Sparkle Patsy

Sparkle Patsy
Chapter 3

Twilight was worried. This strange library had no food or water. It was too quiet. She shuffled among the stacks of alien books when she saw a book she recognized.

It was a book of nursery rhymes that Cadence her foal sitter used to read to her. That gave Twilight a bit of hope. She wondered if there were other books from Equestria here.

She found more books, some of them were books on magic. Dry boring tomes with language so convoluted they took chapters to say things that normally would just fit in a sentence. Other books talked about such esoteric subjects that it was hard to understand what the writer really meant.

Then there was the forty fifth Daring Do book. What? Twilight remembered the last one she read was only the thirty ninth in the series. It just came out. How is this possible?

While Twilight was looking at the book, a voice whispered "Over here."

Twilight turned around and saw a flicker of light.

"Good, you can see me," The light said with some relief.

"Who are you? Do you live here?" Twilight asked.

She was also getting lonely and homesick.

"You can call me Glymour. I do not live here. We do not have a lot of time so listen carefully. You are in the realm of Atar Nomin, an evil being that always thirsts for knowledge," Glymour explained.

"There is nothing wrong with looking for knowledge," Twilight glibly said.

Right after she said that she thought about how she got here. Her tail and ears drooped.

"Exactly. Would you hurt your friends to gain knowledge?" Glymour asked.

"No, I would not," Twilight said with absolute certainty.

"Atar does not have such scruples. His minions and children do not have any either. I will cast a spell so you can contact your friends so they can help you," Glymour explained.

An image of a royal dining room appeared in front of Twilight. She could see Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Spike and an alicorn that looked like her. What the hay?

"Celestia, Luna and Cadence! I am so glad to see you! Spike!" Twilight said with a smile.

Celestia asked,"Is that you, Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes. Who is that?" Twilight pointed right at the purple alicorn.

"This is Lisa, she is mixed up with some very strange events here," Celestia replied.

Before Twilight could ask more questions, Glymour spoke.

"I am sorry but we have very little time to do this. Here is a scroll that will change Lisa into her rightful form. Lisa, you must find the book that Twilight read and come to this room," Glymour said rather quickly.

The image faded.

"If your friends are able to do the spell, you will have help. I wish I could conjure food for you but I lack the ability," Glymour said with regret.

"I am OK. Who is responsible for making the book that sent me here?" Twilight asked.

Glymour replied,"I will have to answer that later. I have to leave now. Be careful."

Glymour faded away leaving Twilight alone in the dark library.

Over Ponyville

Lunch was just a few rolls from the Royal kitchen and some water. Then they had to get to the carriage and be off. Lisa had enjoyed the view from the flying Royal Carriage. Soon they would be on the ground near Ponyville. A place where ponies hated her.

Whee.

Rarity saw the look on Lisa's face and tried to console her.

"We will land outside of town and get to the Apple farm. Big Mac can be reasoned with. I will make sure that nopony will hurt you," Rarity said with confidence.

When they landed, nopony accosted them. That was good. As they trotted to the Apple Farm, Lisa could smell burning and burnt things. The smell of smoke lay heavily over the area. Lisa started to dread what was coming up.

Big Mac met them in front of a ruined and smoking barn. It was just a shell. Rarity stepped in front of Lisa.

"Let me do the talking," Rarity said.

"What do you want Rarity?" Big Mac asked coldly.

"Lisa wishes to undo the damage caused by the imposter," Rarity said in a somewhat cheery voice.

"Imposter? Is that what they call it now? All of the spikeheads stick together. My sisters sleep and scream in their beds. I cannot wake them," Big Mac said with barely restrained anger.

"I can imagine..." Rarity started but she stopped when she saw Big Mac's eyes start to narrow.

"Lisa is here to undo the damage. You should let her try," Rarity wheedled.

"Lisa, you better do more than TRY or I will crush your purple spiked head," Big Mac threatened.

Rarity wanted to remind Big Mac that Lisa was under Celestia's protection but she doubted that Big Mac would care.

"They are there," Big Mac pointed to the house with his left hoof.

Lisa entered the house. It was clean and had a cozy feel to it. She could sense the demon magic upstairs.

Applejack and her sister Applebloom were in separate rooms. Lisa decided to help Applebloom first. The poor filly was in the grip of some sort of nightmare. Her rear hooves kicked out at nothing. The magic on her was subtle.

Make a mistake and Applebloom would be in trouble. Big Mac stood in the doorway with Rarity. Lisa knew he would be on her in a flash if things went badly. Spike must have seen her look at the doorway.

"Lisa, you can do it," Spike offered his support.

Time to get to work. Lisa focused on the magic. It was so complicated. Parts of it were all over the poor filly's body. No need to do that stuff if they wanted to do a simple sleep spell. What is going on?

Then it hit Lisa, this was a test. Something was keeping track of her progress. That made it easier. She reached in and started to negate some of the spell. Applebloom started to moan in pain.

Rarity stood in front of Big Mac.

"No!" She said in a determined voice.

The spell changed into a more dangerous version. Instead of silky strings tied into almost every organ, it became steel chains with barbs tearing into Applebloom's body. Now Lisa had to balance taking out the spell and keeping the filly alive. She slipped a bit. Damn. Some blood started to leak out of Applebloom's muzzle.

Big Mac could smell his baby sister's blood. He started to push against Rarity.

Almost got it. The spell pulsed. The barbs dug in deeper. Lisa pushed harder and the spell was gone. She took a bit of time to heal the damage from the spell. Applebloom started to smile in her sleep. That was hard.

Before Big Mac could see her weariness, Lisa went into Applejack's room and started working on Applejack's spell. This spell was a grown up version. Any mistake would be fatal here. Lisa took a breath. She went to work. No strings here, this spell started off with cold black demon metal. Barbed chains tied around every organ. Somehow Lisa managed to remove the spell.

Big Mac and Rarity met Lisa in the hallway.

"Is it done?" Rarity asked with concern.

Lisa nodded yes. She wanted to sleep. Big Mac walked past her and studied his sisters. Both of them were sleeping normally.

Big Mac walked up to Rarity and Lisa.

"Thank you. Maybe that imposter stuff really is the truth," Big Mac said and bowed.

"You and Rarity can sleep in the guest room," Big Mac said with some degree of politeness.

A smile almost broke out on his face. He had his sisters back. Maybe. Will know for sure in the morning.

Lisa followed Rarity to the guest room and flopped down on the bed. She was so tired.

Morning came so quickly Lisa wondered if she had any sleep. Some ponies were talking downstairs.

"Pinkie, you really have to give her some time to rest," Rarity said with annoyance.

"I know but I feel so sorry for treating Lisa so badly," Pinkie Pie said with remorse.

While Lisa was climbing out of bed, Spike ran up with an apple.

"Soon as you wash up, we have to get going. Have to get to Canterlot and get that book so we can save Twilight," Spike said excitedly.

Spike left the apple on the table. Lisa went into the bathroom.
When she was done, she ate the apple. Who knows when the next meal will be?

Downstairs, Lisa met a contrite Pinkie Pie.

"I am sooo sorry that I misjudged you. You do look like and smell like the bad gal though," Pinkie said with remorse.

"No problem, I can understand your..." Lisa started but was interrupted by Rarity.

"I am sorry to break in like this but we really need to get back. Who knows what trouble the real Twilight could be in," Rarity said in a hurry.

"Spike, what happened here? Why are Applebloom and Applejack under a spell? Who did all this damage to the Apple Farm?" Lisa queried.

She would have asked Applejack but she and her sister were still recovering upstairs.

"When you, um, the fake Twilight showed up at the farm, Applejack somehow knew something was not right. They started to argue and fight. Fake Twilight cast a spell on Applejack first. Applebloom ran up to help her sister and she got zapped too. Then the imposter summoned some creatures to ravage the farm," Spike replied.

Rarity was feeling a sense of urgency. Lisa, Rarity and Pinkie Pie galloped back to the Royal Carriage. The pegasus guards carried it up into the light blue morning sky smoothly.

Lisa watched the ravaged Apple farm recede into the distance. Now to find out who has done this and make them pay! She resolved to do at least that.