A Toy for Childrenby TehSporkBanditChaptersIn Search of KnowledgePony MerchReflections of TwilightIn Search of Knowledge"I don't know, Twilight. This still seems like a really bad idea." "Don't be silly, Spike! Princess Celestia said it herself that I was free to read through all of the books in this old library." The purple mare flared her wings for a moment. "And since I'm not only the Element of Magic, but also the newest princess, it's my duty to learn from the works of Star Swirl the Bearded, one of Equestria's most important conjurers." A green and purple ball of scales came bobbing into the room under the weight of a few crystalline rods. "Maybe the pages that were ripped out of that book are gone for a reason. You know better than some ponies that teleportation can go wrong fast." "I doubt that. The notes were clearly leading to something." She opened the book to the last page. "I mean, he starts out describing how the application of augmented teleportation could be endless. That could mean quick and easy travel for anypony between settlements, borders, and possibly continents, but the next page is suddenly missing?" The torn paper tickled her hooves as the time-worn edges frayed beneath her touch. "Star Swirl always kept careful notes of his experiments and revelations, so this missing page just doesn't make sense." Her little assistant stood from arranging the circles of crystals in the middle of the ruined castle's library and brushed his claws together. "Maybe he found something dangerous and didn't want anypony else to get hurt. Why is this the first time anypony's heard about one of his pages missing if he's like how you are with lists?" After setting the diagram that Twilight had drawn for him atop the remains of his lunch, he looked it over before adjusting several of the rods. "That's just it, Spike, he was a stout believer in the accrual and exploration of knowledge. I remember reading about one experiment where he kept a detailed log of over one thousand failed attempts." The dragon's eyes widened slightly. "Woah, I guess he was really dedicated." A purple hoof slammed onto the desk. "Exactly! If this page is missing it's my duty to recover this lost knowledge for Equestria!" Spike simply shrugged and went back to following the diagram. 'He does have a point, though. Star Swirl often wrote down particular experiments into separate journals when he was studying the Seapony kingdom. I remember reading somewhere that he accidentally dropped a ledger into the sea on more than one occasion. He never did call the experiments failures either, they were just ways he learned how not to do something...' A loud crash brought the Alicorn's wandering mind back to reality as her eyes flicked around. "I'm okay," shouted the little dragon. Twilight just smiled and shook her head. After she read the last page again she rose and trotted over to her newest experiment, bringing the open journal along in a haze of orchid magic. "Is it ready, Spike?" A wiggling forked tongue was poking out from between his teeth as he slowly inched a piece of crystal around. "Almost..." She set the open book on a wooden easel as her helper stood back up. "You sure this is safe, Twilight?" "Yes, and as I've said before, we're doing it here instead of in the library so nopony else wanders by and gets hurt." It really wasn't safe at all. Picking up such a complicated experiment in a seemingly random place was dangerous and she knew it. 'Good thing I'm the Element of Magic and not Honesty...' "Okay, then," Spike mumbled. Twilight sidled through the concentric circles of crystalline pillars and stepped onto a pedestal which runic symbols had been carved upon. "Do you need me to do anything else?" Spike wrung his claws with a worried look as Twilight turned towards him. "Nah, it's okay, Spike, I got this." She turned away to hide the frightened expression on her face. 'What could possibly go wrong? Oh, that's right, lots of things! This could become overpowered and explode! No, stop that, I have to be positive about this. The math is all done and I checked it twice. The third circle is angled to contain and stabilize the magic while focusing the teleportation. That should create a magical tether so no matter how far away I teleport, it will be easy to use that to 'blink' myself back.' Her mane tossed back and forth as she shook the last of the doubts from her mind. An orchid light permeated the air as her horn lit up. Runes began to glow and reflect the translucent wave of magic spreading out from the Alicorn, refracting in the surrounding crystal, creating little, monochromatic, purple rainbows in the air. As the rippling magic reflected back towards Twilight, she focused harder, creating slight darkening warps in the aura around her horn to send intermittent bursts of additional magic into the surrounding charged fog. She continued for a time before the layers of overcharge around her horn formed a solid encasement of white light. It shone atop her head like a piercing candle in the deepening bank of violet, giving the runes enough power to pulsate with self-sustaining energy. 'Excellent! My calculations were right after all! Well, of course they were, what was I getting so worried about?' Twilight shifted her stance and lowered her magic laden head. 'Wait, something's not right...' There was a leak on the edge of her concentration. It was small at first, barely a whisper, but then it grew. She grimaced through her clenched teeth as the 'why' came to her; she hadn't done the math right, the third circle was completely out of alignment. The matrix crackled, causing Spike to nearly jumped out of his scales. "Twilight! Is it supposed to do that?" His caretaker trembled as the magic darkened and warped his field of vision. "Twilight?" "Spike! Get out of here!" Her pale light purple wings visibly spasmed in pain. "Huh?" Before the thought of running could even form itself in the baby dragon's mind, an arc of violet lightning connected the magical matrix with a nearby bookshelf. "Agh!" Spike was sent bouncing to the ground following the shock wave of the bookshelf exploding. Flaming books and charred splinters were sent flying through the air. The fog of magic pulsed with the shattering force of the crystalline pillars before Twilight felt herself thrown off the pedestal. A crippling wave of pain and surge of heat assaulted her senses. Landing roughly on the stone left her momentarily stunned and when she opened her eyes she could barely see. Shards of crystal, wood, and half-burnt books littered the library floor surrounding the dissipating matrix. Pattering claws caught her attention. "Hey, Twilight, are you okay?" She tried to rise in response, but her legs barely moved an inch as her muzzle rubbed against the cold stone. Twilight's vision blurred and faded as she blinked. She opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth only formed the shadows of words. Sounds around her began to dim as Spike neared her. "Say something, Twilight, are you hurt? Are you injured? Are you..." Twilight's ears twitched in response to every syllable, but they soon twitched erratically before flattening against the sides of her head. Wisps of lavender were all that remained of the magical matrix which arced and billowed around Twilight and the pedestal. She could barely feel Spike's claw on her forehead as the remnants of her experiment withered further. And then she felt nothing. Pony MerchDarkness spread out to the corners of her vision as Twilight opened her eyes. She was floating through a rippling void with a peculiar feeling like she was both weightless and somehow drifting in a random direction. The alicorn twisted this way and that, ruffling her feathers as she tried to get a better view of where she was. Her coat was a paler shade of her usual color with a winding tendril of magic, seemingly attached to her stomach, trailing off into the distance. 'Okay... I'm obviously not dead...' An array of light exploded around the alicorn as she felt a wave of numbness spread through her body. Once it reached the tips of her hooves, a slight feeling of constriction overtook her. Her neck felt as stiff as a board while her legs ignored her will to move. 'That's odd...' Rippling darkness filled Twilight's vision as the feeling of weightlessness returned to her body. Her vision came into focus just long enough to admire the faint intricate swirls for a moment. She shifted her hooves and wings and blinked weakly a few times. Claws brushed her side and some sort of cloth pressed around her barrel, causing her to wince before she tried to move her head. 'That has to be Spike, but where was I just now?' "Twilight? C-can you hear me?" Spike's trembling voice continued, "you're going to be okay, everything is going to be okay. I found Fluttershy and told her to get help." Ears snapped back against Twilight's head in response to the pangs that assaulted her under the crude bandages as the dragon desperately kept applying layers. "Twilight, say something. Let me know you're all right..." A variety of brightly colored shapes swirled in Twilight's vision as the loss of feeling once again arrested her body. Faint melodies danced onto the edges of her hearing as two bipedal blurs rushed by her in a fit of high-pitched laughter. 'Pinkie? No, it can't be. Gah, I wish I could see...' The familiar sensation of magic washing through Twilight's head would have felt calming if it weren't for the nagging fact that she hadn't cast it. Her sight sharpened when the wave of magic came to a focus in her forehead, feeling like a water balloon had been molded around her horn. One of the figures stopped shortly after picking up some sort of apparatus off the wall, grabbing Twilight's attention. 'Are they wearing clothes?' The other shrieked and ran away as the first gave chase. A door slammed somewhere as pain returned to Twilight's body. "Spike, I'm here, Fluttershy sent me, what happened, where's Twilight!?" The flutter of wings and roars of a mare nipped on the edges of her hearing. "I don't know! She was trying to do some old experiment and it just exploded!" There was a gasp before a set of hooves clattered and scraped to a stop. "Wha... why is she covered in bandages?" 'Bandages? How hurt am I?' Twilight opened her eyes only to see her surroundings swimming around her in a haze. "I'm trying to fix it, but I can't make it stop," Spike whined, "make it stop!" Teeth clicked together as another flutter preceded the clack of hooves near Twilight's head. Her eyeballs rolled in their sockets as she tried to focus on the spectrum of colors that assaulted her vision. "Don't just stand there," barked the mare as a hoof gently wrapped under Twilight to pick her up, "send a letter to the Princesses!" "Huh? But, wh-" "Just do it, Spike!" Twilight's head limply dangled around as a pair of forelegs hooked under hers. All she could see was red when her vision dropped to the ground. 'That's not my... that can't be mine...' Everything seemed sideways as Twilight swayed to and fro. Some sort of hairless jointed appendages were pressed up against a clear material in front of her, slightly distorting her vision around them. 'Are those fingers?' Looking past them, rows of aisles stretched away from Twilight, surrounded by speckled white floor tiles and a high white ceiling. 'But, I didn't walk through the mirror...' Twilight's thoughts stopped for a moment she passed by an aisle where a woman was inspecting what looked like a wooden spoon. 'Yeah, those are *definitely** humans.'* Sharp prickles of pain riddled Twilight's side, causing her to gasp as her eyelids shot wide open. Ceiling lamps almost blinded her before she grit her teeth and squinted. "Nurse Redheart, she's awake!" Another prick sent a shiver through her body as a metallic clatter sounded nearby. "Good, make sure she stays that way, Tenderheart." Nurse Redheart's voice was slightly muffled. "We are not going to let Ponyville's beloved librarian go anywhere, now, are we?" "No, ma'am." A set of hooves cradled her head before a mare cooed. "Twilight. Twilight, dear, can you look at me?" The din of two mares arguing somewhere caught Twilight's attention, but she grunted and tried to answer the mare. Magenta eyes locked with her own as the bright fog in her vision slowly came into focus. "Good, Twilight, my name is Nurse Tenderheart. Do you know where you are?" Something cold buried itself in Twilight's side, eliciting an involuntary twitch. It was wrenched away not a moment later with what felt like a splinter being ripped out of her. Twilight tried to reach towards her side with a hoof, but struggled before going limp. "Ah, ah, it's okay, Twilight. You're in Ponyville Hospital. Nurse Redheart is trying to remove all of those pieces of crystal. Do you remember what happened?" 'Crystal?' Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but the only sound to escape was a pitiful squeak as her throat seized. Nurse Tenderheart's eyes twitched when something collided with one of the walls. Somepony else's hoof found its way to Twilight's as Nurse Tenderheart kept her attention. "Snowheart!" Nurse Redheart's thundering voice seemed to make the lights shake. "Tell Rainbow Dash to leave and then get in here, I require your assistance!" Twilight's head fell back into a pillow as her eyes fluttered shut. "Twilight? Twilight, dear, can you still hear me? I think we're losing her!" The hoof in Twilight's grasp gently tightened. "Not while I'm here. Get another saline bag and the oxygen. And for Sun Butt's sake, get Nurse Snowheart in here!" *Blip* *Blip* White trusses lined the ceiling above Twilight. A hand soon leered over her grasped down around the casing and then simply moved her along. *Blip* The motion continued upward until Twilight came face to face with a young woman. Her smile broke as her eyebrows raised under her blonde curls. "Oh, are you buying this for your little sister?" A deep voice resounded across from her. "Nnope, I'm getting it for a friend of mine." 'What, am I being purchased? That can't be right...' One of the girl's eyebrows found it's way halfway up her forehead as the other squished a light blue eye. "Uh huh..." "That's not a big deal, right, miss?" Her eyes closed and she shook her head slightly. "Whatever, man." She placed Twilight down facing herself. The girl was wearing some sort of blue apron with a name tag that read ‘Veronica’. "Your total is seven fifty-three, would you like a bag?" 'This has to be a mistake, ponies shouldn't be bought and sold. How could she, doesn't she see I'm alive? I'm right here!' "No, thanks. Uh, oops, I left my wallet in the car. Do you mind?" "There's no one else in line, go ahead." A muttered 'thanks' managed to reach Twilight's hearing. Her gaze started to wander, glazing over a plethora of brightly colored products on a multitude of racks before settling on the bright screen next to the girl. It was covered in lights, buttons, and what looked like a receipt. Her heart sank with the realization. 'I'm a toy...' A shorter girl with a mop of straight brown hair and the same apron slunk around the corner. "What's going on over here?" "Some guy is buying a pony." She sighed pushing her curls out of her face to rub her forehead before seeing the other's quizzical look. "I think he's one of those weird 'Brony' guys." 'Now, where would they have heard that slang? I only hear Shining call his buddies that.' The shorter girl was finishing an exaggerated pouting motion while Twilight was thinking. "He seemed sort of cute, though. You should ask him out." Very unladylike laughter broke from the first girl. "Right, I'll just go ahead and do that when the Autobots start wearing pink aprons and baking cakes." She giggled some more as the brunette gave her a smirk and waved a hand. 'What in Equestria? What's an 'Autobot'?' "I don't know about that," the second girl winked as she edged back around the corner, "I think Optimus Prime making cupcakes in a french maid outfit would be damn sexy." 'These humans are weirder than I remember.' A flickering of something dark and shadowy darted through Twilight's concentration, making her feel removed from her confines. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Twilight's heartbeat pulsed through her ears in time with the rhythmic tone. There was an even pressure against most of her body. Rainbow Dash and Rarity could barely be heard engaging in the harsh whisper of an argument with a third mare. Something slipped on Twilight's head and Applejack's warm smile greeted her as she opened her eyes. "Hey, there, sugah'cube. We're all mighty glad to see yer all righ'." She reached up and adjusted something on Twilight's head before holding her left hoof again. Twilight swallowed hard and winced after releasing a muffled grunt. "Shoosh," Applejack gently rubbed her hoof, "ya don't have tah say nothin'." Her warm smile and bright emerald eyes beneath that tousled mane put Twilight's mind at ease. 'Thanks, Applejack.' She smiled slightly with a nod as she squeezed her friend's hoof back. Wrinkles formed in the stiff hospital sheets as Twilight shifted her gaze around the room. "Get Well Soon" was plastered in bright letters on the face of several balloons. Tangled pink hair at the foot of her hospital bed obscured Fluttershy's face as her ears twitched slightly between quiet sobs. Cupcakes with three different shades of purple frosting were set on a silver platter atop a dresser in the far corner of the room. Pinkie Pie's straightened mane cast a shadow across the right side of the hospital bed in the orange glow of the evening sun. As Twilight's gaze settled upon her, Pinkie's muzzle perked up into a small, sad smile before she spoke, "Hey, Twilight, it just wouldn't be a party without you." Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. 'Oh, Pinkie Pie, I'm so sorry.' Pinkie carefully wrapped Twilight's hoof in her own as it was feebly stretched towards her. 'I didn't mean to make any of you worry.' Fluttershy's silent fit of coughing snapped Twilight's attention to the end of her bed. Ignoring the spasming protests of her bandaged leg, she stretched out to gently nudge her friend's hooves. Wet pink hair dangled as Fluttershy simply recoiled further into her own embrace. "Don't hurt yerself trying, Twi." Applejack lightly rubbed her hoof while her caring demeanor took on a more somber manner. "She plain won't listen and won't quit blaming herself fer not going with you an' Spike earlier." Twilight winced at the ball of a weeping pegasus. "Ah know, ye didn' want anypony else there in case things went sour, but ye know how much we worry about ye when ye go off and do things like that." Sheets covering the wounded alicorn's body were thoroughly examined on the side opposite applejack. 'I do know, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I ever let another pony get hurt. How could I live with myself if any of you were injured because of me? Spike's a tough little dragon, he's stronger than I let him know, but we're just ponies...' The quartet stayed like that for a time, as if they were objects of affection on a canvas hidden in the studio of a maddeningly depressed artist. All the calm and quiet in the room didn't prevent the argument on the other side of the door from reaching its apex. "No," Rainbow Dash blurted out, "you don't get to tell me 'no'!" Fluttershy's sobbing intensified with the involuntary shivers that coursed through her body. "Well, excuse me for doing my job!" The huffing of Nurse Redheart made Pinkie close her eyes and bring Twilight's hoof to her forehead. "But you! Oh, you're in here every other week because you're such a thick-headed mare. Don't tell me how to do my job when you can't even take of yourself!" Applejack cast a worried glance towards Pinkie when she began rocking herself before shifting her gaze towards the door as Rainbow Dash whinnied indignantly. "Now, now, Rainbow, you know I agree with you," Rarity cut in, but anger fringed her words, "but we need to stay calm and have this conversation like mature adults." A curt snarl from Rainbow Dash silenced Rarity with a squeak. "Mature adults!? forget that, I want answers! That's our friend in there and I, at least, care if there's something we can do to help! Why is she so unresponsive? Give her some of my blood if she needs it, I know our antigens don't match, but she's lost so much that she won't produce the cells to fight it!" Derisive laughter heralded Nurse Redheart's reply. "Seriously? I already gave her some of my own after I stopped most of the bleeding. Snowheart and Tenderheart have already gone through our records to find suitable donors." "If you're so good at your job why is she still in such bad shape? Do you even care about your patients!?" "That's it! I will not tolerate personal attacks! Leave my hospital this instant!" Utterances formed and died in Rainbow's throat during which Rarity seized the opportunity to diffuse the situation. "Come now, Rainbow, we wouldn't want to make Twilight's head nurse any angrier than she already is." Rainbow audibly seethed with frustration. "That's final, let's go before she decides to not even bother helping Twilight." With a groan of disgust from Redheart the flapping of wings accompanied four sets of hooves as those involved in the argument dispersed. 'Well, I can't say I didn't expect that to happen.' Pinkie's rocking motion stopped and she placed Twilight's hoof back on the bed while Fluttershy returned to her quiet sobbing. "Listen, Twi," she looked up at Applejack, "ol' Redheart is doing the best she can. I'm sure yer gonna be right as rain thanks to her." The only response the cowpony got was the look of Twilight's eyes glazing over as her head slowly fell to the side. "Twilight? Ah, shoot..." Broken was the caring embrace shared by their hooves as Applejack ran towards the door. 'No, please come back...' was all Twilight could think before the shadow overtook her mind again. Clear material obscured Twilight's vision while a low mechanical hum and soft music crept into her hearing. A faint momentum interrupted by intermittent bumps occasionally moved her around. Two particularly resounding thumps sent Twilight jostling into the air before the container she was in settled on its back, affording her a better view of where she was. Leafless trees flew by beyond the panes of rain-streaked glass. The sky beyond them was dark save for the occasional yellow-orange orb that flew by. There was a male in a rainbow-streaked blue shirt holding the steering wheel and humming along with the music as his sharp brown eyes darted over whatever was on the other side of the window. Loud jingling notes sounded near Twilight, prompting the person to send his hand shuffling around her prison before picking up a cell phone. He gazed at it for a few seconds with an audible grunt before flicking it open and holding it on his shoulder. "Hello, there, hot stuff." The voice on the other end of the conversation was barely audible, but Twilight could tell there was another person speaking. "Yes, of course I picked up the phone while I was driving... No, I wouldn't want to ignore a phone call from you... Yes, I'm on my way home from the store, I was getting a gift for a friend of mine... No, it's not porn, I got him a little figure of his favorite pony... Yes, I know you want to talk about this, but right now I'm driving, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?... All right, good night, dear... dear?" He removed the phone and looked at it before grunting again and tossing it back next to Twilight. "Bleh, women..." 'Hey! I resent that!' Darkness began creeping into the edges of her vision before swirling like a fog. 'Uh oh, this is new... wait a minute, did we stop? Why can't I feel the car moving?' The human's hand hit the center of the steering wheel while his mouth formed empty words. 'Well, I hope I wake back up in the hospital this time.' Her hazy vision flashed a dull blue before Twilight was overcome with a tugging sensation. Reflections of TwilightA spotless hospital room surrounded Twilight when she woke. There weren't any pictures on the walls, any "get well" cards sitting atop her nightstand, or any "Get Well Soon" balloons littering the ceiling. A sterile sheen reflected the dim lights above the bed in the middle of the room. 'Huh, maybe the nurses told Pinkie she couldn't leave anything behind, but that's kind of strange.' A quick glance towards the window left Twilight blinking a few times. 'Okay, I'm pretty sure blinds would have been fine. What did they do, tape a big black sheet of paper across the outside of my window?' Her hoof absentmindedly found its way to the underside of her muzzle and began scratching a nonexistent itch. 'That's sort of an odd thing to-' Twilight immediately froze for a brief second before holding her hoof out in front of her nose. "Wait... this is my hoof, isn't it?" She flexed and wiggled it back and forth. 'I thought I was covered in bandages.' Upon looking down, she immediately rubbed both of her hooves all around and over her coat before inspecting a spot where she remembered Nurse Redheart had pulled something out. 'Nothing?' Something ghostly nipped on the edges of her hearing, sending Twilight's ears frantically flicking back and forth. The sound grew into a whisper, "Princess... Sparkle..." Twilight coughed lightly before speaking. "Hello? Is somepony there? If I'm okay, when will I be allowed to leave the hospital?" It grew louder still, casting reverberations around the room as it took the form of a regal mare's voice. "Princess Sparkle... thou are not... in a hospital... here..." "Here? Where is here?" Stiff sheets crinkled as they were pulled back before Twilight stretched a leg out to gingerly push against the floor. 'It doesn't seems like it hurts... have I been in a coma or am I that heavily medicated?' The door was only a few strides away from the side of the bed before Twilight had the doorknob firmly in her grasp. She gave it a good, firm twist before it effortlessly detached from the door in her hoof. 'What?' Falling from Twilight's hold, the brass knob was sent soundlessly skittering along until it vanished underneath the bed without so much as a "clink" or a "thud". 'No, that can't be right. Doorknobs don't do that.' Her wings flared open when she tripped over her own hooves in a mad dash towards the window. Orchid magic blasted the latch off the window just before her hooves grabbed it and wrenched it upward. With a squeak and a loud crack, the window came free and slammed into the top of its frame with the rattle of glass panes. Twilight reached forth to tear away whatever was obstructing her view, but her hooves were met with empty air. Edges of her mane began curling upon themselves as a twitch started in her left eye. "Silly me! It's not like there's really anything there, I'm just looking out at nothing, there's no Ponyville... here..." Her wings softly folded back against her sides when her gaze transfixed on what she thought was the horizon. The errant purple mane fell limply as her brow furrowed. "Looking at nothing... nothing... just an empty abyss..." Patterns began to swirl like ripples in an endless sea of darkness. "I'm... not here." The words were like rocks she had to spit out as the room flickered slightly with every syllable. "I'm not really here in Ponyville hospital." The tiled floor beneath her hooves began disappearing along with the rest of the room as slowly as it had taken her to come to her conclusion. Spastic movements that didn't amount to anything more than hoof waving and wing flapping accompanied the bared teeth beneath Twilight's grimace for a few moments. They eventually slowed with the realization that the strange feeling of wayward weightlessness had returned to her. She blinked a few times before looking around. 'Great,' a sigh escaped her muzzle, 'and here I am, back in this weird place again.' That ghostly purple tendril had also appeared, snaking from her stomach into the void like a tether. "Princess Sparkle... will Us to thee..." The words seemed hollow as they echoed repeatedly in the silence. Twilight snorted her response, "Yes, hello, miss voice. I'm just absolutely peachy, thanks for asking. It's not like I'm stuck somewhere I don't want to be with no discernable way to get home!" "Enough," resounded the voice's demonic echo. Twilight winced and held herself, waiting until it continued in a softer tone. "Will Us to thee..." "Look, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what's going on here." Twilight applied a generous amount of force into massaging either side of her head. "Maybe if I knew what was happening or who you were I'd be able to help you." She closed her eyes for a moment and kept her hooves still. "As it stands, I don't even know how to help my self." There was a slight tug on Twilight's stomach. 'And now I'm feeling things, great.' It was forcefully jerked a few times before Twilight opened her eyes. Clear wisps swirled around the magical tendril that snaked away from her. Twilight blinked before rubbing her eyes and staring again. "Will Us to thee..." Her eyes squinted slightly as Twilight tilted her head. "What are you?" Dark blue faintly flashed throughout the wisps. "Wait a minute... is that... Princess Luna?" A small dull sapphire mare coalesced from the darkening trails of blue to hang onto Twilight's tether. She wasn't wearing any of her royal regalia and her normally billowing mane of stars was replaced with a fluffy mane of light blue. Twilight covered her gasp with a hoof. "Oh, princess, I'm sorry for being so rude! But, why do you look- I mean, what are you doing here?" "My sister received an urgent letter from Spike, informing Us of thy most unfortunate accident." Luna began pulling herself towards Twilight along the magical tether. "We arrived posthaste to assist thee in any way." "But, forgive me, princess, where is 'here'?" Shivers were sent through the snaking tendril as Luna stopped for a moment. "We know naught of where or what this place claims to be, but We possess a few theories." One of Twilight's ears twitched before the other as she paused to scratch the side of her muzzle. "If neither you or I knows where we are, how did you find me?" "Twas verily simple, Twilight, We merely followed thy trail." Luna gestured, sending vibrations through the tether with a wiggle that tickled Twilight's stomach. "Then you know what's going on?" "Nay, though, We can assure thee, thy body remains perfectly safe." Twilight's twitching eye didn't catch Luna's attention as she resumed pulling herself closer. "However, We suspect Nurse Redheart to be right in her concern over the irregularities regarding neural activity and-" "WHAT!?" Twilight's hooves held her temples while her wings began flapping wildly. "What's wrong with my brain!? I knew it! I'm going to be a pony vegetable!" "We said nothing of the sort." Luna shook her head as Twilight began fidgeting. "Then I'm going to paralyzed from the withers down, or not be able to feed myself, or I'm going to be blind!" Twilight's features softened as her outline began shrinking. Black speckling appeared on Luna's chest while her mane began shifting. "Twilight Sparkle, you will be fine, just calm down." Twilight gripped harder at the sides of her head and began thrashing to and fro as her wings slowly faded. "This is going to be worse than Magic Kindergarten!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. The speckling along Luna's chest grew wider as it spread throughout the rest of her coat. "Heed Our words!" Her pupils narrowed to slits. "How am I going to raise Spike? How am I going to do anything with my friends?" A loud gasp escaped Twilight as she momentarily stopped. "How am I going to read books!?" She resumed her erratic thrashing as she started reaching the size of a filly. An animalistic roar rang out in the darkness as Luna closed the distance between them with a lunge, fangs bared. Twilight flinched to Luna's touch as she was swiftly scooped up in one fluid motion, condemning her inane sobbing to a quiet sniffle. "Hush now, my little pony, thou shalt be well soon enough." Her cool blue hair framed her soft smile, urging Twilight to snuggle against her flawless sapphire coat. They stayed that way for a time, the forlorn princess of the night consoling the small bundle of purple hair and fur. Not a single utterance made itself known until the steady beating of a heart pulsed through the tether between them. Twilight gazed up to Luna with veined eyes, "What happens now?" "It appears Our dear sister hath finished the spell." Luna's caring expression was replaced with more serious demeanor. "Hold fast, Twilight Sparkle, We would not wish to be left here as thou were." Little purple hooves firmly wrapped around her neck before the space between them shone with a brilliant light. Twilight's wings jutted out to their full width as she awoke with a gasp and lurched forward. Ceiling lights blinded her before she halted her motion with another short gasp caused by the protestations beneath her bandages. She hunched over slightly and closed her eyes as a massive headache formed under her horn. "Twilight! Goodness, you're all right!" Celestia's words sounded muffled to Twilight's left as she felt a pressure in her eardrums like she was submerged in water. A ruffling of wings and sharp intake of breath sounded to her right. "You've made it back alive as well. Please, never scare me like that again." Luna violently coughed before petitely clearing her throat. "Yes, sister, We told thee that it was the only way to let thy spell reach her." Twilight softly folded her wings back to her side with a wince. "I do remember our 'discussion' quite well and you know that it could've ended much worse." Plush Feathers tickled Twilight's as a wing draped across her back like a blanket. "Are you truly with us again, Twilight Sparkle?" A simple nod was enough to placate the princess. 'Just please tell me I'm done with the whole thing.' Various beeps sounded before Luna addressed Celestia, "Everything is as We suspected." Twilight slowly laid herself back against her pillows. 'I just want to go home and curl up with a nice book.' "Surely, you can't mean that?" Faint traces of magic washed around Twilight. 'Maybe grab that semester 6 microbiology book that Spike used to level the table.' "Regardless, twould be most wise to let her rest now that We hath secured it where it belongs." 'Or maybe not, a picture book sounds wonderful.' "Yes, of course, Luna. You are right. We will let her rest now that she is no longer in danger." Clacking accompanied the princesses to the door before they stopped. The pillow gave way with a soft 'pomf' as Twilight gingerly pulled the sheets around herself. 'I wonder if Rainbow Dash will read something to me.' Celestia turned to look at her student under Luna's gaze. A smile spread across her muzzle after she heard Twilight's delicate snores. One of the cupcakes shimmered a brilliant gold as it was levitated towards the doorway. Luna blinked at the wayward sweetmeat as it floated past her. "Sister, thou aren't truly considering consuming such sugary foods at such a late hour, are thou?" "Hush, Luna, I'm merely checking to be sure that our friend Pinkie's cupcakes are within regulations." Celestia leaned forward to take a bite. The cupcake's frosting smudged as the golden shimmer was overtaken by a shield of cobalt before floating out the door before Luna. "If such practices must be observed to protect her let Us be sure of its quality." Crumbs and little swatches of purple frosting stuck to Luna's muzzle as she voraciously attacked the cupcake. "Mmm, yes, dear sister," She called back from the hallway, "feasting on such sweetmeats is highly advisable." A small snicker escaped her immaculate white muzzle as Celestia turned towards her slumbering friend. It grew into a soft smile as she watched the bedsheets slowly rise and fall a few times before Twilight sighed in her sleep. Golden shimmers encased another cupcake and followed Celestia out the door which slowly closed with a gentle 'click'. Moonlight bathed the hallway in firm but delicate shadows around Spike as he tiptoed through the hospital. Everything was quiet, save for the faint sounds of equipment monitoring the health of different ponies. Even the unavoidable clacking of his claws hitting the hard, white tile floor and occasional brush of fabric as he carried Miss Smartypants seemed insignificant compared to the calm of night. A door loomed in front of him, indistinguishable from the rest if not for a numbered plaque adorning the wall next to it, finally marking his destination. Spike gently reached up, twisted the door handle, and let the door rock away from him. Green lines sharply spiking from left to right on the heart rate monitor caught Spike's attention as it cast its glow, marring the room with a green hue from its stop atop an array of machines. He turned his attention to the solitary bed standing in the middle of the room and the steady breathing of its occupant. Slowly and surely, Spike made his way towards the right of the hospital bed and silently climbed up into the sheets. Twilight recoiled slightly with a stifled snore when Spike snuggled himself and Miss Smartypants in between the sheets and Twilight's forehooves. He pulled at the sheets and shifted himself closer to her. "Sheesh, Twilight, What would you do without me?" He propped his head up lightly on the edge of the pillow as he faced away from Twilight and closed his eyes. Purple eyelids parted for a moment as a small smile found its way to Twilight's face. 'I hope we never find out, Spike, I hope we never find out...' The duo laid there in the soft moonlight, waiting for sleep to overtake them.
In Search of Knowledge"I don't know, Twilight. This still seems like a really bad idea." "Don't be silly, Spike! Princess Celestia said it herself that I was free to read through all of the books in this old library." The purple mare flared her wings for a moment. "And since I'm not only the Element of Magic, but also the newest princess, it's my duty to learn from the works of Star Swirl the Bearded, one of Equestria's most important conjurers." A green and purple ball of scales came bobbing into the room under the weight of a few crystalline rods. "Maybe the pages that were ripped out of that book are gone for a reason. You know better than some ponies that teleportation can go wrong fast." "I doubt that. The notes were clearly leading to something." She opened the book to the last page. "I mean, he starts out describing how the application of augmented teleportation could be endless. That could mean quick and easy travel for anypony between settlements, borders, and possibly continents, but the next page is suddenly missing?" The torn paper tickled her hooves as the time-worn edges frayed beneath her touch. "Star Swirl always kept careful notes of his experiments and revelations, so this missing page just doesn't make sense." Her little assistant stood from arranging the circles of crystals in the middle of the ruined castle's library and brushed his claws together. "Maybe he found something dangerous and didn't want anypony else to get hurt. Why is this the first time anypony's heard about one of his pages missing if he's like how you are with lists?" After setting the diagram that Twilight had drawn for him atop the remains of his lunch, he looked it over before adjusting several of the rods. "That's just it, Spike, he was a stout believer in the accrual and exploration of knowledge. I remember reading about one experiment where he kept a detailed log of over one thousand failed attempts." The dragon's eyes widened slightly. "Woah, I guess he was really dedicated." A purple hoof slammed onto the desk. "Exactly! If this page is missing it's my duty to recover this lost knowledge for Equestria!" Spike simply shrugged and went back to following the diagram. 'He does have a point, though. Star Swirl often wrote down particular experiments into separate journals when he was studying the Seapony kingdom. I remember reading somewhere that he accidentally dropped a ledger into the sea on more than one occasion. He never did call the experiments failures either, they were just ways he learned how not to do something...' A loud crash brought the Alicorn's wandering mind back to reality as her eyes flicked around. "I'm okay," shouted the little dragon. Twilight just smiled and shook her head. After she read the last page again she rose and trotted over to her newest experiment, bringing the open journal along in a haze of orchid magic. "Is it ready, Spike?" A wiggling forked tongue was poking out from between his teeth as he slowly inched a piece of crystal around. "Almost..." She set the open book on a wooden easel as her helper stood back up. "You sure this is safe, Twilight?" "Yes, and as I've said before, we're doing it here instead of in the library so nopony else wanders by and gets hurt." It really wasn't safe at all. Picking up such a complicated experiment in a seemingly random place was dangerous and she knew it. 'Good thing I'm the Element of Magic and not Honesty...' "Okay, then," Spike mumbled. Twilight sidled through the concentric circles of crystalline pillars and stepped onto a pedestal which runic symbols had been carved upon. "Do you need me to do anything else?" Spike wrung his claws with a worried look as Twilight turned towards him. "Nah, it's okay, Spike, I got this." She turned away to hide the frightened expression on her face. 'What could possibly go wrong? Oh, that's right, lots of things! This could become overpowered and explode! No, stop that, I have to be positive about this. The math is all done and I checked it twice. The third circle is angled to contain and stabilize the magic while focusing the teleportation. That should create a magical tether so no matter how far away I teleport, it will be easy to use that to 'blink' myself back.' Her mane tossed back and forth as she shook the last of the doubts from her mind. An orchid light permeated the air as her horn lit up. Runes began to glow and reflect the translucent wave of magic spreading out from the Alicorn, refracting in the surrounding crystal, creating little, monochromatic, purple rainbows in the air. As the rippling magic reflected back towards Twilight, she focused harder, creating slight darkening warps in the aura around her horn to send intermittent bursts of additional magic into the surrounding charged fog. She continued for a time before the layers of overcharge around her horn formed a solid encasement of white light. It shone atop her head like a piercing candle in the deepening bank of violet, giving the runes enough power to pulsate with self-sustaining energy. 'Excellent! My calculations were right after all! Well, of course they were, what was I getting so worried about?' Twilight shifted her stance and lowered her magic laden head. 'Wait, something's not right...' There was a leak on the edge of her concentration. It was small at first, barely a whisper, but then it grew. She grimaced through her clenched teeth as the 'why' came to her; she hadn't done the math right, the third circle was completely out of alignment. The matrix crackled, causing Spike to nearly jumped out of his scales. "Twilight! Is it supposed to do that?" His caretaker trembled as the magic darkened and warped his field of vision. "Twilight?" "Spike! Get out of here!" Her pale light purple wings visibly spasmed in pain. "Huh?" Before the thought of running could even form itself in the baby dragon's mind, an arc of violet lightning connected the magical matrix with a nearby bookshelf. "Agh!" Spike was sent bouncing to the ground following the shock wave of the bookshelf exploding. Flaming books and charred splinters were sent flying through the air. The fog of magic pulsed with the shattering force of the crystalline pillars before Twilight felt herself thrown off the pedestal. A crippling wave of pain and surge of heat assaulted her senses. Landing roughly on the stone left her momentarily stunned and when she opened her eyes she could barely see. Shards of crystal, wood, and half-burnt books littered the library floor surrounding the dissipating matrix. Pattering claws caught her attention. "Hey, Twilight, are you okay?" She tried to rise in response, but her legs barely moved an inch as her muzzle rubbed against the cold stone. Twilight's vision blurred and faded as she blinked. She opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth only formed the shadows of words. Sounds around her began to dim as Spike neared her. "Say something, Twilight, are you hurt? Are you injured? Are you..." Twilight's ears twitched in response to every syllable, but they soon twitched erratically before flattening against the sides of her head. Wisps of lavender were all that remained of the magical matrix which arced and billowed around Twilight and the pedestal. She could barely feel Spike's claw on her forehead as the remnants of her experiment withered further. And then she felt nothing.
Pony MerchDarkness spread out to the corners of her vision as Twilight opened her eyes. She was floating through a rippling void with a peculiar feeling like she was both weightless and somehow drifting in a random direction. The alicorn twisted this way and that, ruffling her feathers as she tried to get a better view of where she was. Her coat was a paler shade of her usual color with a winding tendril of magic, seemingly attached to her stomach, trailing off into the distance. 'Okay... I'm obviously not dead...' An array of light exploded around the alicorn as she felt a wave of numbness spread through her body. Once it reached the tips of her hooves, a slight feeling of constriction overtook her. Her neck felt as stiff as a board while her legs ignored her will to move. 'That's odd...' Rippling darkness filled Twilight's vision as the feeling of weightlessness returned to her body. Her vision came into focus just long enough to admire the faint intricate swirls for a moment. She shifted her hooves and wings and blinked weakly a few times. Claws brushed her side and some sort of cloth pressed around her barrel, causing her to wince before she tried to move her head. 'That has to be Spike, but where was I just now?' "Twilight? C-can you hear me?" Spike's trembling voice continued, "you're going to be okay, everything is going to be okay. I found Fluttershy and told her to get help." Ears snapped back against Twilight's head in response to the pangs that assaulted her under the crude bandages as the dragon desperately kept applying layers. "Twilight, say something. Let me know you're all right..." A variety of brightly colored shapes swirled in Twilight's vision as the loss of feeling once again arrested her body. Faint melodies danced onto the edges of her hearing as two bipedal blurs rushed by her in a fit of high-pitched laughter. 'Pinkie? No, it can't be. Gah, I wish I could see...' The familiar sensation of magic washing through Twilight's head would have felt calming if it weren't for the nagging fact that she hadn't cast it. Her sight sharpened when the wave of magic came to a focus in her forehead, feeling like a water balloon had been molded around her horn. One of the figures stopped shortly after picking up some sort of apparatus off the wall, grabbing Twilight's attention. 'Are they wearing clothes?' The other shrieked and ran away as the first gave chase. A door slammed somewhere as pain returned to Twilight's body. "Spike, I'm here, Fluttershy sent me, what happened, where's Twilight!?" The flutter of wings and roars of a mare nipped on the edges of her hearing. "I don't know! She was trying to do some old experiment and it just exploded!" There was a gasp before a set of hooves clattered and scraped to a stop. "Wha... why is she covered in bandages?" 'Bandages? How hurt am I?' Twilight opened her eyes only to see her surroundings swimming around her in a haze. "I'm trying to fix it, but I can't make it stop," Spike whined, "make it stop!" Teeth clicked together as another flutter preceded the clack of hooves near Twilight's head. Her eyeballs rolled in their sockets as she tried to focus on the spectrum of colors that assaulted her vision. "Don't just stand there," barked the mare as a hoof gently wrapped under Twilight to pick her up, "send a letter to the Princesses!" "Huh? But, wh-" "Just do it, Spike!" Twilight's head limply dangled around as a pair of forelegs hooked under hers. All she could see was red when her vision dropped to the ground. 'That's not my... that can't be mine...' Everything seemed sideways as Twilight swayed to and fro. Some sort of hairless jointed appendages were pressed up against a clear material in front of her, slightly distorting her vision around them. 'Are those fingers?' Looking past them, rows of aisles stretched away from Twilight, surrounded by speckled white floor tiles and a high white ceiling. 'But, I didn't walk through the mirror...' Twilight's thoughts stopped for a moment she passed by an aisle where a woman was inspecting what looked like a wooden spoon. 'Yeah, those are *definitely** humans.'* Sharp prickles of pain riddled Twilight's side, causing her to gasp as her eyelids shot wide open. Ceiling lamps almost blinded her before she grit her teeth and squinted. "Nurse Redheart, she's awake!" Another prick sent a shiver through her body as a metallic clatter sounded nearby. "Good, make sure she stays that way, Tenderheart." Nurse Redheart's voice was slightly muffled. "We are not going to let Ponyville's beloved librarian go anywhere, now, are we?" "No, ma'am." A set of hooves cradled her head before a mare cooed. "Twilight. Twilight, dear, can you look at me?" The din of two mares arguing somewhere caught Twilight's attention, but she grunted and tried to answer the mare. Magenta eyes locked with her own as the bright fog in her vision slowly came into focus. "Good, Twilight, my name is Nurse Tenderheart. Do you know where you are?" Something cold buried itself in Twilight's side, eliciting an involuntary twitch. It was wrenched away not a moment later with what felt like a splinter being ripped out of her. Twilight tried to reach towards her side with a hoof, but struggled before going limp. "Ah, ah, it's okay, Twilight. You're in Ponyville Hospital. Nurse Redheart is trying to remove all of those pieces of crystal. Do you remember what happened?" 'Crystal?' Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but the only sound to escape was a pitiful squeak as her throat seized. Nurse Tenderheart's eyes twitched when something collided with one of the walls. Somepony else's hoof found its way to Twilight's as Nurse Tenderheart kept her attention. "Snowheart!" Nurse Redheart's thundering voice seemed to make the lights shake. "Tell Rainbow Dash to leave and then get in here, I require your assistance!" Twilight's head fell back into a pillow as her eyes fluttered shut. "Twilight? Twilight, dear, can you still hear me? I think we're losing her!" The hoof in Twilight's grasp gently tightened. "Not while I'm here. Get another saline bag and the oxygen. And for Sun Butt's sake, get Nurse Snowheart in here!" *Blip* *Blip* White trusses lined the ceiling above Twilight. A hand soon leered over her grasped down around the casing and then simply moved her along. *Blip* The motion continued upward until Twilight came face to face with a young woman. Her smile broke as her eyebrows raised under her blonde curls. "Oh, are you buying this for your little sister?" A deep voice resounded across from her. "Nnope, I'm getting it for a friend of mine." 'What, am I being purchased? That can't be right...' One of the girl's eyebrows found it's way halfway up her forehead as the other squished a light blue eye. "Uh huh..." "That's not a big deal, right, miss?" Her eyes closed and she shook her head slightly. "Whatever, man." She placed Twilight down facing herself. The girl was wearing some sort of blue apron with a name tag that read ‘Veronica’. "Your total is seven fifty-three, would you like a bag?" 'This has to be a mistake, ponies shouldn't be bought and sold. How could she, doesn't she see I'm alive? I'm right here!' "No, thanks. Uh, oops, I left my wallet in the car. Do you mind?" "There's no one else in line, go ahead." A muttered 'thanks' managed to reach Twilight's hearing. Her gaze started to wander, glazing over a plethora of brightly colored products on a multitude of racks before settling on the bright screen next to the girl. It was covered in lights, buttons, and what looked like a receipt. Her heart sank with the realization. 'I'm a toy...' A shorter girl with a mop of straight brown hair and the same apron slunk around the corner. "What's going on over here?" "Some guy is buying a pony." She sighed pushing her curls out of her face to rub her forehead before seeing the other's quizzical look. "I think he's one of those weird 'Brony' guys." 'Now, where would they have heard that slang? I only hear Shining call his buddies that.' The shorter girl was finishing an exaggerated pouting motion while Twilight was thinking. "He seemed sort of cute, though. You should ask him out." Very unladylike laughter broke from the first girl. "Right, I'll just go ahead and do that when the Autobots start wearing pink aprons and baking cakes." She giggled some more as the brunette gave her a smirk and waved a hand. 'What in Equestria? What's an 'Autobot'?' "I don't know about that," the second girl winked as she edged back around the corner, "I think Optimus Prime making cupcakes in a french maid outfit would be damn sexy." 'These humans are weirder than I remember.' A flickering of something dark and shadowy darted through Twilight's concentration, making her feel removed from her confines. *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* Twilight's heartbeat pulsed through her ears in time with the rhythmic tone. There was an even pressure against most of her body. Rainbow Dash and Rarity could barely be heard engaging in the harsh whisper of an argument with a third mare. Something slipped on Twilight's head and Applejack's warm smile greeted her as she opened her eyes. "Hey, there, sugah'cube. We're all mighty glad to see yer all righ'." She reached up and adjusted something on Twilight's head before holding her left hoof again. Twilight swallowed hard and winced after releasing a muffled grunt. "Shoosh," Applejack gently rubbed her hoof, "ya don't have tah say nothin'." Her warm smile and bright emerald eyes beneath that tousled mane put Twilight's mind at ease. 'Thanks, Applejack.' She smiled slightly with a nod as she squeezed her friend's hoof back. Wrinkles formed in the stiff hospital sheets as Twilight shifted her gaze around the room. "Get Well Soon" was plastered in bright letters on the face of several balloons. Tangled pink hair at the foot of her hospital bed obscured Fluttershy's face as her ears twitched slightly between quiet sobs. Cupcakes with three different shades of purple frosting were set on a silver platter atop a dresser in the far corner of the room. Pinkie Pie's straightened mane cast a shadow across the right side of the hospital bed in the orange glow of the evening sun. As Twilight's gaze settled upon her, Pinkie's muzzle perked up into a small, sad smile before she spoke, "Hey, Twilight, it just wouldn't be a party without you." Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. 'Oh, Pinkie Pie, I'm so sorry.' Pinkie carefully wrapped Twilight's hoof in her own as it was feebly stretched towards her. 'I didn't mean to make any of you worry.' Fluttershy's silent fit of coughing snapped Twilight's attention to the end of her bed. Ignoring the spasming protests of her bandaged leg, she stretched out to gently nudge her friend's hooves. Wet pink hair dangled as Fluttershy simply recoiled further into her own embrace. "Don't hurt yerself trying, Twi." Applejack lightly rubbed her hoof while her caring demeanor took on a more somber manner. "She plain won't listen and won't quit blaming herself fer not going with you an' Spike earlier." Twilight winced at the ball of a weeping pegasus. "Ah know, ye didn' want anypony else there in case things went sour, but ye know how much we worry about ye when ye go off and do things like that." Sheets covering the wounded alicorn's body were thoroughly examined on the side opposite applejack. 'I do know, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I ever let another pony get hurt. How could I live with myself if any of you were injured because of me? Spike's a tough little dragon, he's stronger than I let him know, but we're just ponies...' The quartet stayed like that for a time, as if they were objects of affection on a canvas hidden in the studio of a maddeningly depressed artist. All the calm and quiet in the room didn't prevent the argument on the other side of the door from reaching its apex. "No," Rainbow Dash blurted out, "you don't get to tell me 'no'!" Fluttershy's sobbing intensified with the involuntary shivers that coursed through her body. "Well, excuse me for doing my job!" The huffing of Nurse Redheart made Pinkie close her eyes and bring Twilight's hoof to her forehead. "But you! Oh, you're in here every other week because you're such a thick-headed mare. Don't tell me how to do my job when you can't even take of yourself!" Applejack cast a worried glance towards Pinkie when she began rocking herself before shifting her gaze towards the door as Rainbow Dash whinnied indignantly. "Now, now, Rainbow, you know I agree with you," Rarity cut in, but anger fringed her words, "but we need to stay calm and have this conversation like mature adults." A curt snarl from Rainbow Dash silenced Rarity with a squeak. "Mature adults!? forget that, I want answers! That's our friend in there and I, at least, care if there's something we can do to help! Why is she so unresponsive? Give her some of my blood if she needs it, I know our antigens don't match, but she's lost so much that she won't produce the cells to fight it!" Derisive laughter heralded Nurse Redheart's reply. "Seriously? I already gave her some of my own after I stopped most of the bleeding. Snowheart and Tenderheart have already gone through our records to find suitable donors." "If you're so good at your job why is she still in such bad shape? Do you even care about your patients!?" "That's it! I will not tolerate personal attacks! Leave my hospital this instant!" Utterances formed and died in Rainbow's throat during which Rarity seized the opportunity to diffuse the situation. "Come now, Rainbow, we wouldn't want to make Twilight's head nurse any angrier than she already is." Rainbow audibly seethed with frustration. "That's final, let's go before she decides to not even bother helping Twilight." With a groan of disgust from Redheart the flapping of wings accompanied four sets of hooves as those involved in the argument dispersed. 'Well, I can't say I didn't expect that to happen.' Pinkie's rocking motion stopped and she placed Twilight's hoof back on the bed while Fluttershy returned to her quiet sobbing. "Listen, Twi," she looked up at Applejack, "ol' Redheart is doing the best she can. I'm sure yer gonna be right as rain thanks to her." The only response the cowpony got was the look of Twilight's eyes glazing over as her head slowly fell to the side. "Twilight? Ah, shoot..." Broken was the caring embrace shared by their hooves as Applejack ran towards the door. 'No, please come back...' was all Twilight could think before the shadow overtook her mind again. Clear material obscured Twilight's vision while a low mechanical hum and soft music crept into her hearing. A faint momentum interrupted by intermittent bumps occasionally moved her around. Two particularly resounding thumps sent Twilight jostling into the air before the container she was in settled on its back, affording her a better view of where she was. Leafless trees flew by beyond the panes of rain-streaked glass. The sky beyond them was dark save for the occasional yellow-orange orb that flew by. There was a male in a rainbow-streaked blue shirt holding the steering wheel and humming along with the music as his sharp brown eyes darted over whatever was on the other side of the window. Loud jingling notes sounded near Twilight, prompting the person to send his hand shuffling around her prison before picking up a cell phone. He gazed at it for a few seconds with an audible grunt before flicking it open and holding it on his shoulder. "Hello, there, hot stuff." The voice on the other end of the conversation was barely audible, but Twilight could tell there was another person speaking. "Yes, of course I picked up the phone while I was driving... No, I wouldn't want to ignore a phone call from you... Yes, I'm on my way home from the store, I was getting a gift for a friend of mine... No, it's not porn, I got him a little figure of his favorite pony... Yes, I know you want to talk about this, but right now I'm driving, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?... All right, good night, dear... dear?" He removed the phone and looked at it before grunting again and tossing it back next to Twilight. "Bleh, women..." 'Hey! I resent that!' Darkness began creeping into the edges of her vision before swirling like a fog. 'Uh oh, this is new... wait a minute, did we stop? Why can't I feel the car moving?' The human's hand hit the center of the steering wheel while his mouth formed empty words. 'Well, I hope I wake back up in the hospital this time.' Her hazy vision flashed a dull blue before Twilight was overcome with a tugging sensation.
Reflections of TwilightA spotless hospital room surrounded Twilight when she woke. There weren't any pictures on the walls, any "get well" cards sitting atop her nightstand, or any "Get Well Soon" balloons littering the ceiling. A sterile sheen reflected the dim lights above the bed in the middle of the room. 'Huh, maybe the nurses told Pinkie she couldn't leave anything behind, but that's kind of strange.' A quick glance towards the window left Twilight blinking a few times. 'Okay, I'm pretty sure blinds would have been fine. What did they do, tape a big black sheet of paper across the outside of my window?' Her hoof absentmindedly found its way to the underside of her muzzle and began scratching a nonexistent itch. 'That's sort of an odd thing to-' Twilight immediately froze for a brief second before holding her hoof out in front of her nose. "Wait... this is my hoof, isn't it?" She flexed and wiggled it back and forth. 'I thought I was covered in bandages.' Upon looking down, she immediately rubbed both of her hooves all around and over her coat before inspecting a spot where she remembered Nurse Redheart had pulled something out. 'Nothing?' Something ghostly nipped on the edges of her hearing, sending Twilight's ears frantically flicking back and forth. The sound grew into a whisper, "Princess... Sparkle..." Twilight coughed lightly before speaking. "Hello? Is somepony there? If I'm okay, when will I be allowed to leave the hospital?" It grew louder still, casting reverberations around the room as it took the form of a regal mare's voice. "Princess Sparkle... thou are not... in a hospital... here..." "Here? Where is here?" Stiff sheets crinkled as they were pulled back before Twilight stretched a leg out to gingerly push against the floor. 'It doesn't seems like it hurts... have I been in a coma or am I that heavily medicated?' The door was only a few strides away from the side of the bed before Twilight had the doorknob firmly in her grasp. She gave it a good, firm twist before it effortlessly detached from the door in her hoof. 'What?' Falling from Twilight's hold, the brass knob was sent soundlessly skittering along until it vanished underneath the bed without so much as a "clink" or a "thud". 'No, that can't be right. Doorknobs don't do that.' Her wings flared open when she tripped over her own hooves in a mad dash towards the window. Orchid magic blasted the latch off the window just before her hooves grabbed it and wrenched it upward. With a squeak and a loud crack, the window came free and slammed into the top of its frame with the rattle of glass panes. Twilight reached forth to tear away whatever was obstructing her view, but her hooves were met with empty air. Edges of her mane began curling upon themselves as a twitch started in her left eye. "Silly me! It's not like there's really anything there, I'm just looking out at nothing, there's no Ponyville... here..." Her wings softly folded back against her sides when her gaze transfixed on what she thought was the horizon. The errant purple mane fell limply as her brow furrowed. "Looking at nothing... nothing... just an empty abyss..." Patterns began to swirl like ripples in an endless sea of darkness. "I'm... not here." The words were like rocks she had to spit out as the room flickered slightly with every syllable. "I'm not really here in Ponyville hospital." The tiled floor beneath her hooves began disappearing along with the rest of the room as slowly as it had taken her to come to her conclusion. Spastic movements that didn't amount to anything more than hoof waving and wing flapping accompanied the bared teeth beneath Twilight's grimace for a few moments. They eventually slowed with the realization that the strange feeling of wayward weightlessness had returned to her. She blinked a few times before looking around. 'Great,' a sigh escaped her muzzle, 'and here I am, back in this weird place again.' That ghostly purple tendril had also appeared, snaking from her stomach into the void like a tether. "Princess Sparkle... will Us to thee..." The words seemed hollow as they echoed repeatedly in the silence. Twilight snorted her response, "Yes, hello, miss voice. I'm just absolutely peachy, thanks for asking. It's not like I'm stuck somewhere I don't want to be with no discernable way to get home!" "Enough," resounded the voice's demonic echo. Twilight winced and held herself, waiting until it continued in a softer tone. "Will Us to thee..." "Look, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what's going on here." Twilight applied a generous amount of force into massaging either side of her head. "Maybe if I knew what was happening or who you were I'd be able to help you." She closed her eyes for a moment and kept her hooves still. "As it stands, I don't even know how to help my self." There was a slight tug on Twilight's stomach. 'And now I'm feeling things, great.' It was forcefully jerked a few times before Twilight opened her eyes. Clear wisps swirled around the magical tendril that snaked away from her. Twilight blinked before rubbing her eyes and staring again. "Will Us to thee..." Her eyes squinted slightly as Twilight tilted her head. "What are you?" Dark blue faintly flashed throughout the wisps. "Wait a minute... is that... Princess Luna?" A small dull sapphire mare coalesced from the darkening trails of blue to hang onto Twilight's tether. She wasn't wearing any of her royal regalia and her normally billowing mane of stars was replaced with a fluffy mane of light blue. Twilight covered her gasp with a hoof. "Oh, princess, I'm sorry for being so rude! But, why do you look- I mean, what are you doing here?" "My sister received an urgent letter from Spike, informing Us of thy most unfortunate accident." Luna began pulling herself towards Twilight along the magical tether. "We arrived posthaste to assist thee in any way." "But, forgive me, princess, where is 'here'?" Shivers were sent through the snaking tendril as Luna stopped for a moment. "We know naught of where or what this place claims to be, but We possess a few theories." One of Twilight's ears twitched before the other as she paused to scratch the side of her muzzle. "If neither you or I knows where we are, how did you find me?" "Twas verily simple, Twilight, We merely followed thy trail." Luna gestured, sending vibrations through the tether with a wiggle that tickled Twilight's stomach. "Then you know what's going on?" "Nay, though, We can assure thee, thy body remains perfectly safe." Twilight's twitching eye didn't catch Luna's attention as she resumed pulling herself closer. "However, We suspect Nurse Redheart to be right in her concern over the irregularities regarding neural activity and-" "WHAT!?" Twilight's hooves held her temples while her wings began flapping wildly. "What's wrong with my brain!? I knew it! I'm going to be a pony vegetable!" "We said nothing of the sort." Luna shook her head as Twilight began fidgeting. "Then I'm going to paralyzed from the withers down, or not be able to feed myself, or I'm going to be blind!" Twilight's features softened as her outline began shrinking. Black speckling appeared on Luna's chest while her mane began shifting. "Twilight Sparkle, you will be fine, just calm down." Twilight gripped harder at the sides of her head and began thrashing to and fro as her wings slowly faded. "This is going to be worse than Magic Kindergarten!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. The speckling along Luna's chest grew wider as it spread throughout the rest of her coat. "Heed Our words!" Her pupils narrowed to slits. "How am I going to raise Spike? How am I going to do anything with my friends?" A loud gasp escaped Twilight as she momentarily stopped. "How am I going to read books!?" She resumed her erratic thrashing as she started reaching the size of a filly. An animalistic roar rang out in the darkness as Luna closed the distance between them with a lunge, fangs bared. Twilight flinched to Luna's touch as she was swiftly scooped up in one fluid motion, condemning her inane sobbing to a quiet sniffle. "Hush now, my little pony, thou shalt be well soon enough." Her cool blue hair framed her soft smile, urging Twilight to snuggle against her flawless sapphire coat. They stayed that way for a time, the forlorn princess of the night consoling the small bundle of purple hair and fur. Not a single utterance made itself known until the steady beating of a heart pulsed through the tether between them. Twilight gazed up to Luna with veined eyes, "What happens now?" "It appears Our dear sister hath finished the spell." Luna's caring expression was replaced with more serious demeanor. "Hold fast, Twilight Sparkle, We would not wish to be left here as thou were." Little purple hooves firmly wrapped around her neck before the space between them shone with a brilliant light. Twilight's wings jutted out to their full width as she awoke with a gasp and lurched forward. Ceiling lights blinded her before she halted her motion with another short gasp caused by the protestations beneath her bandages. She hunched over slightly and closed her eyes as a massive headache formed under her horn. "Twilight! Goodness, you're all right!" Celestia's words sounded muffled to Twilight's left as she felt a pressure in her eardrums like she was submerged in water. A ruffling of wings and sharp intake of breath sounded to her right. "You've made it back alive as well. Please, never scare me like that again." Luna violently coughed before petitely clearing her throat. "Yes, sister, We told thee that it was the only way to let thy spell reach her." Twilight softly folded her wings back to her side with a wince. "I do remember our 'discussion' quite well and you know that it could've ended much worse." Plush Feathers tickled Twilight's as a wing draped across her back like a blanket. "Are you truly with us again, Twilight Sparkle?" A simple nod was enough to placate the princess. 'Just please tell me I'm done with the whole thing.' Various beeps sounded before Luna addressed Celestia, "Everything is as We suspected." Twilight slowly laid herself back against her pillows. 'I just want to go home and curl up with a nice book.' "Surely, you can't mean that?" Faint traces of magic washed around Twilight. 'Maybe grab that semester 6 microbiology book that Spike used to level the table.' "Regardless, twould be most wise to let her rest now that We hath secured it where it belongs." 'Or maybe not, a picture book sounds wonderful.' "Yes, of course, Luna. You are right. We will let her rest now that she is no longer in danger." Clacking accompanied the princesses to the door before they stopped. The pillow gave way with a soft 'pomf' as Twilight gingerly pulled the sheets around herself. 'I wonder if Rainbow Dash will read something to me.' Celestia turned to look at her student under Luna's gaze. A smile spread across her muzzle after she heard Twilight's delicate snores. One of the cupcakes shimmered a brilliant gold as it was levitated towards the doorway. Luna blinked at the wayward sweetmeat as it floated past her. "Sister, thou aren't truly considering consuming such sugary foods at such a late hour, are thou?" "Hush, Luna, I'm merely checking to be sure that our friend Pinkie's cupcakes are within regulations." Celestia leaned forward to take a bite. The cupcake's frosting smudged as the golden shimmer was overtaken by a shield of cobalt before floating out the door before Luna. "If such practices must be observed to protect her let Us be sure of its quality." Crumbs and little swatches of purple frosting stuck to Luna's muzzle as she voraciously attacked the cupcake. "Mmm, yes, dear sister," She called back from the hallway, "feasting on such sweetmeats is highly advisable." A small snicker escaped her immaculate white muzzle as Celestia turned towards her slumbering friend. It grew into a soft smile as she watched the bedsheets slowly rise and fall a few times before Twilight sighed in her sleep. Golden shimmers encased another cupcake and followed Celestia out the door which slowly closed with a gentle 'click'. Moonlight bathed the hallway in firm but delicate shadows around Spike as he tiptoed through the hospital. Everything was quiet, save for the faint sounds of equipment monitoring the health of different ponies. Even the unavoidable clacking of his claws hitting the hard, white tile floor and occasional brush of fabric as he carried Miss Smartypants seemed insignificant compared to the calm of night. A door loomed in front of him, indistinguishable from the rest if not for a numbered plaque adorning the wall next to it, finally marking his destination. Spike gently reached up, twisted the door handle, and let the door rock away from him. Green lines sharply spiking from left to right on the heart rate monitor caught Spike's attention as it cast its glow, marring the room with a green hue from its stop atop an array of machines. He turned his attention to the solitary bed standing in the middle of the room and the steady breathing of its occupant. Slowly and surely, Spike made his way towards the right of the hospital bed and silently climbed up into the sheets. Twilight recoiled slightly with a stifled snore when Spike snuggled himself and Miss Smartypants in between the sheets and Twilight's forehooves. He pulled at the sheets and shifted himself closer to her. "Sheesh, Twilight, What would you do without me?" He propped his head up lightly on the edge of the pillow as he faced away from Twilight and closed his eyes. Purple eyelids parted for a moment as a small smile found its way to Twilight's face. 'I hope we never find out, Spike, I hope we never find out...' The duo laid there in the soft moonlight, waiting for sleep to overtake them.
