooves and heart unified as the road turned; and she turned with it.

Nothing could stop her! Her breathing remained measured and precise as she rocketed past the first checkpoint, chancing a look at the blanched face of a stallion looking at his stopwatch. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh as she turned back to the path, lifting her hooves and dropping them. Each repetition moved by a little quicker, each second seemed to move a little slower. A smile grew on Twilight’s face.

Everything she felt fit its own niche in her world. There was nothing more important to her than matching the road, outrunning its length and conquering it’s turns one step at a time. The blur encircled her vision save for the area immediately in front of her. The constant companion of the wind in her ears only grew louder as she ran.

For no reason at all, Twilight threw her head back and laughed.

A deep profound feeling of freedom washed over Twilight as every breath of air bit into her lungs. Every pebble, every leaf, every twist and turn lay before her as they turned to multicolored blurs beneath her hooves. The wind in her ears grew louder, chanting to her with each step.

Faster.

Twilight felt herself beginning to falter, but she pushed harder. A straightaway greeted her after she departed a corner. Twilight lowered her head and closed her eyes, trusting herself to the rhythm she created.

Step.

Breathe.

In.

Step.

Breathe.

Out.

Step.

Breathe.

Step.

Breathe.

Twilight’s hooves met the path on instinct as she leaned into the corner, unbidden by the need to open her eyes. Head bobbing, she pressed forward as her inner monologue goaded her onward; ever faster.

Step.

“...Coming around the bend!”

Step.

Breathe.

Step.

“...Don’t believe it! She’s leading the pack by a...”

Breathe.

A cool sensation pressed against Twilight’s muzzle for a split second before leaving as quickly as it came. Her eyes snapped open and looked around, trying to find what ran into her.

Without warning, Twilight found herself hoisted into the air with a dozen hooves supporting her and even more voices chanting her name. She flailed her legs, wanting to run, wanting to be put down.

Until the announcer called out Applejack and Rainbow Dash for a second place tie.

Twilight’s mind finally caught up with her body. “Put me down! Put me down!” The pony’s cheering quickly died down as Twilight found her hooves meeting solid ground. Pieces started to fall into place as Twilight looked behind her to see both Applejack and Rainbow making their way toward her. They looked haggard, exhausted, and...

Perplexed?

Twilight began walking toward her friends when Path was cut off by a throng of ponies making their way to the podium. She turned back to try and go around, only to get caught back in the mob she just escaped. She felt suffocated, a bump into one of her bruises caused her to reach into her magic for a small barrier spell to keep everypony away from her sides. The group pushed toward the podium as questions roared in her ears.

A few minutes passed and eventually Twilight heard her name being called up to the podium. She made her way to the stage to see Applejack and Rainbow already wearing their medals. Spike held a gold medal off to the side; smiling as Twilight ascended the steps. A soft rhythmic tapping caught Twilight’s attention as she looked over at Rainbow; a scowl was etched into her face as her hoof tapped against the second place podium.

“Congratulations, Twi! That was amazing!” Twilight shook her head at the voice as she looked down to see Spike slipping the first place medallion over her head. The audience roared as Twilight smiled, watching from the corner of her eye as Rainbow pinned her ears back.

Twilight fidgeted on the stand as Mayor Mare rambled on about something concerning ‘traditions’, the environment, and possibly what the food court was serving. Twilight couldn’t help but lightly trot in place. For having just ran a race, she didn’t feel out of breath or even fatigued. Thankfully, the sales pitch only lasted a few minutes and the mayor dismissed the three of them from their pedestals.

“Good work, Twilight.” Applejack smiled. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Neither did I. I guess I just got c-” Twilight stumbled forward and caught herself with her hooves, face nearly touching the dirt as she looked back at Rainbow Dash. “Geez Rainbow, what was that abo-”

Twilight backed up as Rainbow stomped behind the curtain. “What the heck?” She looked at Applejack who responded with a shrug. Twilight flung the curtain aside and stared at the sky-blue pegasus. “Rainbow, what was tha-”

“You’re the reason I lost!” Rainbow shoved a hoof into Twilights chest as she raised her voice. “Because of you, and that stupid storm, I blew my chances at winning.”

“Rainbow! Calm down!”

“If it wasn’t for that stupid cramp, and having to go walk to Zecora’s, I would have won!” Rainbow locked eyes with Twilight, wings spread. “You didn’t spend months training for this race! You probably used your stupid magic to help you win!”

Applejack shoved herself between Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Whoa nellie! Twilight wouldn’t cheat to win a race.” Twilight watched Applejack’s expression sink as their eyes met. “I am curious though; how did you end up beating us?”

Twilight looked between the soft, concerned face of Applejack and the stern glaring gaze that Rainbow Dash was shooting her as she backed up a step. “I don’t know. I just ran.”

“Liar! You could barely trot when we left Zecora’s place!” Rainbow growled.

“That true, Twi?”

Twilight held her head in her hooves as she sat on her haunches, trying desperately to figure out an explanation for her friends.

“See? She’s cracking under the pressure, AJ. I told you she cheated.”

That was it.

Twilight stood up and scowled at Rainbow. “Listen here Rainbow, I don’t know what in Equestria makes you think you have the right to judge me just because I won, but here’s a little fact for you.” Twilight leaned forward and locked eyes with the pegasus. “You are not perfect, you can’t just push your failure onto somepony else to make yourself feel better! I don’t deserve this from you, and you can’t use me to justify your shortcomings!”

Applejack stared at Twilight with her mouth hung open. Rainbow sat petrified under Twilight’s heated gaze as Spike and Fluttershy approached. Twilight huffed and turned away, storming toward Spike.

“Twilight, wait.” Rainbow whispered.

Twilight shot a glare over her shoulder. “Spike, we are leaving.”

“What happened? What’s going o-”

“Leaving. Now.”

Twilight stomped out of the tent with Spike in tow, leaving Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow staring at each other with looks of confusion.

The sunset was nearly receded over the mountains as Twilight passed the town square. The day played out in her mind over and over, reliving all the things that had happened. It troubled her, and she just wanted it all to be over. She had had too many strange things to deal with in such a short time. When it all boiled down, it basically left her no other choice.

‘If anything else happens today. I’m going to scream.’

“Twilight, you haven’t said anything since we left!” Spike tugged at her mane softly, only to be gifted with a death glare. “You’re freaking me out Twi. What's going on?

“It's just... I mean... ugh. It’s nothing a little dragon like you should worry about.” Twilight groaned.

“I’m not that little you know.” Spike half-grumbled.

The few moments of silence that followed were nothing short of a blessing for Twilight as they continued toward home. Unfortunately those fleeting moments of serenity were robbed from her by a voice.

“Have you seen Twilight Sparkle?”

‘That voice.’

“Listen here! The entire town is in danger and Trixie needs to fi-”

‘No, nonononono... not now! I don’t need this.’

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight glared at the cobblestone and trudged along as the sound of hoofbeats drew near. ‘Ignore her, you’re almost home.’

“Tw-Twilight Sparkle! Trixie finally found you...!”

“That’s nice.”

“... Trixie thinks you seem... edgy?”

“How very observant of you.” Twilight deadpanned.

Trixie kept pace but remained silent for a few seconds. “W-well, regardless. Trixie needed to find you because Trixie... Trixie is unsure what to do, and needs your help a-and would appreciate it if you gave Trixie a moment or two to explain herself!”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and gave a half-lidded stare at the blue unicorn opposite her. “Let me explain something to you, Trixie. I have been hit by lightning, thrown down a cliff, and attacked by snakes; all in the last two days.”

Trixie’s eyes went wide. “Tr-trixie is sorry to hear that but th-”

“No, Trixie.” Twilight continued walking, picking up Spike and setting him on her back. “No, I am not. I want to just go home and pass out. I am done with today, I am done with all the crazy random stuff that has been dumped on my plate, and I'm done with this conversation.” Twilight half-sneered at Trixie. “Sorry.”

Twilight’s hoofsteps beat faster as she moved into a trot. She was so close, so near to escaping the insanity of the day.

The unicorn matched her pace, eyes darting around frantically“But! But! Trixie isn’t trying to ask for help! I am trying to warn you!” Trixie’s breath became rapid and shallow.

Spike leaned forward to Twilight’s ear just as she was about to open the door. “Twilight, give her a chance.”

Twilight groaned and left the door half opened. “Fine, what is so important?”

“R-really?!?” Trixie took a few deep breaths. “Trixie was in the f-forest and there was a storm and Trixie had to get out of the rain so I... I... Then that night... Trixie heard a noise, and it scared me, and I went to look and there was something attack-”

Twilight held her hoof up to Trixie’s muzzle. “Stop. Just, stop. ‘Something’? Really?” Twilight scoffed. “Trixie. If it were any other day, I might try to care. But there are so many weird things in the Everfree that are ‘dangerous’. It’s not that big a deal Trixie, leave me alone.” Twilight walked through the door and slammed it behind her.

A short snack of a half-dozen apples later, Twilight stumbled up the stairs dragging her hooves as she went. The door to her room opened with a gentle squeak, an audible token of security for her. A soft purple glow engulfed a candle on her desk, breathing to life a flickering trail of flame as it bobbed up and down clinging to the wick much like Twilight was clinging to consciousness.

She looked out over the room, balking at the sheer mess she had made that morning. Books and feathers were scattered everywhere. For a moment she considered questioning where all the feathers came from. Ultimately however, she simply sighed and moved on; she had dealt with enough for one day.

She stepped over plumage and tools to the drawer where she kept her journal and brought it to the table. She flipped to random pages and half smiled at how simple things were, how things used to be. ‘When did everything get so complicated and crazy...?’ Her smile died when she reached her latest entry. As of recently, she realized there was something very wrong. Everything so far had been out to get at her or hurt her.

To this end, Twilight adjusted the cloth bags that held ice in them, scowling as they continued to fall off of the swollen bruises on her sides. She gave them a tentative poke, recoiling as the slightest touch was reciprocated with intense discomfort.

A quill hovered gently above the page as Twilight fought to gather her thoughts.

Dear Diary,

Where do I even begin? Today was one of the most ridiculous, insane days I have ever had the displeasure of living through.

This morning I had a dream, something I can’t remember because I couldn’t write it down in time. I really wish I had written it down, but I got lazy and disorganized and let my room fall into disarray. (Again)

Twilight tickled her nose with the quill for a moment before scribbling on a notepad: “Organize and reorder room.”

Immediately after that, I read a letter that Princess Celestia sent me. Apparently the guards that took me home got lost and headed to the Everfree. I really hope that they’re alright. (I thought that Wedge stallion was kinda cute actually)

We had to skip breakfast since I apparently ate everything in the house in the middle of the night. (Still think Spike did it.) Spike and I reorganized the Library instead. Fluttershy showed up to check on how I was doing. I was feeling pretty good right up until the point that she let me into the bag of goodies she brought from Sugarcube Corner. (Side note, need to try the strudel more often)

Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned, itching her back against the seat.

After a late breakfast (And a large one at that), Fluttershy and I headed out to go see Zecora since she might know what to do about my magic acting up. I’ve developed some manner of crazy itch that refuses to go away. On our walk through the Everfree, we got blindsided by some fog that lasted a few minutes; My magic flared up again, I cast a fog walking spell by mistake (warrants further research). All the more reason to get to Zecora.

Which happened, but not after I managed to fall down a hillside. I think I sustained some severe bruises, though. I say this because they’ve only been swelling up since then; even after Zecora used her medical knowledge to fix me up.

We crossed paths with Rainbow at Zecora’s. Which actually doesn’t surprise me that much considering the amount of strain she put herself through to help me.

While getting a physical examination, I accidentally squeezed one of Zecora’s bookshelves into the size of a marble (dig out the ‘dampen magic’ ward spell, again. *Recommended* *Strongly recommended*). I haven’t misused magic this poorly since foalhood.

Zecora was more than glad to help us both and send us on our way after that. Whatever she gave me for the magic fluctuations seems to have worked wonders, because I don’t feel any disruption at all now.

After a quick good-bye, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and I headed back to Ponyville for the Running of the Leaves. But were delayed by a log that had fallen in the path.

I still don’t know what to think about this. The whole area reeked of death and decay, Fluttershy was especially jumpy because of it. In retrospect, it was no accident, I’m sure it was a trap. (Who? Why?)

Anyway, I had made up my mind to climb over the log so we wouldn’t be late for the Running.

Huge mistake.

Snakes, snakes everywhere.

A chill shot through Twilight from her head to her hooves.

At least thirty snakes burst out of that log, and I couldn’t backpedal fast enough. I panicked. I’m not proud of what I did, but I don’t regret killing those snakes. They looked at me like they wanted me and me alone; they ignored Rainbow and Fluttershy completely. I have some suspicions about Fluttershy and Rainbow setting something up for me. (Motive?) I’ll need to just watch them and see what they do, I’m sure it’s just me getting caught up in the moment.

We moved on, and agreed to put the whole fiasco behind us. By this point, Zecora’s medicine was starting to wear off, and I can distinctly remember the bruises starting to swell again.

Twilight hissed gently as she prodded her side with a hoof.

They’re pretty bad now. I don’t know how I was able to participate the Running as banged up as I am. Just moving or brushing against the bumps hurts a lot. I put some ice on the affected areas to try and help, but I’m going to the hospital tomorrow if it doesn’t get any better.

Back to the Running. I won. I don’t know how, but I won first place by a landslide. It was scary, I just zoned out at the start of the run and subconsciously ran. It was all I wanted to do, all I could do. I felt like I wasn’t in control of my actions, like some part of me was telling me to run and I couldn’t say no.

Rainbow thought I was cheating because of it. She accused me of using magic to give myself an edge. I don’t know why she thinks it’s okay to blame me for her poor performance. Sure, she helped me out yesterday, but that doesn’t make it right to use me as an excuse. Even if she likes winning that much, it doesn’t change what’s already happened. I could tell she was listening, maybe I was a little hard on her, but that means she probably learned something from it. You can’t let jealousy get the best of you.

And then as I hadn’t had enough to deal with today, I ran into Trixie. Of all the days for her to show up, she had to pick the day I wasn’t prepared to deal with her or her crazy egotism.

Twilight stared at the page a moment and shook her head as the quill struck through a few words.

...or her crazy egotism. She caught me off guard though. Even though I upstaged her when she was last here in Ponyville, she actually seemed concerned about my well-being. (possible act?) I let her have a chance regardless. Huge waste of time. She kept rambling on about some ‘danger’ that’s in the Everfree, and that it needs to be stopped before it attacks the town some such nonsense. Maybe she found an actual Ursa Major. (Haha, wit.)

Maybe I should have let her explain more, maybe I shouldn’t have slammed the door in her face. But I’m so tired, I didn’t want to deal with it. Maybe I can track her down in the morning.

Other than that, the rest of the day was (thankfully) uneventful. When I got back to my room I found it filled with those same feathers I found in my sandwich yesterday. If I wasn’t so tired, I’d try to figure out where they’re coming from, and what to do with them. (New pillow maybe?)

Nothing left to say,

I’m going to bed.

-Twilight Sparkle, Nov 27, 1001.

Bridge Burning

‘You know what I’d love? I’d like one good day in this abysmal week.

Although, given what a lot of ponies quantify as “good”, I can’t help but realize that my standards for having said “good day” have taken... a nosedive.

I know what the societal norm for a good day is, everypony does. When one thinks of a good day, you might think of birds chirping, the flowers blooming in a brilliant display of vibrant hues and our royal highness’ sun shining! Maybe you find a lost bit in between the cobblestones, or you meet up with an old friend you haven’t seen in months!

That all sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Well, in all honesty, it is... normally. I don't need sunshine when I can stay inside and read. I don't need birds chirping and distracting me from my thoughts. I don't need pretty flowers blooming unless they are on a sandwich.

No, you know what my perfect day for me would be right now? A good night’s rest, a cup of tea, a nice breakfast and a good book, or two... or five.

That would be my perfect day, but I don’t want perfect; I just want a good day. Not too much to ask for, just one good day. So after three days into the week, I wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong today. I wanted to make sure that I got my downtime. So I made a checklist!

#1: Awake from restful, painless sleep.

#2: Have breakfast, make sure to leave food for lunch.

#3: Check library for misplaced, oversized books.

#4: Eat lunch, in addition to taking the same precautions as I did with breakfast, check to remove the toothpick from my sandwich.

#5: :D Study! Avoid papercuts.

#6: Report to the Princess, leave the room before Spike sends the letter.

#7: Dinner, study potential causes of rapidly-increasing metabolism.

#8: Document how successful my planned day was before going to sleep.

And according to my list, I was having a good day! No, a perfect day!

Right up until I got out of bed, that is.’

“Twilight! Letter from the Princess!”

‘Smells like blood? Check.’

Never in her life had Twilight become so intimately familiar the ceiling as she did this particular morning. The amount of time she had spent motionless, inspecting the warped and winding telltale marks of age on the roof had given her a familiarity that was akin to what best friends or siblings may share.

“Twilight, get up sleepy!”

‘Skin crawling? Check.’

The night before had been uneventful, largely due to the fact that she was so immensely tired that it was very probable that not even the roar of Cerberus (famous for rousing the dead in these parts) would even rustle her. This morning however, was an entirely different story. Most times she would get up and just try to get her mane under control. But today was special, today was an adventure! Today, she was merely trying not to panic.

‘Unknown viscous substance seeped into sheets? Check. Alright, that’s it.’

“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike!”

She was failing miserably.

The door exploded inward as Spike burst into the room. “Twilight?! Are you alright? What was that scream abou- abou- abouhuhuhuh... That’s blood.”

Eyes ever-fixed upon the wooden wall above her, Twilight merely whimpered and nodded.

“Uh-huh...” Spike slowly made his way over to the bed as his face contorted into the expression one might have after eating garbage. “Did you cut yourself? Can you move?”

Twilight’s head rocked side to side as she grimaced.

Spike looked around the room: nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In fact, if it weren't for the blood soaked sheets, Twilight could easily pass for just having slept in. “So... Why are you bleeding, Twi?”

A gentle squeak escaped the unicorns lips as she blinked a few tears from her eyes. “Lift the covers, Spike. I don’t even know, I just know that it hurts.” Twilight whimpered as she shifted positions. “A lot.”

The covers lifted ever so slightly, just barely enough for a serpentine emerald eye to peek underneath. “Too dark, I’m just going to take the covers off, okay?” Twilight merely nodded as the covers flew off the top of the bed.

All color fled the young dragon’s face as his voice escalated to a fevered panic. “Ho-lee horseshoes, what is that!?”

Twilight craned her neck around to get a better view, and immediately regretted it. “What is wh- What did you do?” The bed creaked loudly, masking Twilight’s whimpers as she bolted out of bed and started pacing in circles, staring at her sides.

Meanwhile, Spike cowered in a corner, staring at Twilight as she frantically chased her tail. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Well why aren’t you doing something now!?”

“I don’t know what to do for a puncture wound! I’ve never had to deal with anything more than a paper cut or a claw cramp!”

“UGH.” Twilight pranced in place as she looked around the room, cringing every so often as blood oozed from the holes on the sides of her barrel. “WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo...” She muttered under her breath for a few moments before shouting, “Spike!”

Color returned to the small dragon’s face as Twilight’s outburst sent him about three feet into the air. “Ah! Wh-what?”

“Go get the hydrogen peroxide solution from the medicine cabinet!”

“Hydro what now?” A blank stare washed over Spike’s face as he looked back at Twilight.

“Antiseptic! Disinfectant!”

Further blank stares.

“Fizzy stuff in a bottle!” Twilight’s voice cracked as she screamed in desperation.

“Right! Be right back!” Pages lifted off the ground and flew after Spike as he removed himself from the room at a speed that would have made Rainbow Dash jealous.

Twilight paced the floor, ignoring the pain in her middle and the blood dripping onto the floor. ‘Who could have done this? Nopony broke in, I wasn’t this way yesterday, and I’m fairly certain that... Perhaps it was something Zecora did? Yeah... Herbs can give you open sores, I’m sure of it. Though it could easily not be her. I’ll have to research to be sure but that seems li-’

“I found the hydro-fizzy stuff!” The lid to the bottle flew off as Spike splashed the contents onto Twilight’s sides from across the room.

Anyone who was still asleep in Ponyville received a rather sudden wake up call.

Spike stood next to a teary-eyed Twilight as she grit her teeth, sides fizzing, and whimpering loudly. “Wait... I remember this fizzy stuff... Doesn’t this stuff hurt when you use i-”

“Yes, Spike, was that not apparent from the scream of agony!?”

The bottle slowly rotated between a pair of purple claws. “Ohhhh... I see... Sorry about that.”

Twilight slowly walked over to her assistant and pat him on the head. “I... I-it’s fine, you panicked. I panicked. We... we can fix this, but it’s important that we don’t panic.

“I’m going to go get washed up and bandage myself.” Twilight paused for a moment as Spike blanched. “I’ll take care of the room too, I understand if you don’t want to get near the bl-”

A dismissive claw waved in Twilight's face. “I- I’ll figure something out, you just go fix yourself up... scream or something if you need me.”

“Are you sure?"

Twilight cringed at the skeptical, intense look of concern she received. “Yes. I’m sure, now go get patched up before you make the mess any worse.” Spike chided as he pointed to the still-bleeding wounds.

“Right... Right.” The world around Spike grew slightly fuzzy as she reached for the words she was looking for.

A pair of claws clapped in front of Twilight’s face. “So... aren’t you going to go?”

“Huh? What?” Twilight shook her head and stared, wide eyed at Spike. “Go where? What were we talking ab... Abou... Whooooaaa...”

The room managed to pirouette on its side before gracefully swan-diving at a ninety degree angle into the floor. There was a single clap of approval, and then the set went dark. Twilight couldn’t help but feel the slightest amount of disappointment that the show was over already, only to have her dreams fulfilled when she heard a faint but familiar dialogue.

‘...ight! Twilight! Get... ...re Y... ...ay? Say so...’

Twilight quivered as the amautur actor rehearsed his lines. What he had in conviction and passion he lacked in delivery. There is such a thing as too passionate after all; Canterlot theater group taught her that.

‘I’m sorry, Twilight!...’

The sense of immersion in the act before her caught a hitch as she mulled over that last line. Not only was the actor addressing the audience, he was apologizing? For wh-

A frigid torrent of insufferably cold liquid cascaded down the entirety of Twilight’s body as she bolted up on all fours, completely ignoring the agonizing pain that accompanied it. She quickly moved her wet mane from her face and looked around the room. Nothing looked like it was made of ice, so she hadn’t been sent to the frozen north for whatever reason. The only thing in the room was Spike holding a buck-...

“Spike...”

“Yes, Twilight?...”

“Ice wate- wa...” The room wobbled a bit before Twilight managed to stabilize herself. “-Water? Really?”

The dragon fidgeted with his claws a little as he donned his most disarming grin. “Yes... But I had a good reason!”

The walls of the room were assaulted by water droplets as Twilight shook herself mostly dry. “It better be.”

Spike set the bucket down and held up a single claw, followed by a deep inhale. “You just passed out in a heap on the floor and you were bleeding and I got worried and I tried waking you up and it didn’t work so I dragged you to the bathtub and filled a bucket with cold water and tried waking you up that way! I’m sorry!”

Something should have stood out as alarming to Twilight about the whole situation, but all she could was shake her head. “You dragged me, to the bathroom? You, a baby dragon, dragged a fully grown, unconscious mare into the bathtub down the hall?”

“What? I’m stronger than I look, even if you’re a little heavy from all your snacking.”

An audible click pinged through the room as Twilight’s jaw dropped and her eye twitched. “I can’t believe you! You... I, just... H-how could...? Y-you take that back right now!”

The towel that Spike was holding between Twilight and himself was tossed to the side as he backed toward the door. “What? You’re eating a lot, it’s gotta go somewhere.” He snickered as a hairbrush smacked against the door followed by a flustered huff.

“Just... go clean the mess... I’m going to get patched up. See you downstairs.”

“Sure thing, I’ll make breakfast when I finish.” A moment’s pause as Twilight took a good look at her sides. “And don’t worry, I’ll get you some extra portions!”

Twilight was thankful for the sanctity of the closed bathroom door as she watched her face change hues rather vibrantly in the mirror.

‘I’m not fat... I’m just hungry.’ Twilight’s eyes wandered down to her barrel. ‘And bleeding a lot.’ The towel turned projectile-shield levitated toward Twilight as she began fully drying herself, taking special care to avoid the bruises. She pulled the freshly soiled towel that was now tinted a lovely shade of red away from the wounds, and grabbed a new one.

‘Oh, ewwww... Okay, bleeding, should do something about this.’

Numerous medical supplies liberated themselves from the bonds of gravity and made their way to the counter, bidden closer by Twilight’s necessity. She winced gently as she turned broadside, allowing herself the first real assessment of the severity of the situation. ‘Looks like open sores, or puncture wounds maybe?’

The red liquid soaked into the blanket from the injuries on Twilight’s sides. Her mind elsewhere though, rummaging through a mental catalogue of every possible, logical explanation as to why she was hurt the way she was. ‘I could have broken something while falling in the Everfree, yeah, it could be broken bone punctures. Or perhaps it really was something in that herbal remedy, maybe I’m allergic. Maybe she tried to poison me, or some foreign power tried to send a message to Celestia by hurting me? No, that couldn't be the case, how does that explain the freak sto-Ouch!...’

A bolt of fire shot into Twilight’s core, traveled up her spine and lodged itself behind her eyeballs for a brief moment. The rag she held dropped onto the counter as she leaned forward, and rested against the countertop. Her grit teeth allowed only short, haggard breaths as darkness danced at the edges of her vision.

‘What was that?’

Twilight turned her head and scowled, nothing looked any different, other than looking less bloody than before.

‘Almost finished, a little warm water should do the trick...’ The third rag hovered slowly under the faucet where it was drenched with a fairly warm water. Twilight looked at it, gave a small swallow, looked back to her right side, then her left.

‘Okay... One, two...’

After a good thirty seconds of sucking air through her teeth and rubbing her coat back to its normal purple hue, Twilight threw the rag onto the small pile of bloodied cloth. ‘Ow. Ow. Ow it burns... alright, all clean, where are those bandages?’ Twilight poked her head under the bathroom sink, moving all manner of bathroom paraphernalia out of the way until she happened across a large roll of cloth bandage. The roll was quickly brought out and unwound in the air before her. And there it stayed.

‘How... how do I use this again? I know there’s a proper triage procedure... What was it?’ Twilight shook her head again, nearly squeaked as her vision darkened, and locked her legs for a moment. Once stable, she slowly set the end of the bandage across her own back and started wrapping it around. ‘No... that’s not right.’ The end of the cloth started under her stomach, only to be undone a few wraps in. ‘That’s not it either! Ugh, Fluttershy makes this look so easy.’ Twilight moved the starting point back to its first attempt, and gently wound it down toward her flanks. She took a step back, gave a cursory glance over her work, and shrugged.

‘It’ll have to do.’

“Whoa, nasty...”

Twilight whirled about to find a slightly green-tinted Spike staring at the pile of bloody rags on the bathroom counter. For a moment, the look etched into her assistant’s face managed to migrate to her own. She tentatively pushed the pile of crimson cloth off the counter and into the trash. She shuddered at the sickening plop noise that it made and turned to wash her hooves in the sink. “Yea, it was pretty bad.”

“Pretty bad?” Spike furrowed his brow at the bandages wrapped around Twilight. “I dunno if ‘pretty bad’ even does it justice, Twi.” Spike hopped aside as Twilight walked through the doorway. “Breakfast is getting started, I just finished your room, and uh... Sorry about the joke earlier.”

Twilight’s face twisted ever so slightly as she looked down at her faithful assistant. “Oh, Spike... Don’t worry about that; we have other things to worry about.”

Just then Twilight’s stomach rumbled. An icy glare quickly silenced Spike’s giggling as she cantered downstairs. She turned the corner and drank in the thousands of titles neatly stacked in their shelves. The sight of everything lined up, nice and neatly just made Twilight feel... better.

“Well, I’m going to go finish breakfast.” Spike zipped past Twilight, stopping at the kitchen door. “Yell if you need m- Whoa, are you alright?”

Twilight pushed herself off the banister she had just braced herself against and put on a rather transparent smile. “I’m fine, Spike. I’m just going to grab some books to read over breakfast, I promise it won’t be long.”

“Fine, fine.” The dragon’s expression sank further into concern. “But really, you say you’re alright, but I’m having a hard time believing that.”

‘So am I...’ “Still a little tired I guess. Don’t worry, everything’s under control!”

The air of skepticism around Spike blasted through the room at the speed of disbelief. “You realize that phrase is like a bad luck charm for you, right?” Spike covered his face with his claws, “No, you know what, forget it, just let me know when something explodes in your face so I can bring the disaster kit.”

“Har har, very funny. Go make breakfast.” Twilight smiled as she jokingly glared Spike into the kitchen then proceeded to trot in place frantically. ‘He’s right, oh sweet Celestia he’s so right. Every single time, something bad happens... WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo? Calm, don’t panic Twilight, panic equals mistakes. Mistakes equal disaster. Just, get the books, and go eat breakfast. Yeah, perfectly calm, everything's under contro- I did it again! AUGH!’

A lavender hoof graced Twilight’s muzzle as she groaned aloud. A rub of the nose and a few teary-eyed blinks later, she picked a few of the remaining medicinal tomes and references from the shelves and levitated them into the kitchen.

The scent of fresh berries rolled over Twilight as she placed the books on the table. There was always something about Spike’s innate talent for the culinary arts that put Twilight at ease. ‘Celestia knows I need some peace right now.’ “What’s cooking, Spike? It smells delicious.”

“Burst o’ Berry crepes! Figured you needed something nice to take the edge off a rough morning.” Spike flicked the handle of the pan and watched the half-baked crepe flip through the air back into the pan. “As far as rough mornings go, this has to be a new personal record.”

The books on the table flew open and spread themselves into a half-circle around Twilight’s seat. She fidgeted as she looked closer, trying to ignore the constant pain in her sides. “Uh huh. I bet.” Twilight nodded to punctuate her statement as she leafed through any section that had the words “open wound” in it.

It wasn’t too long until she found herself blissfully lost in a half-eaten berry crepe and the pages upon pages of medical notes. She knew Spike was saying something for the past three minutes, but he probably wasn’t talking to her, he was probably talking to Owlowicious, or Peewee. Still, On the off chance that he was trying to talk to her, she should at least try to respond so she could get back to studying in peace.

“Uh huh.”

“That... Wasn’t exactly a ‘yes or no’ question, Twi.” Two purple claws covered the page as he continued. “You sure you’re going to be okay? Shouldn’t you get some help or something?”

A few more blinks and a rapid shake of the head seemed to clear the dizziness quite nicely. Twilight looked back down to the page and gently shoved Spike’s claws away from the text. “It’s just a few cuts Spike. I’m fine, really! I’m just really trying to figure out what could have caused this. It just makes no sense... When you were cleaning up the room, did you find anything in my bed that could cut or scrape?”

Spike slowly ran a claw along the back of his head, scratching just behind the ear-fins. “Well, I did find a few of those purple feathers stuck to the sheets. They were all nasty too; I threw them away.”

‘Again with the feathers, there’s a connection here... I know it. They’re not sharp enough to do this kind of damage to me, but maybe... maybe they do belong to whatever is trying to scare me. That’s gotta be it, there’s something out there trying to send me a message and scare me out of Ponyville... and then... and then... oh not again.’

Twilight’s forelegs locked against the table as once again, her vision darkened and she began to sway side to side. She slowly tilted toward Spike and felt two small claws support her as she began to lose balance, but more painful was the small push against her side that Spike gave.

“Spike, please don’t push on that, it hurts...

“Twilight. I didn’t push at all.”

Both of them stared quietly at eachother, then down to Twilight’s side as she leaned over toward Spike. What followed next was something neither of them expected: something inside Twilight visibly moved.

“Twi?... What was that?” Spike cowered against the wall, staring at the librarian with her nose deep in the textbooks on the table.

‘Injection? No, too fast acting... Biological weapon? No... Those haven’t been used in thousands of years. Parasites? It could maybe be a parasite... let’s see... ‘P’, let’s find the ‘P’ section...’

“Twilight! Say something!”

“Ahah!”

“Ahh!”

“Parasites!”

Spike tilted his head and cocked an eyeridge. “I don’t see what parasprites have to do with this.”

“No Spike, Parasites.” Twilight spun the book around and pointed to a specific entry. “An organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.”

The hue of Spike’s scales immediately lost it’s luster as Twilight picked him up. “There’s something living inside you?! Like an alien!?”

“YES! The pain, the dizziness, the injuries! This explains everything!” Twilight stopped spinning in place and looked at the blanched baby dragon in her hooves before slowly setting him down. “Oh... Yeah, I should probably go get help.”

Spike merely wobbled around for awhile as he held his head, bumping into the table and chairs around the kitchen. Twilight watched him fall back and lay down, groaning at the ceiling while his eyes rolled around in his head.

“Sorry, Spike!” Twilight grabbed a cloak and dashed to the front door, flung it open and nearly slammed it shut behind her. She stopped, turned and poked her head through the doorway, “I’m going to the hospital. I’ll be back soon!” Slowly, Twilight pulled the door toward her as her legs went weak and her sides throbbed once more. ‘I hope...’

The sun glared down at Twilight from it’s perch in the heavens. She shielded her eyes as she slowly made her way away from the house. The feeling of fatigue was growing worse, not as a feeling of true tiredness, but of the feeling that she was having her strength leached out of her. Twilight shook her head and lifted her eyes; she knew she couldn’t let the weight of her hooves slow her down, she simply looked at the flag atop the hospital on the other side of town and marched forward.

‘Stay awake, don’t fall, keep moving. The pain won’t last forever, You just gotta get to the hospital, Twilight. You can do this.’

Again Twilight looked up, the hospital seemed no closer as she plodded forward. As if to add insult to injury, she felt her sides kick painfully against the inside of her hide. She stumbled and hissed through her teeth, looking around at all the ponies who seemed to pay her no mind.

‘Why does no one seem to notice? What is going on here?...’ Sheer will alone coursed through Twilight’s legs as she stood and pressed on. She took a couple dozen steps before she noticed a ring of darkness growing from the edge of her vision. She shook her head quickly, heart racing, and heaved a sigh of relief as her sight returned to normal.

‘Come on... Focus, keep thinking and don’t idle. Keep walking forward, you’ll get there Twi... Just... Go over what you know.

Two days ago I left Canterlot, my escorts and I got caught in a storm that, by all rights, shouldn’t have been remotely close to our route. So there’s that.’

A fuchsia colored earth pony let loose a hushed hiccup as she stumbled right into Twilight. The unicorn squeaked and edged away from the offender as she swallowed a growl of pain and her sides twitched in agony. The circle of shadow briefly dominated her vision as she wobbled forward a few steps, regaining her balance as her eyesight recovered.

‘Rainbow Dash and her team managed to find me not fifteen minutes later. This could be coincidence, but I can’t simply rule out that it was set up by her.

She takes me back home, and Rarity and Spike are waiting for me... Then I cough up the purple feather from that sandwich. What is the significance of that? Is it a calling card? Somepony trying to send me a message? And how did Spike miss something like that?

Then of course there’s the weird way that Rarity was wishing me well, what with the “make sure that you come out of this better than ever” and “make sure that everything is to go smoothly over the next few days” comments. I can’t help but get the feeling that she was feeling smarmy about some plan of hers...

Then Fluttershy shows up and runs diagnostics on me... All that was wrong was my magic, but that was just from shock. I had to have checked out just fine, but when she came back the next morning...’

Every step felt like lifting a block of concrete formed around her hooves. Twilight stopped for a moment and tried to remain as still as possible, ignoring whatever raging entity that was thrashing against the inside of her barrel.

‘The morning after, she bought me breakfast... She brought those pastries. If I have some sort of parasite, perhaps those baked goods were what had the egg in them! Then she led me to Zecora’s under the guise of trying to help m- no... Wait, that makes no sense. If they set me up that way, why use the snakes later? Unless...

The cobblestone pattern repeated itself endlessly as Twilight stared at the ground. She watched her hooves rhythmically enter her view from the bottom left and bottom right, droning on and on for what seemed like an eternity. Every step felt like it would be her last, that she would have no strength left to keep moving.

And yet she was still making her way toward the hospital, albeit slowly.

‘The parasite wasn’t supposed to kill me, it was supposed to weaken me so that I wouldn’t escape the snakes... But why? Why would Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity set me up for this? It doesn’t make any sense... They’re my friends, right?

Unless they aren’t my friends, they got replaced somehow, or they decided to get rid of me! Was it something I said? Something I did? M-maybe this is all just a bad dream! I’ll just wake up and everything will be nice and happy aga-’

A jarring thump knocked Twilight back out of her mind and face to face with a dodgy pair of magenta irises. A few jerky seconds of backpedalling left her face to face with a fumbling, nervous-looking, Rainbow Dash.

“Oh! Hey there... Twi. I was just passing by and figured that, um...” The pegasus scratched the back of her head and fidgeted her wings a bit. Rainbow tilted her head as Twilight gave her a brief almost frightened glance as she silently trudged past her. “...Um, hello? Twilight?”

A light blue hoof waved before Twilight’s muzzle as she found herself, once again, being yanked forcefully from her safe, precious, little thought bubble. Needless to say, this didn’t sit well with her at all. “What do you want, Rainbow? I don’t have time for this.”

Rainbow Dash scratched a hoof at the ground for a moment before flicking an ear and looking back up at Twilight. “Listen, I know you’re mad. It’s okay, I get it... Well, what I mean is... You remember yest-”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she watched Rainbow’s body language. ‘She’s stalling. She’s trying to keep me here, setting me up for something. I can’t stay here, I need to get moving bef-’

“There y’all are! I told ya to wait for us Rainbow!”

‘Horseapples... They’re all here. They’re all here! Just, stay calm... don’t let them know you’re onto them.’

Twilight watched as Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack took positions next to Rainbow, effectively blocking her path to the hospital. “Well girls, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I really can’t stay and talk.” Twilight chuckled nervously. All fatigue in Twilight’s body seemingly vanished as her heart raced faster and faster. Slowly she made her way toward Rainbow and pushed past her. “Reallllly need to get going, something of great importance came up.”

A hoof reached out to Twilight’s bandaged side and held her in place. She wheeled in place to see Rainbow with her mouth moving, but the streams of fire pouring through Twilight’s bloodstream were drowning out her ability to comprehend sound. She grit her teeth and pressed her forehead to Rainbow’s.

“Don’t touch me!”

The four ponies around Twilight shrank away from her as she stumbled away in kind. Twilight sucked air through her teeth as she tried to back tears of pain. All was quiet for a few moments, far too quiet for Twilight to deem comfortable. She looked up to see all four of them staring at Dash’s hoof.

Rarity flicked her hair like a veil between her and the light blue hoof as if to shield her sight from it. “Mm... Twilight, my dear... Is there any particular reason you’re... bleeding?”

“Bleeding? Oh... my...” Fluttershy stepped out from behind Rainbow dash and slowly walked up to Twilight as the purple unicorn retreated from her four friends. “Do you want me to look? Maybe I can-”

“No, no thank you. I don’t need your help Fluttershy.” The demure yellow pegasus stopped in her tracks and sniffled. “You’ve already done enough for me. I was just going to visit the hospital is all.” Twilight chuckled nervously as Rainbow shot her a confused glance.

“A-are you sure?” Fluttershy tilted her head at the red blotches soaking through the bandages. “I could at least wrap the bandages properly for you... that is, um... If it’s not too much trouble...”

Rainbow stepped forward and cocked her eyebrow at Twilight. “Yeah, at least let her fix the bandages.” The blue pegasus glared softly as if trying to pry for an answer from within Twilight’s eyes. “Or do you have something to hide?”

‘What is she thinking? Why would she poke my bandages? Nopony in their right mind pokes bandages... What are you up to Rainbow?’

“Nope! Haha, nothing to hide, just kinda fell...” Twilight scanned the faces of her supposed friends; they weren’t buying it at all. “... On a book...” Still weren’t buying it. ‘Think Twilight, think.’ “A hardcover book, the kind with little metal covers on the corners! Very sharp.” She said with a disarming grin plastered over an expression of pain.

“You mean to tell me that ya’ll fell on a book, twice, in the same spot.” Applejack dropped her gaze into the most bemused expression Twilight had ever seen. “On both sides? Sugarcube, I’m not the smartest of ponies, but I can spot a bad apple a mile away. Ya’ll don’t need to lie to us, if there’s something wrong you know we’d all be more than willin’ to lend a hoof.”

‘Oh, I know you’d do more than lend me a hoof if I gave you the chance... ‘

Twilight simply backed away from Applejack. “Look! It doesn’t matter okay? I have my own problems to deal with sometimes and you guys don’t need to worry about it!”

“But darling, please. Think about it, what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t do absolutely everything possible to assist you!” Rarity said as she bat her eyelashes and flashed a practiced smile. “You are our friend and it is our duty to be there for you!”

‘Yeah? Then where were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash when I got attacked by snakes? Where were you when Rainbow started going off at me at the Running of the Leaves? Where were my friends then?”

Twilight grumbled as her expression continued to sour and the pain began to overcome her adrenaline. “Well if you really want to ‘be there’ for me then you can ‘be’ over ‘there’. If you please; I really shouldn’t be wasting time here.”

Fluttershy softly stepped forward. “Well, at least let me come with you? I’m sure I can tell the doctor what I kn-”

‘No! Why are you all so clingy?! You’re all just being so... friendly. Too friendly. It’s like you’re trying to make me believe you’re trying to help.’

“No.” Twilight glared at Fluttershy, taking a step toward the quickly curling bundle of yellow. “No, no, no, no, no! I don’t want any of you coming with me! Especially not you.” Twilight growled.

“T-Twilight... Please... I-I don’t understa-” Fluttershy whimpered as Rainbow Dash jumped between Twilight and the demure yellow pegasus.

“Twilight, what’s your deal? You’re one of the coolest eggheads I know, but now you’re just being a seriously huge jerk.” A hoof found itself poking into Twilight’s chest. “I get that you’re mad, and... and I’m sorry for yesterday. But don’t take it out on Fluttershy!”

“Oh... You’re sorry.” Twilight furrowed her brow as she bore her gaze straight through Rainbow’s skull. “Am I really supposed to believe that coming from the pegasus that rescued me, not fifteen minutes from when I was struck with lightning!?”

“Er, Rainbow...” Applejack slowly took her hat off and shot Rarity a concerned look. “I really don’t think that now is the best time t-”

‘Smooth, trying to cover your mistakes “Applejack”? I’m not that easily fooled.’ Twilight was still running circles in her head as she tried to piece together the whole situation. Thunderstorms, parasites, snakes: everything went together so smoothly. It’s almost like they...’ Twilight’s brain skipped a few times as the gears finally clicked together. ‘There’s only four of them here, Pinkie Pie is still missing... Pinkie was the first to go! They got rid of her and then came after me. Why? When? How? Ugh, too many questions...’

“So you’re taking her side now?” Rainbow Dash shot the Earth Pony a death glare. “Thanks AJ, I’m sure it’ll be fine to just leave Fluttershy to a verbal beat down.”

“Now I didn’t say that! I reckon-”

“Girls, girls!” Rarity pouted at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Let’s focus on the cause of the problem here. Twilight is clearly distraught, and as her friends, we should try to help her.”

Twilight looked at the four ponies arranged in a half circle before her. “I don’t want your help, I don’t need your help... I want all of you to just go, away.”

The conversation between the five mares exploded into flurry of words.

“Why would we do something like t-

“-imply trying to say that Twilight needs he-”

“-cause everypony knows that ‘Shy is a master at standing up f-”

“-aybe it was you that let the storm get lost, just so you could swoop in and be the hero?!”

“-nd you’re full of hooey! Y’all take that back!”

“-viously she is not feeling well. She needs t-”

“-anna take her side and be uncool; that’s fine with me, but I’m protec-”

“-’m so sick of you all getting in my way and messing with my head! I just want to go to the hospital, I don’t have time for any of-”

Fluttershy sniffled and looked up at Twilight. “B-but we just want to help, Twilight...”

Twilight froze, her face etched with a boiling rage barely contained by the sheer amount of pain she felt, and the lack of strength she possessed. She slowly and methodically walked up to Fluttershy as the other three mares watched in a temporary silence.

“Fluttershy, if you really wanted to help, you’d stay out of my way. You’d stop being a nuisance. You, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash would stop being such enormous thorns in my sides.”

Twilight continued her deliberate march as she pressed her forehead against Fluttershy’s.

“I don’t want your help, or anypony else’s. I’m going to the hospital now, and if you ever help me again. I will help every one of your legs break.”

“T-twilig-”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight flatly replied with a cold edge in her voice.

The entire group stood deathly silent, all eyes locked on Twilight.

Twilight backed away from the ponies near her, edging toward the hospital. “Now I’m going to leave. You all have a wonderful afternoon.”

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and charged forward, stopping just in front of Twilight. “Did you seriously just threaten Fluttershy? Your friend, my friend. That’s not okay, Twilight!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Twilight clenched her teeth as he sides ached and kicked about angrily. “Did you think I was above threatening her? I’ll threaten those who threaten me! I’m onto you, and Rarity, and Applejack, and even Fluttershy!” Twilight reared back as she held her eyes shut, tears flowing as her voice cracked and screamed. “I thought you were all my friends! I thought you would stand by me when I was in trouble!”

Twilight hung suspended on her rear legs as her eyes snapped open, a burning feeling emanated from her core and shot out to her sides as her hooves fell... “I!... I know... I know what you’r-”. Twilight’s hooves slammed into the ground as her agonized scream split the air.

In a single moment the magma coursing through her veins erupted violently as if transformed into volatile acid. Twilight flinched as the sensation of a manticore’s claws dug deeply into her injuries and ravaged her barrel.

The stabbing sensation lasted for but an instant, but what followed was an eternity of anguish. Her entire side felt as if the claws sliced down from her haunches to her shoulders. Her strength ebbed as she pictured the savage beast slicing through skin and sinew. Tears filled her eyes as she watched a red mist fall over her field of vision and an all-too-familiar ring of darkness surge forward. The claws seemed to take forever and a day to trace lines down her sides, only to leave her flesh with a spiteful pluck as they finally left her hide.

Twilight watched as the blue pegasus before her was slowly brought into crystalline focus. The world around her slowed to a crawl as the ring of darkness fled and every color leapt forward: defined, vivid, and alive. Her heart pounded against the inside of her chest as she drank in the scene, every movement was so fluid, so slow, so methodical. Every part of her was thankful for the few moments of serenity among the last few days of madness.

She found herself swaying softly as if moved by some unseen force; bidden to a center of gravity that was not under her hooves. Part of Twilight wanted to cry out for help, but she opened her mouth to a song of silence. Part of her wanted to run away, but she found herself crashing to the blood soaked stone. Twilight wanted to hear the sound of her mother, telling her everything would be alright. But she was rewarded with a dull, wet “whump” through the slow, muted air as something vaguely red and purple flopped to the ground next to her.

Twilight frantically pushed at the stones, but her legs refused to move. Tears began to fall even harder as she used the last of her strength to pull her hooves over her face and hid from the world. However badly she wanted to get up from her sprawling position, she couldn’t. She felt so heavy, so lethargic, so weak. Her heart began to thrash against her ribcage even harder, begging her to save herself, to move, to escape.

She should have thought of a solution, she could have kept trying to at least pull herself off the ground, she could have done any number of things... but she didn’t...

Twilight Sparkle, for the second time in her life, truly gave up.

She hated absolutely everything about where she was. Her friends were acting strange, she just wanted to stop hurting, and she had dealt with enough blood for one day. She had nearly died, been injured more in the past two days that she had in the past year. And somehow managed to run herself to the end of her rope.

Twilight lifted her puffy eyes to meet the gazes of her former friends. Every one of them was staring back at her with a gaping expression. Rarity and Applejack somehow managed to get blood splattered across their faces, but they balked silently nonetheless.

Her heart continued to pound as a sting bit into her sides followed by a warm tingle; she winced at the numbing pain and tried to read the faces of her friends. Aside from the mottled red specks dotting the muzzles of Applejack and Rarity, every last one of them looked to be in shock. Twilight looked back down at her hooves and lifted one weakly, watching as the crimson liquid filled the void her hoof made.

‘Why can’t I just have a calm day, why won’t they leave me alone, what’s wrong with me?...’ Twilight batted away the mist in her eyes only to see an orange hoof enter her field of vision. ‘They’ve fought so hard to have me...’ Her eyes flew open as her horn flared with iridescent lavender light. ‘They’ll never take me!’ From somewhere deep inside, Twilight pulled just enough magic to allow her horn to flicker to life. The frightened unicorn closed her eyes and disappeared in a desperately weak flash.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she was beset on each side by walls. They towered over her, brick and brightly covered rooftops above dwarfing her as she cowered into a corner. Her breath shortened as she shrank back from the edges of her prison before noticing a trash bin off in the distance.

‘W-what just happened? Where did I teleport to? Why were they all blocking my path like that?’

“Who cares?!” Twilight shouted at nopony in particular. She sat down and whimpered between tearful sniffles. “They did this to me... They’re the reason I couldn’t get to the hospital and avoid all this...”

‘Again, what do I mean by “this”? Oh, right, that searing pain, and the blood... I suppose I should take a moment to check that out actually.’ Twilight gave a good long look at the offending area of discomfort, merely staring at the large lavender wing protruding from an area of skin laced with cuts, and completely devoid of her signature purple coat.

The stare contest went on for a while, considering only one of the contenders actually had the optical equipment necessary to actually participate, but that wasn’t what Twilight was thinking about.

What she was thinking about put the previous record for her heart’s Beats Per Minute to shame.

‘I have a wing?’

“I... I... I-I...” Twilight gawked at the supernumerary limb she now possessed. Promptly she wheeled her head around to the opposite side of her barrel to see the wing’s double attached rather neatly to her side.

‘I havewing-s?!’

Twilight’s eyes wandered away from her wings and leveled themselves at the brick wall in front of her. She wanted to run again for some reason, but on the other hoof she was entirely content to simply sit there, shaking violently.

“How... H-how is this even possible? This isn’t right, I’m just a unicorn. I-I’m not supposed to be this way!”

‘And yet, I am... and I can’t say I don’t li-’

“No, stop. Just, shut up.”

‘Fine, fine. Right, wings. Well, they basically appeared in the middle of town square.’

Twilight took a hard gulp as her pupils shrank a bit. “M-m-middle of t-town...?”

‘Which means that pretty much everypony saw what happened to me.’

“E-everypony saw what h-happened...?” Twilight’s wings twitched slightly as she curled into a tighter ball.

‘So obviously it’s only a matter of time until one of those ponies tells the Princesses.’

Twilight’s eyes were reduced to infinitesimally small dots by this point. “The prin... The prin... The prin...”

‘I’m not even listening to me anymore, am I?’

Twilight grabbed one of the wings next to her and stared at it intently. “The princesses know.” The wing slipped from her hooves and flopped back to the ground, heavy with every ounce of dread she felt. “They know...”

‘Didn’t think so. Alright, I guess I’m running solo on this one. What do I do from here?’

“I don’t know!” Twilight looked down at the pool of tears swirling and mixing with the small pools of blood the dripped from her new wings.

‘Welcome back to the conversation, was getting kinda boring listening to me rant like a lunatic. Seeing as I’ve volunteered to rejoin my problem solver’s club, what do I think would be the best course of action?

Her hooves were shaking, her knees were shaking, every part of her was trembling from adrenaline. “I just want to wake up... I just want t-to wake up from this ni-nightmare. Everything is happening so fast...”

‘Okay Twilight, stop! I’m getting off track here; what am I going to do? Think.’

Twilight lifted her foreleg and brushed a few tears from her eyes. “Okay, here is what we... er, here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to go back to the library, and... and...

‘Alright, it’s a start. But don’t I think that’s the first place they would look for me at?’

“Ah! But I’m wrong!” She clapped her hooves together and chuckled gleefully. “What if they knew that I know that that’s the first place they would go looking for me?” Twilight stood, pacing back and forth, dragging her wings through pools of blood and smearing the cobblestone red. “That means they wouldn’t go looking through the library for me. It’s the perfect plan!”

‘Unless I’m wrong about being wrong.’

“Grr...” Stone rang out under Twilight’s hooves. “I don’t see you offering any solutions.”

‘Well fine, if I really want to push the blame on me. Why don’t I just stay here?’

“What?!” The shout bounced off the walls as Twilight shrunk back and hushed her voice. “If I stay here then they’re bound to find me.”

‘You can’t prove that.’

“I don’t need to!” A single tear fell from the tip of Twilight’s nose. “I already know they’re after me. I need to just keep moving, I can’t let them catch me...”

“Unlessh you’ve already been caught.”

The threads that held the fabric of Twilight’s security blanket unwound in a split second as she turned to face the voice. She plastered herself against the wall as the rough grain of brick scratched at her back. “W-who... are you?”

The plum-colored mare stumbled forth from the shadowy alley. Every step the earth pony made was deliberate and given far more thought than a step should ever need. This was blatantly obvious by the fact that she had tripped twice, stumbled into a wall, and then wheeled around to nearly knock herself out on a pole.

Twilight stumbled around her frazzled mind for the right word. Needless to say, that was easier said than done.

“Wh-what do you want?”

“Don’t chu patronishe me!” Twilight shivered as she sat against the wall, paralyzed by shock. “Sho what if I gained a little weight! You’re not ash hoity toity fancy miss flat-flanked as I rem- *hic -ber, Princshessh.” The mare leaned in close, breath heavy with the smell of alcohol before stumbling into another pole.

‘Princess? What does she mean Pri-... No. No no no. I’m not a princess, There’s only Luna and Celestia. What if, what if they think I’m trying to usurp them? What if that’s why everypony is out to kill me?’ Twilight’s eyes flit from side to side as the plum-coated mare stared at her intently. “I... I’m not a Princess! I swear I’m not!”

The inebriated mare pulled herself off the pole with a dopey grin. “I’m shorry sir, the Princessh and I are talking.” The plum-colored pony flopped her head toward Twilight as she continued to talk. “Oh princshess, guilt getsh everypony down shomtimesh. Musht be awful hard to shit on your shuper fanchy throne and throw around all the ordersh.” The earth pony waved her hoof in the air as she listed decrees Celestia might have declared. One in particular made Twilight’s blood run cold.

“... executionsh.”

Nothing made sense to Twilight anymore, everything was as fuzzy and blurred as this drunkard’s vision probably was. But there was one thing she knew, the princess was no murderer.

“Now hold on! The princess is no murderer! She’d never kill or execute anypony!” Twilight squeaked as two hooves pinned her against the wall.

The mare opposite her had her eyes shrunk to the size of bits, and she was breathing heavily. The kind of heavily as when you were being consumed by hellish rage. The dark purple eyes that bore through Twilight flashed with anger. “Sho they weren’t ponies. That doeshn’t change you murdered thousandsh upon thousandsh of living thingsh.” Twilight felt herself shaken against the wall as a tear fell from her eye. “I wa- *hic* -tched all my friendsh die because of you, even after all they they did for the good of Equestria.

“I watcshed you do it. I watcshed you give the command.” The earth pony fell away from Twilight and dropped her bottle to the ground, She stared at the ground with a mixture of anger and pain mingling in her features. “I have been running from you, princessh. I have been running and waiting for sho long, But I have never forgotten...” The mare turned her head and shot Twilight a particularily venomous stare. “That you are the monster, not me.”

Twilight scooted forward away from the wall, chancing a look back to see a perfect image of a pony with it’s wings spread, painted on the wall with blood. The image on the wall made the palette in her veins run like ice water. She turned back to the plum-colored pony before her and took a gentle step forward. “I... I’m not a monster... I didn’t do anything to anypo-”

“You did enough! Livesh were changed be- *hic* -cause of your actionsh.” The earth pony paced back and forth as Twilight stared at the mare’s cutie mark.

‘This is Berry Punch. Berry Punch knew about me already? Oh my gosh, she’s been a step ahead of me the whole time and I never knew it until...’

Berry Punch scoffed, “Remember thish, Prinshessh: You’ve tried so hard to make everypony else ignore it, to make them forget all that you’ve done. I won’t ever let you sleep easy knowing that nopony remembersh. I will alwaysh remember.”

“Just go!” Twilight screamed as her wings flared wide. “I didn’t do anything to you! Everything you’ve said is total lies! Fabrication! Complete... complete... “ The bewinged unicorn hung her head and waved her hoof, catching a few drops from her face in the process. “Just... Get out of here you crazy madma-”

The last thing that Twilight felt was something very solid and very heavy before her world went black.

The black void around her pulsed grey every time the pain revisited the back of her eyes. She groaned and tried lifting her head. A dull ache greeted her, sending her back to her original position. She tried opening her eyes, to no avail. Ultimately she was content to let the confusion that roiled within her mind crash against her consciousness for a few minutes longer.

‘What am I doing? Where am I?!’

A pair of hooves slowly made their way up to Twilight’s eyes as she moaned. “Shhhhh, no thinking. I’m tired...”

‘Oh, Excuse me for being worried that I’ve been unconscious for an unknown period of time while my friends and the princesses are out trying to hunt us down and kill us!’

The mental barrage slammed into Twilight like a falling piano, painting a wince on her face as she sat up and rubbed her hoof over a bruise just below her horn. “Okay... okay... fair enough, but where are we?” She blinked her eyes open and squinted. “And where did Punch go?”

‘Who cares? She’s gone, and that’s a little victory in my book. So my first goal is to get somewhere safe, that isn’t here.’

“Why not here? What’s wrong with h-” Twilight took a deep breath through her nose. “... Oh, Right...”

‘What did I decide was going to be the best place to hide? Library! No, wait, Canterlot! Too far... Oh! Everfree forest! Nopony could find somepony trying to hide in the Everfree.’

“Uh, no thanks, I want to live. Even if I did go hide there, I can’t think straight right now. I’ll probably stumble into another one of Fluttershy’s traps. Besides, I think that we can agree that my continued survival is a large factor here.” Twilight huffed at the wall with the imprint of a pair of wings on it. “Can’t we go somewhere a bit more safe?”

‘Well I did mention the Library, it’s as safe and comfortable as I’ll get. Besides, I’m sure that the girls would have checked there alr-’

“And they would have already come and gone. Perfect, that should buy me until morning at the very least.”

‘Being able to shower wouldn’t be a bad thing either.’

Twilight stood and looked down to her wings; heavy, caked with dried blood, and so completely alien to her. “And I might be able to find some information on what exactly is happening.”

‘That’s all well and good, but how am I getting there without being seen? I can’t forget they’re looking for me.’

“Hmm...” A small metal rod levitated out of a pile of refuse across the alleyway and rushed toward Twilight as she began sketching on the ground.

“Alright, I know that the girls are out in Ponyville looking for me.” Five small x’s were scratched into the circle before Twilight. “And I can safely assume that they're no longer at the center of town, and that they'd check the library first. So with that knowledge, let’s assume that I’m here.” Twilight drew a small circle toward the bottom left of the diagram. “And the Library is somewhere over here.” A square appeared on the side opposite the circle.

“So what am I going to do now?”

‘Well I can do one of two things: book it as fast as possible for the library, or play it safe and stick to the shadows.’

Twilight exhaled into her hoof, “Both get me there, but I’m not looking forward to being a walking bullseye.” She sat there staring at the diagram for a moment before she stood and walked toward one of the alley exits. Twilight stuck her head around the corner and looked around, leveling her eyes on roof of her library on the other side of town. She quickly retreated into the welcoming shadows of her temporary haven.

‘With my luck, itwouldbe right there.’

“Shut up. This is serious.”

Again Twilight chanced a peek around the corner. Ponies of all colors milled about without any perceivable sense of direction. For a moment, Twilight wished she could be like them; she wished she could just enjoy life, no stress, no need to worry about being hunted by the ones you called friends. Alas, such was not the fate she’d been dealt. However she drew a few lucky cards in that the traffic between the alleyway and her home was beginning to thin out.

“Good.” Twilight looked over at the glowing sphere peeking over the horizon and then to the black effigy of a lampost drawn forth from its double by the sun’s rays. “Judging by the angle of the sun and the length of the shadow of that post... I’d say it’s about seven in the evening.”

‘...’

“...” Twilight squeaked and looked back to the shadow. “Seven in the evening?! I was out for how many hours?”

‘Eight or nine. More than enough time for one of them to find me and report back to the Princess.’

“Wait, if they found me passed out, wouldn’t they want to just...” Twilight’s voice dropped to barely a whisper as she turned away from the street. “Kill me?”

‘Well, yes, but they don’t want to. Not yet, they want me alive for interrogations. Obviously, they think I’m a princess; so that had to deter them a little bit. Although given the fact that I'm not dead, it's more likely that they just didn't manage to find me.’

“Alright, true enough. So assuming that’s true: I ask yet again, what do I do?”

It is not often that one can hear an internal voice perform a physical action, but at just such a moment, her inner voice face-hoofed. ‘How about I sneak over there so I can panic in peace? Stick to the back alleys and don’t get seen. Honestly, it isn’t that hard of a concept to grasp.’

“Right, right.” A large lump made its way down the back of Twilight’s throat as she darted behind the next closest building. Her frame relaxed with a huge sigh as she skirted the back of the building to wait for her next opportunity.

‘So far so good. Filly steps, little victories.’

Scared as Twilight was, she couldn’t help but smile as she darted from shadow to shadow. An unseen ghost, a hushed whisper on the evening wind. “Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky... Steady as she goes.” She whispered to herself as she peeked around a corner. She quickly yanked her head and back around as Rarity entered her field of vision.

“Have you seen Twilight Sparkle anywhere? She’s been missing since this morning and her friends and I are simply desperate to find her...”

‘Yeah, I bet they are.’

“Shh.” Twilight whispered to herself as she cocked an ear to Rarity’s voice.

“Please, if you see her... Could you bring her to Carousel Boutique? We’re hoping she hasn’t gone too fa- Why she’s missing? She’s, um... Having some personal issues...”

‘Manipulative little... At least they don’t know where I am.’

“But I can also assume that they’ve told the Princesses, so that’s not much of a victory.” She mumbled to herself as she sprinted to the next building. The streets were growing more and more scarce of ponies as she ran. As she drew closer to the library, she saw Applejack aimlessly wandering, eyes heavy with fatigue.

‘They’ve been looking for a while it seems.’

“But it’s just them... no search parties, no royal guard, no outside help at all. I suppose it makes sense though, given that they want to kill me. The less ponies get involved, the easier it’ll be to-”

The world inverted upon itself as Twilight collided into something solid, colorful, and with too much give to be scenery. These three facts bounced around the inside of Twilight’s mind before colliding in the intellectual equivalent of nuclear fusion.

‘I just ran into sompony... buck.’

Both ponies tumbled a short distance as Twilight tried to process exactly who she had run into. ‘Teal and white hair, mint-green coat, I feel as if I should know this pony... Oh well, it means she probably doesn’t know me. Just play it cool!’

Twilight quickly dislodged herself from the other mare and continued to bolt down the alleyway. Reacting quickly, she turned her head to hide her horn as she ran away from the collision. “Sorry! Didn’t see you there!” She called back as she ducked into a smaller side alley and ran for her life.

A few minutes and a couple blocks later she found herself leaning against a wall, catching her breath. “I think... I’m safe...”

‘Thinking can only get me so far. I’m not safe yet; I’m still out in the relative open with four murderers on my tail. I hardly quantify that as safe.’

Twilight’s breathing slowly normalized as she shook her head and gave a small shiver. “It’s getting cold too, now I really need to get back before I freeze out here.”

‘Alright, so don’t just stand here. Get moving; I’m almost there.’

“Everything will be better if I can just get over to that alley over there...” Twilight peeked around the corner only to retreat immediately. “No way, there’s no way I’m getting in there, Rainbow Dash has eyes like a hawk. She’ll see me and then she’ll tell the princess where I am and the-”

‘Stop right there! I just need to get ahold of myself. I’m not going to get captured today; I’m the smartest, most clever unicorn in-’

“Former unicorn.”

‘Oh, right. Well, the smartest former-unicorn in Equestria! If I’m going to be a little bitty ‘fraidy filly because somepony might see me, then maybe I’m just better off turning myself in if I’m not even going to try.

Twilight tried goading the rock lodged in her tracheae toward her stomach to no avail. “Well, I guess I’m right, but what other options do I have? It’s not like I can just... magically...” Twilight’s expression became completely devoid of emotion as she whispered flatly: “I’m an idiot.”

‘No I’m not! An idiot doesn’t skip an entire grade level in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns! An idiot doesn’t have the magical skill and cunning to do battle with an Ursa Minor! I’ve dealt with problems far worse than this, I can’t afford to talk myself down now! The library is right there!’

“Well, now that I’m secluded, I can just pop right inside with no problem!” Twilight grinned.

The alleyway shimmered as lavender luminescence blanketed over the shadows. Twilight closed her eyes and painted a picture of her library’s atrium. Off to the side were the stairs leading up to her room, A door in the center of the shelves led to the kitchen. And way up on the balcony was her telescope and astronomy desk. She chose a spot right in the middle of the atrium as the light pulsed once with a quiet “Pop”.

A wave of relief washed over Twilight as she saw the wood grain on the walls and smelled the familiar scent of properly kept books. The internal voice inside her head would have none of that however, and promptly smashed the moment of serenity to a billion pieces.

‘Alright, now that we are safe for the time being, I need to start figuring out what I know so far.’

“What? Aside from the fact that Fluttershy is a psychopathic murderer and Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are her accomplices?”

‘Focus on the little victories. They’re still without any sort of search party, but that doesn’t mean that Celestia and Luna don’t already know. They’ll probably be getting involved by morning at the very soonest.’

“And then there’s Berry Punch, I have no idea what her part is in all of this, the only thing that even stood out was that Celestia bit...” Twilight paced the floor as bits of dried blood cracked and fell off her wings.

‘Exactly. If anything that Punch said was to be believed, it’s that Celestia is not above dark and insidious actions and is a major threat to me.’

“And why wouldn’t she be? She’s in a position to pull all the strings, she can cover up the fact that she killed somepony given...”

Twilight froze as she stared at the pony on the opposite side of the Library.

“... enough...”

The pony in turn stared back and blinked a few times while maintaining the astonishing feat of remaining completely motionless.

“... Trixie?”

The show mare stared blankly as she slowly edged her way toward the door. “If Trixie says she heard nothing, will Twilight Sparkle let Trixie live?”

“What?!” Twilight’s vision ping-ponged from one side of the room to the other. “I would never kill anypony! What gave you that idea? I-uh, I’m just...-”

‘Talking to myself!’

“...Just thinking out loud! Hehe...” Twilight’s veneer of a smile poorly masked her ensuing breakdown.

“Ah, Trixie was just...” The showpony looked around the disorganized library for a moment. “Checking out some books from your primaries.”

Both mares locked eyes on each other, Twilight stared at the saddle bags Trixie wore, and Trixie likewise stared at Twilight’s sides.

‘What does she have in there?’

“Ah...” Twilight blinked a few times as the concentrated awkwardness in the room continued to build off of itself. “Well this is a library... That is what you do, here... In a library...’

Trixie continued to move toward the door, her aura of magic grasped the handle as her eyes remain fixated on Twilight’s bloodied plumage. “Yes, Trixie-Trixie knows...” She paused awkwardly as she forced a smile. ”Trixie is going to leave now... Trixie thinks it would be best if she left you to be coverts... and think about wi-things...” Trixie drew that last word out as she slowly shut the door behind her.

Twilight watched as a particular show mare rocketed past her window and into the night. All Twilight could think to do was flop back onto her haunches and stare disbelievingly at the starry night sky.

‘What the hay was Trixie doing here?’ Twilight hung her head a moment and looked around the library. ’I swear,not even my own home is safe.’

That last errant thought caused Twilight’s eye to twitch violently as she was able to finally process the state of order her library was in. Namely that there wasn’t a shred of order to be found.

“Trixie... So help me Luna... I am going to forcibly cram library etiquette down your throat until you can recite every abbreviation in the Dewey Decimal system.”

‘Focus...’

The veins on Twilight’s neck stood out as her external voice migrated inside and proceeded to beat the ever-living crap out of her internal voice.

“You can make attempts on my life, betray my trust, confuse the ever-living daylights out of me and slap me with a severe biological case of identity crisis. But nopony, messes, with my books.

‘If I could just foc-’

“Nopony!” Twilight screamed at the wall with her nostrils flaring.

The voice in her head fell silent for a few moments as Twilight allowed the rage to filter out through her breaths. ‘Feel any better?’

“No...”

‘Too bad, now, think: If she wasn’t here for me, then she was here for something else. Something that would help her catch me, or that would slow me down.’

“Fair enough.” Twilight paced the room, Levitating books in groups of five and cross referencing them against her mental catalogue. She moved to a pile and started rummaging through it, finding that it was mostly medical documentation and other health related articles. As she filed the last book onto the shelf a red flag went off in her mind.

‘Top 100 unsolved medical cases. It’s missing... Hmm. I can see why she might have taken that, but that’s assuming she knew about what was happening to me.’

“I’m willing to assume anything at this point.” Twilight moved to the next pile of books on the floor and started sorting through those. “Spike! Take a note.”

A long line of floating books froze midair.

“Spike?” Slowly the books fell to the ground as Twilight dashed through the library, looking for her number one assistant. “Spike! Spike! Where are you?!”

‘They probably took him.’

“No!” Twilight shook her head as a tear fell from her face. “No! He’s just hiding! They didn’t take him... They didn’t take him!”

‘Maybe he went willingly. He might have simply gone because Rarity asked him to. I know how he gets around her.’

“He... He would just leave me for her?” Twilight sniffled.

‘She probably lied to him to win him over with false words, but it’s a possibility he’s never been on my side. But I can’t worry about that right now: I need to focus on figuring out some shred of information that can help me.’

“Right,” Twilight wiped a foreleg across her face as she returned to the pile of history books. “Right... focus.”

A few minutes later, the history section was completely filled in save for one book.

‘One in a million: A Biography of Rich Odds? Strange, I wonder why Trixie would take that of all books? I can’t think how that’s related to me at all...’

Twilight slumped and groaned. “Strike two. Grr, why does nothing seem to make sense anymore?!”

‘I don’t know, but getting angry about it isn’t going to solve anything. There is one thing that makes sense: an organized library. So how about I work on that?’

“Y-yeah,” Twilight’s shoulders dropped as she exhaled half-heartedly. “I’m nearly done anyway, go me.”

She filed the rest of the books away quickly and cleanly over the next half hour, but her attitude simply wasn’t feeling any cleaner. The last red flag finally reared it’s ugly head and only served to worsen her mood.

‘Comprehensive Bean Statistics? Okay, she probably grabbed that last one in confusion as she was leaving.’ Twilight paced back and forth as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. ‘Alright. They took information; that’s going to slow me down considerably. At least I know what they took, so I can cross reference with some other titles and try to retrace from th-’ A nasty sounding crunch came from under Twilight’s hoof. She looked down to see a large, blood caked feather underneath, a sight she found rather revolting at best.

“Ewwwww...”

‘First things first, I need to get cleaned up. Not only am I a mess, but these wings are heavy... I’ll get a nice quick shower and then I’ll try to figure out why Trixie took those books.’

“Yeah,” a smile began to spread on Twilight’s face as the idea took root, “that sounds great! I’m making progress if nothing else!”

‘It’s the little victories that matter.’

With what could pass as a plan floating around in her head, Twilight smiled and nearly skipped up the stairs toward her bathroom. If nothing else, she was starting to feel safe, and pretty good about herself and how far she had come. Twilight had just finished climbing the stairs when she spotted a rolled up scroll laying on the table near the bathroom door.

“What the?” Twilight slowly approached the paper and made out the royal seal stamped into it. ‘Oh... that’s right, Spike said that Celestia sent me a letter today. I really should read it, even if it’s probably all lies anyway.’ The seal was surrounded with a gentle purple glow and popped open quietly.

To my dear and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

I certainly hope that you are recovering quickly. It brings me great worry knowing that you’ve been unable to respond so far, but I take solace in the fact that you are surrounded by good friends who will help you through these trying times.

The search for Major Biggs and Lieutenant Wedge is, I regret to say, going poorly. Search and rescue teams were dispatched to the Everfree today for a standard ‘sweep and search’. The last report I received said that there were no signs of either guard, but efforts will be ongoing.

I personally looked into the weather phenomena you described, and attempted to trace the storm’s origins. As luck would have it, Rainbow Dash was correct in her report: The hoofington area lost a major storm system a few days ago. What remains to be seen is how such a large storm system traveled so quickly in such little time. Meteorologists are currently en route to Hoofington to further investigate.

As for myself, something of urgency has commanded my attention and I will be leaving Canterlot for a few days. I will be physically out of reach, but always a letter away.

My sister will be handling affairs in Canterlot during my absence. She has also been informed of your current situation, and in the event that you need anything; she is also obtainable by letter.

Again, I wish to convey my hope that you continue to heal quickly, and I eagerly await to hear from you after I return.

I am proud of you my faithful student.

Stay strong and heal quickly,

-Princess Celestia

Twilight scrunched her face into a befuddled expression as she rolled up the scroll. ‘Why tell me where you went?’ Twilight couldn’t help but scowl as her train of thought continued. ‘Worse yet, why insult my intelligence? Obviously this is just her trying to get my guard down.’ She threw the scroll back onto the table and continued into the bathroom, where she started filling her bath. ‘She won’t make a move until sunrise anyway, so I have until then to plan for being ambushed.’

As the bath filled, Twilight walked back over to the mirror, she coughed a little as a very distinctive coppery smell assaulted her. She looked around a little before peering into the trash bin and letting out a gentle sigh. “Today sucked.” Too exhausted to be bothered with the bloodied rags in the trash can, she turned instead to her reflection. Twilight spread her wings out, then spread them some more, and then spread them even further...

‘By she who raises the sun, these things were inside me?!’ Twilight silently balked as her avian appendages came to rest at a fully spread position. ‘They’re huge, no wonder it hurt so bad.’

“Well, they look a little bigger than Rainbow’s but they aren’t huge pe-”

‘Huge, huge I say!’

“Yeah, well I’ve yet to measure pegasi wings before, so it’s going to be hard to tell if they’re normal or not.”

‘Then I can go downstairs and find out what a normal wingspan typically is.’

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Oh, thank you, because that’s not the first thing I’d have done. Yes, I thank you for your help, but I could care less. I deserve a bath.”

Slowly she folded them back to her sides, wincing as the dried blood crackled menacingly, laughing at her humiliation in the town square.

‘Ugh, such a terrible day... If only I could wash the memories away as this dirt and grime.’

Slowly, Twilight dipped a hoof in the tub, smiling for the first time all day as she clambered in and sunk down, the water hovering just below her nostrils as the top of her head was the only thing poking above the surface of the water.

She closed her eyes and rolled onto her back. Twilight slung her head over the side of the tub and let out a contented sigh as her wings softly stirred the water. After a quick change into non-bloody and fresh water, she found herself staring at the ceiling and soaking away all the tension she felt. But there was something that she just couldn’t get rid of, something that refused to let her be at ease.

‘Why? Why me? Why now?’ A wing breached the water, now completely devoid of blemish. ‘Why wings of all things? I just don’t understand the process, much less the catalyst for all this. And I definitely don't know why it made everyone I ever cared about into a bunch of crazy ponies who’re out to capture and kill me.’

The lavender wing apathetically flopped back beneath the surface as she closed her eyes. ‘I can figure it out later, I don’t need to ruin the only breather I’ve had all day.’

Twilight softly levitated a comb through her hair, her eyelids twitching gently as she worked the knots out of the recently dried and extremely frizzy mane.

“Ow... ow... ow.”

Granted, her wings were still mostly wet, and her control of them was rudimentary at best. But she had figured out how to spread them out, and how to fold them up. That was more than enough to satisfy her.

“Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be free of icky, nasty, dirty... erm, dirt.”

‘It’s the little victories.’

Twilight smiled as she closed her eyes and marched toward her bedroom. “Indeed it is, indeed it-” Twilight’s smile immediately faded as she opened her eyes to the hellish landscape of utter disorganization that was her bedroom floor.

“Whhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!” Twilight flopped onto her bed, hooves flailing in utter defeat. “Why can’t anything in this flipping tree stay organized for twelve seconds?!”

‘I really don’t feel like fixing the room, I’m too tired to care at this point. I’m just glad I’m safe...’

A few seconds of pathetic flailing found Twilight lying on her back. “But it’s so messyyyyy! I can’t just leave it unorganized!”

‘And I can’t let my mind be unorganized either. I’ve got a lot of things to still figure out, and knowing myself: I’ll forget it if I don’t write it down somewhere.’

Twilight’s eyes flew open as she grabbed the diary from the drawers next to her bed. A few inkwells floated over from her desk as she pulled the quill out of her diary and set to work.

Dear Diary,

I would like to redact any earlier entries claiming that they were, and I quote: “The worst day of my life”. Today was indisputably and without question, the worst possible day I can, and likely will, ever have.

And just in case I’m not being clear. Absolutely nothing short of death could top this.

Almost as if she was taunting some cosmic dealer of misfortune, the moonbeams filtering through the window began to grow brighter and brighter.

‘Are you kidding me?’

Twilight Heaved the journal across the room and threw her hooves in the air. Her voice cracked as she screamed, “Oh, come on!”

The light grew to nearly blinding levels before a soft “Pop!” was heard from the kitchen downstairs.

‘No. No, no, no, no, no. Now?! Really?! Now?!’ Twilight sunk a little deeper into her sheets and whimpered mentally.

“Twilight Sparkle, We wish t- erm... I wish to perhaps speak with you if possible? Thou art home? Twilight Sparkle?”

The lavender alicorn’s heart raced as she heard hoofsteps ascending the stairs. ‘She sent Luna, of course she sent Luna. She really did have to be somewhere, so she sent Luna in her stead. Fantastic, this is how I die.’

“Hello?”

Twilight quietly pulled her sheets over her head and whimpered as her door opened. ‘I can’t believe it’s come to this. I can’t believe it. I didn’t deserve any of what’s happened. I’m just a bookworm; leave me to my books and I’m perfectly happy. Is that so wrong? What did I do to interrupt my happy little existence? I haven’t even done anything, and now I’m having the worst day in the history of Equestria...’

“Twilight... Sparkle?”

‘Okay, calm down, I’ve got this under contr- Ohhhh, I should have never gotten out of bed.’

Divenire

In the eternity between the sliver of light entering the room to be replaced with Luna’s muzzle, Twilight thought up at least forty-eight different ways that she could possibly blow her cover. As well as seventeen ways to either run and/or hide, nineteen ways to cause a distraction, and at least seven ways to render the moon princess unconscious long enough for her to escape.

And they all ended with her either banished, captured, dead, exiled, vilified, lost, alone, starving, emaciated, helpless or a combination thereof. ‘Too many options, not enough time...’

‘Okay, it’s just Luna, I can deal with this. She’s still in the dark, right? Right... I think. Just play it cool Twilight, read her as best you can; her actions will say more than her words will, remember what Celestia taught you about court nobles and body language... You can do this. Just. Stay. Calm.’ A gasp nearly escaped Twilight’s lips as the lunar diarch’s head poked into the room. ‘No, that’d be pointless... She’s a princess; worse... She’s got millennia of experience working for her!Even if I was the world’s most social butterfly; which I’m not, I’d be outmatched on that front. Okay, what else do I have?...’

“Twilight Sparkle...?” The gentle sound of hoofbeats echoed through the room with the practiced grace and poise of someone used to treading lightly.

‘Okay, hushed tones, slow approach... concerned about noise level... She doesn’t even know if I’m here... maybe... no, she’d notice magic...’

“Twilight?” The door wedged itself a little wider as Luna entered the room proper. “I’m sorry if I—” The alicorn froze in the doorway as low lit candle-light washed over the interior of Twilight’s room. Ever so gently, the former unicorn tilted her head at the sudden silence, only to watch Luna stepping over scattered books with a concerned look written into her features.

‘What is she doing? She’s just... looking at the mess. There’s nothing to even see th- Why did she gasp? What did she see?! Was it a feather? Did I leave a feather out? Oh my stars... she’s coming this way; whatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatIdo?!’

Before the gap between the two alicorns grew too short, Twilight closed her eyes and tried to appear as peacefully asleep as her pounding heart would allow. Fortune favored her for once as Luna stopped by her bedside and let out a gentle sigh.

“Good evening, my little dreamer... Things don’t seem to be going so well for you... hmm? You need your rest after these last few days; Just let me help you with that...”

‘What does she mean by “that”?! How much does she know? What if she’s working with the others! Wait... What’s that light?’ With very careful effort to remain unnoticed, Twilight cracked open her eyelids to see Luna’s own eyes closed, and her horn fully alight.

‘She’s—’ Twilight’s eyes flew open and dilated as she forced herself silent and motionless. ‘I... I... I don’t want to die... Why is she doing this?... Why would Princess Celestia send her sister to assassinate me? I’ve never hurt anypony, I’ve never done anything to deserve this!

Every muscle in Twilight’s terrified little body tensed as realization dawned. ‘That’s right! I’ve never done anything to deserve this, Celestia would never do this to me... Never, not in a million years. So that means...’

The urge to place a feathery shield between herself and Luna was becoming increasingly hard to control as her train of thought surged onward. ‘She’s going to snap my neck, or set me on fire... I... I’m not dying today!’

The covers to Twilight’s bed shot off as she swiftly rose to her hooves and charged her own horn with a look of fearful determination. For a brief moment she caught a glimpse of the shock in Luna’s eyes.

“Get away from me!”

The tree rattled as Twilight watched the wall give way to the dark blue projectile she had just sent flying. Luna finally came to rest against the wall of the atrium downstairs, amidst a pile of wooden fragments; shaken, but alive.

‘My house!’’ A stunning stillness fell over Twilight as her brain processed the situation. ‘I just shoved Luna through a wall...’ She backpedaled into the shadows as Luna slowly got to her hooves and shook her head groggily. ‘I... I have to get out of here... anywhere.’

Without a second thought, Twilight braced herself and quickly charged her magic for an entirely different spell. The familiar “pop” of displaced air greeted her as she opened her eyes. She quickly threw her gaze all around, panic mounting with every second as she beheld the outside of her library.

‘No! Not now... not now! Come on magic, don’t you turn on me too! Just... Ugh!’ Again her horn lit as she steadied herself. ‘Magic channeled, spell primed... Come on, somewhere safe; think Twilight, think... Rarity’s place? It’s like a highly fashionable bunker... no. She’s in league with Luna, they all are...’

“Twilight?!”

Twilight jerked from her reverie to the sight of Luna standing in the doorway of the library; eyes wide, ears perked, a slight wobble to her step as she ventured into the darkness.

The sight of her attacker a mere twenty feet from herself caused Twilight’s chest to tighten, it was only when Luna stumbled toward her that she let out a startled: “Eeep!”

She and Luna locked eyes for but a moment as both mares’ pupils dilated. Luna sprinted toward Twilight as the lavender alicorn channeled more power into her teleport.

‘Come on...come on! Somewhere safe, please!’

“Twilight Sparkle! We beseech you! Wait!”

‘Like Tartarus I am! Here goes nothing.’

‘So that’s what smells like smoke the cobblestone is scorched.’ Twilight’s ears pinned flat to her skull as her eyes went wide. ‘Wait... dark cobblestone means I’m still in Ponyville, damnit!’She looked around shiftily and let out a sigh, ‘at least I’m nowhere near Luna, that’s something. But I’m not safe in my own home... So, where do I go? What happens now? She saw my wings...’

The appendages in question flopped loosely to the ground after a single flap. ‘If only I knew how to use these; I could just fly away. I need to get to Canterlot, warn the princess... she’d know what to do.’ Twilight swallowed as the image of Luna hovering over her with her horn lit flashed to mind. ‘I just hope I’m not too late...’

The world silent as Twilight sat on the blackened, still warmed stone. Her gaze listed down toward her wings as her passive expression grew into an angry scowl. ‘I hate you stupid things, I don’t want to fly. I want my Friends back! I want my Life back! It’s because of you that I’m stuck here in an alley running for my life in the middle of the night! Now I have no home, nopony to rely on, and almost no options! I shoved royalty though a wall! I’m a refugee who’s going to be wanted in every town from here to Vanhoover!’

“And it’s all your fault!” Twilight’s teeth rested on the base of her right wing. Tears streamed down her livid features as she clamped around the base of her right wing with her teeth and pulled her head away. Immediately she yelped and spat out the taste of blood as stared at her now bleeding appendage; which, despite her best efforts, was still fully attached.

‘Attacked by Luna... Assaulted by my own body... Stupid wings... Everypony wants me dead.’For the second time in twenty-four hours, Twilight stared down into a pool of her own blood and tears.‘And it wasn’t until these things showed up; So what’s the connection? Why is Luna even trying to kill m—’

“Confound it, Twilight Sparkle! Where are you? I swear by the moon, when I get my hooves on you...”

Twilight snuck her head around the corner to see Luna methodically wandering the opposite side of the plaza. ‘Horseapples... She knows I’m around here somewhere. She’s tracking me somehow? I... I have to lose her. Maybe I can just sneak away from h—’

“Twilight Sparkle!” Luna’s wings flared as she utilized the olden royal canterlot voice to rather great effect. “Your princess demands an audience, show yourself!”

Numerous lights flicked on shortly after the Lunar princess’ oratory outburst. ‘Oh great, she’s awakened the whole town... I need to get out of here, now!’ It took a some effort to ignore the dull ache coming from her right wing. But soon enough, Twilight was greeted by the same flash of light and smell of burning... ‘...apples?’

Confident that she could spare at least a few moments to catch her breath. She indulged in a brief respite as she steadied herself and opened her eyes. Twilight loosed a quiet gasp at the hundreds of apples flung out across the small market square. She looked down to her hooves and backpedaled away from the wooden remains of a cart and some barrels, still blackened and smoking. When she finally put some distance between herself and the charred circle she was standing in, she followed her hooves up to the singed fur and feathers that speckled her appearance.

‘Oh, no... no.... Applejack is going to be so angry. As if she wasn’t already, what did I do wrong? Where did I mess up?...’

“—ilight Sparkle! Cease this elusive chara—”

‘She’s still onto me?!’ Twilight’s heart pounded against her chest when she heard murmurs of voices coming from the same direction as Luna’s own. ‘Okay, I have time... Where do I go? I could go live in the everfree, that seemed to work pretty well for Zecora, and it’s largely unexplored.’ Twilight huffed and blew the hair from her tear streaked eyes, ‘No... That won’t work, it’s not where I live: it’s the fact that I live... They won't stop until I’m beyond their reach, but... but it doesn’t have to be permanent. I just need to buy some time to think about where to run next.’

Amidst the frantic scrambling for a cohesive plan, Twilight gave her head a quick shake. The peripherals of her vision had begun to blur, albeit irregularly. It almost felt as if the dark parts of her vision; the shadows she couldn’t see, were fighting to swallow her.

‘Luna’s done something to me... What if she can see what I see? Is that how she’s following me? Ugh, Get out of my head! I just want to be left alone!’ Twilight turned and bolted for a nearby alleyway. Or at least, she tried to. When her hooves refused to leave the ground, she looked down to see the shadows themselves stubbornly latched to her legs. She jerked her hooves away, only to hear the faint sound of a pony cantering toward her.

‘No... no!’ Every hoofbeat only made the thumping of Twilight’s heart ring louder in her ears. “Go away! Just leave me alone, I never did anything to you!”

“You fired on me in your house, Twilight Sparkle; I wouldn’t be as bold as to call that ‘nothing.’” A silhouette appeared in the alley that Twilight had just attempted to dive into.

With every second that passed, Twilight could feel her breathing become more shallow and rapid as the shadows around her vision crept forward. “No, no! Stay away from me!” Without second thought, she turned and projected another bolt of telekinetic force at the Lunar Diarch. Twilight could only watch in horror as the lavender bolt skimmed along a translucent surface in front of Luna, and headed right back at her.

The strands of shadow in her vision thrashed wildly as Twilight slammed her eyes shut and gasped for air. Her barrel ached, her vision swam softly, but amongst all the soreness and confusion; Luna’s voice was unmuddled.

“Twilight, that is enough! I only came here to talk, and you attack me as if I were a monster!”

Somehow, between bedraggled breaths, Twilight managed a broken: “And what if you still are?! You can’t... Fool me, You... Were casting a spell over me... As I slept!”

Once more, Twilight’s horn glowed softly as Luna drew closer with a sigh. “A spell, yes. But I... I—” Luna stepped back with her mouth agape. Her brow furrowed as she tilted her head ever so slightly and whispered under her breath. “Twilight... What happ—”

The rest of the Lunar princess’ sentence was lost when Twilight’s world flashed and faded back into the darkness of the night, without a sign of Luna to be found. When the light faded she found herself next to a few flaming shrubs, and standing in a wide circle of ashen grass.

‘Where am I? For that matter, where does that put Luna? Ow... my wing... Wait a second, this... This isn’t Canterlot. Oh stars! Fire!’ The dancing flames quickly found themselves at a losing battle at the hooves of a very frantic Twilight Sparkle. After her short skirmish with the rogue fire, She moved to a decidedly nicer and less charred position on the hilltop.

The town of Ponyville had once again grown dark and silent. Though Twilight knew that dark ambitions still stirred in the streets below, but it was nice to imagine for a moment that it was the same town... nay, the same world she once knew. She grudgingly listed her gaze toward the Apple family farm, the ensuing deluge of memories was matched only by the tears cascading down her muzzle.

‘Why?... Why? Why? Why?! Why?!’ Twilight grit her teeth and picked up a nearby rock in her magic as she turned away from the farm. “Why?! Why?! Why?! Whyyyyy?!’ She screamed as she threw the rock deep into the heart of the Everfree forest, collapsing to her stomach on the grass.

‘Why me, why now, why this, why can’t things go back to how they were? Why can’t I be happy?’ Twilight slowly drew a foreleg across her eyes, still blurred heavily by tendrils of shadow. ‘Go away, Luna... Just leave me be...’

A few minutes passed as Twilight caught her breath and inspected her wing gently. ‘That’s going to leave a mark... And that bolt did me no favors either.’ A gust of wind carried the sigh from Twilight’s lips as closed her eyes with a deep breath. ‘There has to be a way to fix all of this, if I can’t fix it myself. I know Princess Celestia can...’ A bolt of lightning shot down Twilight’s spine as her wings flew outward. ‘The Princess! Is she okay? Does she know what Luna’s doing?! What if she’s hurt...?’

The alicorn rocketed to her hooves and began to quickly prance in place ’I- I need to get to Canterlot, right now! What if... What if she needs my help?’ Twilight quickly spun to face Canterlot, she squinted through the darkness obscuring her vision and locked her legs. A deep breath cleared her mind for a few moments as she pictured herself outside Canterlot Castle. The grass branches swayed around Twilight as the wind near her picked up speed. ‘It’s a long way, but I’ll get there... just gotta focus, nopony’s nearby right now. I’m not rushed... Just breathe. Five, four... Three... Two... One.’

Twilight’s world exploded into deafening noise, unbearable heat, and the distinct suspicion that she didn’t teleport to Canterlot. She would have been upset if she didn’t open her eyes to the sight of a flaming beam come crashing to the ground. “Eeep!” She darted backward from the fiery log of doom, only to watch it hit the ground. Twilight tilted her head a bit, and cautiously approached the fallen chunk of wood. Tentatively, she reached out with her hoof, allowing a small gasp when it passed into the log.

‘What in Eques-’ The world exploded in a different way as Twilight found herself smashed into the ground beneath something very large and very heavy.

It felt like hours before Twilight’s eyes opened again, though part of her wished they hadn’t: all around her was fire. On the walls, on the ceiling, on the very beam she was trapped beneath. Her gaze listed back and forth to the flaming piles of rubble.

‘Nggghh... My head.’ She shook her head a little bit, pausing as a few droplets of blood splattered to the floor. She touched her left ear with a hoof and winced as the pain confirmed her suspicions.

‘I’m lucky it didn’t take my head off... Alright time to get out of here, then I gotta figure out how badly my ear is cut.’

Twilight reached for her magic, but when nothing happened she gave an exasperated sigh. A shower of sparks fell before her in what she could almost imagine was the house’s reply. ‘You know what, forget magic! It’s been more trouble than help!’ Twilight huffed and strained again, this time focusing on the muscles in her legs, using the momentum to heft the column off her back and hurl it into a wall behind her.

Twilight spared no time as she stood and shook out her wings. Part of her mind was freaking out at what she had just done, but another, bigger part was immensely satisfied with the accomplishment.

Smoke curled and congealed around the lavender alicorn’s face as she coughed and shook her head. The darkness that clung to the edge of her vision wasn’t helping her at all as she searched the room for an exit. ‘I have to get out... of—’

Time froze for a moment as Twilight locked eyes with the vaguely familiar face of a mint-green unicorn. She was pinned beneath a wooden beam of her own, but not trying to free herself. She simply stared up at Twilight, eyes wide, shaking. The two mares blinked at each other for a few seconds before Twilight stepped forward over the remains of a table, only to watch the Unicorn shrink away and cover her face defensively.

Part of Twilight’s heart broke as she jerked away from the gesture and turned around. She noted that there was a gaping hole where the wall should have been, but quickly shook it off; it just meant she had a way out. She immediately burst through the veil of smoke and coughed violently as she cleared the smoke from her lungs. Twilight looked back at the flame-engulfed house as she flopped to the ground.

‘Good, at least she won’t come after me.’ She turned to face the amber glow of the house as her brows furrowed.

‘But that poor mare... She looked so scared, I- I have to do something.’

‘Although... she is probably working with the girls... Just like the rest of the town. It might be best to just leave her...’

Twilight shook her head roughly. ‘No. No. No! what am I saying?! There’s somepony in trouble back there, I have to go save her!’

‘But if I save her, my cover is blown... It’ll be easier to disappear without a trace like this.’

‘I can’t just... do that, can I? I set her home on fire! I can’t just leave her to die.’

Twilight grit her teeth and looked to canterlot in the far off distance, then back to the flaming house. .‘But what if saving her gets myself caught? There are going to be ponies arriving on scene soon! They look out for their own, not for me! I can get a head start and make a bre—’

The sight of the right half of the house collapsing in on itself quickly silenced all other options.

Twilight quickly rose and bolted back into the flames, the heat slammed into her like a wall, dropping her to the ground in shock. “Miss! Miss, where are you?!”

‘Even if I do get caught...’

“Hello?!” Twilight sputtered a few coughs as she squinted past the shadows in her eyes and the heavy smoke. “Hello?” Twilight shoved a freshly fallen segment of the ceiling aside and froze.

‘They won't kill me, right? At least... not right away?’

The unicorn lay under the debris from before. Her forelegs covered the tear-matted fur on her muzzle as her body shook with the eerily silent sobs.

“Miss! Please, we...” Twilight looked away and coughed again. “We don’t have much time, I’m going to push this beam on the count of three, and you’re going to help push up, okay?”

The mare simply stared up at Twilight, trembling violently.

‘I guess it doesn’t really matter.’

“One!... Two!... Three!” Twilight planted her shoulder into the beam and her hind legs firmly into the ground. She brought her forelegs up and strained against the wooden beam with her shoulder as hard as she could. The charred wood burned and dug into her coat as she felt the vice grip begin to give. Almost instantly, the pole finally popped free and the mint-green unicorn shot out from beneath the wreckage.

Twilight smiled at the mare, but was returned with a face of abhorrent fear, and the sight of the unicorn stumbling over broken walls and furniture as she bolted for the exit.

‘I'm not going to let anypony die because of me.’

Slowly Twilight sunk to her haunches and fought to keep the smile on her face. But that was a battle swiftly lost. She watched the smoke swirl in the mare’s wake, leaving nothing but a room filled with fire and emptiness.

Twilight curled into a ball on a portion of the unburned floor. ‘The way she looked at me... even after I... saved her...’She let out a morose sigh and closed her eyes ‘It’s not like I’ve suddenly become some kind of monster. Just because I somehow got wings doesn’t mean that I should be treated like that.’ Twilight shot a blank, empty stare back at the offending appendages as some embers fell from the ceiling around her.

‘Stupid wings, turning everypony against me. I’d actually be worth saving if I didn’t have you stupid things.’ Twilight buried her head in her forelegs as a few more pieces of the room fell around her. ‘I stay away from everypony, they come after me...’ She thought as she sighed. ‘I try to help somepony, she runs away... Why is everything so backw—’

Twilight felt her head being gently jerked to the right, over and over. She blinked a few times, lifted the hooves from her eyes and received a final tug on her ear. She turned and looked up at the force, to see the same mare from before giving her the biggest, most frightened, pleading, golden eyes that Twilight had ever seen.

‘She... came back?’

The mare turned and took a few steps before looking back at Twilight with those same eyes, nodding towards the opening with her head. ‘Why’d she come back? Why doesn’t she say anything?’Twilight shook her head, thinking about it could wait. Even without words, the message was clear enough; she wanted Twilight to follow. Out of the burning building. Out of here, and back into the upside down world she’d come from.

It was terrifying, what this mare was asking. The world out there wanted Twilight dead. It wanted her gone. It was nothing that she remembered anymore. But something occurred to Twilight as she picked herself off the ground and started after the mint-green unicorn.

The world might have been an upside down place, where nothing made sense anymore, but she knew there was at least one pony she could always count on out there. A small smile played at Twilight’s mouth as she followed the mare up a hill and away from the smoke.

‘...Maybe... Maybe more than one.’

Twilight sat down next to her savior? Saviee? Is that even a word? “So...” she began, “What’s your name?”

‘Great start Twilight, real nice...’

There was no response. The mare just huddled into herself as tears rolled down her face, catching and reflecting the soft amber glow of the burning building in the distance. For a moment, it looked like she might say something, but all the unicorn did was lean forward into her hooves silently.

Twilight fidgeted awkwardly, first the mare had run away, then she’d come back. Now she was crying... ‘Maybe... maybe if I...’ She awkwardly stretched one of her wings and draped it over the mare’s back, remembering how calming it was when Celestia offered the same gesture.

The mare twitched slightly as Twilight’s wing came to bear, pulling her eyes up from her hooves and looking over at Twilight with equal parts confusion and pain. She immediately jerked away once their eyes met, scrambling a few feet away as she buried her face in her hooves once more.

“I’m sorry!” Twilight said— shouted really. She sighed and tucked her wing back against her barrel. ‘So much for that.’ She didn’t dare make a move. Her exhaustion and the smell of fear coming from the mare kept her firmly rooted in place.

Moments passed in nigh-unbearable silence, the world around the two ponies grew slightly less silent as the local fireponies arrived on scene. Voices were heard from down below as a shadow fell over Twilight, followed by the distinct sound of grass being disturbed.

The mint-green unicorn pointed to the engulfed building, then directed her hoof at Twilight before hanging her head.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight replied following the mare’s movements and dipping her head towards the ground.

The unicorn shook her head side to side and put her hoof to her chest. Her eyes dimmed as they welled with tears, but she quickly blinked those away and looked around the hilltop. Without warning, she stood, galloped over to a patch of barren dirt, and began to etch something there with her hoof.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to do; on the one hoof she wanted to see what the mare was doing, but on the other she didn’t want to make any sudden movements and scare off the only pony that wasn’t trying to kill her.

Luckily, she didn’t have to make that choice as sompony gently tugged on her left ear. It hurt even though the touch was light and snapped her gaze toward the mint-green pony, sitting quietly by her etching.

Despite her trepidation, Twilight decided that she’d best follow along, anything had to be better than having this mare be either perpetually afraid of her, or worse, turn against her as well. What she found however, wordlessly dropped her to her haunches.

“I’m sorry.”

“B-but you didn— ...I—I don’t understand... Why?”

The unicorn turned to the dirt, smoothed it out with her hooves and set to work again. She only got as far as the third letter, before huffing without a sound and looking around the base of the trees nearby. Her ears perked as she levitated a stick toward herself and finished the words astonishingly fast.

“Running from you. After you saved me... Thank you.”

Twilight gave her another weak smile upon reading that “You’re welcome, I...” she trailed off into silence, looking at the house which was being doused with great efficiency “I know what it’s like to be scared.” ‘Especially after yesterday...’

The mare cocked her head to the side and reset her makeshift notepad. “I guess we have that much in common at least.”

The flames had begun to die down as the two sat in silence. Twilight looked away from her new friend and just closed her eyes a while. ‘She’s not so bad, but I’ve destroyed everything she has, not only that. But what if she says something about me?’ She turned and looked back at the unicorn as she gave Twilight a small smile and a wave before she turned and cantered towards the center of Ponyville.

‘No! I have to stop her! She’ll ruin everything!”

“Wait! Uh...” I should know her name... Pinkie would know. I just wish she was here...Twilight mulled over her memory, or lack thereof, for a while. She frustratingly came up blank. “W-where are you going?”

Once more the mare tilted her head, lifted her writing utensil and scribbled in the patch of bare earth. “I have to go let everypony know I’m okay, I’m sure my friends are worried sick about me.”

‘Right... friends. But she’s too dangerous... what if she tells them where I’m going? I can’t just leave that to chance. Maybe I could use some magic to knock her out...’

A chill shot through Twilight as the sound of splintering wood and the smell of smoke brought her back to her senses, at least in part. ‘Maybe magic isn’t such a good idea... She’s staring, say something!’

“Uh... Yeah, go ahead.” The unicorn smiled and barreled down the hillside in a dead gallop for the ponies gathered below. Twilight quietly rose to her hooves and backed up into the forest, her eyes solidly fixed on the smouldering remains of the cottage and the ponies standing around it.

‘This was a bad idea. Though, I’ll have a head start at least.’

One final look at the whole of Ponyville later and she set off for Canterlot. Part of her was glad to be finally getting away from it, but as the town shrank into the distance, the back of her mind itched with the simple question...

‘What am I really leaving behind?’

She froze, wincing as she felt her ear being tugged softly. Twilight slowly turned around and saw Lyra standing there with a confused look on her face. But more importantly: she was alone.

“Why are you following me?”

“Where are you going? It’s late, the Everfree is dangerous.”

“I... I know, I just...” For what it was worth, Twilight felt like she’d been caught face first by a cockatrice, again. Her hooves and tongue turned to stone as her mind flailed blindly for an answer. “I— I can’t go back. I don’t have a choice.”

Lyra’s mouth twisted in concern. “Why not?”

‘So many questions... She’s prying for something.’ Twilight took a step back and looked over her shoulder into the forest, her wings gave a short kick as she turned back to face Lyra. “There are some... Who are trying to hurt me. They broke into my home and I had to run from them, which is why I can’t go back home; They’d know where to find me.”

The unicorn frowned a moment, sat down, and closed her eyes with a deep breath. It was almost eerie how still she became, and for a moment, Twilight considered poking her softly to try and wake her.

After about twenty seconds, Lyra’s eyes slowly opened as she etched the ground with her hoof. “So why do you think that running into the forest is a good idea?”

“Because I’d be able to remain undetected on my way to Canterlot...”

"You're hurt, that beam sliced off some of your ear... You're bleeding.

"...I heal quickly, and it won't kill me."

“Fine, but that’s still a long way to go on hoof.”

“S-so? I’ll make it, the important thing is that they don’t catch me.”

Lyra’s gaze became level and slightly scary as she responded. “Going into the forest is more dangerous than ponies finding you! You said they got into your house, and you can’t go back because they’ll be waiting, right?”

Twilight’s wings shuffled slightly as she pinned her ears back. “Yeah...”

“So what if you don’t go back to your house? You’ve got friends don’t you?”

Time just seemed to stop on a dime once Lyra finished her question. Twilight flinched back and stared at the ground like it would disappear if she looked away.

...Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony, are right here!... ...You’re a laugh, Twilight Sparkle; We should hang out sometime!... ...sometimes all they need is a little kindness... ...My stars darling! Out of my hair? What about your hair!?... ...Well shoot! It’s like you’re part of the family already!... ...Everypony’s my friend! And I love to see them smile!...

"No, I don't." Twilight replied with a defeated sigh.

Lyra leaned forward and massaged her temples with her hooves. “I owe you for saving me back there, I can’t just let you go get yourself hurt. What if you stayed somewhere else, and then took the train to Canterlot tomorrow?”

Alarm bells rang violently all across Twilights mind as she read the note and retreated with wide eyes. “Are you crazy?! I’m trying to not get seen! Taking a train... All the ponies...”

A force gently jerked Twilight’s head to face with three words written on the ground. “Hey! Calm down.” Lyra scuffed the message out and finished her thought. “I can’t say that my plan is any more thought out than yours, but it’s way better than sending you blindly into the Everfree at night. Just come with me, I’m sure that whatever we come up with will be better than the Everfree.”

Twilight chewed her lower lip as she threw her gaze back over her shoulder into the darkness between the trees. “And how am I supposed to believe that? What if you’re secretly working with the ponies that are trying to catch me?! What if you’re just leading me into a t—“

Two mint green hooves squished Twilight’s cheeks together as she found her gaze locked with two golden irises. They sat there for a few seconds until Lyra slowly pulled her hooves away.

“Alright, now, are we done freaking out?”

“...My question still stands,” Twilight growled.

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Let’s pretend I do work for... them, whoever they are. Don’t you think burning my own house down, and putting myself in mortal danger, then hoping that you specifically come to my rescue, is a little far fetched for a plan to capture you?”

“No...”

As soon as Twilight finished her response, Lyra slapped a hoof to her face. “Alright, well, I’m going to my friend’s place. I need to get some sleep and be ready for all the stuff I gotta do tomorrow if I’m going to Canterlot. You’re welcome to join me, and we can think of a plan on the way.”

Lyra turned around and started walking back to Ponyville, coming to a stop not three steps later. She looked over her shoulder and scuffed one last message into the ground. “Or you can head into the forest. But I’m not going in there.”

“Uh...” Twilight watched as Lyra turned and headed back toward the town. “Uhm...” She quickly tapped her hoof to her furrowed brow. ‘Come on... Think! The train is faster, but hoofing it is more inconspicuous...’ She looked up at her horn; nothing seemed out of place, but she could just feel that her magic was... wrong, somehow. ‘Teleporting is out of the question too...’ Twilight looked up as Lyra began to disappear back over the crest of the hill.

‘What do I do... What do I do?’

‘...’

Twilight jerked upright, looking around frantically. The softly swaying red curtains, the cheap rumbling wooden walls, the small confined space. It was all so foreign to her, yet oddly familiar.

With a groan, she rubbed her eyes, trying to sort out the slurry of colors with her hooves. Try as she might, she couldn’t help but yawn to the soothing rhythm coming from outside. She tried to place a probable source to the noise, but decided it didn’t matter as she rocked back and forth, then buried her face in the pillow.

It was a bit uncomfortable at first, and a bit firm for her taste, but she let a smile slip anyway; beggars can’t be choosers after all. She poked it with a hoof gently, then lay her head back down as the pillow gently rose and fell.

‘Wait, pillows don’t do that... Where did I get a pillow in the first place? I fell asleep out—’

A soft poke to the nose later, and Twilight’s eyes were peeled open, staring up at an unfamiliar fedora. As she lowered her gaze, she spotted a familiar notepad, and the golden eyes of an equally familiar mare just beyond.

‘Lyra! I thought... no, wait. I left her at her friend’s house. What is she doing here?... Nice hat, though.’ She set that thought to the back burner for a little while as she shifted her focus to the rather elegant and flowing text on the notepad.

“Sorry if I woke you, sleep well?”

“I was asleep?” Twilight mentally crushed her own face with a brick the moment the words left her mouth. “I mean... Why are you sorry?”

“Well, you sort of passed out sitting up, you’ve been snoring into my barrel for the last hour or so.”

“Oh...” Twilight’s brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes shot open. “Where are we?”

Lyra cocked her head to the side with a quizzical expression as she wrote her response. “On the train, just like we planned?”

Twilight was out of her seat at the word: “Train”. The door to their compartment flew open as she stuck her head out and scanned the hallway.

‘Nopony is here... I shouldn’t be here, I’m going to get caught...’ For a moment, Twilight brushed the tugging at her ear aside. ‘How did I even get here?...’

The mint-green and white tail in front of Twilight bobbed gently as she followed it through the dark and barren Ponyville streets. Twilight’s ears twitched aggressively as they jumped at the slightest noise. All around, fingers of darkness cast from streetlights seemed to reach out to Twilight, beckoning her to come closer. She looked away and quelled her fear for a moment with closed eyes, turning her ears to the mare before her, following by sound alone.

Opening her eyes again was an altogether harder job than she would like; The past two days had begun to take their toll, and the lack of sleep was certainly a contributing factor. Another soft crash from an alley drew her gaze and full attention. Twilight shivered and picked up her pace, opting to trot abreast Lyra instead of behind her.

A rather new looking, decently sized house came into view. Twilight could only assume that this was the house Lyra’s friend lived in, judging by the way the unicorn’s expression brightened. Twilight watched Lyra trot up to the front door, pause with her hoof mid-air and turn to face Twilight, as she nodded her head toward the door.

Twilight pondered the motion for a moment. “Oh, no... no thank you, I’d rather not take any chances. I’ll be fine out here.”

Lyra rolled her eyes and walked over to Twilight, etching a few words into the dirt. “She’s not going to bite, I promise.”

“No... No, I’m perfectly fine. You go ahead though...”

Both mares stared at each other awkwardly for a while, before Lyra shrugged and trotted back to the door, knocking gently as Twilight slunk into the shadows of the side yard. A cream-colored Earth pony with a dark-blue and pink mane opened the door while rubbing her foreleg into her eye.

“Mmmhhh... Lyra?!” The unicorn quickly put a hoof to the earth pony’s mouth and scowled. “Oh, you don’t have your notepad, one second.” The mare disappeared back into the house as Lyra shot Twilight one last glance and motioned toward the door with her head. Twilight glared back and mouthed a simple “No” right as the earth pony returned.

Lyra quickly took the paper and pencil with a grateful nod, and returned it after scribbling something down.

The Earth pony scanned the page with an increasingly terrified expression. “Your house?! Oh my goodness, are you okay hun? What am I saying, of course you’re not okay. Please, come inside, it’s cold out there, you’ll need to tell me what ha—”

Twilight watched the door slam shut after both Lyra and the other mare disappeared inside. A few lights flicked on in the house, but the light didn’t offer a lot of illumination outside. She breathed a sigh of relief and snuck to the side of the house, curling up on some grass between two large bushes against the building. It took a little while for her to get comfortable; she never had to try and sleep with a pair of wings. But for all the hassle that they were, they were at least warm.

She softly leaned her head forward onto her forelegs, her eyes closed as she took a deep breath. Her heart slowed, her mind calmed, and she felt herself begin drifting off to sleep. As she exhaled, a soft metallic ping instantly shattered her drowsy state, lifting both her ears and head in the direction of the noise.

‘It’s going to be a long night...’

The door quickly slammed shut as Twilight took her seat once more. She and Lyra engaged in an intense staredown of incredibly awkward nature before Twilight broke the stalemate.

“What are we doing on a train?”

Lyra set to her notepad again, ripped the page off, and floated it to Twilight. “Going to my friend in Canterlot.”

Twilight glared dubiously. “ ‘Friend?’ When did I agree to this?”

“Literally this morning.”

Twilight blinked, then blinked again before her mind caught up “What..?”

“Yeah. I got up really early, and you were already up. We talked about it before getting you disguised.”

As much as she hated it, and she would never admit it to anypony. Twilight couldn’t help but feel like her train of thought was about to derail and the conductor couldn’t be bothered to stop. “I don’t remember any of this...”

Lyra cocked an eyebrow skeptically. “Yanno, you passed out really fast once we got in the train. Did you even sleep last night?”

“Of course I did!...” Twilight half-shouted. “It was just, you know... my first night having to sleep with... these.” She said, shuffling her wings softly. “I also have a habit of stargazing, so I did that for a while. But yes, I slept just fine.”

“Makes perfect sense, explains why you passed out the moment you sat down.” Twilight looked up to see another piece of paper hovering in front of two half-lidded golden eyes. “You didn’t sleep, did you?”

Twilight looked up just in time for Lyra to tilt her head down slightly with a cheeky smirk. It was an odd feeling, at first she held her composure, but the veneer of secrecy began to crack and crumble the longer she stared. Desperately she shot her eyes elsewhere in the room, trying to pretend that the unicorn wasn’t boring a hole through her with that cocksure grin. After a while, Twilight succumbed to curiosity, pinned her ears back, and looked back at Lyra’s ever-present smile.

“Okay! I didn’t sleep! What does it matter to you anyway!?” Twilight glowered and crossed her forelegs.

“I suppose it doesn’t. But If you didn’t sleep, it might explain why you’re forgetting things.” Lyra’s smile twisted into a wry scowl as she handed another page to Twilight. “I remember coming down and telling you the train schedule, and that we’d have a little time to prepare before we left.”

Birds. Accursed things.

Twilight held her head in her hooves, staring at a particular tree across the yard. It was your normal tree, the only thing that set it apart were the three dozen birds hidden inside, chirping their little feathered heads off. Needless to say, Twilight was none too pleased with them.

The night before had been spent twitching to face the slightest noise, and jumping at her own shadow. And while she didn’t feel tired, Twilight knew that it was only a matter of time, the crash was coming.

But for now, she softly glared at the tree with her ears pinned back. The chorus of chirps was interrupted by the sound of a door swinging open and the sound of hooves on cobblestone. Twilight shook her head and blew it out of her eyes as she peeked out from behind the bush she hid behind.

Lyra was looking around the yard, slowly, methodically. Twilight shrank back behind the bush, rubbing her temples. ‘Okay, I don’t have to go with her, I can bolt now, leave her behind. I don’t need her help, she’s probably just trying to sweet talk me into a tr—’

Twilight winced at a gentle tug on her left ear, and turned to meet Lyra muzzle to muzzle, three inches apart.

“Wha! You! I...” Twilight slammed against the side of the building with her eyes wide open. You were just over there! I should have heard you or something! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Lyra smiled softly as she set to her notepad. “A lifetime of silence teaches you a few things about the concept. I’m sorry I scared you; are you alright?”

“I suppose I’m fine,” Twilight stood and shook herself out and made a rather feeble attempt at stretching her wings. “A little frazzled I suppose, but fine.”

“Good, Bon Bon’s already left for work. The train leaves in two hours, we have until then to figure things out.”

Twilight’s face screwed up into an expression of apprehension. “Well that might be fine for you, but I don’t think I can just go waltzing through town with these.” She said as she flapped her wings.

“Oh, I think you can.” Lyra smirked as she handed Twilight the scrap of paper.

Twilight slapped her ears to her skull and blinked a few times at the page. “What? No, what? That’s crazy... Somepony will notice, and they’ll freak out, and that’ll be it! I’ll be done for!”

Lyra meanwhile had been silently rubbing her hooves together with a maniacal grin on her face. She quickly slashed her pencil across the face of the notepad as she tugged Twilight’s ear toward the house.

Twilight chewed her lip as she slowly made her way toward the door. She looked down to Lyra’s most recent response, and her knees went weak:

“Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea.”

‘Oh... that sounds way too familiar.’ Twilight thought with a quiet gulp. ‘Things never go right when I say that...’

Twilight mulled over the memory for a while. It bothered her, she knew there was more; there was a lot of time left unaccounted for between entering the house and waking up on the train. But she felt a little better that her memory was coming back in bits and pieces.

“So... this ‘plan’ of yours got me on the train?... No trouble?”

Lyra nodded.

Twilight shot back a scowl in response. “You’re absolutely sure? We weren’t followed?”

Again, a nod.

A deep wave of relief washed over Twilight as she sank back into the seat. “Thank goodness... First bit of good luck I’ve had in days.” She sat up, and looked out the window at the rolling plains that flew by. “So... How exactly did we sneak me onto the train without anypony noticing it was... me?”

Lyra flipped the trilby off of her head and levitated it over Twilight’s horn with a smile. “That’s only half of it though. You’re still wearing the other half.”

“Only half?... What?—” In an instant, Twilight was back at the window. She squint her eyes, tilting her head this way and that, and she had to admit; the hat did a great job of hiding her horn. She stared a while longer before her blood froze. Twilight leaned a little closer, blinking at the reflection. Slowly her gaze drifted up to her mane, and the silver stripe where her pink one used to be.

Twilight shoved herself away from the window and for the first time since waking up, looked at her tail; purple, deep blue... and silver.

“You dyed over my pink stripe.”

Lyra nodded furiously. “Clever right?!”

Twilight clenched her teeth and leveled her gaze at Lyra. “How long?”

Lyra could only respond with a quizzical look and a tilt of the head. “How long till we get to Canterlot?”

“No! How long am I stuck with this?”

The pencil flew across the paper as Lyra scooted away. “Two weeks? Why?”

Twilight realised that she was towering over the mare and drew back, letting out a sigh before she went back to looking at her reflection in the window again, “It’s nothing... it just feels... weird.” She looked at her tail again and wondered why it felt like she’d lost something important.

A notepad slid onto the seat, “You know, you told me to do it. You don’t need to get angry with me.”

Twilight looked up just in time to see Lyra’s face as she turned away. Gone was the smile, replaced instead by an annoyed, or... maybe hurt expression. ‘Even if I don’t trust her, she hasn’t done anything to hurt me really. It’s just a couple weeks and a color...’ Twilight gently picked up the notepad and dropped it on the seat next to the now fuzzy mint-green ball.

“Lyra? Look, I’m sorry. I’m just really scared right now and I’m not thinking so clearly... How long until we get to C—”

A hoof flew out of the fuzzy ball and swatted the notepad to the ground, Lyra shuffled softly, very pointedly fixing her gaze on the window and remaining motionless as Twilight returned to her side of the seat

Twilight crossed her forelegs and propped her head on the windowsill with a sigh. With a gentle tug of her magic she pulled the Trilby down to partially cover her eyes as she closed them and lost herself to the rhythmic clack of the rails.

Voices called from the darkness, a thousand taunts, a thousand jeers, from every angle, played from her fears. Twilight pinned her ears back and slammed her eyes shut.

“No! Go away!” Try as she might, her left ear stayed up and drank in the abusive insults. “Leave me alone! Stop it!”

Twilight bolted upright to the sight of Lyra with her horn aglow. One last tug on her left ear confirmed her suspicions as she relaxed her wings and breathed raggedly.

“Are you alright? You started twitching in your sleep and whimpering.”

Twilight looked up into the Lyra’s wide, concerned eyes. “I’m sorry...”

The unicorn shook her head in the negative and smiled. “I understand, I think it’s safe to say that you’re not exactly feeling quite like yourself these days. I’m a little high strung too, let’s just try to relax a bit.”

As awkward as it felt, Twilight couldn’t help but laugh softly as she looked back to her wings. “Yeah, I’d bet that being so strung out won’t do either of us any fa—”

A familiar tug of the ear snapped Twilight’s attention back to the notepad. “First time you’ve laughed since we met. Almost makes you seem normal.” As she finished, she looked up to catch the tail-end of a sly wink from Lyra.

“Seem normal? Are you trying to say I’m not normal?” Twilight glared as she continued. “I’m the only one who’s been trying to act normal these last few days! Everypony else has been going cah-razy!”

“Well, yeah. That is what I’m saying. But it’s not a bad thing really, I hardly qualify for ‘normal’ myself, but I’m proud of it!” Lyra beamed as Twilight lifted her eyes from the page.

“I guess...” Twilight yawned gently and peered out the window. “Shouldn’t be too much longer, I can see Canterlot.” The air in the sleeper cabin hung still for a moment. “So... once we get there, what’s the plan?”

“Well, I was going to go find something to eat, then probably head to my friend’s place. You’re more than welcome to come along, since you never did say what you’re coming to Canterlot for.”

“Oh, I guess I didn’t say, huh?...” Twilight shrank back slightly and lowered her gaze. ‘That, or I got lucky and she doesn't remember. I wish I could remember... I... I need time to think, that’s all. But for now, my best chance is sticking with Lyra, she seems to know her way around things.’ She quickly righted herself and cleared her throat. “Well, I think I’ll just follow you around for a bit, if it’s not too much trouble?”

“No. No trouble at all!” Twilight couldn’t help but reciprocate the beaming expression on Lyra’s face as her gaze listed toward the city in the distance. The cabin fell to a deep contemplative silence, and through the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Lyra’s eyebrows furrow.

“Twilight, I’d like to ask you something, and it might be something you don’t want to answer. Or maybe, you can’t answer. But it’s been bugging me.”

Twilight silently gagged on the imaginary stone that just formed in her throat. She quickly gathered herself and managed to squeak out a simple: “Yes?...”

The irritating ball of worry in Twilight’s stomach grew by the second as Lyra spent what seemed like an eternity scribbling into her notepad.

“What’s with... You? As a whole? The whole ‘alicorn’ thing is neat and all... But, what exactly happened to you? I don’t seem to recall you having wings a few days ago.”

“Yes, well... I... I have my theories...” Twilight muttered under her breath with flattened ears. “But... I don’t understand the ‘how’ exactly. Or why those ponies from before are trying to kill me...”

Lyra cocked an ear once Twilight finished. “ ‘Those ponies’... You know who they are? Why not alert the guard? You’re a princess or whatever now right? They’ll listen to you!”

“What?!” Twilight’s gaze flicked from the notepad to Lyra multiple times in the span of a second or two. “No! I’m not! I’m not a—” A lavender hoof slapped over her mouth as she shrank back into herself. She lowered her voice to a stage whisper as she went on: “I’m not a princess! I might look the part, but I’ve never ruled anypony, I’ve never raised the sun or moon or anything, I’m just me! But those madponies back there think I’m something else... or... something. And it’s apparently enough to try and kill me over! So no! I’m not—

A floating notepad shielded the unicorn’s face from twilight, abruptly halting her rant: “It was just a question. I saw the horn and wings last night and just assumed that you were!”

“I said I’m not a princess!”

Lyra shrank into the seat with a pained glare. “Twilight! Chill out! I’m just trying to help!”

Twilight’s eye twitched violently as the last two days played over in her mind’s eye. “You know what they told me? They said they wanted to help too! And you know what they did? They fed me lies, they pretended to care, and when I needed them most, they turned on me. I got this far on my own and I’ll go the rest of the way if I have to! I don’t need your help. I don’t need anypony’s help!”

Lyra steeled her expression as the fedora gently glowed with a soft mint light, a potent mixture of pain and rage burned through the two holes in her otherwise unreadable gaze. She stood, donned her hat, and quietly marched out the door; stopping only to throw one last glance back at Twilight.

Twilight sat in the cabin with naught but the rhythmic clack of the tracks and her own thoughts to keep her company. She heaved a sigh and muttered to nopony in particular: “Who needs her? I was doing fine by myself.”

She swatted a crumpled note off the bench and scowled, only to let her gaze linger on a neatly stacked pile of paper that she’d been adding to. Twilight picked it up, and slowly began flipping through the written history Lyra left behind.

Moment’s later, Twilight’s eyes went wide as she held the words: “That’s only half of it though. You’re still wearing the other half.” in her hoof.

‘... I do need her, she has that hat! I’m not safe without it...’ Instantly, Twilight was at the door, hoof pressed to the panelling as she grit her teeth and slunk back to her seat. ‘I can’t go out there... I might get seen, I’m trapped in here. It’s just a matter of time.’

She turned to the stack of paper again, continuing her recollection from the beginning.

“You know, you told me to do it. You don’t need to get angry with me.”

“Are you alright? You started twitching in your sleep and whimpering.”

“It was just a question.”

Twilight blinked and wiped a foreleg across her eyes. ‘What happened to me? This isn’t the magic of friendship...’ The crumpled ball of paper levitated from the floor and slowly unfolded before her.”

“Twilight! Chill out! I’m just trying to help!

There were no tears, no sadness, just an overwhelming emptiness that engulfed Twilight when she replaced the last paper in the stack. ‘Why did I do that? Friendship is supposed to be about being grateful for help...’ She sat down with a dull thud and massaged her temple with a hoof. ‘You were scared.’ her mind reminded her ‘That’s no excuse... I... I should apologize. No; I will apologize.’

Twilight rose and pressed her hoof to the door softly, as it slid to the side, she poked her head out and glanced down both directions in the hallway. ‘Coast is clear, no windows on the compartment doors... If I book it, I should be alright; I don’t think anypony will see me.’

She stepped a hoof out of the room before yanking it back in. ‘Which way did she go?...’ Twilight sank her teeth into her lip and flicked her gaze from one end of the hallway to the other. ‘If I was angry... And I wanted some space, I’d go get some fresh air... Yeah, that makes sense... Right?’

After one more cursory check of her surroundings, Twilight shot out of her shelter and barreled toward the back of the train. The door had a small window in it that revealed the caboose’s entry door on the other side. Without hesitation, Twilight was through the doorway and inside the caboose, holding her heart inside her ribcage with a hoof.

‘Oh my gosh... That, was horrifying; I’m never doing that again.’ After the percussive orchestra situated in her chest finally retired for a well deserved intermission. She craned her neck and looked around the room methodically. “Lyra?... Are you in here? Listen... I’m sorry. L- I’m an idiot.” A hoof slapped against her forehead as she sighed. ‘She’s mute Twilight, she’s not going to answer you.’

After the remainder of the search turned up nothing, Twilight turned her attention to the back railing of the caboose itself. ‘I really hope she’s back there...’ She thought as the door swung outward slowly.

The telltale hue of mint-green and white billowing in the backdraft of the railcar brought a breath of relief to Twilight’s lungs. Lyra never once looked at Twilight, never moved, never reacted at all. She simply stood, leaned against the railing with her muzzle buried into crossed forelegs and a pensive expression written into her features.

“Uhm...” Twilight scooted over to the other side of the railing, standing and leaning against it in a similar fashion. “Listen... Lyra... I...” A sharp exhale and a few angry thoughts were all Twilight could muster as she fell to silence.

In the conversational lull, a small slip of paper floated into Twilight’s vision: “What are you waiting for? You don’t need my help, remember? So just fly away already.”

Twilight’s ears fell flat against her head as she turned to face Lyra. “I... I’m sorry... okay? I shouldn’t have said the things I said... Those ‘ponies’ that are after me? The ones trying to kill me? They used to be my friends... and, I took it out on you.”

Lyra slowly lifted her head from her forelegs and blinked at Twilight. The fedora atop her head gently glowed and floated over toward Twilight, before settling over her horn. She quickly scribbled and gave Twilight a note to accompany the headwear. ‘Thank you, but you should fly anyway, it would be faster.

“Don’t you think I would have if I could?! I can’t! It takes all my focus just to keep them folded and in line on the ground, There’s no way I’d actually be able to fly with these things...” Twilight sighed “I’m grounded, stuck...” Twilight gently placed a hoof on Lyra’s shoulder and whimpered. “I can’t trust anypony right now... not even myself. I know I can’t do it alone, but...” Lyra cocked an eyebrow as Twilight took a moment to collect herself and her breath. ‘Please, please don’t make me regret this.’

“I’m going to trust you, Lyra. So please... will you help me?”

Lyra squinted for a moment, tearing a note off and never once breaking her gaze. “I don’t buy it. You seemed pretty adamant that you didn’t need anypony.”

“I know— I know, it was stupid, okay? I was wrong... You’ve helped me get this far, and I’m really actually thankful for it. If you hadn’t suggested the train, I’d... probably be hungry and lost in the middle of the Everfree right about now.”

A coy grin played at the unicorn’s mouth for a split second. “You’re really truly sorry?”

“Yes...”

“Do you promise to not flip out on me again?”

Twilight sighed softly and shook her head. “I’ll do my best... But I’m not sure I can promise anything...”

Lyra’s horn lit as the paper slapped against Twilight’s left ear softly. “Fair enough. I forgive you. But you need to work on controlling those mood swings, alright?”

“Yeah, alright...” Twilight wavered, “Fair’s fair, I’ll try not to...”

Both mares leaned against the railing, watching the tracks fly by beneath them for a few moments. The serenity of the setting was shattered by the monolithic roar that emanated from Lyra’s stomach shortly after. Twilight jumped away in surprise, blinking from Lyra’s barrel to her face. “I’m hungry too, but my gosh...”

Lyra’s expression fell flat. “Believe me, I’ll be glad when we get to Canterlot, I’m starving.”

The final half hour of the trip proceeded rather uneventfully, barring Twilight's awkward explanation after her shriek when the conductor came to check their cards. For the first time in days, Twilight felt... happy; she finally had some form of support, she was within reach of her goal, and most importantly: she felt safe.

The train gave a gentle lurch as the buildings to either side slowed in their passing. Twilight tugged the fedora down over her head for the upteenth time in the last thirty minutes. “So... First food, then your friend’s place?”

“That’s the plan, yeah. Why? What’s up?”

Twilight nearly fell off of the bench when the PA system overhead blared overhead: “Canterlot! Final stop! Canterlot!” Earning her a smirk and a paper ball from Lyra.

“Haha!”

Twilight’s ears burned as she tossed the note back at Lyra. “Yes, hilarious. Let’s just not go anywhere too crowded, okay?... Maybe something to go?” The mares waited for the hallway to clear before venturing any further. “I’m not sure that being out in the open is such a good idea...”

Both Lyra and Twilight turned to step off the train and into the Canterlot rail center. The pavilion stretched out before them, filled with ponies of every kind. No sooner had Twilight stepped away from the train was she bumped from the side by a stranger, in an instant all security, all joviality was gone and replaced with the all too familiar feeling of worry.

A soft tug at her left ear pulled her head to the side, where she saw her companion bouncing up and down from behind a tourist group with a goofy smile on her face.

“Oh, ‘Scuse me. Pardon me... Sorry! If I could just— Thank you!” Twilight finally managed to push through the crowd and collapsed at Lyra’s hooves. “It’s... really busy here today.”

Her words went unanswered as Lyra took off once more, the gentle tug guiding Twilight all the while. The grand hall of the train station opened up to the grand Canterlot promenade, vendors with their carts set up on the streets, shops and businesses all bustling with activity down the main road. And ponies; literally hundreds of ponies milling about, paying attention to nothing in particular.

Twilight’s chest tightened as she drank in the scene, inside the station was bad. The situation out here borrowed a page from Rarity’s book.

‘This is The. Worst. Possible. Thing. Okay Twilight, stay calm, where’s Ly— Right, follow my ear... There’s so many ponies, this was a mistake, why did I think this was going to work? I just gotta lay low and- There she is!’

Twilight beelined for the peppy unicorn, and as soon as she arrived, Lyra trotted down a side street at a much slower pace than before. The bustle and commotion began to die down as they distanced themselves from the central hub. “That was ridiculous. Last time the station was that busy was when the girls and I came down for the Hearth’s Warming Eve play...”

The businesses gave way to houses, and the large fancy eateries began to be replaced with pizza and tacos and other, “commoner” foods. The entire atmosphere struck Twilight as rather interesting. Despite the amount of time she spent in Canterlot castle, she never really did make a habit of visiting the city proper on a regular basis.

‘I really oughta walk around town once things get settled... This is kinda nice.’ She stewed on the thought for a moment before it was interrupted by two colts as they tore down the road, laughing after a ball. As she turned back around, Lyra was looking over her shoulder, levitating a note in front of Twilight’s nose. She began to reach for the note with her magic before jolting back and softly taking the note with her hooves.

‘That was too close...’

“I’m leading you toward my friend’s place. But there’s a lot of awesome little food joints around here if you wanna get something to eat before heading there.”

Twilight’s head began nodding about halfway through the note, “Yes. Oh my gosh, yes, please... That sounds fantastic, as long as we are quick about it.” Twilight shot a glance over at a small, two-pony patrol of the royal guard trotting down the other side of the street. “I don’t like being exposed like this...”

Lyra waved a hoof dismissively and rolled her eyes. “Puh-lease. You worry too much, this will be quick I swear.”

“Puh-lease? I thought you had better grammar than that, Lyra.” Twilight smirked.

Lyra’s entire expression fell as flat as a two week old opened can of soda. “It’s called written inflection, some of us don’t have voices.’

Twilight’s expression quickly mirrored Lyra’s as she tripped over her words. “I— I... Sorry, I was just being... Well...” A soft shove to Twilight’s shoulder lifted her gaze into Lyra’s smirking face.

“See? You worry too much; now come on! I’m starving!” The unicorn winked cheekily and cantered onward as Twilight quickly fell in line.

Soon, the smell of fresh baked goods and other awesome aromas lay heavy in the air. Twilight’s stomach started to growl, eliciting a knowing smile from Lyra. After a few more blocks, they turned a corner, and beheld a street adorned with pennants and flags, and food vendors everywhere.

Twilight nearly lost her balance as overwhelming hunger swept over her. ‘Geez... when did I last eat? Feels like forever ago.’ She quietly stayed close behind Lyra until her stomach allowed silence no longer. “Lyra? Where are we getting food from? This seems like it’s mphrrhrmpmahllph.”

The note crammed into Twilight’s mouth quickly found itself forcefully expelled into her hooves as Lyra crouched low and began to slink through the crowd toward a vendor.

“Wait here, don’t move till I give you the signal, I need to do something really quick.”

To say that Twilight found the letter alarming would be to make a farce of the reaction; Her pupils dilated, her wings fidgeted, and her heart beat against the inside of her ribs like a wild animal in a cage. ‘She’s meeting with one of the girls... or she’s going to blow my cover, this was a mistake, I should run... I can just meld with the cr- what in Equestria is she doing?’

The plucky unicorn slowly and smoothly weaved her way through the crowd, beelining for a mare standing in line at a sandwich vendor. She dropped lower and lower as she drew closer, popping up at the last second and standing a hair’s breadth away from the oblivious dark haired mare.

It wasn’t until Lyra gently tapped the earth pony’s shoulder, that the mare jumped and appeared to say a few words before smiling and imprisoning Lyra in a warm embrace. Lyra craned her neck, scanning the crowd and beckoned Twilight over once she spotted her.

‘Okay, it’s probably just her friend. There’s no need to freak out just yet... Just be cautious, don’t draw attention...’

“Hey! So you’re Lyra’s newest captive, huh?”

“What.” Twilight wheeled to face Lyra with wide, panicked eyes. “What?!”

“Relax, luv, it was a joke!” the earth pony laughed, a certain airy and natural laugh that twilight couldn’t help but feel nervous at the forward pony. “Ah, don’t worry about the whole captive thing, it’s a bit of an inside joke. More of a jab at Heartstrings here anyway.”

Lyra simply wagged her head dismissively with a light blush and a smile as she handed the Earth pony another note.

“Mhmm... Right, Well, I was just grabbing a bite out here. Didn’t much feel like making something at home, what with Scratch out of town. She’s a much better cook than I am anyway. Just don’t tell her I said that.”

A goofy grin played at Lyra’s mouth as she cocked an eyebrow. “Pretty sure I couldn’t if I wanted to.”

The earth pony chuckled and assaulted Lyra with another hug. “Lyra, never change.” After receiving a nod from the unicorn. The mare turned to face twilight, instantly rendering her as stiff and rigid as the stone she stood on. “ ‘Scuse my manners, luv, I’m Octavia, I’m sorry we didn’t exchange pleasantries from the start. I was a little preoccupied with one of my closest friends apparating from thin air... again.” She leveled an amused glare at Lyra who threw up a defensive shrug almost instantly. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”

“I— I...” The world lost focus, her surroundings faded to black until all she could see was Octavia’s face repeating: Didn’t catch your name.

‘What do I say?... What do I say?!’

A light bap to the head knocked Twilight momentarily from her panic, as she watched Lyra do the same to Octavia and display the notepad "She’s just shy, her name is: Ladyship, Boppinstick Cumberfinch the third.”

Twilight stared quietly at Lyra, who smiled back at her before the unicorn’s expression shifted slowly to a frown before she quickly tacked on an addendum to her note.

‘I was kidding, Tavi.’

Octavia smirked and rolled her eyes. “Coulda fooled me, luv.”

Meanwhile, Twilight remained completely frozen on the outside, and a frantic whirlwind of worry on the inside. ‘Twilight Sparkle... Twilight Sparkle... Dusk... no. Crepuscu... no! Ugh, think Twilight!’

“So you’re Chaser, huh?”

Twilight snapped her attention to Octavia and the paper she held in her hooves. “Huh?”

“Lyra says your real name’s Chaser.”

“Oh... Yeah... Ssssss...Star Chaser. Yeah, Star Chaser!”

Octavia softly smiled and put a hoof to her chin. “... Yeah, I can see it. Pretty name for a pegasus. So Lyra, which group of clouds did you drag her from?”

“Oh, I’m from... uh...” Twilight blinked a few times, smiling awkwardly to break the silence.

“Hey!” A rather grouchy stallion in the line shouted at the three mares while shaking his hoof. “You mind? Some of us are trying to get our orders placed! Lunch breaks don’t last forever you know!”

“Sorry luv.” Octavia smiled as she scooted out of the line. She turned to Lyra and Twilight and sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s a fast line, I don’t mind waiting again. You girls wanna grab something with me, and we can head back to my place?”

Lyra and Twilight locked eyes. Twilight's head frantically shook back and forth in a negative fashion. Lyra countered with a quick elbow to Twilight’s wing and jerked her head toward Octavia. Twilight quietly swallowed, and turned to Octavia with a slow nod.

“Sure... That sounds... great.”

Octavia clapped her hooves together with a beaming smile. “Brilliant! Chaser, you’ve got to get the guacamole alfalfa wrap. It’s to die for, trust me.”

Twilight pinned her ears back and shifted her gaze slightly. “Yeah... Alright.” When she looked back up, Octavia was standing next to Lyra, reading a paper, and casually catching up.

Octavia had been right, the alfalfa wrap did smell delicious. ‘Who am I kidding? The whole marketplace smelled delicious.’ For the last ten minutes, she’d watched the two go back and forth about small, harmless topics that sometimes ended in what Twilight could only assume were inside jokes.

‘I guess Lyra was right, Octavia’s not too bad. She seems nice enough I suppose, still shou—’

“Hey, Chaser. Why so quiet? Something on your mind, luv?”

Twilight jerked her self to attention, the eyes of Lyra and Octavia looked back at her, with expressions of concern and curiosity, respectively. “Hmm? Oh... No. I just... didn’t sleep well.”

The earth pony dug into her saddlebag and fished out a key as she read a softly glowing notepad. “Of course you can crash here for the night, Lyra. Guest bedroom is always open for you.” Octavia faced Twilight with a cheeky smile. “You’re welcome to stay as well, if you like. Can’t promise that it’ll cure your lack of sleep, but it couldn’t hurt.”

“I...” Twilight shot a confused glance at Lyra, who shot back a smile and soft nod. “I’m very grateful... Thank you, Octavia.”

The door-latch clicked gently as it swung inward. “Don’t mention it, luv. Any friend of Lyra here is a friend of mine.” The earth pony trotted inside and waved a hoof across the room. “Welcome to my little house of harmonics, also known as: ‘The dubstep domicile’. or my personal favorite: ‘The wub shack’. Make yourselves at home.” Octavia smiled and flourished a hoof in a sweep of the room.

Twilight could easily tell that the house saw it’s fair share of use. Though, it was surprisingly neat and tidy, not to mention open; save for the web of cables and sound equipment that choked the life out of one of the corners in the living room.

It took all of five seconds for Twilight to make her way to a couch and collapse onto the seat, rubbing her temples. The last few hours were nothing but a blur it seemed. As she was lost in her thoughts, the faint rustling of pen against paper and the quiet gasp that shortly followed skipped her attention.

“The whole house!? Did anything survive?”

‘Great... Just when I was starting to feel good about myself.’ Twilight’s head throbbed between her hooves as the two mares carried on. ‘If I say something, I’m out on the street; exposed... again. Ugh... Best to just keep quiet about it. It was just an accident after all.’

“Not even your Lyre? That won’t do... Hmmm, hold on a moment, I think I have one of your old ones floating around here somewhere.”

Twilight grabbed her food and trotted over to the kitchen where Lyra was sitting. She stared at the alfalfa wrap for a little while as the cogs in her mind churned. ‘Alright, well. I’m in Canterlot, the castle is just up the hill a ways, getting in shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I can only hope that I get to Celestia before Luna does something... Stay positive Twilight. You can do this.’

‘Here you are. Found it next to my old jazz bass.” Octavia nodded as she handed over a rather ornate-looking lyre to the unicorn.

Lyra immediately cradled it in her hooves as the strings lit with a gentle mint glow. She plucked around on the strings, finishing with a happy nod as she tuned the last note.

Octavia grinned and nodded expectantly. “Still good? Well go on, play something Lyra. I’m sure Chaser can’t wait to hear it.”

Lyra paused a moment, flitting her gaze between the lyre and Octavia. Her eyes gently closed as the room filled with soft plucked notes. Twilight put her food down and propped her head on her hoof as she felt the room begin to sway back and forth to the melody of the notes.

Lyra’s eyes never clenched. The tempo, bound by no restraints. It was wild, erratic... hauntingly morose; but beautiful nonetheless. Twilight closed her eyes, a mistake she wished she’d not made.

The sudden flickers in tone turned to tongues of fire. There she sat on the hilltop, next to this heartfelt artist, watching everything the unicorn owned be destroyed note by note. Flame by flame. It was mesmerizing to watch, but it was done so with a heavy and sinking heart. Twilight felt the pain Lyra conveyed as the music reached it’s peak and the roof caved in. She wanted to cry, but knew she couldn’t; she wanted the music to stop, but knew that would only make things worse.

The music began to drift off, and as the flames died down, the horizon began to brighten. And the moment the sun crested the hilltop Twilight’s eyes flew open to the Lyra in the middle of a deep breath, and Octavia softly shaking her head.

“She’s really something, isn’t she? Always takes me to another time and place when she plays. Reminds me of rainy days as a filly.”

Twilight swallowed and nodded. “Yeah... She’s... She’s very talented.”

“You alright, luv?” Octavia asked, turning to Lyra and giving her a heartfelt hug.

The unicorn’s brow furrowed as she set to her notepad.“I am now, I wasn’t back at the house fire. I was scared; I didn’t think I was going to get out alive.”

Octavia looked at slackjawed “What, how? What happened?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide and nearly spat out her food as the notepad fell to the table.

“Star Chaser happened.”

Twilight shrank back as she felt all eyes set upon her in an instant. She squeaked softly and tried to protest, but found herself as mute as the unicorn opposite her.

Octavia merely cocked an eyebrow and blinked. “Alright. Now I’m curious; I want to know everything.”

‘Oh please, no...’

“I got pinned, she fought her way into the house and pushed a beam off me.”

Octavia and Twilight both sighed in relief as the earth pony turned to face the alicorn. “Thank you for saving Lyra... She’s... A close friend, I’d hate to think of what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.”

Twilight smiled a bit and went completely stiff as Octavia threw her arms around her in a grateful embrace. Every muscle in her body locked as her brain fired off a mantra over and over: ‘Don’t touch the hat, don’t touch the hat, don’t touch the hat...’ After a half-second or so, Twilight managed to loosen her forelegs enough to return the hug, albeit warily. “It uh... It was nothing, it’s what anypony would have done. Haha...”

“Yes, but you’re the one who had the courage to do it.” Octavia winked and turned back to Lyra, leaving Twilight to her alfalfa wrap. Twilight took a bite and slowly lifted her eyes to Lyra and Octavia before a small smile played at her lips. Despite everything that happened; for the first time since that bloody afternoon yesterday; she had a plan and ponies she could somewhat trust.

But most importantly.

She felt like she was going to make it.

At least, she did, until she heard a quiet “Oh.” come from the other side of the table.

“Crazier than losing your house?” Octavia cocked an eyebrow and looked back to Lyra, “Do tell.”

Prodigal

Twilight sat, briefly frozen in time between the words: “Do” and “Tell”, her mind was very much active, and rather focused on a single concept; that being the mantra of “No!”

She gently bit her lip as she scrambled for a solution, looking for any way out that would allow her cover to remain uncompromised. She found herself quickly deciding on: “Haha! Funny joke, Lyra! You really had her going!”

As much as Twilight wished that would have solved her problems, the only thing that it accomplished was drawing confused looks from the other mares at the table.

“Luv, I don’t think it was a joke. I’ve known Lyra for a while; I know when she’s just playing around.” Octavia furrowed her brow and turned to face Lyra. “So, what’s got Chaser so jumpy?”

As Lyra began to write, Twilight set her teeth upon her lower lip in a fit of panic. The culmination of her foolish trust was coming back to get her. She knew the entire act was fake, that Lyra was going to betray her from the beginning. And yet she hadn’t yet taken the chance to escape the vile unicorn’s charismatic clutches.

Lyra gently flung the note onto the table top as she looked to Twilight. “Probably the fact that she isn’t who we said she is. It’d just be better to show you.”

Twilight lifted her gaze from the page and locked eyes with Lyra. Her heart was pounding, her skin felt clammy and, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t manage to speak her mind: ‘Please, don’t do this.’

It wasn’t until she felt a weight being lifted from her head that she began to realize what was happening. Instantly she slammed her hooves over the fedora, pinning it to the top of her head. “Alright, Lyra, that’s enough. You can stop now.”

Lyra simply twisted her mouth to the side and looked to Octavia, who was merely sitting there with the most befuddled and angry look on her face. “Alright, ah’ve had enough ‘o dis back ‘n forth!” Octavia slammed her hooves on the table and shot the other mares a look that could kill. “If you two’s don’t start fessin’ up ‘bout what da’ hay is goin’ on, I’m fixin ta’ kick ya two’s outside ‘till ya come clean!”

For the briefest of moments, Twilight watched something in Octavia’s face shift. The earth pony closed her eyes, dropped her shoulders, and gave a tired shake of her head. “Sorry, sorry. My Manehattan shows when I get’s mad.” She took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes before continuing. “Can one of you two just explain what all this is about so I’m not completely lost? What’s got her so scared?” Octavia inquired as she jerked her head towards Twilight.

“Scared? I’m not, scared!” Twilight fumbled with the fedora as her hooves briefly slipped. “Just a little bit... annoyed.” She glared at Lyra as her hooves began to lose their grip against the glowing hat. Twilight quickly countered Lyra’s magic with her own and furrowed her brow. “Lyra, stop it!”

The glow from Lyra’s horn vanished and reappeared in her smile a moment later. Twilight looked over to Octavia, who had left her mouth hanging wide open and was rendered eerily silent. Twilight mulled over the cues for a moment, opting to simply ask when she couldn’t think of a reason for the other’s behavior.

“What?”

Octavia simply closed her mouth and pointed a hoof at Twilight’s headwear, softly encapsulated in a gentle lavender aura.

It took all of two seconds for Twilight to realize what had happened, and ten seconds to register that she’d forgotten how to breathe. The glow stopped as she slunk down in her seat, pulling the hat tightly against her head and over her eyes. Her breathing hitched, gave a start, and returned to normal as she regained her composure.

All was quiet for a few moments; altogether too quiet given the situation. Slowly the rim of the fedora revealed a very stern-looking earth pony and a quiet unicorn with the cheekiest grin on her face.

Twilight seethed at Lyra, but that anger quickly gave way to confusion. Lyra could have given her away to anypony, so why Octavia? Why give away her secret to a supposed musician? As much as Twilight wanted to explore the logic behind her hypothesis, she found herself interrupted by a very flat and serious voice.

“Chaser, luv. I’m only goin’ to ask you once: Who are you, really?” Octavia stated.

“I...” Twilight sunk her teeth into her lip as her gaze drifted to Lyra. “I...” Lyra offered a friendly, coaxing nod; she didn’t buy it in the slightest.

In that moment, Twilight realized she was out of options; all that was left to do was pin her ears back, lower her gaze, and tell the truth. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of Princess Celestia, Bearer of the Element of Magic...” Slowly she removed the fedora from her head with a hoof and a sigh, “... and former unicorn.”

Octavia didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t breathe. After a while, Lyra hopped off her chair and started shaking the earth pony in her seat. Shortly after a massive breath and the reassessment of her surroundings, Octavia leveled her gaze with Twilight. “Alright! Well then, luv. I’m going to take our mutual antagonist over here for a muzzle-flapping. You sit tight for a moment in the living room while I talk things over with Lyra, mm?”

The beginnings of a response rushed to Twilight’s lips, only to die in her throat. The other two mares quietly left the table, leaving Twilight alone with her food and too many unspoken questions.

For a moment, Twilight raised a hoof in objection, quietly bringing it back to her side as realization sank it. There was no back up, there was no ambush. Octavia had simply just, walked away. Twilight stared at the remaining food on her plate as she searched for whatever piece of the puzzle she had missed. She grabbed the leftovers and dumped them unceremoniously into the trash bin. She paused a moment, looking to the door the other mares had disappeared behind, then made her way to the living room.

The best explanation for Octavia’s actions was to chastise Lyra for her brash behavior. Twilight looked to the window, then to the pile of wires and the electronic equipment with a groan. Twilight didn’t necessarily want to be right, she had enough of that from the last three days; and was frankly sick of what it had brought her.

She let her mind wander off with that errant idea as she glanced to the fedora resting on the arm of the couch. As enticing as the thought was, it slammed into a possibility she didn’t want to consider: she was entirely capable of being wrong about these two. It wasn’t something she was going to leave to chance.

Slowly Twilight edged up against the door that the other mares had disappeared into. She cocked her ear against the wooden panel and closed her eyes in concentration.

“... would you lie to me like that, Lyra?” Octavia fell silent as the sound of scribbling came from the other side of the door.

“Yes, I understand you thought it was a good idea. But there’s something obviously going on here. You can’t just drop something like this on me.” The room fell silent once more for a few moments.

“I know you’ve sprung things on me just as bad, but what about Scratch? If I agree to this without her, she’s going to kill us when we tell her!”

Twilight jerked away from the door frame. She’d heard enough, and the window was looking particularly inviting. Twilight dove for the fedora resting on the table, and sprinted for the window as she pulled the hat snugly over her head. She put her hooves on the bottom of the frame, threw the window-pane upward, and dove outside.

The only issue this presented was that the building opposite the window was far closer than she originally guessed. She quickly looked down as her hooves firmly planted against the opposite alley wall.

She wanted any number of reasonable actions to take in a situation like this, but all that came out was: “No, no, no, no!” Her wings shot out in a feeble flap as she tumbled twenty-odd feet, crashing down into a crumpled, purple heap.

“Mmmm, Ow...” Twilight pulled her wings to her sides and slowly steadied herself against the wall. She quickly scanned for any witnesses and heaved a sigh of relief when she discovered none. With one last look up to the window she just defenestrated herself from, she grabbed the fedora, took a single shaky step, and winced for a moment.

“Twilight! What are you doing? Don’t move, luv. We’ll be right down!” Twilight jerked her head back to the window to see Octavia and Lyra leaning out the window. Both mares disappeared back inside, leaving Twilight alone with her frantic mind. She looked to the exits of the alley and took another step, clenching her teeth as she nearly collapsed.

Twilight silently cursed her wings, she cursed her luck, she cursed pretty much anything and anypony that could be remotely attributed to her misfortune. She was just adding fate to her list as Octavia and Lyra rushed around the corner. The two rushed to her side in mere moments, helping her to her hooves and back inside.

Once more, the three mares sat around a table within Octavia's house, except this time there was a distinct lack of food, happy faces, and reminiscence.

Octavia propped her foreleg on the table, and rested her head on her hoof as she stared at Twilight with a completely unreadable face. "So, is there any particular reason you threw yourself out a second story window?"

"Uh, well you see, I was— going to try to practice flying! Yeah! Figured a little extra height would help me g—"

"Sorry, luv, I don't buy that." Octavia cocked an eyebrow and twisted her mouth in such a way, that Twilight couldn't tell if the earth pony was thinking, worried, or both.

Twilight pulled herself away from Octavia’s piercing gaze and glanced over at Lyra. She hadn't contributed to the conversation at all from the time that she and Octavia helped Twilight inside. Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Lyra had been focused on her foreleg with riveted attention, seemingly ignoring everything else. Twilight was about to say something to Lyra, but the unicorn furrowed her brow and hurried out of the room with no warning.

"Well alright then, I guess it's just you and me, Ms. Sparkle. Or is it Princess Spar—"

"Not. A princess." Twilight growled as she leveled her gaze with Octavia.

The earth pony blinked rapidly and shrugged. "What would you prefer that I call you then? Just Twilight?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright." Octavia ran a hoof through her hair and let her eyes dart around erratically at various fixtures.

A couple different reasons for the behavior formulated in Twilight's mind, she didn’t like any of them. "Why are you stalling? We both know you have questions."

"See, that's just it, luv." The earth pony chuckled. "I do have questions, I just don't know what to say. It's kind of a strange scenario, from my end at least. I don't know how you feel about it, but it's not everyday that a long time friend brings an alicorn to lunch. I don't know where I'd even start, I guess 'are you okay?' is as good a place as any."

As if on cue, a throbbing ache pulsed in Twilight's foreleg. She didn't show it, but she did draw her hoof a little closer to herself. "I feel..." She started, only to stop and watch Lyra come around the corner from the kitchen with a note, and a towel wrapped around something. The unicorn gave the towel to Twilight and turned the note to face her.

"You were guarding your foreleg, so I made you an ice pack. Is it hurt badly? Why did you jump?"

“Uhm...” Twilight pressed the wrapped bag of ice to her leg and shivered. “Thank you, Lyra, it’ll be fine.”

“She asked you a question,” Octavia said with a glare, "and believe me, I'd like to know that answer too.”

The thing was, Twilight did mind. Twilight minded the whole situation quite a bit, she couldn’t push the inconsistencies out of her head: no ambush, no weapons, not even the slightest hint of malicious intent. In fact, the more Twilight thought about it, the more she came to realize that Lyra and Octavia weren’t focused on a mission; they were as confused and worried as she was.

Twilight steeled herself for the leap of faith she was going to take. She sighed softly and gave the other mares a pitiful look. “Well, alright, the reason I jumped, starts a few days ago...”

The next hour or so was largely spent battling Octavia's questions as Twilight tried to explain herself. Lyra was more or less detached from the whole tale, and spent most of her time getting Octavia to listen.

“... And that’s why I didn’t want to say anything, because I deduced you two are spies for Luna and want me captured or dead.”

Octavia stared at Twilight, looked to Lyra who gave a nonchalant shrug, and then back to Twilight.

“At least,” Twilight rubbed a hoof behind her head sheepishly, “I thought you two were working for her.”

Octavia waved a hoof in the air between herself and Twilight. “So what you’re saying is: those wings exploded out of you for reasons you can’t explain, your friends have gone nuts, one of the princesses is after you, we are working for her, and you figured the window was the best way to make an escape.”

“Yep, that’s about the gist of it.”

Lyra interjected with a gently tossed note: “Sounds like you had a fun week.”

“Lyra!” Octavia chided, “I know you’re try’n to lighten the situation, but now’s not da’ time, luv. Give ‘er a break, wouldja?” The earth pony put her hoof in the air, mouth open as if to speak before exhaling slowly. “Okay, now, I’m no soldier: the only bow I know how to draw is the one across the strings of a cello. I’m an artist, not a spy. I can say with confidence that the same goes for Heartstrings, so don’t worry about us; you’ve got worse things to worry about.”

Lyra put a hoof to her chin briefly before interjecting with a note. “Why come to Canterlot at all? Wouldn’t it be better to go the opposite direction from Princess Luna?”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re both aware, but I am Princess Celestia’s personal student. And given Luna’s actions, I’m worried that my teacher, our princess, is in danger. If I can find Celestia, if I can free her from Luna’s trap, then she can make everything right again.”

Octavia just stared at Twilight for a moment. “Well then.”

“That’s insane. How are you going to pull that off?”

“I...” Twilight gave the question some thought, she had a plan, but it was dubious at best. “... don’t know, I’ll think of something.”

Octavia sighed and shook her head into her hoof. “I’ve no idea what to even think about this. Alright, so here’s the deal: You can crash here for a while to figure out how you’re going to save Celestia.”

The sound of scribbling filled the air after Octavia fell silent. Twilight’s ears perked in curiosity as she watched Lyra attack the page, then suddenly tear the paper off and look over it. All was quiet as Lyra gave a short nod at the page, then offered it to her. Twilight took the note from Lyra slowly, glancing up in time to see Lyra gesture to the paper.

“I want to come along, I want to help. If this is about the fate of Equestria, I’m not going to just do nothing if I know something about it.”

“No!” Twilight slowly lowered herself back to her seat. She tried to rationalize her outburst, Lyra coming could be a liability if she really was working for Luna. But if she was, she could have easily turned Twilight in earlier. It would have made things easier to understand if she had, but the fact was that the unicorn had done little to nothing to actually hinder Twilight’s progress. But it wasn’t a matter of needing help.

“If you came with me, Luna would come after you as well. I appreciate it, but I don’t want you two to fall into harm’s way because Luna’s after me. You’re safer if you don’t get directly involved.”

Lyra slung her forelegs across each other and pouted softly, grabbing her notepad with a scowl. “I’m still going to help, even if you don’t want me to come with you. Go ahead and keep the fedora, it really makes the disguise work. It’s not much, but if you can get everything sorted out, then I can say that my hat helped save Equestria.”

Twilight had to read the last line twice, allowing herself a chuckle and small smile. “I suppose that’d be true, to a degree. Thank you, thank you both for believing me.”

“Luv, you’re an alicorn. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s not exactly common.” Octavia replied flatly. “That fact alone lends credibility to pretty much anything you say.”

"Maybe so, maybe not." Twilight said flatly, "All I do know is that I have to get into that castle tonight. I don't have time to waste, I should probably be going now, guard shifts will be changing soon, if the schedule is the same as when I lived here."

Octavia blinked absently for a moment. "Wait, now? You're already leaving?"

Twilight grabbed the fedora off the table as she headed to the door, looking back at the faces of the two strangers that gave her a brief respite.

"Lyra, Octavia: if the sun doesn't rise tomorrow, I'm sorry. I tried." And with that, Twilight Sparkle pulled the hat over her horn, opened the door, and stepped out into the Canterlot streets.

The moment that Twilight set hoof out the door, every fiber of her being protested against the throngs of bustling ponies walking the streets.

She could feel herself torn in two directions at once: directly behind, and directly ahead. As much as she wanted to just run back inside with the nice ponies who gave her food and alleviated her pain, she knew she had to continue on.

Twilight forged on into the crowd, keeping her head lower than normal and avoiding as much eye contact as possible. She knew all the best routes to take in and near the castle, but the problem with that knowledge was that she had to get there in the first place. She left that thought as she silently cursed herself for being such a shut-in when she was younger.

The main problem was that Octavia’s house was in the entertainment district, a district that she just didn’t have time for as a filly. She pinned her ears down and shuffled past bars holding rowdy ponies, outdoor seating of restaurants filled with ponies and laughter. Fortunately that meant that they’d be focused on each other, and not on her.

She kept her head down and trudged toward the castle, her mind operating at a speed many times faster than her hoofsteps.

Growing up in Canterlot was something a lot of ponies did, growing up in the castle however... Twilight had interacted superficially with most of the guards, even used to know some of the ones usually stationed around the library and her tower by name. She’d always been curious, and the guards had good naturedly answered the young filly’s questions about what the being in the guard was like. Right now, she silently thanked her younger self for the - at the time - useless information.

One such useful fact was that guard shifts usually changed after dinner. Twilight figured that as long as she lay low, she could sneak in unnoticed. Her only concerns were that the guard might be actively looking for her, and the post changes were some time off.

Unfortunately, that information wasn’t going to help her at the moment: she was in the entertainment district, still a good hour or more from the castle proper.

“Hey! You!”

Twilight wheeled around, to see a pegasus stallion swaying on his hooves, slowly stumbling toward a very confused looking purple earth pony. The mare backed away and raised an eyebrow as the light-grey stallion took a drunken swing at her, stumbling forward about five feet away.

“Vee, enough!” A dull brown pegasus mare, easily taller than Celestia, banked a corner around a building and put herself between the earth pony, and the rogue pegasus. “It’s okay, Vee. We’re going to go home, and everything will be alright.”

“It’s not going to be okay, Barricade!” The stallion said with a hiss. “He's dead! My brother’sh dead, he’s never coming… And it’s her fault!” He spat, as he turned, missing a swing at a passing purple earth pony.

Barricade moved between Vee and his new target, and started spouting apologies to both the earth pony and the pegasus. “I’m sorry about Vee. He’s normally not this way... He lost his brother in a freak accident on a simple escort... He has been ranting about Twilight Sparkle since the report came in yesterday. I’m just trying to get him home, I’m so sorry.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she attempted to process the scene. Twilight knew Barricade; A lithe guard as tall as the princesses was pretty hard to forget, even if Twilight was a filly at the time. But her mind froze when the stallion locked eyes with her.

“You!” He snarled as he charged toward the crowd.

Twilight stumbled back, only to watch the monolithic pegasus pick up the drunken stallion and sling him across her shoulders roughly. “That’s enough, Vee! If you’re not going quietly, we are doing this the hard way!”

Vee simply rolled his head softly before emptying his stomach on the cobblestone with a groan. “‘arrcashe? I think it’s time to go home… hic.”

Barricade grimaced at the mess on the ground, then turned and faced the other two mares that were nearly attacked. “I’m so, so sorry…”

Twilight could only blink as she watched the female guard briskly escape the scene, causing the attentive crowd to start disbanding, some of which ran to the victims of near-assault. A few broke toward Twilight with looks of concern, but she quickly convinced them that she was fine.

As weird as the whole situation was, Twilight was at least thankful that nopony recognized her. Granted, she hardly recognized herself, but she pushed that thought from her mind as she pressed on.

Throngs of colored forms melded into a blur as Twilight found herself sprinting in the general direction of the castle. All she wanted was to get away from that incident. She came to a slow trot a few blocks later, panting softly and nursing her leg with a soft limp. Twilight quickly continued her walk as nonchalantly as possible, though her mind was still in overdrive.

She knew she needed to get into the castle, and quickly at that. Every moment spent idling was another moment closer to nightfall, and another moment that Celestia might not have. Twilight stopped on a street corner and gave herself a moment or two to get her bearings. The castle was close. Very close. Unfortunately for Twilight, getting into the castle without raising an alarm was still a major issue. She briefly considered using an old service tunnel that Celestia once told her about, but opted for something a little less predictable.

As Twilight meandered over to a bench to think, she let her eyes wander amongst the ponies bustling on the streets. A happy couple heading to dinner, a couple adolescent colts and fillies laughing and talking as they perused the shops. A short distance down the road, two guards were seemingly lost in idle banter as she continued to sweep the crowd for signs of something suspicious.

The guards in particular drew Twilight’s interest. She watched them carefully, making sure to not let them know she was observing them. After a while, an idea formed itself in her head, and a smile on her face.

It was such a simple plan, one so brilliantly bland that it had to work: she’d just walk through the front doors with her disguise. Her smile shifted into a cheeky smirk as she got to her hooves. She shot a final glance at the guards. Twilight figured Luna would likely be expecting her to try and sneak in, and would have the tunnel staffed with extra security.

Canterlot Castle. Even when she wasn’t being hunted by most of the ponies inside, it still made her coat stand on end at the mere sight of it. Tall, ornate alabaster pillars set upon vast marble floors. A symphony of white and gold in the middle of the city. She would never forget how it looked when she first saw it.

Of course, any pleasant memories were quickly forgotten as she beheld the sheer number of guards posted in the halls. She held a hoof to her forehead, desperately trying to stave off a panic attack. Twilight knew there had to be a way to get past; she just needed to think of a plan.

“Ma’am? Are you having trouble finding your way out?”

“Ahh!” Twilight jerked to her left, wings flared and ears pinned much to the bewilderment of the guard that just engaged her. “Oh, H—hello.”

The guard leveled a stern expression at Twilight. “You’ve been pacing for quite some time, but this area is off limits and the castle is closing to the public soon. I can’t have civilians loitering on the premises. You’re going to have to leave.”

As the guard spoke, Twilight’s heart began pounding in her chest. “Oh! Well, I don’t know... There’s no chance I can get past you and find the restroom, or something?”

The guard returned with a measured gaze, boring straight into the back of her skull. Twilight couldn’t help but flinch, looking to the ground as her wings remained flared. As much as she wanted to turn and run, she knew that she couldn’t wait, Luna wasn’t going to wait, either. Just then, she spotted a potted plant behind the guard, off to the side. As slowly as the thought formed in her mind, she softly lifted the plant and returned her gaze to the guard.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but you’ll have to use the lobby facilities, this area is off limits. Please don’t m—” The guard furrowed his brow and quietly stepped to the side. He muttered something under his breath before bowing slightly and continuing. “Sorry miss, the facilities are down the hall to your right.”

Twilight blinked a few times as both the pot, and her wings came back down to their natural positions. “I, uh, thank you? I guess?” She slowly edged her way past the guard, before entering the inner hallway. She glanced back over her shoulder, only to catch the guard’s head quickly pivoting forward once more. Twilight darted around the corner, pausing to see if the guard had followed, and finding it rather strange when he didn’t.

It took a few moments for Twilight to get moving again, and once she did, she was none too quick about it. Every statue she passed seemed to loom over her, waiting to strike. Even though the statues were themselves completely harmless, she could only imagine a squad of guards leaping from the shadows the monuments cast.

Twilight stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked around. There were a great number of things weighing heavily on Twilight’s mind. Newly added to the list was the fact that there was no guard presence.

She pressed onward, twisting and turning through the passageways by muscle memory alone, constantly checking corners and doorways for anypony that might see her. But the farther she went, the more worried she became. There seemed to be not a single guard in the inner castle. Twilight began to wonder if they were all called to the throne room, or if they’d all been ordered to lie in wait for a trap around the next corner.

These doubts continued to haunt her even as she turned the final corner. It was then that Twilight looked up at the throne room doors, and suddenly felt incredibly small. She simply locked up in fear: she knew hordes of guards, pain, and failure waited for her behind those doors. She wished she had the ability to see through walls, or to just wake up, and let all this be a sick, twisted dream. But Twilight just sat there, staring at the doors.

It was then that Twilight realized that she’d never stop Luna by sitting outside, paralyzed in fear. Time was not on her side as it was, and every moment spent doubting herself was one that Celestia might not have. Twilight gathered her resolve, readied herself, and charged the doors.

The doors flew open as she barreled through, eyes wide. Twilight stumbled forward expecting a salvo of magic, or a wall of spears. But the only notable thing about the room was Princess Celestia herself, standing before her throne.

The two locked eyes for a moment, before Twilight stumbled forward, breaking into a trot. Overwhelming joy washed over Twilight, the fact that Celestia was standing there was testament to Luna’s failure. Twilight sped into a sprint as her eyes watered. “Princess, you’re here!”

"Twilight Sparkle, you have much to answer for." Celestia sounded a little different, sterner, or perhaps just tired.

Twilight paid it no mind, and continued her mad dash toward Celestia with tears of relief streaming down her face. “I was so worried! I thought something terrible happened and that you were in danger!”

Celestia took a step back and flared her wings. A lance, seemingly made of light appeared by her side as she furrowed her brow. “Twilight, stop.”

Twilight skidded to a halt only a few feet from her teacher as the lance swung down in a wide arc, burying itself into the ground and scarring the stone with a deep slash. She glared down at Twilight, voice dripping with venom. “I said: come no closer.”

Twilight blinked at the glowing hot crevice, then up to her mentor as she stepped back. “Good, you already have a weapon. I need to tell you something important.”

Celestia paused for a moment. Her eyes seemed to bore into Twilight’s skull, as if searching for something. “Speak. Quickly.”

“There’s something wrong with your sister, something wrong with everypony! Luna tried to kill me last night, but I managed to escape and disguise myself so I could come here! The other elements are in on the plan with her, though. It’s been days, and they’ve been acting strange and poisoning me, turning on me. I don’t know if they’ve been brainwashed or something, maybe they were just lying about being my friends from the very beginning. But now you’re here and you can fix everyt—?”

“Twilight. Twilight, slow down.” Celestia relaxed her wings but still held the lance in between herself and Twilight. “One thing at a time. Start from the beginning.”

“Right, right. The beginning.” Twilight backed up and started pacing the floor as she continued. “So a few days ago, those two guards and I got hit by lightning. Uh, Wedge and Biggs, I think. Everything was fine—”

“Lieutenant Wedge is dead, Twilight.” Celestia leveled her gaze with Twilight and scowled. “He was murdered. Violently. His brother identified what little remains we could find.”

Twilight felt her stomach turn under Celestia's accusing gaze “No! I would never...”

“You would never do such a thing?” Celestia sneered, “Then where is Biggs? Why set a pony’s house on fire? Why are you making it so hard for me to believe you, Twilight?”

“But I saved her! Even when I suspected she would betray me later!” Twilight pleaded. “I was going to leave her, but I didn’t!”

“Twilight, listen to yours—”

“Luna attacked me! I had no choice!” Twilight cried out. “I didn’t mean to! But it couldn’t be helped!”

“Is that so?” Celestia glared. “Because she recalls it a very different way. It’s a little more explosive and painful from her point of view.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “She spoke to you?” She whimpered. “She’s here?”

Celestia closed her eyes and looked away. “She is no danger to you Twilight, that issue is resolved.”

“And you can fix everything else too, right?” Twilight edged forward, drawing the attention of the lance’s tip. “Right?...”

“And what would you have me fix, Twilight?”

“My friends? Luna? These?” She stammered with a pitiful flap of her wings. “You can make everything go back to the way it was.”

“Can I really? There’s a dead guard and a grieving family, there’s a mare without her home, My sister, assaulted at your very hooves, and the near constant letters of concern sent by your friends.” Twilight’s worst fears were realized as Celestia’s stern expression shifted into a disappointed frown. “I stand here now, faced with a choice. Just as I did all those years ago.”

Twilight blinked slowly, expectantly. "'All those years ago'? I don’t foll—”

“I made a foolish decision then, and now I wonder. Dare I make the same mistake? Dare I let another monster walk freely in my kingdom?”

Twilight grasped for words as she staggered backwards. “M-monster?! Princess! I’m no monster, I’m on your side! Trust me, I’d know if I was some sort of monster!” she balked.

Celestia’s eyes shot open. Her lance warmed Twilight’s face as its point hovered between her eyes. A cold chill shot through Twilight in contrast to the hungering fire that raged before her.

“Thousands of years ago he said the same thing to me. I trusted him, and I lost everything because of it: most of my subjects, my naivety, my own sister. To this day, I have lived with that guilt, knowing I could have done something to prevent all of that loss.”

Twilight shrank away as Celestia advanced. “I prayed that I’d never have to make that choice again, but then, mere centuries later, I was forced to seal my own sister away. And now, barely two years after her return: this happens.” Celestia grimaced and glared as she drew the lance to Twilight’s neck. “Experience demands that I kill you where you stand.”

“Princess... I—I don’t understand... Why?”

“When every other answer is ruled out, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Remember when I taught you that, Twilight?”

“Yes, but the others, Applejack and Rarity, all of them. They were trying to kill me!”

Celestia shook her head and looked down at Twilight. "Do you have proof? Did they attack you outright? Have you heard them say or seen them do anything blatantly hostile? How are you so sure that they haven't been trying to help you this entire time?

"B-because, I..." Twilight's ears wilted as she shrank away. "What about Luna? What was she doing in my room, casting a spell over me like that? She said she was 'going to help me with those'. She knew something, and she was trying to hurt me."

"My sister meant you no harm at all," Celestia stated. "She has the ability to assist ponies as they sleep, allowing them to slumber in peace, free of bad dreams. She told me that you were fidgeting as you 'slept' and that she was merely attempting to chase away any nightmares." Celestia's face grew hard as she stared Twilight down. "She contacted me as soon as she returned to Canterlot and informed me that 'Twilight Sparkle has gone rogue'."

"So tell me Twilight, who now is to blame?"

Twilight closed her eyes and set her mind to work. ‘If it isn’t my friends, if it isn’t Luna... If there is no giant movement to have me executed... then what is the cause of all this?... What remains, however impro—’ Twilight’s eyes lifted to meet Celestia’s own, no words were uttered. But the tears streaming down Twilight’s face were words enough.

“Yes, Twilight.”

“No. You’re wrong. I’m not— I can’t be—”

“But you are.”

“No, I saved that mare!”

“From the house you set on fire.”

“But, my friends! The were acting so suspicious, I was sure that they were—”

“Trying to help you, and you pushed them away.”

“I—” Twilight stammered as she fought to climb out of her jumbled mess of thoughts and tears. ‘I messed up. I failed my friends. I failed Celestia. I’ve turned into a monster.’ Twilight’s body shook as she hung her head. “Am I really as dangerous as you say I am?”

Celestia looked down to Twilight, her eyes heavy with sorrow. “Or even more so, yes.”

Twilight felt her blood freeze in her veins. She paused a moment, staring into Celestia’s eyes before lowering her gaze and baring her neck to the lance. “May I make a last request, Princess?”

“Yes, Of course.”

“Please make it quick, and tell the girls I’m sorry.” Twilight closed her eyes, and tried her hardest to force a smile. “And, Princess?”

The room was silent for a moment. “Yes, my faithful student?”

“I'm sorry I disappointed you.”

Twilight expected the singing of a blade through air, but all was quiet. A soft glow made it through Twilight’s eyelids, but then returned to darkness. All she could hear was the distinct sound of water splashing against stone.

‘Please give me this, Princess, I know I don’t deserve it... But don’t make me wait.’

She blinked a few times trying to get her eyes to focus, the room seemed to wobble far too much for her liking. She tried to push herself off the ground, only to find that her legs refused to support her as fell on her side.

A white blur she was sure was the princess came closer. She thought of her friends, how she was going to miss them, and smiled; they wouldn’t need to be afraid anymore.

She closed her eyes, as the sound of approaching hooves grew silent.

It was dark. Very dark. But Twilight knew there was something else. The near inaudible sound of somepony breathing filled the room.

Twilight had no idea where she was, but she very quickly realized that she was very much alive.She blinked wearily, barely registering the blurry surroundings as she tried to roll over. It took her at least three more moments of staring at the ceiling before she realised that she hadn’t moved.

She looked down to her hooves and the straps tying them to the cot. She jerked against the bindings and groaned when the wound on her wing bumped against one of the restraints.

A thunderous snort came from the side of the bed, drawing her attention to a familiar, sleeping, orange-coated farm pony.

"Applejack?"

The farmer’s eyes fluttered as she mumbled a few words. “Ah told ya, I’m not hungry, Rarity, don’t...”

“Applejack.”

Applejack yawned and finally opened her eyes. She rubbed her eyes with her foreleg and gave a start when she saw Twilight awake. "Oh my heavens, Twilight. Thank the stars you're alright."

"Where is everypony? Where am I?"

A gentle smile played at the earth pony’s mouth. "You're in the intensive care ward of Canterlot Castle. Everypony else is asleep. We've been by your bedside for two days now. Not even Pinkie was able to go that long without a little shuteye."

"Then, why aren’t they here?"

"Because I don’t mind sleeping in a chair; the rest of the girls need their beds after being awake for so long. Besides, I’m a light sleeper," Applejack smirked.

Twilight couldn’t help but crack a smile, but yesterdays events quickly drowned out the moment of joy and flooded her mind with remorse. “Applejack, I'm so sorry, for yesterday, for the apple stand, for everything. I'm just so sorry, I don't know what I was th—"

Applejack quickly, but gently, covered Twilight’s mouth. "Shhhh. Listen, sugarcube. No hard feelin's, ya hear?" Applejack withdrew her hoof with a reassuring smile. "Don't get me wrong, I'd like answers as much as everypony else, yourself included. But right now, that's not what's important to me."

"Really?" Twilight smiled as her eyes welled with tears.

"Absolutely, what's important is that we get you back on your hooves. And that means rest here,” she said as she put her hoof to Twilight’s shoulder.

“Here,” she continued as she moved the hoof to Twilight’s head.

“And here.” She smiled as her hoof rested on Twilight’s chest.

"We talked to the princesses, Twi. Celestia told us what you told her and I just want you to rest easy, so here goes: Twi, I'm not a pony for words. Me n’ them, we just don't—"

"They and I," Twilight deadpanned.

Applejack smirked and cocked an eyebrow. "Look who's feeling better already. Fine, 'they and I'. I guess what I wanted to say is that if there's anything you can count on, it's that the girls and I will always be there for you. Heck, if a promise from me doesn’t hold any weight, I don’t know what I got the Element of Honesty for.

Twilight sniffles and wiped the tears from her eyes. She wanted to say something meaningful, anything really. But all she could muster were apologetic smiles and tears of relief.

"I don't know what you were going through. Certainly didn't look pleasant when, uh, I last saw ya." Applejack lifted her hat and smoothed her mane with a hoof. "Well, anyway, the point is you're safe, we missed you, and I'm mighty glad you're back, Twi."

Twilight couldn’t tell what Applejack’s face looked like, it was an orange blob of color that jerked around every time she took a breath between sobs. "I'm so sorry. I thought you'd all turned on me! I'm so sorry, Applejack!"

Applejack quickly leaned over the bed and threw her arms around Twilight’s neck in a hug. "Me too, sugarcube, I'm sorry I said all those things after the race. Gosh darnit, Twi, don’t get sappy on me, I’ll start cryin’ too. It’s going to be okay, no need for cryin’."

"Heh, sorry."

"I understand, sugarcube, sometimes you just gotta get it out. Want me to get everypony else, or do you still need some rest?"

"I—" Twilight looked herself over briefly "I'll wait a while longer. I'm still feeling awful. Do you think you could undo the straps though? It’s kind of uncomfortable."

Applejack set to work on the bindings and smiled as the last one came free. "Alright, there you are, sugarcube. I'll let you be, but if you need anything, I'll be outside. I'll tell the others that you're doing alright."

"Thanks Applejack."

"No problem, what're friends for?" The earth pony said with a smile as she opened the door. “Oh and Twi?”

Twilight perked her ears and glanced over. “Hmm?”

“They look good on you. When they’re not covered in blood.”

“Huh?” Twilight muttered with a soft tilt of her head.

“Never you mind, Sugarcube. See you in a bit.”

The door clicked closed softly, leaving Twilight in her bed. She curled up under the blankets and tried as hard as she could to quiet her mind. Despite everything that had happened, she still didn’t know who was behind all this. She still didn’t know what would happen to her. She didn’t know why Celestia had relented and let her live, and if Equestria was in danger simply because she was alive.

Twilight cast a glance to the doorway. She tried not to think about how that fact would affect her friends. Twilight shook her head softly and pushed those thoughts from her mind, resolute in the belief that she was okay, and she’d make sure that her friends were as well.

Twilight‘s face cracked into a small smile as she rolled over and snuggled into her bed. As worrisome as the last few days were. Applejack was completely right: there’d be time to figure things out in the morning.

Author's Note

Huge thanks to all my editors, as always. Massive Credit goes to Kired25 of deviantart for making his bases free to use, and equal thanks to Comrade Sparkle: Overly Extensive Editor, Friend, and vector wizard. The header image would be a disaster if not for these two fine gentlepones.

Glorious Dawn

For the first time in what felt like days, Twilight was actually getting a good night’s sleep. That was, of course, as long as she ignored the fact that Spike was trying to wake her. She knew that she had probably slept in, so she figured she probably deserved the incessant mumbling she now heard.

“Sbike, I’m sleebing” she hissed, not at her assistant, but rather at the general idea of moving and waking up. Though, it did little to quell her frustration when her words refused to co-operate. Twilight knew that all she needed to do was explain the horrible nightmare she just had, and he’d understand. “Spiiiiiike, I hab a roubf day…” Twilight grumbled. But instead of having Spike quiet down, Twilight’s mumbling seemed to just make him more insistent.

Twilight tried to piece together what Spike was carrying on about, but the most that she could make out was something about a coma, or maybe a comma? She honestly couldn’t tell, it wasn’t like him to be so incoherent. “Five more minutes. Come on, Spike.” She pleaded.

He responded immediately, but the inability to discern what he was saying was wearing Twilight’s patience thin. ‘I taught you better articulation than this, Spike.’ She sat up and rubbed at her eyes with a groan. “There, I’m up, what’s so important, Spi—” Twilight blinked a few times and jerked away slightly in surprise at the unicorn stallion that was brought into focus instead.

Spike. Her former realization stunned Twilight somewhat as she stared blankly ahead through the stallion before her. Slowly she managed to arrest control of her attention and articulate a coherent, if not slightly panicked, question.

“W-where am I? What happened? Where’s Spike?”

The doctor paused, mouth open, before recomposing himself. “Miss Sparkle, I’m going to request that you calm down. Can you do that for me?”

“Yeah... yeah, okay.” Twilight mumbled, she slowly lay back and stared at the ceiling, jerking to an upright position when something poked her back. She looked at the mattress behind her, only to find two lavender wings affixed to her back.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. The details of the last few days began to slowly trickle in as she laid back. She glanced over at the doctor, who was very obviously real, then to her wings, which shouldn’t be. Twilight shook her head and took a better look at the doctor, noting the symbol on his coat.

“Canterlot Intensive Care?” She asked. She looked around the room with squinting eyes and a wrinkled nose. The walls were a glaring shade of white, made no easier to look at by the harsh lights in the room. There were no wooden walls or musty tomes. Everything looked and smelled sterile.

“Ah, yes. You were rushed here a few days ago.” The doctor replied as he set his tablet off to the side. “Miss Sparkle, what do you remember?”

Twilight shook her head gently, trying to rid the fuzziness still lingering in her thoughts. “I remember a fire, and a train, and Celestia, she…” Brief images of Celestia standing over her, spear poised to strike flashed through Twilight’s mind. “Where is everyone? Where’s Spike? Where are my friends? How did I end up here?”

The bespectacled stallion nodded slowly as he studied her heartbeat monitor. "You remember your altercation with the Princess then? You passed out in the throne room. Celestia herself brought you here, and you’ve been comatose until early this morning."

The machine began beeping loudly as Twilight's eyes went wide. "C-comatose? There wasn’t any permanent damage was there?"

"That is why I'm here now, actually. Judging by your articulation and general alertness, I'm willing to guess that nothing serious is amiss. But medicine is not a field of guesswork: there are a few things I’d like to check before I give an all cl—"

A thunderous rumble echoed through the room, leaving both Twilight and the doctor staring at her stomach in bewilderment.

The doctor pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Hungry, Miss Sparkle?” He chuckled. “ I will see to it that you're brought something to eat as soon as I'm done here."

"That sounds really good right now, actually.” Twilight said sheepishly. “Well, how can I help, doctor—?" Twilight blinked absently a few times. “I don’t think you ever told me your name.”

The kind-looking stallion pulled himself out of a drawer and blinked a few times. "Hmm? Oh, yes. The name is Suture. Doctor Karma Suture."

Twilight cocked an eyebrow at the odd name, but quickly dismissed it as her stomach protested again. "So what do you need me to do?"

The doctor walked to Twilight’s bedside, and looked her straight in the eye. “I’m going to remove this magic inhibitor from your horn. I don’t know that you’re fully recovered from whatever dementia was affecting you, so just know that if you try anything other than what I ask of you, Celestia herself will intervene. Understand?”

Memories of Celestia from a few days ago lept to the forefront of Twilight’s mind. She slowly nodded with a timid, “Uh-huh…”

“Good.” Suture undid the magic dampener from Twilight’s horn as he continued. "Well as you and I both know, some patients that suffer from a comatose state, run the risk of permanent brain damage."

"I didn’t even feel that thing.” Twilight mumbled, “Anyway, you think I’ve got some sort of mental damage?”

Suture procured a small orange ball and cradled it in his hoof. "I said that it is a risk, and we do not know how that has affected your magic. To test that, I will need you to pick up the ball, please."

Twilight politely nodded and grabbed the ball from Suture’s hoof with her own.

Karma Suture smirked, “Very clever, Miss Sparkle. Now, could you please pick the ball up with your magic this time?”

Twilight gave the doctor a sheepish smile and focused on the ball. She apprehensively drew on her magic, taking care not to have any more magical mishaps on her account. Panic washed over her as she found herself having some difficulty tapping into her magic, and even more worry when it felt, off.

Despite the strange feelings, she raised the ball from Suture's hoof with far less effort than she expected. The doctor smiled as she placed the ball back into his hoof. "Well, basic magical function is still intact." He remarked. "So how did it 'feel' when you lifted the ball? Better? Worse?”

Twilight wasn't sure how, but she managed to suppress the savage growl of her stomach and formulated a response.

"It felt... different. Easier, but strange."

"It's common for unicorns that have experienced extreme stress to have issues with their magic, or expressing discontent about how their magic 'feels', as is the case with you." The doctor grabbed his clipboard from the counter and scribbled a few notes. "I prescribe time to 'cool down' to most patients, it's just one of those things that ought to clear with time.

Twilight nodded, then froze as her stomach rumbled loudly. She sheepishly glanced up at the doctor who simply pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his muzzle.

"I'll get the nurse to bring you some breakfast. We can finish the tests after you’ve eaten."

“Thanks, I could really use something to eat right now.” Twilight said gratefully.

The doctor grabbed his notes and gave a small bob of his head in acknowledgement. He then turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway as if to talk to someone.

Twilight focused on the door intently. She wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting. Actually, she knew what she was expecting, she wasn't sure what to expect after the fact. With Doctor Suture out of the room, all she was left with were her thoughts; A companion she had recently been spending too much time with. Even so, she knew it was only a matter of time before she was released, and would have to face her friends again.

Twilight cringed. She couldn't help but wonder how Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash would react. She figured they'd most likely be confused, or upset. They might be angry with her, or just glad to see she was okay. Twilight shook her head and scowled. She couldn't afford to beat herself up with uncertainty; she didn't want to think that way. She just wanted things to stop being so taxing and painful.

Thankfully, a throng of familiar voices stole Twilight’s attention.

"What do you mean 'not right now'? Doc', listen. We've been here for days because she's needed her friends. I'm not going to take no for an answer!"

'Rainbow?' Twilight scooted up in her bed, ears perked with interest.

"I know how hard this must be for all of you, but Miss Sparkle has only just woken up and—"

An unmistakably elegant and persuasively smooth voice drifted into the room beneath the door. "Doctor... Karma, was it? I know that you're an upstanding and well respected expert in your field. But we are all on the edges of our wits about this entire situation. I promise you that there will be nothing done to Twilight that could bring her any harm. We simply wish to see our friend, whom we desperately wish to know is alright. You understand, don't you?"

Twilight couldn’t hold back her growing smile. She could practically hear the batting eyelids in those last few words.

"I, uh, well... I suppose that there is no real reason to withhold visitors, especially those invited by the princesses themselves."

"Thank ya kindly, Doctor Karma. I can't begin to tell you how much this me—"

"Can we go in? Can we? Is he saying we can?" A familiar voice chattered.

"Yes, Miss Pie, I will allow it given the special circumst—"

There was no warning. There was no way Twilight could have braced herself. It was something that she knew would happen, but at the same time, knowing never seemed to help her when it happened.

The room exploded in a multicolored tornado of streamers and balloons, the latter quickly sank to the floor as Twilight sat, staring into two enormous, happy, but tired blue eyes.

Just as Twilight was about to say something, Pinkie Pie swung her forelegs around Twilight and hugged as tightly as she could. The rest of the group filed in after her, some smiling, some wearing looks of concern. All of them looked exhausted.

"Twilight's awake guys! She's awake!" Pinkie squealed. "Oh, Twilight! I came as fast as I could! I was in Hoofington, helping a friend with a super mega ultra urgent party set up! It was code: kiwi, Twilight.”

Pinkie grabbed Twilight's cheeks and pressed their foreheads together. "Code. Kiwi" Pinkie stated emphatically, as if Twilight would know what she was talking about.

Twilight had no clue, but she nodded her momentarily empty head in agreement.

Pinkie rubbed her eyes with a foreleg and continued unabated. "I got the letter from the Princesses. They said you were really super-duper sick, so as I was coming to… to see you.” Pinke said with a small yawn. “I thought: 'what would make Twilight feel not super-duper sick'? And you know what I came up with?" Pinkie smiled expectantly.

Twilight managed a small smile. "A party?"

"A PAR— ohhhhh, you're gooood." Pinkie clapped her hooves together a few times, then jumped right back on her train of thought. "So I got here and I had all the party stuff ready to go, and I was so excited because I was going to throw you a party and you weren't going to be sad and sick anymore!"

Twilight gave Pinkie a smile of acknowledgement, but Twilight’s mind was elsewhere. She had been watching Rarity step halfway out of the room, as if talking to someone, for the last few minutes. Twilight was more than a little curious, but she turned her attention back to Pinkie Pie and the mystery that she presented. Twilight was incredibly glad that she was wrong, and that Pinkie was alive, but that was only one mystery solved.

"... And so I asked the doctors if I could throw you the party, and they said no.” Pinkie murmured. “They said you were sleeping and couldn’t party, you were still really sick." Pinkie whimpered as her ears wilted. "And they told me that the next day, and the next day..." She sniffled, picking up one of the balloons from the floor. "Well, the balloons were nice and bouncy when I got here a few days ago... I didn't think you were going to be asleep so long. I meant to fix them, but I was more worried that you were going to... M-miss your own... Miss your own..."

Pinkie's head fell against Twilight's shoulder as she shook silently.

Twilight slowly drew her friend into an embrace. She’d only seen Pinkie legitimately sad a few times in her life, and it was never easy for Twilight to deal with. She gave the pink pony a gentle squeeze, allowing Pinkie to just get it out of her system for a few minutes until she was calmed down..

Pinkie looked up with misty eyes and a badly faked smile. Twilight met her gaze for a few moments in silence.

"Now come on, you know I wouldn’t miss one of your parties! I'm here, Pinkie, I'm alright."

Pinkie Pie's eyes brightened slightly with a snort of laughter. “Yeah, I know. Some ghosties are harder to giggle away than others.”

Twilight gave Pinkie another gentle squeeze and was rewarded with a genuine, warm smile. She looked up to address the rest of her friends, but before she could say anything, Rarity stepped forward and cleared her throat.

Pinkie looked back at Rarity, gasped, and scooted away from Twilight quickly. "Sorry, I forgot."

Twilight was about to ask what it was that Pinkie was referring to, but her question was answered when Rarity stepped to the side; allowing Twilight full view of her number-one assistant.

Spike stood there for a moment, trembling softly with his claws balled up at his sides. He glared angrily at Twilight for what felt like five minutes. But eventually, his shoulders dropped, his fists unclenched, and he slowly walked toward the bed.

Twilight watched the little dragon hop onto the bed, legs dangling over the side. He looked angry, but that was only one part of the convoluted spectrum of emotions that he wore. Time crawled by as she tried to piece together what to say, until finally, Twilight gave up trying to figure it out herself.

“Spike?”

The little dragon jumped at his name, and turned his head away. “You promised, Twilight.”

Her ears wilted as she looked to her friends for some kind of answer. Unfortunately, they were shooting each other the same confused glances that Twilight herself wore. “I promised what?” Twilight inquired tentatively.

Spike turned, his emerald eyes lit with the passion of someone betrayed. “You said you’d be there for me! You nearly died a few days ago!” He growled. “You told me you’d always be there for me, and within the same day, you broke that promise!”

At this point, Twilight had started piecing things together. She knew that trying to defend herself after all that had happened, would only make hurt her in Spike’s eyes. Twilight resigned herself to Spike’s anger, and braced herself. “What happened, Spike?”

The young dragon’s brow furrowed. “Rarity and the girls come to the library, frantically asking where you were. I told them I hadn’t seen you all day, and they tell me that you were really sick!” He got up and stood in Twilight’s face. “The very next morning, Luna tells us that you’re crazy and dangerous! Do you have any idea how worried we all were? How worried I was?”

Spike’s shoulders dropped, his whole body shaking with what Twilight could only assume was rage. He brought the back of his claw up, causing Twilight to flinch a little, only to watch as he drew it across his eyes with a deep breath. “Three days ago… Three days ago, Celestia sends us all a letter telling us to simply come to the castle immediately. When we got here we learned that you weren’t waking up.”

“Spike, I’m sorry, I did a lot of things th—”

“No. I don’t wanna hear it.”

Twilight quickly fell silent. She watched as her assistant glared up at her intently. She felt heavy, so horribly heavy as she perceived the pain and worry in his eyes.

Twilight suddenly felt herself attacked by a frightened embrace. “Just stop being so reckless, please?”

Twilight slowly returned the hug and nuzzled Spike’s head. “You know I can’t control everything that happens. But I promise to be safer with the things I can control. Okay?”

“I’m going to hold you to that, Twilight.”

Twilight mentally heaved a sigh of relief as she playfully rubbed Spike’s head. “Are you going to be alright?”

“For now,” Spike nodded. “But I can’t speak for everyone.”

“Nope! But I can speak for myself!” Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack, and fidgeted in place. “Mind if I go next?”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “I don’t see w—”

The door creaked open, drawing seven pairs of eyes to the nurse holding a breakfast tray.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

Rainbow Dash quickly snatched the tray from the nurse and set it on Twilight’s lap. “Nope! Thanks for bringing her some chow, have a good d—”

“Rainbow!” Rarity exclaimed before turning to the stunned nurse. “I’m terribly sorry, we’ve been waiting three days to talk to our friend here. I assure you, we’re all very grateful for your generosity.”

The nurse shook her head and gave a grateful smile in return. “Well, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask one of the staff.” She gave a small bob of her head and quickly left.

Twilight winced at the explosion of noise that followed the click of the door latching shut. All at once, questions battered her from every side.

“Are you okay, darling? Is everything— how does one put it tastefully? Alright ‘upstairs’?”

“Oh my gosh this is going to be, so, cool. I can’t wait to teach you how to use those wings! Fluttershy, move over, I wanna get a better look.”

“Rainbow, just wait a moment, I’m not leaving this spot until I’ve given her wings a good check-up.”

“Whoa! Hold on everypony.” Applejack chuckled, bringing silence to the room. “Don’t ya’ll think Twilight’s more than a little overwhelmed ‘bout all this?” Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity gave each other awkward glances as Applejack continued. “How about we take things slowly. You know, one at a time?”

Rainbow Dash grinned mischievously. “Great idea! OneTwoThree, me first!”

Everyone in the room glared disapprovingly.

“What? I was totally just kidding, I don’t have to go first.” Rainbow said with a sheepish grin, wilting beneath the stares.

“Well, I do think you need some time to simmer down a bit.” Applejack said flatly. “Fluttershy, you’ve been awful quiet. You wanna go first?”

“Oh, well actually, I was telling Rainbow that I just wanted to check up on her wings if that’s alright.” Fluttershy looked to Spike, then back to Applejack. “I know they have the best doctors here at the castle, but I mean… I’d still like to make sure it was done properly. So, um, I really can’t think of anything to say right now… I just wanna make sure Twilight’s okay.”

Applejack nodded. “Alright, if you insist.”

“Thank y— Oh. My.” Fluttershy gasped. She stared at the fully outstretched wing before her and blinked. Rainbow squealed excitedly in the background as Fluttershy looked back to Spike. “Um, Spike? If you don’t mind, I’d like to teach you a few things about wing care. Twilight’s not going to be able to reach some parts of her wings, so I’m going to show you what you’ll need to know.”

Spike nodded and hopped down off the bed as the rest of the group formed a semi-circle around the bed.

“Well, see’n as Fluttershy has other things on her mind—”

“It’s my turn, right?” Rainbow said with an expectant gleam in her eyes.

“... ‘fraid not, sugarcube. You really need to learn some patience.” Applejack smiled and shook her head. Rainbow promptly sulked as Pinkie sat down with her at the end of the bed, and before long, the two were lost in a conversation of their own. “Well, I guess that leaves you ‘n me for now, Rarity.”

Rainbow’s ears immediately stood at attention. “Hey! How come you both get to go? Why can’t I get in on this?”

“Because I don’t have a bad habit of talking over other ponies when ah’m in a group.”

Rainbow Dash raised her hoof, and opened her mouth, then remained motionless for about two seconds. She finally rolled her eyes with a defeated sigh, “Fine, I’ll give you that one.” She said with a quiet, exasperated groan.

“Now then,” Applejack rolled her neck gently and shared an apprehensive glance with Rarity. “So, you’re feeling better then, Twi? I mean, we were there when you, uh… Well you get what I’m tryin’ to say.”

Twilight gave a slight shudder as that same moment replayed in her mind. “I’m doing much better now.” She gave the wing that Fluttershy wasn’t working on a small flap. “It healed really quickly, though. Really quickly.”

“Well, I suppose that one should be grateful for that!” Rarity chuckled nervously. “I can’t begin to imagine the stress you felt. Tell me, darling, what happened after you, hm, went into hiding?”

"I'm... Well, I'm not entirely sure, to be honest," Twilight said with a hoof pressed to her forehead. "It's still kind of blurry. I remember... Trixie. She was in the library when I got back."

Applejack sighed. "I remember 'the great and powerful' Trixie, alright. Hog-tied me in front of the the whole town! I didn’t care for her, still don’t."

"Well to be fair, Applejack, she seems far more agreeable this time around." Rarity tapped a hoof to her chin, glancing up to the corner of the room. "Though, I've only seen her a few times around the town since Twilight ra—went into hiding."

The soft murmur of conversation drifted in under the door as the three continued. Twilight sat there in silence, allowing herself to relax a bit as Spike’s claws slowly ran through the feathers on her wings, guided carefully by Fluttershy's instruction.

Applejack smirked and gave a soft chuckle. "Well, I'm curious how you managed to sneak by everypony and get to Canterlot so fast."

"And darling, whatever happened to your hair?" Rarity pried. "I've been meaning to ask you since we first saw you two days ago."

"Haha, that's a weird story." Twilight rubbed the back of her head nervously.

She didn't particularly care to recount the horrifying events of the last few days, but honesty was the best policy; especially when Applejack was involved. "It involves me, and a chase through the town, a house on fire—"

"That was you?" Rarity blurted out.

"Easy, sugarcube, Twi just said that it was involved, not that she caused it." Applejack kept her hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "You didn't, right?"

Twilight's ears wilted as a guilty expression washed over her face. "Well, maybe? I don't really know, it's all kind of fuzzy."

"I don't think t'was you. A fire could'a happened to anypony."

"Yes, well. Darling, do go—"

Rarity's voice shrank to mere whispers as the door to the room slowly opened. Everything in the room seemed to focus into a single point. Part of her still wanted to run, but she quelled that foolish impulse and remained composed, even if she was still scared at what might be said.

For across the room, stood Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.

Rainbow Dash was instantly by Twilight's side, watching the two new guests intently. Celestia and Luna looked to each other and smiled softly, then turned and shared that smile with the rest of the group.

"I'm so glad to see you awake, my faithful student." Celestia glanced to Luna, "we both are."

"If you're so glad to see her, why'd you try to kill her, huh? Explain that!" Rainbow Dash growled.

"They what?" Spike half-shouted.

A momentary silence fell over the room, broken by Applejack's accusatory tone. "Rainbow!"

Fluttershy scooped Spike up and placed him onto her back. "Come on, Spike, let's get you some breakf—"

"No." Spike hopped off the pegasus’s back and backed away with a scowl.. “I’m not some little kid! This affects me too.” Spike turned away from Fluttershy. “I don’t need to be protected, I want to hear this.”

“Don’t be too eager to grow up, Spike.” Celestia cautioned in a gentle voice, before responding to Rainbow Dash. "Your concern is well placed; it is one of the many things that has been occupying my mind as of late."

"Princess?" Spike paused and furrowed his brow. "Is Rainbow telling the truth? Did you really try to kill Twilight?"

Celestia turned and shared a look of concern with her sister. She took and deep breath, and a slow exhale before answering. "I was prepared to defend the nation of Equestria, and the citizens that call it home. That said, yes, I was armed and capable of killing Twilight in the throne room."

"So why didn't you?" Twilight felt all eyes suddenly fall on her as she slightly hid behind the blanket. "You told me that I was dangerous, and I understood that. But you spared me, why?"

"The actions I took against you were not chosen merely due to your actions alone; it was not a choice of reaction, but experience," Celestia replied. "There has been a situation similar to this one, and it ended..."

The Princess stopped mid-sentence, then shook her head. "It is of no matter. Luna and I were able to deal with my former student's behavior."

Rarity quickly interjected by raising her hoof. "So this, ‘student’ of yours did something similar to what Twilight did recently.” She paused momentarily and tapped a hoof to her chin. “Seems like this student wasn’t a very good one, if they left the sort of impression that warrants an ‘attack on sight’ mentality.”

“Sister, they deserve to know at least a little bit.” Luna shook her head softly. “I know that there were mistakes made, but perhaps it would be beneficial to inform them despite prior faults?

“It was before their time.” Celestia breathed deeply and closed her eyes. “Some things are better left in the past.”

“And some require being revisited— even if it hurts.” Luna replied sternly. “Especially if it’s relevant.”

For a long time the room was quiet, the weight of implication pressed down like a wet blanket, suffocating voices and movement alike. Never in her life had she seen Celestia so torn. The mere fact that Celestia’s answer was not instant made Twilight’s stomach churn. For as long as Twilight had known Celestia, she was always immediate and decisive with her answers, even if the answer was “I don’t know.”

“We don’t know that it is relevant.” Celestia finally said with a sigh. “But it could be. I will concede that point.”

The rest of the group spent a moment exchanging glances in the mutual state of confusion they shared. Finally Twilight managed to utter the all-important question:

“Well, what happened to that student, all those years ago?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister and took one last measured breath before she began.

“His name was Rich Odds. He was a brilliant student, diligent in his studies, sociable, kind, and easily on track to becoming the next Arch Mage of Canterlot. I had taken students in the past,” Celestia’s brow furrowed slightly. “But Odds was a cut above the rest. He did not display the raw magical potential that Twilight did when he took his entrance exam, nor did he exhibit the command of magic that she does.”

Twilight flushed a little and pulled the covers of the bed a little closer. Applejack reached over and gently shook Twilight’s shoulder with a smile.

“But Rich Odds was clever, inventive, and above all else, curious. He was the leading force behind magical probability. His advances in the field are used even today, by those with the aptitude to cast the spells.”

The name struck a chord with Twilight; she felt like she knew who he was. At least, she thought she had heard the name attributed to a theory or spell somewhere. Twilight chanted the name in her head, slowly, methodically, searching for any sort of reason that she would find the name so familiar. Twilight quieted her mind, and felt a pull in her subconscious, she followed the feeling until she memory finally clicked.

“Teleportation!” Twilight half-shouted. “He formulated the spell for reliable teleportation, and devised ways to eliminate the probability that a teleport would…” Twilight glanced to Spike and gave a nervous chuckle. “... go bad.”

Celestia nodded. “Rich Odds was nothing short of a prodigy when it came to the study of probability as a magical application. Unfortunately, his work began to consume him.”

“Or rather, he tackled something related to his work that was far larger than even he could handle,” Luna interjected, quickly flashing her sister an apologetic smile.

“So, I still don’t get it.” Rainbow Dash stared off into the distance, focusing on nothing in particular. “How is this related to Twilight? And it doesn’t sound like he did anything particularly, you know, bad. I mean, he was an egghead, sure. And he got carried away with some sort of theory-thingy that was really hard, fine.” Rainbow redirected her attention to the Princesses. "But I can’t imagine you guys killing him for working too hard. So what did this Odds guy do anyway?"

"As I was saying," Celestia flashed both Luna and Rainbow Dash a gentle smile, "Odds was obsessed with numbers and probability. It was only a matter of time until he stumbled upon the ultimate improbability: chaotic magic.

"It consumed him. He would spend days dabbling in chaos magic, trying to unravel its inner workings for some method within the madness. Nothing would seem to work, and I cautioned him repeatedly to be extremely careful as he proceded, even though I made my disapproval fairly apperent."

"So, why did you let him continue?" Rarity prodded. "If he was doing something you didn't approve of, why not just stop him?"

Celestia’s entire body wilted almost instantly. "I trusted him. He had done things for the study of magic that his peers deemed impossible. I once believed that if anyone could safely handle chaos, it was him."

"But he couldn't, could he?" Applejack said quietly. "He just didn't listen to ya."

"No, he didn't. It changed him in many ways." Princess Celestia paused for a moment, staring at Twilight. "One of these changes was a pair of wings, another was yellow eyes with red irises. I told him that he was to cease all experimentation with chaos magic until a later time, but he refused. He swore he was onto something big, that he wanted my support to help unlock the secrets of chaos magic. When I told him I wouldn’t assist in something so dangerous, he told me that he could do it without me. Odds left that night, and I didn't see him again for years..." The Princess' voice trailed off into silence she looked out the large window in the room.

Luna glanced at Celestia with concern and quickly spoke up. “When he came back, he was very different, hardly the stallion I knew. He didn't engage us directly, no. We first learned of his return from reports of fringe cities going silent, refusing communication."

Celestia gave Luna a gentle nod and took the lead once more. "He was brainwashing ponies—enslaving them, and using them for his own ends. It was hundreds of years before Luna and I were able to bring him to justice, and even then, hundreds of thousands died. So many, many mistakes were made."

"But we did not kill him," Luna explained. "We merely imprisoned him, hoping for a time when we ourselves would have an understanding of the power that corrupted Odds. The hope being that when we understood, we might break the spell that held his mind."

"Well, did he ever manage to escape?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, I'm sure he didn't just sit there quietly in a prison for thousands of years."

"Yes, but you and the elements made sure that he wasn't able to cause too much trouble."

The clock on the wall seemed to stop as Twilight processed the words. She found herself surprised as her friends all arrived, more or less, at the same conclusion:

"Discord? Rich odds is actually Discord?" Twilight shouted in disbelief.

"Indeed," Luna replied. "He is responsible for the age of chaos that fell across Equestria a thousand years ago, but you knew that."

Pinkie sprang to her hooves. "So, what you're saying, is that you thought what happened to Richy, was gunna happen to Twilight?" Pinkie Pie sat back and crossed her forelegs. "No way, not our Twilight, she’s no grumpy-pants crazy bad-guy!"

"You're right, she's not." Celestia nodded. "Odds willingly embraced the chaos. He offered no resistance to it. He welcomed it into his being without opposition. Twilight however, was scared of it, of what it was doing to her. She wanted things to be ‘fixed’, for them to go back to the way they were. She desired order, even under a chaotic influence.”

“Well that’s mighty fine n’ all,” Applejack grumbled. “But how the hay did this even happen? And who the heck is responsible for this? This Odds feller got all corruptified because he was messing with it. But she never fooled around with this chaos magic!” She quickly faced Twilight. “You didn’t, right?”

"N-no! Of course not!" Twilight stammered. "I may be curious, but I'm always safe about my experiments!"

No sooner had she finished her sentence did she notice a rather skeptical stare from Spike. He had an eyebrow raised and a telling smile plastered on his face.

"Alright, most of the time. But I haven't been experimenting with chaotic energies. I'm just as lost as everyone else is!" Twilight sputtered. "I just want to know what in Equestria is happening to me!" She paused a moment, lowering her eyes. “I want to know what will happen to me next.”

Luna quietly approached the bed, slipping between Applejack and Rarity, and placed her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “We are all concerned by recent events, as they may bear far greater implications than we initially anticipated. But I may have some answers about your experiences these last few days.”

Luna looked over to Celestia, and the two exchanged a nod. Luna withdrew her hoof from Twilight’s shoulder as she continued. “While you were comatose, I walked your dreams. A risky thing to do, but fruitful. I was searching for some sort of reason to explain your actions over the last few days, and I found that you were not alone in your mind. There was a dark, shadowy presence. While it did not attack me, it did flee as soon as I had spotted it.”

“The Nightmare?” Pinkie chimed in. “Was Queen Meanie messing with Twilight?”

“No, I would recognize the Nightmare, after spending more than a thousand years with it.” Luna said quietly. “It was something else entirely. As for what it is, I cannot say. Only that it seems that whatever entity was manipulating Twilight has abandoned her entirely.”

“So, it could theoretically still be out there?” Rarity inquired. “Do we know how he, she, or it, got to Twilight in the first place?”

"We don't," Celestia responded. "There is very little that we know about the nature of this foreign entity, much less its physical appearance or location." Celestia’s face grew stern, “I’ve made it a personal endeavor to look into the matter further, but neither books nor memory have helped yet.”

Twilight took a moment to consider Celestia's words before speaking up. "Princess? Where was Lieutenant Wedge's found?" Twilight furrowed her brows softly, "and for that matter, have you found Biggs?"

Celestia slowly shook her head side to side, "The guard had no luck in finding the Major, though the search is ongoing. As for Wedge, his body was found in the Everfree forest, why do you ask?"

“Oh, just curious, can’t solve a puzzle without pieces after all!” Twilight chuckled nervously. An awkward silence blanketed the room momentarily before Twilight continued. “Though, hmm… It’s sorta fuzzy, but I remember Trixie saying something about the Everfree a few days ago. She seemed really worried about whatever it was.”

“That’s also where we got attacked by the snakes!” Fluttershy said with a small gasp.

Rainbow Dash gently tilted her head, “That’s right, maybe they’re connected somehow? Like, I dunno, the same thing that took out that guard is the same thing that was messing with Twilight’s head?”

“It’s a possibility, and if so, the guard will find it.” Celestia assured. “But you all shouldn’t worry yourself with it, I’m sure you’ve had more than your fair share of worry these last few days.”

“With all due respect, Princess, I’ll try.” Applejack said as she removed her hat. “But it'll be a while before I can just up ‘n forget something like this."

"I wouldn't suspect anything else." Celestia nodded politely.

A warm, safe feeling spread throughout Twilight's body as Applejack tipped her hat in acknowledgement. It was such a strange feeling, Twilight thought. It baffled her how she could feel so afraid of these ponies that now surrounded her and made her feel protected.

A dopey, content smile spread across Twilight's face, as one of the doctor's aides entered the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but Dr. Suture needs to run a few more tests on Twilight to ensure that she's cleared for dismissal. I'm afraid that we can't have any visitors in the room at that time." The nurse said with a small bow. "My apologies."

"Hey! You hear that Twilight?" Rainbow Dash squealed excitedly, "You're gunna get out of here. You get to come home!"

Twilight couldn't help but grunt softly as Rainbow Dash suddenly pulled her close, forcing Twilight to face the window.

"But most importantly, you'll be able to start flying lessons with the best flyer in all of Equestria!" Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances briefly as Rainbow relented her hold on Twilight with a sheepish smile. "It's the least I could do, considering how I acted at the Running of the Leaves."

"I—I don't know what to say." Twilight stammered. "'Thank you' would probably work, I suppose."

Rainbow laughed, "No problem, egghead. You just do what you've gotta to get out of this hospital. I'm going to go stretch out with a few laps around the castle. See you soon, Twi!"

As Rainbow zoomed out of the room, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie took her place at the side of the bed.

"Well, I taught Spike as much as I could in the small amount of time I had here." Fluttershy said in her typical, quiet tone. "But there's still a few things that you ought to know. But we can handle that when we get back to Ponyville, and things, um, quiet down."

"Yeah! As soon as things quiet down we can get loud!" From nowhere, Pinkie procured a party popper and shot confetti all over the room. "We could have a 'Twilight's back and has wings’ party!” Pinkie suddenly froze in place, eyes wide. "I have to go plan for it! See you soon!"

Pinkie Pie ran out of the room nearly as quickly as Rainbow had, though Twilight had to concede that it was more of a high-speed hop than a run. Fluttershy similarly took her leave, at a much slower pace.

"Well, Sugarcube, I've gotta give it to you. I figured I'd seen it all, but then you pulled that little trick in front of everypony in Ponyville." Applejack smiled, but her face was anything but happy. "I was mighty worried, Twi. I'm really glad that you're all right, I really am."

Instinctively, Twilight placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder and gave a comforting look. "I'm going to be okay, Applejack, really. I have you, Spike, the girls, and the Princesses; you don't need to worry about me."

Applejack beamed and gave a small chuckle, "Maybe I don't need to, but I still will. You're practically family, after all."

"Absolutely, darling." Rarity gave a resolute nod, "Applejack is absolutely right. We are practically family, it's our job to worry about one another. That said, I'm glad I won't need be as distraught as I have been recently; between Sweetie Belle and the events of the last few days, I’m amazed I haven’t sprouted any gray hairs.”

Twilight shared a quick laugh with Rarity, then looked over to Luna, Celestia, and Spike. Celestia seemed distant, almost as if lost in thought, but never quite letting her attention wander from the room. Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but fell quiet as Luna placed her hoof on Rarity’s shoulder.

“I know that you did not mean to assault me, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight winced slightly as Spike’s eyes darted frantically between herself and Luna. “If our suspicions are to be correct, your judgement was barely your own. I bear you no ill will for what transpired, and I hope for your swift recovery.” Luna bowed her head as Applejack and Rarity left, then slowly followed them out.

Spike tore his gaze from the door and ran up to the side of the bed. “Hold on, you did wh—”

“Not now, Spike.” Twilight said softly as she held her hoof over his mouth. “Can we talk about it later? I really just… I really just don’t want to think about the last few days for a while, okay?”

Spike’s fins drooped as he locked his gaze with Twilight’s. “Alright, I understand. Just hurry up and get better so you can come home and things can go back to normal? You know, like being able to make you breakfast without having to worry that you’re bleeding half to death in your room?”

“Ha, ha.” Twilight gave Spike a playful glare. “You’re hilarious, I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

The little dragon responded with a prolonged hug, before wordlessly hopping down and scampering out of the room, leaving Twilight alone with Celestia.

Celestia was looking at Twilight. Not intently, but rather in a way that made her seem as if she was looking for something. To that effect, Twilight wasn’t even sure that the princess was even aware that she was the last one to leave the room.

“Princess? Are you alright?”

“Mmm?” Celestia blinked slowly, then gave a soft, reassuring smile. “Ah, yes, I’m sorry.” She looked around the room, then back to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Everyone else has said their goodbyes, it seems.” Celestia walked over to the side of the bed and sat down facing the same direction as Twilight.

A wave of unease washed over Twilight, and that unease quickly evolved into a minor panic.

“I’m sorry Princess! I messed up, I know. I’ll have a thesis on the whole experience on your desk in a month. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I just don’t know what we— urk!”

Twilight suddenly found herself surrounded by something very white, very soft, and very warm. She quickly deduced what was happening, and was attempting to comment on it, but the words died in her throat as Celestia pulled away from the hug with a gentle smile on her face.

The two sat in silence as a nurse poked her head into the room. Celestia gave a small flick of her hoof and dismissed the mare before turning to Twilight.

"I'm not angry with you, Twilight. I'm a little worried for you, but not angry." Celestia finally turned to face Twilight as she continued. "I trust what Luna told me, I know that you would never do such things of your own accord."

"I wouldn't!" Twilight half-shouted. "I mean, I wouldn't. I don't know what got into me, I was just so scared. I couldn't face the girls, or tell them what I was thinking."

"Shhhhh.” Celestia held a hoof to Twilight’s mouth, bringing silence to the room. “No more, Twilight. I cannot change what has happened, and neither can you.”

“But that doesn’t excuse what I di—”

“I am not judging you, Twilight.”

"But, you said yourself. I destroyed someone's home... Lyra is homeless, and it's my fault..."

“Lyra?"

"The mare who I nearly killed."

Twilight froze and knew from the moment she spoke those words, that it would have been better to have said nothing at all. She recognized the face that Celestia now wore, a remnant of her childhood. It was one that always drew out vulnerability: a face expressing pain.

Celestia stared at the far wall, brow furrowed in thought. “What happened, exactly?”

“It was, four days ago I think. I was running from Luna, and I was teleporting, I was so tired, princess. After everything that had happened I just wanted to escape and rest.”

“You were teleporting while fatigued?” Celestia mused. “Explains the fire. So what of the owner? Was she harmed?”

“No, thank goodness.” Twilight sighed in relief. “She actually helped me get to Canterlot, actually.”

“And where is she now?”

Twilight’s ears wilted as the events of the last few days flashed back to the forefront of her mind. “She’s staying with a friend here in Canterlot, but I don’t know how long her friends are going to let her stay, or how she plans on getting back on her hooves.”

Just then, Doctor Suture poked his head through the door, quickly addressing Celestia. “Princess, if it’s not too much trouble. I’d like to finish Miss Twilight’s examination.”

“Just a few moments more, Doctor. Then I’ll gladly allow you to continue.” Celestia flashed Suture a warm smile. The doctor looked between Twilight and Celestia, nodded, and shut the door quietly.

“Princess, I did a lot of things these last few days, but I destroyed her l—”

“Twilight.” Celestia shook her head softly. “I’ve said it before: I do not blame you. And whatever toll your influenced actions took on your friend, I will help you fix. I promise. But we will discuss this later. Getting you out of the hospital, back home, and back to your life is priority number one.”

Celstia gave Twilight one last hug, and began to walk toward the door. “You’re safe now, we will find who is responsible for all of this, I promise.” And with that, Celestia left.

As soon as she did, Doctor Suture entered. He quickly checked the machines nearby and checked his notes. “Alright, this shouldn’t take long at all, Miss Sparkle. Just relax and we will be finished in less than an hour.”

Screaming.

That terrible, awful screaming.

It was a scream of someone knowingly facing death—filled with desperation and denial. It was haunting. And try as she might to block out the noise, every night since had been plagued with the sound.

And now she found herself back in the Everfree; huddled behind an old, decaying stump, shaking in fear and stifling muffled cries into her cloak.

Trixie knew what came next. She tried to convince herself otherwise; she wouldn’t look this time, she knew what it looked like: it was branded into her mind’s eye. She didn’t need to peek out from behind the stump.

But she did.

Less than fifteen feet away, was a grotesque, blackened monstrosity that reeked of death, mutilating a helpless guard’s corpse beyond recognition. Instantly Trixie felt her stomach churn as she suppressed her urge for the sake of silence. Something was wrong though, the monster stopped, and looked directly at her.

She had no recollection of this ever happening, but the beast bore a wicked, bloodthirsty grin and began to slowly, ever so methodically creep toward Trixie.

“WeAK. cOwARd. UssSelEsSSss…”

Every fiber of Trixie’s being screamed in panic, urging her to move, to run, to get away from this hideous demon that hungrily bore down upon her.

Trixie’s logic rebelled at the sight . She closed her eyes, paralyzed in terror. “You’re not real. This isn’t how it happened! You’re not real… You’re not…” Trixie slowly opened her eyes, only to see black, writhing appendages coming straight for her.

Trixie bolted upright in bed, screaming.

This was the third time in the last five days that she had the dream, that she had awoken to the sound of her raspy voice screaming for dear life. The light next to her bed flashed on as she tumbled out of the sheets, horn still glowing with magic.

The inside of her wagon was in utter disarray. That is to say, it wasn’t much different than how she usually kept it. But Trixie couldn’t help but think that the inside of her wagon was symbolic of a great many things, including herself.

Slowly, Trixie righted herself and crept over to the window, she poked a hoof at the lock, and gently, ever so gently, pushed the door open to the smallest crack she could manage. Trixie peered outside, her chest tightening as the door swung wider and wider. Finally, with her lungs fit to burst, she peered outside the window.

Nothing.

Trixie heaved a sigh of relief as she quickly retreated back within her wagon and locked the window. She snagged a few of the books off the ground and laid them across her bed.

It had been a while since she’d relied so heavily on books to provide her an answer. Trixie had gone the majority of her life on her own intuition and decisions, and she liked it that way. Unfortunately, she had no luxury here. She was cornered. Or at least, she felt that way.

Fortunately, she’d managed to get a few scraps of knowledge from one of the books she had “borrowed” from Twilight’s library. She knew that whatever she saw in the Everfree was neither native or natural.

Trixie flipped the book open, and started leafing through the pages. “Alright, so how do I kill one of these things? Or at least fight back,” she muttered to nopony in particular. She paused as the words “dark beast” flashed briefly at the top of the page.

Trixie briefly scanned the first few sentences: Chaotic monsters are widely regarded to be extremely dangerous, and only a total idiot would even attempt to kill one without assistance. Don't be a total idiot.

The tone of the book was not something Trixie particularly cared for, but she needed answers. Trixie pushed the warning to the back of her mind and continued down the page: “Though, as to be expected, it’s highly likely that you, the reader, are ignoring the advice proposed on the prior lines. But consider this before drowning yourself in the shallow end of the gene pool: Let's imagine for a moment, a scenario. You’re a young, prime of her life show mare with an ego that far eclipses her actual worth. Let's suppose that this hypothetical you decides to go fight this monster on the assumption that it's a ‘kill or be killed scenario’."

Trixie blinked a few times, rubbing her throbbing headache for a moment as she set the book aside. “Alright, strange coincidence, that’s all this is.”

She tentatively picked the book back up and pressed onward: “You’d die a horrible, excruciating death at the hands of an unrepentant killing machine, and no one would care. Though, all this heartache and tragedy could be avoided if you weren’t such a colossal idiot, and stayed near civilization.”

The book wobbled in the air for a few moments, then fell to her bed. Trixie stared at the page for a moment, before picking it up. She tried to read on, but the erratic bouncing thwarted her attempt. Trixie dropped the book to her bed and continued, assuring herself that she wasn’t crazy.

“Chaotic beasts are methodical and cunning, but will not attack where they can be witnessed. The best choice for those unlucky enough to be targeted by such a creature would be to flee to as populated an area as they can, and pray that the beast grows bored.”

Trixie closed the book with still-shaking hooves, and opened the window pane just a crack. Content that the monster wasn’t right outside, she curled up beneath the blankets of her bed and muttered to herself.

Trixie yawned, thinking out loud to herself. “Okay, Tomorrow morning, go to town, wait it out. Maybe somepony there will know something… Maybe somepony…”