Twilight's Zone

The letter lay rolled out across Twilight Sparkle’s table as the purple unicorn made an attempt to quickly pack her bags. It had arrived earlier this morning from Princess Celestia, who was very insistent that the task now at hoof was very important. Of course, Twilight had her doubts about going alone into the Everfree forest to try and locate a few lost ruins of some old shrine from ancient Equestria, but if that’s what the Princess wanted, then who was her most faithful student to refuse such an important request?

“Let’s see... I have two quills, four parchment papers for recording valuable notes, an extra bag of snacks, hmm... Oh! I need books! And a map!” Twilight muttered to herself as she raced around the library, locating the items.

“Uh, Twilight, don’t you think that bringing all those books might take up too much room in your bag?” Spike suggested as he watched the unicorn levitate a huge encyclopedia down from its shelf.

“Are you kidding, Spike? Books are the most valuable things to bring on a trip like this!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Well, I was going to suggest bringing along some rope and perhaps a knife in case you run into any, er, trouble?”

The purple unicorn let out a laugh. “Don’t be silly! I’ll be fine! You just need to worry about taking care of the library while I’m gone, which should only be a few hours, maybe a day or two at the most, depending on how lost I get. But I have a map, or four, actually, so I shouldn’t even lose my way at all!”

“Famous last words,” the baby dragon muttered as he went back to helping Twilight pack.

Two hours later, Twilight Sparkle was ready to go. She bid goodbye to Spike after going over the long list of chores that he had to get done while she was away. The baby dragon was definitely less than happy about working during his free time, but the humongous gem that Twilight promised him for his troubles would make it all worth it in the end.

As she walked, Twilight wished that one of her Ponyville friends would be able to come with her to make the journey a little less long. It wasn’t like she was afraid; the Everfree forest was more fascinating than terrifying for her, but having the company of another pony would’ve... eased her nerves a little. A pit of concern had begun to widen in her stomach as she began to wonder what would happen if she never located these ancient ruins at all. And why in Equestria was Princess Celestia so concerned about them anyways?

Soon, the gentle rolling hills of Ponyville began to descend into a murky swamp, and the blue hues of the sky itself seemed to fade into darkness. Twilight swatted her tail at a few pesky mosquitoes that buzzed around her. Even the smell had gone from a sweet flowery scent to the odor of a dank, mould-infested forest full of old, knotted trees that... ugh! Twilight jumped as a strand of an overhanging branch brushed past her leg.

“It’s just a branch,” she reassured herself. “Don’t be silly, Twilight. There’s a logical reason for everything except Pinkie Pie. You should know that by now.”

The unicorn settled down on a nearby log to survey her map. If her calculations were correct, she was still in the outskirts of the forest, and the place she was trying to reach was a lot closer to the center.
The center of the Everfree Forest...
It made Twilight wonder if anypony had ever gone this far before...

Once she was sure that her bearings were right, Twilight Sparkle packed up the atlas she had brought of the forest and continued on. Every hoofstep she took brought her closer to her goal, she could feel it.

“Just think of it now, I’ll be the first pony to wander this far into the forest, like a pioneer of a new land!” The idea of it made Twilight feel giddy. “Thank you, Princess Celestia!”

Of course, the bookish unicorn was interested in the ruins themselves, too. This wasn’t just history in the making, but a study of history as well.
And Twilight loved history.
So why was there a slight feeling of uneasiness creeping up on her?

“I’m going on a study! A study! A study of some his-to-ryyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!” Twilight sang out as she skipped down the path. She had taken to making up songs as she went along to get her mind of off the imposing night and the creepy, twisted scenery. Oh, and the strange feeling that she had overlooked something important.

Her belly felt queasy with every step, and the singing ceased for a second as Twilight moved around a barely visible patch of mud.

“Now let’s see,” the unicorn whispered. “I have my books... My food... My maps...What could I possibly have forgotten?”

Dumping out her bag as soon as she stopped to rest, Twilight did an inventory. Everything was there.

“See? I’m just overreacting again, ha ha ha,” she laughed nervously. Using a simple levitation spell, Twilight repacked her saddlebag and got back on the narrow trail.

The trees seemed to stare at her menacingly, daring her to make one wrong move. Sinister sets of eyes gazed out from behind bushes, and the wind rippled by her with a ghostly murmur.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Twilight reassured herself. “I’ve been in this forest many times, and once I was even turned to stone. Ha, nothing can be as bad as that was.”

Twilight laughed aloud, using a trick that she had learned from Pinkie Pie. The pink party pony was right; laughter did have a way of making this seem less frightening.
However, it did nothing to the feeling of disorientation.

Suddenly, Twilight became aware of a strange wailing noise. She used her tail to swat at the bugs that hovered around her head.

“Pesky mosquitoes!” she said, annoyed. Her horn lit up as she cast an anti-bug charm on herself in hopes that the noise would go away. Unfortunately for Twilight, the noise only grew louder.

“Hmm, what else could that be?” the unicorn mused aloud. “Maybe a siren? Or a distress signal! Oh, that has to be it! Someone’s probably in trouble! I have to go help them!”

Conjuring up a light spell, Twilight raced through the muck as she headed towards the sound. Whoever it was needed her help, she was sure that Princess Celestia would understand. Putting the needs of others in front of hers had proven praiseworthy after she had saved the Crystal Empire, so trying to save someone who had gotten into trouble in the middle of the forest surely would meet her mentor’s approval.

{I’m running out of time}, Twilight thought as she increased her speed. Branches and mud smacked against her face as she sprinted through the swamp. The distress signal grew louder, sounding a lot more like a siren to her than anything. But now that she was committed to helping the situation, Twilight forged on without hesitation.

“Hold on,” she cried out. “Help is on the way! I’m almost there!”

A bright light in the distance suddenly came into Twilight’s view as it swiveled around, surveying the area. Ponies’ voices could be heard shouting over the siren. They seemed desperate. Apparently, something big was going on.

Twilight paused to catch her breath. Somehow, she felt that she wasn’t on the right track anymore. Was this what was in the middle of the Everfree forest?

“Over here! I heard noises! She went this way!” a stallion’s voice shouted over the chaos.

“This way!” another yelled as hooves trampled over the ground that sounded strangely solid.

“What’s going on?” Twilight wondered aloud in a hushed voice. She could feel the vibrations that resulted from a herd of other ponies stampeding across the dirt.
Wait, dirt?
Yes, Twilight confirmed as she stamped her hoof down on the solid ground.

Bam!

Suddenly, she felt somepony collide with herself. The other pony skidded across the dirt, her rainbow-coloured mane outlined by the bright beam of light.

“What?” Twilight gasped out. “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing in the middle of the Everfree forest?”

“Shh!” The other pony raised a hoof to her mouth. “Just shut up and keep still.”

“Why?”

“SHHHH!”

A strong pair of front legs suddenly wrapped themselves around Twilight’s, restraining her.

“I found two suspicious ponies over here!” a stallion shouted. His grip tightened as Twilight tried to twist free.

“What’s going on?” she demanded. “Who are you ponies?”

The stallion restraining her snorted. “Like you don’t know, escapee!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I’m-”

The stallion shoved his hoof over her mouth as he dragged her into a small clearing that had been outlined by the searchlight.

“We got her! We got Rainbow Dash!” another stallion shouted as he and four other stallions emerged with a struggling cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash was biting and kicking her restraints as they led her into the clearing. “You... can’t... keep... me... here...” she spat out as she swung her head backwards and whacked one of the stallions on his nose.

“Augh!” he cried out as blood dripped down his muzzle.

The other stallions pressed Rainbow Dash down onto the ground so she could barely move. All of them had blood and dirt all over their faces and coats from the struggle.

Twilight watched in horror as the stallion with the smashed nose took a needle out of his coat pocket and jabbed it into the Pegasus’ side. Rainbow’s leg twitched in a feeble attempt to buck him before falling back down and lying still.

“Get her inside,” the stallion ordered. “I doubt that the Warden will go easy on her this time. Oh, and you know that cute little orange mare with the apple cutie mark? Make sure she doesn’t get dinner for the next week. It’s what she gets for helping this one.” He kicked Rainbow Dash’s unconscious body before spitting on her.

“But what do we do with this one, sir?” the stallion restraining Twilight asked.

“Bring her in. She must crazy to be in league with Rainbow Dash. We can get her committed here no problem.”

Twilight dared not move as she was dragged through a thick, iron-wrought gate. A huge building made of stone and surrounded by barbed wire towered over her. She couldn’t help but notice the bars across the windows, and the maniacal screams that passed through the walls to her ears.

“I didn’t know that there was a prison in the middle of the Everfree forest. Where am I?” she wondered, glancing at the stallions. They all wore coats that, at one time, must’ve been white, like some kind of... doctors.

The stallion with the bloody nose laughed. “This ain’t no prison, sweetheart.”

The realization dawned on Twilight in an instant.

“So you finally figured it out, eh?” the stallion said, noticing the ah-ha expression on the unicorn’s face. “Welcome to the Everfree House for the Mentally Insane.”