Dry Rain

Chapter 9: The Mind

Fluttershy then turned her attention to what was left of Twilight Sparkle. She went to go visit her, and found her curled up in the corner, with a crazy expression on her face. She talked nervously, and could not think straight. Since nopony bothered to look in the room with Celestia’s corpse in it, nopony knew if she was dead. The fact that she has had no contact with her was making her twitchy, and then she became paranoid that karma would catch up to her for assisting in the killing of Spike. This paranoia had caused her to become delusional and mentally unstable. Fluttershy acted very kind to her, and acted as if there was nothing wrong with her. Fluttershy had brought with her a bag with the pie made from Applejack in it, and decided that it would come in use later. Twilight was too delusional to notice it. Though Fluttershy was trying to convince Twilight that there was nothing wrong with her, Twilight kept babbling on about being worried. She was afraid that she may be the next one to mysteriously disappear or die. Fluttershy convinced Twilight that perhaps Zecora could help her out with a potion or maybe try to look into her future.

And so they set out in the Everfree forest, and Twilight’s insanity was causing her to become schizophrenic. Fluttershy then told Twilight that she was a little delusional, and maybe nopony should see her like this. They both decided that she should wait a little distance from her hut, and Fluttershy would tell Zecora that she has a friend who is going a little crazy and if any potions could help her out. As Twilight waited under a tree, Fluttershy went to go visit Zecora. They started off with some friendly greetings and some conversation about the recent events. Zecora was worried about the fate of Ponyville after all the citizens of Cloudsdale died. Fluttershy said she was worried to, and then asked if she could make a potion to cure one’s mind after their sanity had been broken. Zecora said that no such thing existed, but perhaps she could make something to help this pony think straight. While she was mixing the ingredients in a cauldron, Fluttershy hit her over the head with a pot, shattering the pot. She then shoved her head under the liquid, for just enough time to not kill her, and let her get some air. She then grabbed one of her earrings, and pulled it so that part of her ear was ripped off. She then shoved her head back under the liquid, and kept it there until Zecora passed out. Fluttershy managed to get air back into her lungs, but Zecora did not wake up for the next couple minutes. While she was out, Fluttershy mixed some ingredients to make an acid-like potion. When Zecora regained consciousness, Fluttershy dumped a cauldron of it on top of her. This melted her skin right off, and within minutes, she was dead.

While this was going on, Twilight had a schizophrenic attack. It started off with flashbacks of the night they killed Spike. She noticed the Discord statue, watching with a sick grin on its face. Its eyes became swirling vortexes, and blood was coming out of its mouth. Deep within its eyes, there were scenes of her past, but also of her killing Celestia with her bare hooves, and then a twisted and contorted version of herself standing on top of a pile of her dead friends. The trees around started oozing blood, and there were dead ponies as far as she could see. There were shadows moving rapidly all around her, and she could not tell what they were. She then looked up at the sky, and before her eyes the sun blackened out, and blackness spread across the sky. Red dots formed, and turned into stars that were bleeding, and then the moon came. She somehow saw a close up look at it, and Princess Luna was one there, with her ribs bulging out and starving to death. She then imploded, and Twilight was snapped out of her schizophrenic attack by Fluttershy telling her to snap out of it. Everything went away, and she was in the regular Everfree forest.

Fluttershy told Twilight that if she gave it some time she would return to normal. She then handed Twilight the pie and that it was a gift for her. Twilight began eating it, and noticed how odd it tasted. She then asked Fluttershy what was in it besides apples, and Fluttershy said “Applejack.” Twilight then looked down and noticed the blood in the pie and the strange meat parts in it. She freaked out, and dropped the pie. She then ran as fast as she could away from Fluttershy. She could not get the taste out of her mouth or the image of a bloody pie with what she saw as Applejack’s cutie mark in it. She then froze with fear over the sight she had stumbled across.

She was standing right at the pit where Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo had fought to the death, and saw the rotting, mostly skeletal remains of the cutie mark crusaders. Before she knew it, Fluttershy had flown up, and tackled her. She bit her horn, and snapped it off, then pushed her into the pit, and put the steel grate over it. She then threw the pie down there, and enough food to last her for about a month. Twilight could not escape with magic, because her horn was snapped off. It is still unsure of what became of Twilight. Magic was her life, so if some day, somepony had gotten her out, she would live the rest of her life without magic; which wouldn’t be much of a life for her. She may have lived down there as a nervous and insane wreck for about a month before starving to death. Eventually having to eat the Applejack pie, and becoming twitchy from cannibalism for the rest of her miserable days. Perhaps in a panic to get out, she ended up causing the walls to tunnel in on her, and she was buried alive. The only thing worse than killing Twilight, was having her live.