This isn't the time to use that!
Rarity hummed a tune to herself as she prepared dinner, thinking about her next performance with the Pony Tones. “It's too bad Fluttershy won't be joining us on stage for the show. Her voice is simply divine! Oh well, baby steps I suppose...” Rarity mused, before being interrupted by a thump thump at the door of Carousel Boutique. “Who could that be at this hour?”
There was another thump, and Rarity noticed it sounded like somepony had hit their head against the door rather than knocking properly. She cautiously made her way to the door and opened it, finding Twilight Sparkle wearing a pair of saddlebags on the other side. “Oh, Twilight darling! It's only you,” Rarity said with relief. “I thought that strange noise might have been part of some ridiculous antics by Pinkie Pie.”
However, Rarity's relief was short-lived when she noticed Twilight's demeanor. Her friend was looking straight ahead with a blank expression, and Rarity was disturbed to find that Twilight seemed to be staring through her as if the white unicorn wasn't even there. Twilight was muttering under her breath, too softly for Rarity to make out what she was saying. Most worryingly, Twilight's horn was glowing brightly.
“Darling, is everything alright?”
Instead of responding, Twilight took a few steps into Carousel Boutique. She was now close enough that Rarity could hear what she was muttering. “...up, up, start, a, a...” Suddenly, Twilight reached into her bag and took out a small piece of paper. She presented the paper to Rarity, who took it carefully and read the words printed on the front: “S.S. Ticket”.
“Twilight, why are you giving me this?” Rarity asked. “Would you like me to join you at this S.S. event? I can't say I've heard of it before, but I'm sure it will be delightful.”
To her dismay, Twilight quickly snatched the ticket away and put it back in her bag. “...down, left, a, b, a, left, down, down...” she continued under her breath as she left Rarity's home, bumping into several walls as she walked out.
Rarity stood in the doorway flabbergasted. This behavior was unlike anything she had seen before. She thought perhaps Twilight was doing some kind of magical experiment, which would make sense considering Twilight's horn had been lit the whole time. However, Rarity dismissed this explanation easily. Her friend's behavior was too unusual to be a simple experiment, and if that was the cause then Twilight would have told her about it.
“I should get help. Perhaps Spike will know what's going on,” Rarity made up her mind as she departed for Twilight's tree house.
~~~~
The sun was setting over Ponyville, which meant it was time for Applejack to pack up her market stall and go home. Though most of the Apple family's customers had now gone home, business was booming, and Applejack hefted a large wooden chest full of bits as her hard-earned profits for the day. She looked down at her work with pride, before putting it on the wagon to take back home.
Thump. “...a, b, right, right, a...”
Applejack turned around, startled at the noise. “Huh? What's going on?” she asked, before seeing Twilight repeatedly bumping into a basket of apples. “Oh, it's just you Twi. You had me worried for a sec.”
Thump. “...a, start, b, a...”
“Twi? You alright?”
Thump. “...right, down, up, right, a...”
“Do you want an apple? I got plenty, just help yourself sugarcube.”
Thump. “...a, start, down, down, a, left, left...” Twilight took an apple from the basket and put it in her saddlebag. As she turned around and walked away, Applejack noticed the bag seemed to be squirming.
“Now that's just plain weird. I better make sure she ain't in any trouble.”
Applejack was about to take off after her friend, when she heard two voices snickering in the bushes behind her stall. Two familiar voices. “Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie! Stop that ruckus and get out here right now!”
Sure enough, the two ponies fell out of the bushes, unable to contain their laughter. “Applejack, you should have seen the look on your face!” Pinkie managed to say.
Applejack snorted. “And what exactly is so funny about Twilight acting like a darned fool?”
“Are you kidding?” Rainbow replied. “She's been wandering around town, bumping into things and trying to give everypony some kind of ticket. This is the best prank I've ever seen that egghead pull! We've been following her all day!”
Pinkie added, “Yeah Applejack, you should see the reactions she gets! The flower girls locked themselves in their homes, but that's not really weird since they do that a lot, but it was still kind of funny, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders had some fun when they tried to get their 'lead Twilight around town' cutie marks, but they gave up when she just kept jumping off a ledge for an hour.”
Applejack stared at them as their laughter finally died down. “Let me get this straight. The two of you have been following Twi around all day? And neither of you thought she might need help?”
“Chillax, AJ,” Rainbow said. “It's not like anypony's been hurt.”
“Look out, she's coming back!” Pinkie whispered, as Twilight approached the Apple family stall again. The alicorn stopped in front of Pinkie Pie and took a large chunk of rock out of her bag. “Oooh! Wow Twilight, that's a Helix Fossil! Where'd you get that?” Pinkie exclaimed, dazzled by the rock.
“...b, start, a, a, b, right, start, b, a...” Twilight continued muttering as she repeatedly put the Helix Fossil into her bag and brought it back out, while Pinkie remained mesmerized and Applejack and Rainbow looked at each other in confusion.
Just then, Rarity ran up to her friends and took a moment to catch her breath. “Girls, I see you've noticed Twilight's strange behavior. I went to go find Spike to determine the cause, but alas, he was not at home. I fear something dreadful may have happened to both him and Twilight.”
“Well that settles it then,” Applejack said with determination. “We gotta help Twi somehow. I think we should get her back home.”
“I agree,” Rarity said. “In the meantime, I shall continue my search for Spike. Once he is safe, we can send a letter to Princess Celestia and she can help Twilight with whatever magical mayhem is happening to her.”
Applejack stepped in front of Twilight. “Alright, come on now sugarcube, put that fancy rock away and let's go.”
Twilight's muttering voice increased in volume. “...a, b, a wild Applejack appeared, go ABBBBBBK(, use Cut...” She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a squirming baby dragon. Spike's eyes were wide, his claws and feet were tied together, his mouth was gagged, and he was being squished into a ball by Twilight's magic.
“Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity shouted as the other three ponies' jaws dropped. Twilight quickly threw her bound baby brother at a startled Applejack, who failed to catch him before they were both knocked to the ground.
“...it's not very effective, left, left, b, down...” Twilight continued as she walked away.
The other ponies sprung into action, with Rarity and Applejack working to untie Spike, and Rainbow and Pinkie working to corral Twilight and keep her from causing any more trouble. After he was free, Spike sat down breathing heavily as Rarity rubbed his back. “Oh Spike, thank goodness you're alright! Tell us, what happened?”
Spike looked up at them, then over to Twilight whose horn was still glowing bright enough to be visible in the evening light. “Well, you remember how excited she was when we got back from Canterlot yesterday?”
“Yeah,” Applejack said. “She wouldn't stop talking about some old book she found in the Canterlot Library. I didn't understand most of it.”
“She found that important old book when she visited the archives. At least, I think it was important. It was written by Starswirl the Bearded. Anyway, the reason she was so excited about it was a particular spell that she said would let her talk with aliens.”
“Aliens? Really, Spike?” Rarity asked skeptically.
“Well, I don't know if the book actually said that, but Twilight believed it. And given how well her experimental spells usually work, who knows?”
“So what happened?”
“After the spell started, she got this blank look and started talking to herself really quietly. It seemed like nonsense from what I could hear. Then she tied me up and stuffed me in the bag, saying something about 'catching' me.”
Applejack sighed. “Let me guess, the spell is still going on. That's why her horn is glowing, right?”
Spike nodded. “Right. By the way, I heard your plan and I can send a letter to the princess now.”
“Oh good, thank you darling,” Rarity said with relief. “Let's hope that she can help us resolve this mess.”
~~~~
One hour later, the sun had set and the moon was out to officially begin the night. Twilight's friends managed to successfully keep her contained in a small field outside Ponyville, where she had room to wander around and not run into anything or cause any trouble.
As they were resting from their efforts, Spike looked up and saw two winged figures in the distance approaching quickly. Less than a minute later, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna touched down next to the group nearby Twilight, who was beginning to show signs of physical distress from maintaining the spell for so long.
“We apologize for our delay,” Luna began. “We departed as soon as we received the message from Spike. It is good to see that Twilight is unharmed. We are thankful for all of your efforts.”
Rarity bowed. “But of course, Princess. We would never let anything happen to Twilight, despite the unfortunate situation.”
Celestia frowned as she walked in front of Twilight, who was still muttering to herself. “Twilight? Can you hear me?”
“...start, a, b, up, up, right, b, b...”
Luna joined Celestia as they studied Twilight's horn with contemplative expressions. Walking around, looking at it from several angles and occasionally lighting up their own horns. The non-alicorn ponies and Spike waited anxiously while the princesses talked among themselves.
After a few minutes, Celestia and Luna turned to the group. “We believe that Twilight is being controlled by an extraterrestrial power.”
“Yes!” Spike exclaimed. “I knew it was aliens, just like in my comic books!” Pinkie gasped in excitement while the others merely glared at them.
Rarity coughed, “Yes, well, that's, erm, interesting. In any case, can you possibly do something to help her?”
Celestia nodded. “If we can stop the spell, it will break any hold that the aliens have on Twilight. Then she should return to normal.”
Applejack piped up, “Sounds easy enough, we just have to snap her out of it right? We'll get it done in a jiffy and be home in time for supper. As a matter of fact, why don't y'all join me for a big old Apple family dinner?”
“That sounds great Applejack! Did you hear that aliens? We're gonna eat some yummy Apple home cooking and you're not!” Pinkie stuck out her tongue as Twilight talked toward the group.
“Indeed, that sounds wonderful,” Luna said, “we only need to take care of this matter first.” She picked up a small nearby rock from the ground and chucked it at Twilight.
THWACK
The rock impacted Twilight's horn with enough force to make the other ponies cringe. Twilight herself cried out in shock as fireworks exploded from her forehead, lighting up the sky. After the brilliant display had settled down, her friends rushed forward to find her lying on the ground clutching in pain her no-longer-glowing horn. “OW!”
Celestia leaned down and nuzzled her former student. “Twilight, I am sorry you were hurt. Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Twilight said as she shakily stood up supported by her friends. “I am now. Thank you Luna, though next time maybe you could try something a little less painful.”
“Of course Twilight, I apologize,” Luna said.
“So,” said Rainbow, “are you done with all this alien business now? I mean, it was fun for a while, but I'm getting kinda hungry.”
“Yeah, I'm done,” Twilight groaned. “That experience was just awful. I'm not going to try that spell again any time soon.”
Applejack said, “I know what'll make you feel better. How about we get some food in your belly?”
Twilight smiled, “That sounds good.”
As they all started to walk down the path to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight stopped and picked up the rock Luna had used to break her out of her spell. “Luna, why did you choose this particular rock?”
Luna looked puzzled. “I simply picked it up because it was near. Is it special somehow?”
“Hmm, I'm not sure. It feels important, but I don't know how. Oh well, maybe I'll figure it out later.”
Twilight tossed the Moon Stone.
Author's Note
But seriously, Twitch Plays Pokemon is the greatest thing ever. Go check it out. Right now. No, not later, now.
