Returning with Purpose

Twilight had been hoping that her other friends would show up to this party of Pinkie's, but instead she'd spent half the night alone in Rarity's boutique. She'd cleaned everything up to pass the time, worrying the entire time. She was concerned for the three friends she'd seen today, but she was starting to worry something had happened, something that may have affected all her friends. It was just a feeling, but it was a strong one.

Discord maybe? There was the time that he turned all of her friends against the Elements which they embodied. Maybe he was trying something else this time.

As she wrapped up her cleaning, she discovered something else amiss. Once all of the party supplies and food were gone, the boutique was empty. Not one outfit, not a scrap of cloth or ribbon. Her chest of gemstones was gone, as was most of her furniture. It looked as though Rarity was moving out, but there were no boxes. There is definitely something going on here.

Outside, the moon was high in the sky. She was tired, but a life of study had involved more that one all-nighter. Sleep could wait until after she found out what was the matter with her friends. She'd start by finding Rarity.

Twilight spent over an hour flying around town trying to find her friend before she realized how futile it was. If she was indoors, she'd never see her. And it was the middle of the night, so there was nopony to ask if they had seen her.

Sighing, she turned and glided toward Sugarcube Corner, which wasn't too far away. She could at least make sure that Pinkie had arrived home safely and was sleeping. After that, she would see if Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were home so she could make sure they were alright.

Before even arriving at the sweets shop over which Pinkie lived, Twilight had cause for worry. Several lights were on. She had hoped everypony would be asleep by now. Landing at the front door, she could hear faintly the sound of the twins crying. Maybe the babies had woken up their parents and that was all. Maybe Pinkie was sleeping right through the noise. Twilight knocked on the door, paused, knocked again. Deciding that she would be forgiven for coming inside uninvited, she entered the shop. Nopony was in the shop proper of course, they would all be upstairs. Closing the door behind her, she found her way to the stairs. Ascending, she called ahead so as not to startle the Cakes. "Hello? It's just me, Twilight. I came to check on Pinkie."

Mrs. Cake appeared from the twins' room. Her distress was written across her face, quashing any hope Twilight had that things were alright with Pinkie. Mrs. Cake started rambling as soon as she saw her. "Oh Twilight, I'm so glad you're here. We just didn't know what to do with Pinkie! Applejack brought her here but Pinkie just sat on her bed and laughed. At first we were just annoyed because she woke the twins, but then we got frightened because she wouldn't stop, not even to talk to us. She just kept laughing, looking at us like we should be laughing too. My husband and Applejack took her to the hospital. Please Twilight go help her!"

Twilight stared at Mrs. Cake for a long moment as she tried to process all this. "O-of course! I'll go right now! Thank you, Mrs. Cake." Twilight hurried outside and flew off in the direction of Ponyville Hospital.

Twilight approached the hospital so quickly she nearly crash-landed in front of it's doors. Bursting inside, she ran up to the front desk. "My friend is..."

The nurse on duty nodded. "Of course Princess. I assume you're here about your three friends. The doctor wanted to see you about them as soon as possible." Before Twilight could voice any questions, the nurse ushered her through a door to the waiting doctor.

"Ah, Princess. It's fortunate I didn't have to send someone out to find you."

"What happened to my friends??"

The doctor began walking down the hall, Twilight following. "As for Applejack and Pinkie, they're both safe. Although given their behaviour I decided to place the both of them in our psychiatric ward."

"I heard from Mrs. Cake what happened with Pinkie, but what did Applejack do? She seemed okay...ish when I saw her earlier."

"Based on Mr. Cake's story, her behaviour changed as they carried Pinkie here. By the time they were at our doors, she had become unresponsive. Now she alternates between listening to something that isn't there and making statements about various residents of Ponyville. I can't verify the truth of most of these statements, since they generally involve facts that the pony in question would keep secret."

"She did say a couple of things she shouldn't have when I talked to her today... But what's causing this?"

"That's why I wanted to get in touch with you, Ms. Sparkle. I am in the process of running tests, but I suspect it's something magical in nature. A curse or somesuch. You being the resident expert on magic, I was hoping you could help. Especially considering the... self-destructive nature of what Rarity has done."

"Rarity! So she's here... Is she in the psychiatric ward too?"

"No... I'm afraid she's in our recovery ward. Earlier today she came in to donate blood, which we're always grateful for. Ponyville has an excellent safety record but accidents do happen. Well, after we were finished she asked how long she would have to wait before donating again. We told her that she should wait at least two months, which she seemed very disappointed to hear, but I didn't think anything of it. Now here is where I made a mistake that I must apologize for, Ms. Sparkle. After we had set the equipment aside, the nurse and I were called away for an emergency. We left Rarity alone in that room. She had been paying attention to how the equipment worked, because after we left she set everything up again and began drawing more of her own blood. She... nearly killed herself."

Twilight was beginning to shake. "But she'll be okay, right?"

"Physically, yes. There will be some significant recovery time, but she'll recover. Mentally... Well, your friends' new behaviours seem quite sudden, so I'm going to assume for the time being that it's magic. We'll ensure their safety, I promise. I'm going to ask you to try to discover a cause for this. I have great faith in your capabilities, Princess."

Twilight calmed somewhat, having the problem reduced to something she was familiar with: research. "Y-yes! I've saved my friends before, I can do it again. Let's go have a look at them first, then I'll go to my library."

The doctor had been leading them toward Rarity's room as they spoke, and he showed her in. Rarity was lying unconscious, an IV line in her foreleg. Twilight approached her, wondering what she could find out here. She leaned in close, wracking her brain for any spells she knew which might identify a curse. As she leaned in, Rarity's eyes snapped open, startling Twilight into backing away.

The eyes in Rarity's face were not her own. They were swirling pools of sickly greens and purples, less eyes than holes into someplace else. It was almost painful to look into them, but even without looking Twilight was sure they were looking directly at her. Rarity's mouth opened and issued forth a noise. The noise struck her in waves, nauseating her. It wasn't speech, but some part of her understood it as speech.

[Ah, Nova. You're late. Can you not be troubled to protect the Elements anymore?]

"Nova...? I'm not-"

[Don't.] This dismissive statement came with a particularly strong pulse of the noise. Twilight heard the doctor behind her flee. [You may have changed your appearance, but I can feel the Elements of Harmony connected through you. Weak as I sense you've become, you cannot hide your nature from me. You are the Element that completes the other five, you are Aurora Nova.]

The noise made Twilight want to cower or run, but she stood strong. "Yes, I am the bearer of the sixth Element, the Element of-"

[I don't care. You're telling me things I already know. What I did care to discover is that you have little control over the Elements anymore. See how easily I have caused them to spin out of control? See how this one was so generous as to give her very life's blood? The one who can do nothing but laugh at the world around her? The one who can only speak the truths that I whisper to her?]

Twilight allowed the presence, whatever it was, to gloat. The more it talked the more she would learn and the better her chances of stopping it...

[And Kindness! You used magic to warp her form once before, then you had the shear arrogance of setting a chaos spirit to protect her! His magic comes from my realm. The results of my magic mingling with yours in that Element were... surprising. And pleasing. Go on, find your other two Elements. Bring them together. I'll allow you that small comfort as I breach this world of yours. You can't stop me this time, Nova. You're to weak now.]

Rarity's eyes returned to normal as they closed. The last echo of the noise ceased, leaving the room silent but for Twilight's ragged breathing. Resisting the effects of that sound had strained her immensely. She stumbled away from the bed and vomited in the corner of the room. Then she shook her head and steeled herself. "Get it together, Twilight. Your friends are counting on you." She galloped out of the room, down the hall past the cowering doctor. She was sure that once he recovered he would look after his friends as he'd promised. For now she had to find her two pegasus friends.