Chapter 5: The magic of modern medicine (also known as Rainbow Rōcks)

It was all like a bad dream, she wasn't even sure she was the same pony for a second. "Why of course, Scootaloo! And I'll win the race again, just like at the sports party!" Where was her style? Where was her pizzazz? Where was her darling accent? Why did she sound like a vapid valley girl instead of her proper, and elegant Hungarian accent? And why was she even talking about sports parties? This wasn't her Scootaloo, why did she think it even was?

Her head felt like it was going to explode. She'd been having this problem since Minty's little accident on Christmas, but it just got worse, and worse, and worse! Oh dear, was Pinkie also having these? Or, that darling, Minty? Or was she the only one cursed with this? In any event here she was with her eyes filled with green, and her head feeling like it was in the process of exploding.

Why were all the ponies around her looking at her like that? They all began to back away, asking her questions with concerned faces? All the ponies around her were talking to her, but she couldn't understand them. Their voices sounded slow and tinny. Why couldn't she understand them? Why was she increasingly unable to see them?

"What's ... wrong ... Dash?" A young pegasus said, whom she, for some reason, mistook for her Scootaloo. She wanted to call out, and say she's ok; but she was unable too. All she could do was watch on, losing ever more control of her faculties.

"Ah've ... seen her ... this way before!" A young earth pony said. Why couldn't she understand them? Why did nothing make any sense? Why did she both want to giggle and cry at the same time?

Her headache kept getting worse and worse, and her field greener and greener, until she felt a hand touch her shoulder, or was that someone's hoof?

The next thing she knew, she awoke in a hospital room. Staring at the most tacky green ceiling. And she didn't even want to get started on the blue walls. What was this: Minty's house? And was she wearing the most frightful green outfit? In the corner she could see Twilight talking to a unicorn with an amber coat, and a dark brown mane -- sporting the symbol of some kind of medical something or another. What were they talking about? She heard her name coming up a lot. "Did she hit her muzzle on the ground during the accident that took her wings?" She hated being stuck here, especially when she and Rarity were on the verge of completing a work of brilliance. "No! This is not my Rainbow Dash, it's another one -- Yes I'm not crazy!" The doctor held his hoof to her mouth. "Shh... She's waking up!"

The doctor walked up wearing the most convincing smile. Maybe she was imagining things? "Hello again Rainbow Dash! So you seem to be under the weather slightly?" The doctor asked, with a chuckle. "What seems to be the matter Rainbow Dash? Trying another one of your reckless stunts! You remember what happened last time right? Are you suffering from a bad case of lazy-pony-itus again?" He said, with a sarcastic smile.

She would need to talk to that really real for real pegasus Rainbow Dash! That pony was making as much a mockery of her good name as the pegasus felt she of hers. Nevertheless, she should answer the doctor's question. "I'm not really sure, darling." She said, with a sigh. "I've been having the worst trouble remembering things, and when I do my memories make no sense, like I'm remembering for three different ponies." She said, beginning to feel the migraine returning. "And then, I suddenly start seeing green, and the next thing I know, I'm in here!" She said, starting to remember all the episodes yesterday, and the migraines before that. "And what's worse is that I've been having these for days, darling! But never before! I'm almost thirteen, darling!"

The doctor and Twilight looked at each other, both mouthing the words "almost thirteen?" The statement seemed absurd as the pony before them was almost as tall, if not slightly taller than Twilight's original unicorn form.

Rainbow continued, unaware of what the doctor and Twilight were saying. "There's no reason for me to be suddenly having these kinds of problems!" She said, with belligerence -- she didn't want to be here, she wanted to be out with that Rarity finishing her masterpiece! Or maybe out shopping for more fine fashion to bring back to her shop in her Ponyville! But what else was she going to do, she collapsed into a heap right in front of her new friends -- how embarrassing!

The doctor only chuckled. "So what stunt were you trying to do when you hit your head?" He asked, ribbing his patient, before turning to Twilight -- his face filled with skepticism. "So you say this isn't our Rainbow Dash, but rather an earth pony?" He said, to vehement nodding from Twilight. "And furthermore that the reason she's here is because she suffered a magic burst?" He said, looking at Twilight, as if she should be the one being checked out.

Twilight, however, was undeterred. "Yes doctor! Just as I said, the mayor can back me up! I spent the better part of yesterday trying to undo the after effects of her magic burst!" She said, her tone starting to get a little more sharp, as the doctor seemed to express ever more cynicism.

The doctor turned to her, and gave her a sour expression. "A magic burst? You realize she's a regular earth pony right?" He said, inhaling for a longer rant.

Twilight shook her head. "Yeah I know what you are thinking, but it's the only logical explanation!" She said, increasing the authority in her voice. "And from -- "

The doctor held his hoof to her muzzle. "But that's not possible!" he said, speaking the words slowly and fully enunciating each one. "If she was a unicorn, I could fully buy it -- after all you've had more than a few over the years, from what I've heard, and cases of magic bursts in powerful unicorns are well documented! I might even buy it if she was a pegasus." He said, taking a minute to start cleaning his glasses. "But then only theoretically so. Remember magic bursts require a built up of magic! And earth ponies pull their magic from the same source they channel it too!" He said, walking over to the other side of the room -- behind the curtain -- and taking a look at the note on the bed (it said Minty, and included what they knew of her condition and history.) "This means that either they don't have any magic, or they have properly grounded magic -- they can't have one but not the other!" He said, returning to the side of the bed. "This makes the buildup of magic necessary to produce a magic burst impossible."

Twilight remained ever vehement. "But she did doctor!" She said, practically begging the doctor to believe her.

The doctor sighed -- only because this was a princess. "Ok!" He said. "I'll take your word for it, but before I do so, Let me test one more thing though." He said, leaving the room behind for a couple of minutes, before returning with a strange crystal. "Now Rainbow." He said, looking into the earth pony's eyes. "I'm going to hold this crystal up in front of you. You shouldn't feel anything." He said, holding one hoof next to some kind of panic button.

She stared at the crystal for a second. Was this crystal supposed to check her harmonic energies or something? Maybe make sure her Feng Shui was in balance? She continued to wonder until the waves of shooting pain started. "AHHHH!!!!" She started screaming uncontrollably -- it felt like that crystal was going to rend her body in half! "Oh darling, what is it?" She asked, begging the doctor -- with her eyes -- to take that horrible thing away. "And why do I feel ill?" She asked, feeling like her head was starting to explode again.

The more pain she got, the more something hidden in her head began to reveal. Before her she saw scenes from her dream. The chimera again, the bug foals. A voice began to taunt her in her head, speaking a rhyme.

"Let's have some fun!
After all, my day's just begun!
Of love you won't feed! -- "

"NOOOOO!!!!!" She screamed, feeling like she was going to die.

Slowly but surely the crystal began to glow an eerie color, changing color from a light blue to a dark blue to a bright red. Before long steam started to rise from it.

"OUCH!!!" The doctor shouted, as he was forced to throw the crystal to the ground, shattering it before his eyes.

If she could she would apologize, saying how sorry she was. Instead she was sitting there, her vision filled with green, and her head practically exploding like an over-ripe melon hit with a sledge hammer.

In her blurry field of vision she could see the doctor and Twilight scrambling around, for some reason. What was going on? Why were they reacting this way? Why couldn't they tell her what was going on? Could she even tell herself what was going on?

finally she felt the tap on her shoulder again, and everything began to clear up. Why were all these ~~horned ponies~~ 'unicorns' horns glowing? Were they doing something to her? And why was the orchid colored nurse with the mulberry mane holding that tiny little ring in her mouth? Why wasn't she carrying it in her hooves like a normal pony?

"Ok..." The doctor sighed. "This is not going to work." He said, turning to the princess. "I guess you were right about the whole magic burst thing." He said, blushing slightly, rubbing his hoof against his other leg -- this was unheard of and medically impossible, wasn't it? "Now could you maybe go and see if you can find an inhibitor in those books of yours, at the Golden Oaks, that can fit an earth pony?" He said, with a frown.

Twilight simply nodded, galloping off at high speeds. It looked like she already knew where she was going to get one from.

The doctor could tell right now that today was going to be a pain in the neck. He wondered if he should have taken that vacation week after all (he was sure his wife would have preferred it that way.)

********

This was most assuredly not the way Rainbow wanted to spend her day: waiting in a hospital room for observation, while waiting for the doctors to come back with lord knows what. Rainbow sighed, apparently she was supposed to stay in this tacky, sad, little room while the doctors found something called an inhibitor that would work on a regular pony -- like her.

Every few minutes a doctor or three would barge into the tiny little room to "siphon off" her "extra magic", she wasn't even aware she even had any magic to begin with! And she certainly didn't know why it needed to be "siphoned", or even what that had to do with her headaches!

Twilight had left some time ago for her princess duties, promising she'd return that afternoon with something to keep her busy. She certainly hoped it wasn't a book from that Darling Doo series that the alicorn kept going on and on and on about (ok Rainbow got the name dead wrong, but it didn't really matter to her, she liked books about fashion, not action) -- it sounded like a total bore, and contained no fashion or Rainbows! Of course, she'd still accept the gift, even a boring book is more interesting than sitting around locked in a tiny room with nothing to do -- she didn't even have any supplies with which to make clothes!

Sometime around seven AM, she could hear hoofsteps outside. And the sound of her door unlocking. Yeah she knew she shouldn't investigate, but it beat the pants off waiting around for the doctors to return. Maybe if she opened the door quietly, and didn't disturb anyone -- then she could take a peek.

Outside the door, a strange pegasus pony could be seen wandering around -- wearing a dour expression. He had the same symbol as that Time Turner pony she had met the other day, and an obviously graying version of his amber coat, but the similarities stopped there, his coat -- though once amber -- had significantly grayed with age, his mane appeared to have mostly gone bald on top, and his hair was long wispy -- and appeared to be carefully brushed back, so as to hide his baldness in back. While Time Turner was young, this stallion appeared to be quite old, and wrinkled -- nearing the end of his days.

And in the second, she recognized him. It didn't seem possible! This looked just like the pony from her dream. But it couldn't be right? Also weren't symbols unique to ponies? So why did this pony have the same one as Time Turner. And the pony in her dream was old -- if he even existed at all -- he would be dead by now, right? She closed the door, her head starting to buzz again. But by the time she opened it again, he was long gone. How could he have vanished in the scant few seconds she had the door closed for? And who was he? Why did she get the impression he wasn't supposed to be at the hospital? And for that matter, why was he snooping around? And why did he disappear? What was he looking for? And why did her door unlock? She asked herself, closing the door again with a sigh.

After a few minutes ,the door began to move again -- and voices could be heard arguing behind it. "Didn't we lock this door this morning?" A stallion asked. "Yes we did doctor, I'm certain of it!" A kind female voice said. "Then why is the door unlocked? She could have gotten out, and those magic bursts of hers could have hurt somepony very, very, badly!" He said, with agitation. "I know doctor." Said another female voice. "But there's nothing we can do about it now! We'll just have to make sure that the lock is working on this door, and utilized next time."

The door opened slowly. And Doctor Stable, and two nurses entered the room. "Sorry about earlier, I don't believe I've properly introduced myself, Ms. Dash: my name is Doctor Stable." He said, with a kind smile. "You gave us quite a scare with that magic burst you had this morning! Are you feeling any better?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Not really, darling! My head is still bugging me, and I swore I saw the strangest thing just before you arrived." She said, thinking about the odd pegasus.

The doctor smiled. "Well you can tell me all about it, in a minute. Let's see if this inhibitor will help you with your headaches, and those meddlesome magic bursts." He said, pulling a large metal ring out of his saddlebag. "Nurses, could you hold her steady while I attach this, thanks?" He asked, while the nurses lightly held her.

He turned to a third nurse. "Could you be so kind as to see if you can find that special bed we talked about?" The nurse nodded before racing off.

"Now this might hurt for just a minute." The doctor said, apologetically as he put the metal ring around her neck, and clamped it in place.

Hurting for just a minute was an understatement. She felt like her whole body was going to tear itself, limb from limb. She started to feel the green coming back, before the pain suddenly stopped, and her headache started to clear. Thank goodness!

The doctor smiled slightly, apparently noticing that her headache had cleared. "Well it looks like that is already helping. You know most unicorns would consider this punishment, as it prevents them from using magic -- but it looks like, for you, it's just what the --" He said, chuckling at his own pun. "Doctor ordered. Now let's see if we can find out what's wrong with your muzzle." He said, with a smile.

He began to feel and prod around her muzzle, apparently looking for something. And he started asking odd questions like: "Have you been having any stuffiness recently?" And "Have you had any pain in your teeth?" And "Has anything bit you in the muzzle recently."

She puzzled to herself. Why was he taking such an interest in her beautiful muzzle? And for that matter, why was everyone's muzzle so much smaller then hers?

The doctor appeared to swallow a sigh. "Well, let me check one more thing!" He said, with a smile. "Could you open your mouth please? I want to take a look around inside, and at your gum line." He said, with a sincere expression, and a hint of perplexion.

"Certainly, darling!" Rainbow said, with a smile.

"Excellent!" The doctor said, looking around in her mouth, and feeling around; before having her close her mouth, and looking at her gum line. After a few seconds, his face began to contort slightly. "Nurse, could you come over here a second?" He asked, turning to the nurse.

"Certainly doctor." She said, dutifully, walking over. "What do you need me to look at doctor?"

"Well, could you take a look here, and tell me what you see?" He said, having the nurse look at the curved side of her muzzle near her incisors. "I just want to make sure I'm not crazy here."

"Of course doctor!" She said, looking around, touching at Rainbow's gums. "That is interesting doctor!" She said, with concern. "Her wolf teeth seem awfully large, especially for a mare, and I don't know what to make of these teeth over here -- I don't believe I've seen any like these before. I'm not a dentist, but shouldn't there be a gap in between these two sets of teeth?"

"Yes, nurse, this is what I'm confused about. If she was a changeling, then I would expect to see large fangs, and a normal earth pony certainly would have smaller wolf teeth -- a normal mare wouldn't have any. And I'm pretty sure these odd teeth don't belong here at all."

The doctor turned to her. "So tell me about your wolf teeth, have you seen a dentist before about these?"

Rainbow quirked her eyebrow. Why were they so interested in her canines? "Excuse me darling, I believe those teeth are called canines -- not wolf teeth -- and I believe that they are used to... Well I don't know what they are for... I suppose they are there to poke food... Like unruly broccoli or something, darling!"

The doctor sighed. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Ms. Rainbow Dash. Do you mind if we schedule an appointment to get a dentist in here later? I want to make sure that your muzzle swelling isn't due to any abscesses. And I want to see if they know if we need to remove these extra mutant teeth -- especially those enlarged wolf teeth."

Rainbow sighed. She had no idea why the doctor was acting this way. Her mouth was completely normal back home! And the dentists raved about her oral health! In any case, she felt she should ask about the pegasus.

"Excuse me, darlings. But do you normally have visitors at this hour?" She asked, with a smile. "I saw a strange pegasus this morning, right before you arrived. And I wanted to know --"

The doctor frowned. "I think you are mistaken Ms. Dash. Visitors aren't allowed at this hour, and if somepony was wandering about just before our arrival we would see him."

"I suppose so! After all -- " Rainbow said, her head starting to spin. She could feel another memory coming on. "Ponies that fly? Now really, darling!" She said, her head beginning to ache again. She could see the green again, for only a second -- and could feel tingling in her neck. After a few frightening minutes, though, the sensation ceased.

"Oh, darling!" Rainbow said. "That was frightful. What just happened!"

The doctor frowned. "Another magic burst, apparently we do need the special bed as well." He said, with a sigh. "Unfortunately, this means that you will need to be bedridden for a few days, until we can find the source of your magic bursts." He said, hovering close to look at the necklace. "It looks like the inhibitor held -- just barely though. It might behoove me to find another one -- just in case!"

Rainbow frowned. Bed ridden!? Because of her Rarity would never finish her order! She was a horrible friend! No! She had to get out of here! She had to help Rarity. She started to open her mouth. "Couldn't I just -- "

The doctor shook his head. "No! Ms. Dash: this is non-negotiable! We can't have you leaving when we can't control these magic bursts! You will have to stay here a few days until we can!" He said, with a stern expression.

"I suppose!" She said, waiting for him and the nurse to leave. She would just have to wait until they got out of range -- then she would find a way out of this trap, and back to the boutique. There's no way she would let Rarity, or fashion itself, be hurt by her absence! And she really couldn't be as sick as they said, right?

********

There was a problem, of course, with finding her way out: which way was out? I mean, it's hard to understand the basic layout of a hospital when you don't have any back home. They didn't even have a doctor back in Ponyville, let alone a hospital (of course this was natural considering that she could count on one hoof the number of times someone got hurt any worse than a scrape or a bruise -- and Kimono always had potions and salves for those.) Of course, she knew better then to enter the doors with the big bold red symbols. So how was she going to get out? Maybe she should try going downstairs? She guessed she was on the second or third floor, after all.

Seeing a bunch of nurses and doctors descending on the floor below -- and the sound of panicking echoing from somewhere within the hospital. She asked herself one very profound question: should she go back to her room? It was number twelve wasn't it? Yeah that sounded about right!

No! She should continue on! She must continue on! Rarity needed her, after all! The boutique needed her! Fashion itself needed her! And she would not let them down! Not while she still breathed -- lord willing! It was at that point that, she asked herself a very important question: when did I get so dramatic? I mean really, darling, I -- along with Pinkie and Kimono -- am one of the thinking ponies!

On the floor below she could see three young fillies towing a fourth in what appeared to be a red wagon. Wait just a second! She recognized that filly -- which was quite impossible, seeing as she had never met her before! But she was certain of it! She was the princess of... somewhere or another! Oh that's right Unicornia! And she was a good friend! And the Crystal Rainbow Princess! But what was she doing here, and why did she look so sick?

Huddled around little Rarity were the three fillies from yesterday: Scootaloo -- whose sister was Cheerilee--; Sweetie Belle -- the small unicorn who was born when two rainbows collided during her spectangularishish outdoors party, and the town baker --; and that young pony filly -- what was her name? Apple Blossom or something. No that can't be right! But this couldn't be her Scootaloo, and she hadn't seen any unicorns before Twilight's friend Rarity! Certainly not any Sweetie Belles! And the town baker was Sweetberry! So what was going on? And why was little Rarity here? Why did she even know this ponies name? And why was she so sure they had met before? Her mentor Cheerilee -- who was definitely not Scootaloo's sister (that was Cheery Blossom) must be worried sick! Had the little foal run off and get herself lost again? Or worse had she run away and gotten herself hurt?

The more she thought about the questions, the more her head hurt. She knew another one of those 'magic bursts' would be on the way if she didn't stop. But she couldn't! Why did nothing make any sense! She was sure that her memories of Sweetie Belle were phony, and she was certain that half of her memories of Scootaloo were bad, but she was certain Unicornia and Rarity were real! But there was no possible way she could have seen either of them yet! And she was sure everyone back in Ponyville would back her up on this and --

"All right!" A very gruff Doctor Stethoscope said, having his nurses push the three fillies off towards the elevator. "I need to know what happened here! And why this young foal looks like a wreck!

"We didn't do nuttin'! Honest!" Apple Bloom said, her face filling with ire. "Ah' promise! An' since mah sister is honesty --" She said, trying to defend her good name (which was hopeless considering how tarnished their names had become through all of their crusading.)

"We'll see about that!" The doctor said gruffly. "Nurses! Take this filly to the ER!" He said, motioning for two of his nurses: a yellow earth pony with a light blue mane, and a orchid earth pony with a mulberry mane. "We need to find out what's going on and quickly!" He said, motioning with his upmost urgency.

"Yes doctor!" Said two of the nurses in unison. 'What were their names again?' Rainbow asked herself. 'Oh that was right: Sweetheart, and Snowheart'. But if they were near-by then that means that probably --

"And you are supposed to be back in your room!" Said an agitated doctor Stethoscope, standing before her -- stamping his hoof. "I've already talked to Doctor Stable about your condition and you supposed to be in your room." He said, motioning sternly with his hoof. "Not wondering around my quiet and well run hospital like some kind of ninja intruder!" Doctor Stethoscope continued, scowling at the fashionable earth pony -- remembering the time that Rainbow's pegasus equivalent had decided to sneak into the hospital to read a book on that Daring Doo pony (obviously a bad influence!)

Looking around, for a second, Doctor Stethoscope absconded Nurse Redheart. "I apologize, nurse, but could you do me a favor and escort Ms. Dash back to her room -- while I find out what these three 'little angels' did to my newest patient?" He said, looking down at the Scootaloo, and friends.

The nurse frowned for a second, either out of pity -- or because of her many duties. "Of course doctor. I'll make sure she gets back to her room."

The doctor smiled, slightly relieved. "Good! Make sure she stays there too!" He said, thinking about the antics her pegasus equivalent would certainly be up to at this point. "Now if you'll excuse me I'll be talking with these three fillies." He stated, his scowl returning -- especially when he noticed that the three fillies had attempted to back away quietly.

Rainbow sighed as the nurse began to slowly herd her away from the door and freedom -- the door growing smaller and smaller before her. While doctor led the crusaders -- as they were called, apparently -- away for 'interrogation'.

********

"You are supposed to be in bed young lady!" The nurse chastised the multicolor earth pony, as she motioned Rainbow back through the door to her room. "We can't have you wandering around the hospital! And the doctor really doesn't feel it prudent for you to leave your bed right now."

"I hear what you are saying, darling -- I really do." Rainbow said, as politely as she was able (which was pretty politely.) "But I still don't see why I'm supposed to stay in bed when this, whatever it is -- " She said, pointing to the ring around her neck."Seems to be doing its job."

The nurse sighed. She really hated to get tough with the patients, their friends, and visitors; but sometimes tough words had to be spoken. "I apologize Ms. Dash! I really do! But the doctor's orders are the doctor's orders. And he's concerned that the inhibitor is only mostly doing its job."

"Inhibitor!" Dash thought to herself. "What could that be?" She thought, completely baffled as to why something would even be called that. "What is an 'inhibitor', darling?" Dash asked the nurse, with apprehension. "And how can it be 'only mostly doing its job'?"

The nurse shook her head. It always surprised her how some ponies missed out on what should be common knowledge items (just ask the frequent foal mother that came in for testing -- unaware of the obvious mechanics of how she got that way. Or the 'extreme sports pony' that she had to treat at least once a week.) "An inhibitor is an artifact used to dampen or completely block unicorn magic. It's normally worn around the horn. " She said, motioning with her hoof like there was an invisible horn above her head. "And is usually used to prevent unicorns from hurting themselves or others with their magic. I've never seen one used on an earth pony before." She said, changing her stance slightly. "You are lucky we found one. Apparently the one you are wearing is an artifact from the interregnum between the third and fourth ages -- a relic of Princess Platina's Kingdom."

"An antique, darling?" Rainbow asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Whatever was it used for?"

The nurse rubbed one of her front legs against the other -- this was going to be hard to explain. "You see... it was used to prevent unruly earth pony surfs from farming, basically a punishment for rebellious surfs."

"Oh dear!" Rainbow said. "Could I get one a little less... um... spooky, darling?" She said, swallowing the horror she was beginning to feel in her heart.

"I wish, but this is the only one of its kind we know of. We are ordering another from an artisan in Vanhoover and we may not get it for a few days." She said, putting her stern face back on. "And we were lucky to even get this one! Apparently your friend Twilight got it from a pegasus author friend of hers, of all ponies! So we need to be extremely careful with it!"

Rainbow sighed. She supposed there might not be a way out of this. "But that still doesn't explain why the bed is special darling, couldn't I just wear this spooky -- something or another, and go about my business?" She said, looking at the boring bed in the corner. "It is, after all, only a normal bed."

The nurse sighed, she expected this question. "Actually, Ms. Rainbow, this isn't a normal bed. It's frame is made from Loadstone, which absorbs magical energy. We had to have an artisan make this specially for you."

"Why so, darling? Isn't this 'inhibitor' or whatever it's called good enough?" She asked, with genuine curiosity.

"Unfortunately not." The nurse said, with a frown -- she normally preferred her patients active whenever possible. But this was kind of a special case. "Your magic bursts are too powerful for either the inhibitor or the bed to handle on their own -- and if you were to have a magic burst without both, it might break one or the other."

Rainbow was shocked, she felt like she was being called fat or something. "But darling, certainly unicorns don't have this problem?" She asked, feeling like she caught the nurse by surprise.

The nurse simply shook her head. "Unfortunately, they don't --but you definitely do. You see, judging by the strength of your magic bursts, you might be the second most powerful pony we've treated here -- next to the princess of magic herself."

"Pardon, darling?" But I don't have magic. "And I don't believe regular ponies have any either -- certainly not the way you describe."

The nurse shrugged. "That's a fair assessment, but it's not quite accurate. You see, we say earth ponies have more magic, but it's more like their magic is well grounded." She said, checking to see if the vibrant earth pony was paying attention. "Their magic comes from the ground, goes through their heart, and is channeled back to the ground, and is almost exclusively used for the purposes of cultivation of plant matter."

"Then if I'm grounded, certainly that means that I should be ok to go." Rainbow said, feeling hopeful -- maybe she could get back to the boutique.

"Sorry but no go. Somehow you are receiving magic from the earth, but can't vent it. Eventually it vents itself, however it can -- through a magic burst. This normally happens with unicorns, because they have no vent other then spell casting." The nurse said, obstinately, she was not going to let her patient do something to hurt herself.

********

The rest of the morning passed pretty non-descriptly for Ponyville's fashion pony, and she slowly began to forget about her sighting of that odd pegasus earlier that morning. But she didn't forget the sight of her friend Rarity -- whom she had never seen before. Why was she so interested in some odd little unicorn? The more Rainbow thought about the little unicorn, the more she remembered.

"I try and I try, but I can't deny -- the truth is I aye AYE!!! I just want to have fun!" The tiny foal sang, falling plot first into the mud, splashing around a little -- giggling wildly. Rainbow was none too happy about being splashed with mud, and thought the filly was acting awfully juvenile. Problem? This never happened! It absolutely never happened, right? She wasn't crazy, right?

The next lines also came clearly: "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

"Again!!!" She had said, fainting for only a second or two. Problem: part of her said that she didn't even know what a unicorn was, and had never met any! So why did it come to her so clearly when she met her counterpart, in fashion, here in this Ponyville?

She sighed. This was all going to by mysterious, wasn't it.

She had been given a stack of books to read, most of them involved that Dashing Doo pony that she found to be quite a bore -- she had no idea why the doctors were so sure she'd be interested in anything so juvenile!

After a few minutes, her ears twitched -- she could hear Twilight talking to a doctor outside -- something about her memories. Had they been talking to Zecora? Did she say something?

As the suspense was about to kill her, she heard the doorknob begin to turn, and the door begin to open. At the other end was Twilight, waving to one of the doctors. She appeared to be carrying some more books in her saddle bag (Rainbow Dash, and her friends preferred suitcases handbags, or backpacks, of course -- but whatever worked!)

"So Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said, comfortingly. "How's it going?" She asked, rhetorically.

Rainbow simply shrugged (like a human, of course.) It had been kind of a bummer day for her, and it had hardly begun. And what was worse was that she may have even more coming.

Twilight got a twinkle in her eye. She apparently had something that she thought would help. Rainbow hoped it would. The thought of being bedridden for days with nothing to do was hardly appealing. "I thought I 'd bring you some high fashion magazines that Rarity let me borrow!" She said, looking down at a saddlebag full of magazines and books with the most intriguing outfits on the cover.

At the top of the stack was one with a mare wearing a very interesting outfit -- with the caption: 'dressing to impress: win the stallion of your dreams!'.

Rainbow started to beam. "Oh thank you darling! These magazines look dashing!" She said, already thinking about that article (maybe she could use it to get that dragon stallion Kenbroath to finally take notice of her -- all that dragon seemed to think about was all the princess rules he was trying to pass on to Wysteria. No she was pretty sure the dragon wasn't in love with her flower loving friend, just obsessed with all his little rules -- not that she wouldn't mind following some of them if they could get closer.)

Sadly though, no sooner had she started to greedily look through the covers of the fashion materials (why were none of these outfits cut for use when standing in a bi-pedal fashion?) Then she started to remember the morning's drama. She couldn't tell Twilight about it, could she? And Twilight would definitely think she was daft if she did tell her.

Twilight, however, had the first words. Her face dropping, and her countenance beginning to show concern. "Is something wrong Rainbow? Are these not the magazines you were looking for?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Oh no, darling! These magazines are great!" She said, her mind turning again -- for only a minute -- to that one about stallions (she would get a good look at that later, maybe they can give her hints on how to get the eye of the draconic stallion as well.) "But this morning I saw them wheel in a pony I swore I recognized: a young... unicorn filly. -- "

********

So as Twilight raced off to find out the condition of little Rarity, Rainbow Dash was left with nothing to do again (well not quite, she had a mountain of fashion magazines to read, and for that she was eternally grateful.)

Unfortunately, her door had been locked on the way out to prevent her from leaving -- again. But she supposed she really couldn't blame them with all those episodes she had been having. The bed and the collar seemed to do the job though, and her magic bursts were more or less under control.

As she was taking a break between two magazines, to think about when she'd get to try out some of the things she'd learned, she heard someone playing with the door again. She was surprised, she hadn't expected to see or hear from the doctor yet.

"Are you there doctor, darling?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening to her door. Strangely enough, no one answered. "Do you mind if I open the door?" She asked, expecting the door to be locked -- instead the door was wide open. "Well that's interesting?" She said to herself. "Maybe the doctor is going to let me walk around a little! How dashing!"

The moment she opened the door, she saw that strange Time Turner running around again. Except it couldn't be Time Turner, he had the same mark, coat, and mane color. But his mane was curled, and he had the most dashing hat and scarf. Why did she think this was the same pony as Time Turner? Heck why did she think this was the same pony as that fictitious pegasus from this morning. Maybe she'd ask him why he was here!

"Excuse me, darling!" She asked, with caution. "You look familiar, darling! Have we met somewhere before?"

He didn't answer. She gulped slightly -- how best to get his attention? Maybe she needed to tap him. "Excuse me, darling!" She asked, tapping him on the scarf, pulling his scarf off by mistake.

At first it didn't appear like he even noticed his scarf in her hooves; but eventually he started to turn around, scowling at first, until he saw her face. He started to smile -- like he had met an old friend -- but this only lasted a second before...

"Darlings! Darlings! Your attention please!" Rainbow said, holding the scarf with her hoof distorting like she had not just a palm, but an invisible thumb as well. "We've arrived at the time in our festival where we name the pony who has been the best friend ever." She announced to all 'ponies' in attendance. "For helping us all dance in the clouds, the winner is.... Twinkle Twirl, darlings!" She said -- presenting the scarf to 'Twinkle Twirl' -- entirely unaware of what she was saying. Wasn't this from the fall before last? Yes, it had to be! The friendship ball! She felt the energy again, and everything glowed green in waves.

Time turner returned her gesture with a frightened expression, before racing down the hall. "Rainbow! Run!" He shouted, as he disappeared into thin air. She did as commanded, as she escaped back into her room -- the green slowly fading from top to bottom.

Looking in the bathroom mirror, she noticed the worst. The inhibitor had been damaged, and had more than a few visible cracks. Oh the doctor would not be happy when he saw this! But she was more curious as to who that pony was, and why she'd thought three different ponies in the last couple of days were the same pony.

********

The extra mobility that she had received since the last pony had showed up was quite dashing. The door had been mysteriously unlocked since just before the arrival of that last strange pony -- or maybe because of that strange pony? And this meant that she could peek out the door at the goings on, or maybe sneak over to where they kept the books -- yeah, she preferred fashion, but romance would do in a pinch (on her last trip she found this darling romance book that she would try reading later -- having something to do with a forlorn lover waiting by the sea for the love of her life -- Francesco or something. It reminded her of someone, very personal to her.)

Over the course of the afternoon she could see a parade of unicorns coming and going, with various expressions -- some happy, some angry, some belligerent, and some positively charitable (even Twilight's Rarity passed down the hall with the some of the others.) Maybe this had to do with her little Rarity? (she could hope.) Nevertheless, she still had yet to see Twilight. She did feel lucky though, on the other hand, that she'd also been lucky enough not to see the doctors again (though she had to keep at least one eye open for the nurses -- since they were out in force since her last escape.)

She sighed, still no word on little Rarity, and she was beginning to run out of magazines. She might start one of the books Twilight gave her. though (the one she was thinking of starting was about the fashion history of some place called Manehattan -- she wondered, though, if it was, at all, related to Manhattan.)

As about that point she could see Twilight flying by in a huff. She looked concerned, her face frowning direly -- had something happened to little Rarity? Or worse yet, Minty!? Rainbow was secretly hoping the mint pony would have been dropped off around the time that old angry doctor first showed off (even though she could be a nuisance from time to time.) She supposed they must have doing yet another checkup on the poor pony.

The concern in Twilight's face, though, quickly started to melt, as her features began to become flustered. She was angrily ranting something to herself about 'blowing somepony's horn off.' She shook slightly, and her ears were twitching randomly -- and was it Rainbow Dash, or were her eyes dancing around wildly, and blinking at odd intervals?

"Darling!" Rainbow asked, as loudly as she dared -- hoping Twilight would notice. Twilight though didn't seem to notice.

Rainbow sighed. Maybe she's lost her thoughts again. "Twilight, darling! Is something the matter?" She asked, slightly more loudly. Twilight still didn't seem to notice though -- walking slowly down the hall towards the stairs, shaking her head vigorously.

Rainbow contemplated shouting again. She began to breath in, ready to start shouting -- her concern growing by the second, childish and unladylike, though it was. She didn't get the opportunity, however, as her decision was made for her when the orchid earth pony nurse with the mulberry mane started to walk by (Sweetheart was her name, if Rainbow recalled correctly.) And she was pretty sure that none of the nurses or doctors wanted her head sticking out into the hallway, and away from her specially made bed.

Rainbow galloped back to her bed, as fast as she could, and threw herself under the covers. On the other end of the door, she could hear the nurse muttering. "Well gee: I swear I left this door locked! Good thing Rainbow didn't seem to notice -- she can be a little fast and loose with the rules, if I recall correctly." The nurse said, muttering to herself from behind the door (thinking about another Rainbow Dash.)

Rainbow waited there, with baited breath, as the nurse began to turn the knob. Would the nurse notice the damage to her inhibitor? Or would she get lucky this time?

The nurse didn't appear to notice, as she stuck her head into the door, smiling honestly. "Why hello Ms. Dash! Staying out of trouble I hope!" She said, speaking in a comforting manner. "Hopefully you have enough reading materials!" She said, blinking -- remembering all the shenanigans the last time a Rainbow Dash was here.

"Why, of course! Darling! And I have more then enough to read for the day, thank you darling!" Rainbow said, with an honest smile -- not wanting to tell the nurse she'd been wandering around, or that she had been trying to locate all the odd ponies she'd seen running around. She did consider asking about her friend Minty, and that darling foal Rarity -- who she was still convinced she should know nothing about.

"By the way Ms. Dash." The nurse said, breaking the news to the cerulean earth pony. "The doctors have decided to assign your friend Minty to the other bed, in this room." She said, with a smile. "Hopefully this will help with some of your homesickness!" She said, with a comforting smile. "And hopefully prevent you from needing to get out of here!" She said, winking at the events from earlier in the same day.

********

Rainbow sighed. Apparently Minty would still need a couple more weeks in the hospital, despite her miraculous recovery (the doctors were still marveling that she was still breathing after her accident -- let alone how quickly she had recovered.) Naturally Rainbow, of course, wasn't supposed to go anywhere until her condition improved -- with or without her green friend's recovery.

She normally found the green pony to be kind of childish, but her antics were very helpful today in keeping the clouds at bay. She had apparently started to plot some kind of a makeup Christmas (in January) -- and was already talking about putting up a eight foot candy cane (and making a new Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane.) She was also making plans for all the gifts she would give everyone -- this time she was determined not to 'give everyone dumb old socks again' (though Rainbow suspected she would, considering how much she loved those things -- though she had, on the other hand, given Pinkie advise, as she recalled, about how 'you can never have too much of something you love!')

Unfortunately, her patience was beginning to wear out -- not so much with her green friend's antics, but with the fact that she was almost out of reading materials yet again! She did still have that romance book, but it was pretty much it -- that and the history of high fashion (which sounded much more dashing than it actually was, and even so she was about 90% finished already.)

She sighed -- she was certain the nurse had successfully locked her in, and she was none too happy. She was certain she heard the door lock, quite some time ago, to prevent her from wandering -- of course, this didn't prevent her mind from wandering. Was she just imagining the three times that strange pony was wondering about? And why was she convinced that three drastically different looking ponies were the same pony? Was she crazy, or was something fishy going on? But even if she wasn't crazy, how did she keep running into them, and why her? Why not the doctors, or the patients? Why -- ?

Rainbow shushed her green friend, who was still plotting 'how to make up for messing up Christmas'. For some reason she swore she swore she heard the door being unlocked. She slowly walked over to the door, walking on only her back two legs (a nervous habit she suffered sometimes), and reached out with her front leg, her hoof distorting around the doorknob slightly. She would --

"What are you doing Rainbow Dash?" Minty said, with an innocent smile. "You planning to go on a walk?" She asked, with a smile. "Wait... Wait... Wait... wouldn't that be hard with us all locked in?"

"Why darling!" Rainbow said, with an anxious smile. "I thought I heard someone open the door, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy." She said, wondering if she was, indeed, crazy.

"Ok!" Minty said, with a vacuous smile. "Makes sense to me and -- " She said, thinking about it for a second. "Wait! Why would someone open the door, when we are both supposed to be locked in here 'for our own safety'?" She said, starting to mull over the situation. "Wouldn't that go against what they wanted?"

Rainbow sighed. This would be difficult to explain and -- "Hey! Darling! The door is open!" Rainbow said, with joy -- as the door knob turned with ease. She could go back to her favorite pastime of watching the day's goings-on. Except the thought once again occurred to her. Why would the door be open?

Minty, following Rainbow's example, celebrating herself "Perfecto!" She shouted, stopping herself in the middle of a musical montage -- that she couldn't perform due to her wounds. "But wait? Why would the door be open?" She asked, apparently curious as well.

"I'm not sure, Minty darling!" Rainbow said, her face filled with concern. "I think it has to do with these sighting I've been having of a mystery pony." Rainbow said, fully expecting to see the pony the moment she opened the door.

"A mystery pony, huh?" Minty said, the wheels in her head spinning again. "Hey! Puzzlemint likes mystery's right?" She asked Rainbow honestly. "She does right?" Minty said, frowning with uncertainty.

"Why of course, darling! But what does that have to do with our mystery pony?" Rainbow asked, wondering where her friend's thought train got derailed again.

"Well I thought a mystery pony would be the perfect gift for Puzzlemint for Christmas! Especially if it's a stallion!" Minty said, with enthusiasm. "Hey! What if we teamed the two of them up for a puzzle hunt? I mean, she loves mysteries!" She said, breathing for a second, growing ever more certain that this would be the perfect gift for her puzzle loving friend. "She would have a ton of fun! And she could help us figure out who the mystery pony was! " Minty said, thinking of the possibilities.

Rainbow sighed. Her overeager friend had a point. It would be very nice to have a smart pony like Puzzlemint here -- especially considering her love of puzzles and mysteries! Sadly Rainbow was pretty certain that they would have to do without!

In any case, Rainbow gulped. She'd have to open the door sooner or later, and maybe her mysterious friend wouldn't be around this time. She gulped again, putting her hoof back on the knob and slowly turning it using her invisible palms -- the door squeaked open. Her heart beat wildly as she slowly looked out the door -- luckily this time the hallway was empty. "Perfecto darling!" Rainbow said, to herself.

"Perfecto!" Minty said, once again, joining her friend's enthusiasm.

Unfortunately her joy was short lived as she saw the one pony she wanted to see the least trudging down the halls. It was the angry old doctor (Stable was his name, she thought) -- and he looked positively horrid.

This was bad! He'd see her for sure and then he'll probably follow through with that threat to tie her to the bed and --

He just passed by, completely unaware of what was happening nearby. He just continued to walk, shaking his head -- sobbing slightly. He was followed, close behind, by a very concerned looking doctor Stethoscope.

"I wonder what the matter could be?" She thought to herself. What could be distracting the doctors so? Once again she, instinctively, began to worry about little Rarity -- but not just her, all her friends, especially her disaster prone green friend, the next bed over. Could something have happened to make the grumpy old Grinch actually look sad? She stood there contemplating it (probably longer then she should), when she saw that Time Turner pony walking down the halls. It was definitely Time Turner this time, no doubt in her mind. But what was he doing wandering around here? Weren't visiting hours over, and who could he be visiting.

The pony seemed to be wandering the halls for some reason -- glancing around nervously. When asked by nurses (the doctors had all disappeared for some reason, she didn't know where they went, or why -- just that they all went racing downstairs a few minutes before -- with various amounts of panic on their faces), his answer was always the same: "I'm just here to fix the clocks in the hospital, ma'am. Make sure they are running on time!" Of course he said it in the most darlingly suave way possible -- it made even her knees wobble slightly.

But Rainbow was determined, she was going to confront him this time confab it! She just had to step out and confront him! "Excuse me, darling! But for some reason I've got the strange notion that you've been in and out of here all day, could you please tell me --? " She asked, as the pony started to sweat, and gulp slightly.

"Well you see -- " He said, his voice suddenly sounding oddly English. He, however didn't have time to finish his 'explanation' before --.

Another headache, and more strange lines. She suddenly found herself pulling on an invisible string to pull down an invisible bucket -- thus bowing an invisible Rainbow. She looked over her shoulder as her mouth let go of the invisible rope -- causing the invisible rainbow to come undone, forcing her to run after the invisible bucket. "Please be careful Raz darling! Watch where you are stepping! You know how delicate a rainbow can be!" She said, sitting on her plot -- her legs going straight out criss-cross-apple-sauce style.

'Razzaroo' spoke for only a second, unheard by anyone but the rainbow earth pony. Predictably, green shot out from everywhere again. Rainbow could only hope that the magic burst would still resolve itself -- despite the fact her inhibiter was damaged. Fortunately it did, but not before shattering off her neck in the most un-rainbowy sound imaginable.
"Ehem!" Nurse Redheart said, none too happy! "Ms. Dash! What are you doing out of your room, and away from your bed and --" She said, beginning to notice the shattered remains of a very old antique earth pony inhibitor sitting all around the fashionable pony. She grimaced slightly, putting her serious face on. "Ms. Dash! This is not acceptable! The doctor sequestered you to your room for your own safety!" She said, ushering the earth pony back into her room. "And that inhibitor was not just extremely old and very valuable -- but one of a kind! We'll be lucky to find another relic like it anywhere in Equestria!"

Rainbow sighed. "But darling, could not we simply just make a new one?" She asked, formally. "I mean, darling, you certainly made some blue prints, or something -- right?"

The nurse shook her head. "There's nothing else like it in Equestria, and the knowledge of how to make them was lost! While we did make specs, we don't have many ponies that would be qualified to make one! The good news is that we managed to find somepony that can, indeed, make a new one. The bad news, Ms. Dash, is he lives all the way out in Vanhouver, and we will be lucky if he can be here this week!" She said, her most serious face showing. "Let alone the time necessary to make one!" She said, sighing -- she hated to get tough with the patients, but sometimes one must use a heavy hoof with stubborn patients like Rainbow Dash (yeah wrong Dash, but give her a break -- they both look really, really, similar.) "Ms. Dash! Do I need to tie you to your bed to keep you out of the hallway?" She said, reminding the more adult of the two Dashes not to act like her speedster counterpart.

"I'm sorry, darling!" Rainbow said, with a sigh. "I've just been seeing the most mysterious ponies, that I recognize for no discernible reason, and --" She said, trying to explain -- she didn't know why, but she felt she had too. Maybe it helped to as a cry for help.

The nurse, though, simply shook her head -- either in disbelief or misunderstanding. Could she transfer away from Ponyville, and all the Dashes?

********

Rainbow looked at the door, as she had done so many times today -- she longed to go back watching the hospital's goings-on's, however, the nurse made sure to lock the door on her way out; and as such, Rainbow was stranded in her room (she was already hoping that weird Time Turner pony would turn back up soon, and help her out of here.) The good news was that she had ample reading materials for the purpose of making it through the day (counting the romance novel she managed to apprehend earlier that morning.) Hopefully tomorrow Twilight would come by with some more books -- and maybe some materials she could make fashion with. If she was lucky, even this Ponyville's Rarity might show up too! Rainbow felt just horrendous about leaving the fashionable Rarity hanging -- hopefully the unicorn managed to finish that order without her!

Rainbow sighed slightly as she finished her second to last book: 'the history of fashion in Manehattan' -- which she had just made it to the part on something called the 'neighties' -- had been a lot more interesting then she had initially imagined. "Apparently this Manehattan is as much a fashion metropolis as Manhattan is, darling!" She said, with a smile (but naturally nothing can hold a candle to Paris -- she suddenly felt angry at her dream: how dare her friends get her hopes up for fine French fashion, and then pull it back in front of her!) --

"Oh wow!" Minty said, with enthusiasm. "I don't know why, but it reminds me of that Raggedy Ann and Andy scratch and sniff story that Pinkie likes so much!" She continued, grinning slightly. "You know the one where they end up making friends with a Snitznoodle -- whatever that is -- and eat air sandwiches YUM!!!" She said, thinking about food suddenly (despite the fact that she had just eaten.) The good news is she seemed to be satiated as the energy peaked around the late evening.

Rainbow Dash sighed, finally reading that story. Her only book left was the romance novel (and she didn't see another interesting book in the whole bunch of books that the hospital kept on that cart of theirs when she checked earlier.) But as it's said: 'idle hooves are Tirek's playground!' (or something like that.) And her mind began to wander. I wonder how Twilight and that poor darling poor little Rarity are doing? She asked herself, as the door slowly but surely went click again. "Hmm... I wonder what darling keeps doing that?" She asked herself, checking the door -- it definitely opened again. "I wonder what my chances are of opening the door and running into one of the fifty Time Turners I keep running into today?" She asked herself.

In the end, however, curiosity got the best of her -- as she slowly opened the door. And, to her misfortune, playing out before her, was the old adage 'speak of Tirek and he will come' (or something similar, these strange ponies and their odd colloquialisms!) Twilight began to walk down the hall with the angry doctor. She didn't look angry, but Rainbow could tell she hid both dying agitation and growing apprehension (she didn't know why though! It was like she could just taste Twilight's thoughts and feelings -- it was eerie, in its own way!)

Rainbow really badly wanted to know what was going on -- but knew that she shouldn't ask while that angry doctor was walking around (at least not if she wanted to keep her mobility.) So naturally, she did the only thing she could: She sighed! She was definitely having trouble concentrating on her book through the growing worry -- was it her or was feeling oddly empathetic all of a sudden? And was it just her or was she worrying about that little unicorn again? Why was she so convinced something very bad was happening to the child? Had she gone psychic or something?

After a few minutes she could hear a pair of doctors shouting very loudly down the hall. Was it possible that came from Rarity's room. "Oh dear!" She thought to herself, narrowly avoiding another magic burst. The shouting had to have come out of Rarity's room! "That darling, Rarity, must be in trouble!" She thought to herself. "I've got to check on her!" She said, racing towards the door again.

Furthermore, to add to her anxiety, she opened her door to see Twilight being dragged away by the ear. "You're lucky I don't call the guard!" The doctor chastised her. "Have you ever considered what you just did!? You could have done irreparable damage!"

Rainbow knew it would work poorly, but she just couldn't live with herself if she didn't ask. "Excuse me, doctor darling!" She said, sliding her muzzle and face out from within the door that she had opened a minute before. "Could you tell me what happened? Is that, darling, Rarity ok?" Rainbow asked, with apprehension. "Please let that doctor darling be in a mood to answer my question, instead of asking his own!"

The doctor just shook his head -- her one track mind turning to her disregarding of his orders. "The door was locked for a reason! And you are supposed to be in bed!" He said, starting to become agitated at more than just the reckless princess. "And from the appearance of it: you've already broke your inhibitor!" He said, looking at the lack of the inhibitor around her neck. "And I won't have you breaking your bed too! We'll be lucky if we can even find another!" He said, with dismay. "Though the artisan promised to rush, we still might not get it for a couple more days -- even if he got it done tonight!" He said, shaking his head again.

Rainbow sighed, is this where he executed their threats of forcing her to stay in bed? Will she be even denied the ability to visit the tiny bathroom that had been attached to her room?

The doctor just shook his head. "You're just lucky I'm in a foul mood!" He said, with a scowl. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see this; if, and only if, you just go back to bed!" He started to walk away with the princess. "You're lucky I'm more angry at princess smarty pants over here!"

Rainbow, however, stood firm. "What happened to that poor little darling, Rarity!" She said, her lip beginning to quiver. "Is the darling ok? I just suddenly got the most dreadful feeling that something horrible had transpired, darling!"

The doctor scowled, looking at the princess. "We'll see!" He said, frowning competitively. "Princess 'smart plot' over here may have broken her!" He said, looking at Twilight before turning to Rainbow Dash. "Why is it nopony wants to follow simple instructions anymore!?" He asked, stepping back so that he might look at both Rainbow and Twilight, with consternation; before he, once again, started hauling the princess down the hall.

Rainbow moaned silently, she wasn't going to be able to read that romance book at all was she!? The good news, though, was that a sudden a feeling of relief began to wave over her. Had something good finally happened? Or had she finally gone nutty?

As she looked out the door again, she could see Nurse Redheart galloping down the hall at high speeds. Had something bad happened? Rainbow still couldn't tell, though, whether or not her serious expression was a good one or a bad one. But as she was contemplating this fact, Twilight and the doctor returned. Wasn't the doctor throwing her out? And why were her emotions beginning to go crazy? What was going on? And how had she managed to avoid the 'Eye of Nurse Redheart'? And what was the chance she was going to --?

She started to ask, stopping when she could, once again, hear knocking on the door. And a voice calling out to her. "Rainbow!... Rainbow!!!... Are you there?"

Rainbow was certain this was probably that strange Time Turner again (he was probably to disappear again as soon as she opened the door!) But she was completely in a state of mind to take a risk. "One minute, darling!" Rainbow said, opening the door -- which had remained unlocked since it mysteriously unlocked itself a few minutes earlier.

"Do you wish to see how your friend is doing? Time Turner asked smiling mischievously -- well she thought it was Time Turner anyway! The stallion definitely looked like Time Turner -- down to his symbol (the locals called those things cutie marks, apparently) -- except for the fact the pegasus turned earth pony was now a unicorn! The unicorn's mane was cut short and combed into some kind of a ridiculous mop top. Furthermore, he looked like a pony who had been prematurely aged, and was wearing the most delightful bow tie and suit coat.

"Excuse me, darling!" Rainbow said, with apprehension. "I know I sound crazy, but you remind me of four other ponies that have visited today!" She inquired, with a sigh. "Please tell me that you are not going to just up and disappear on me again, darling!" She said, practically begging him to tell he what she wanted to hear.

The doctor put on an uncertain expression -- like she asked a question that he really, really, didn't want to answer. "There's no time to explain now." He said, dodging the question brilliantly. "Come with me please!" He said as he beckoned down the hall. "If you are worried about your friend, then we'll only have a short window to see her!"

Rainbow nodded uncertainly. Had something truly catastrophic happened, or was Time Turner talking about the short breaks between nurses and doctors? She nodded dutifully, closing the door behind her as she left the room. "I shall be back in just a moment Minty, darling!" Rainbow said, formally. "Just wait patiently! I just want to check on a darling friend of ours!" Minty would've nodded, if she could (the doctor's had her pretty bandaged up.)

"Ok!" Time Turner said, beckoning down the hall. "Follow me!" He said, as they approached room number forty seven.

"How much farther is it, darling?" Rainbow asked with apprehension. "You said it would just be a little while some time ago!" Thinking of the fact that a pony she swore she never met had just let her across a rather large hospital floor.

"Just a little further." He said, starting to trot more quickly.

"Is something the matter, darling? Or are you just trying to lose me?" Rainbow asked, starting to feel her competitive side reemerge.

The doctor smiled. "And we are here!" He said, motioning at a door. "Would you do the honors Dash?" He asked, chivalrously.

Rainbow gulped, as she opened the door slowly. Peering inside the room she could immediately see two doctors, Nurse Redheart, Twilight, and a tiny pink unicorn filly with a rainbow mane and tail, and a heart and rainbow symbol. She knew already which pony it was, and used every ouch of her strength not to shout her knowledge. The little unicorn was undeniably her friend: Rarity!

But ecstasy was quickly tempered when she noticed the foal's condition (that and the fact she had never met the pony or her kind before!) She turned to that odd Time Turner pony and asked the question at the top of her mind. "Is Rarity ok, darling?" She asked, unsure of what he was trying show her. "And will she be ok, darling?"

"You'll see." He said, pointing his hoof at the pony as best he could. "Just watch." He said, hiding a smirk.

Rainbow frowned. Was she being mocked? And if not then why was this pony smiling at her?

Inside the room, the nurse was looking some kind of medical doohickey. She looked at the machine's beeping display for a few moments before her face turned upward sharply."Excellent!" She said, a smile beginning to make itself well known from her face. "Her condition appeared to be stabilizing!" She said to the doctor -- who countenance also started to immediately improve.

"This is excellent news!" The doctor said. Turning to the nurse for a moment to share a self gratified smile. " -- "

Even Twilight joined in on the mirth as she turned to the doctor, a smile of her own shown across her face as the filly's eyes began to flitter. "Shh..." She said, holding a hoof near to her mouth. "She seems to be waking up!" Twilight said, apparently not wanting to scare the foal who would probably be disoriented, or something.

Rainbow turned to Time Turner, crying with joy slightly. Why was she even crying? She didn't even know this pony, right? These thoughts seemed to be countered by her own words. "Oh this is great news, darling!" She said turning to Time Turner -- or at least a decent facsimile. "Cheerilee will be so happy!" She said, suddenly realizing that she was talking about another pony she never met before, yet could remember clearly -- Cheerilee, a purple unicorn, one of the Rainbow Quartet, and little Rarity's mentor. And the strange memories caused the green to appear again. Everything! The memories jus wouldn't stop! Was she about to d --

"Where do Rainbow's come from?" Phantom Minty half sung (remember she was back at the hospital room. So this definitely couldn't be her!)

Rainbow felt dutifully required to explain her knowledge -- in song. "They are made... well, somewhere... I imagine it's not here!" She sung, feeling uneasy as she did so. Didn't she have this conversation at some point before? And why did her head hurt so much? The green kept growing, till she could feel the magic burst starting. What had she done to deserve this? Were her memories all tainted? It wasn't even fair she didn't even know if these memories were even real!

To her left the strange Time Turner unicorn frowned significantly, before grabbing a strange device in his mouth (it she didn't know better she would have sworn it looked like a screw driver), and began to wave it at her head. After a moment of sharp pain -- the migraine and associated field of green just vanished, as quickly as it had appeared.

Rainbow stood there in astonishment, her mouth dangling slightly. "Darling!" She said, turning to the unicorn standing next to her. "How did you do that?" She might be it! This would be the treatment for her condition that she had been looking for! Maybe she could finally get out of here and back to the boutique and --

Like that her moment of ecstasy was over. "Introoder!" Shouted a grey earth pony filly nurse with a long black curled mane. "Rainbow Dashshs hash left her room again!" She shouted, trying to get a hold of the orderlies. "And the intruder helpedth her to escape!" She shouted, as a few more nurses barreled down the halls.

Despite the circumstances the young nurse kept a smile on her face. "I'm going to escort you back to your room Ms. Dash!" She said, with a bemused expression before turning to a couple of, rather large, minotaurs. "Orderlies, could you please escort --? " She asked, before being interrupted with the fact that the intruder had suddenly vanished -- and was nowhere to be found.

Rainbow sighed. She was once again being escorted back to her room. She guessed that she would either be tied to her bed this time, or put under strict surveillance. And that was so not dashing!

The nurse turned to the orderlies. And speaking as sternly as she was able. "Escush me gents, but could you keep an eye on Ms. Dashshs Room to make sure she stays in there? Thanksh!"

The orderlies nodded, with one shepherding Rainbow Dash down the hall, and the other one going to get a few books from the cart.

Rainbow supposed she might keep her mobility but would, apparently, not be going anywhere unsupervised for a while.

********

Rainbow sighed. The bed was undeniably less comfortable then her cloud themed bed at home, which was as soft as -- well a cloud! She resisted the urge to punch the pillow in a feeble attempt to fluff it. As that behavior would be positively un-dashing. At the same time she found it hard to blame herself: whatever it was that Time Turner had done was now wearing off, and that was causing her magic bursts to resume. And now with every burst her bed had began to creak and groan uncontrollably. Rainbow worried that the nurse was right when she said the bed would break if it wasn't for the inhibitor. And to make matters worse she couldn't sleep with these dreadful migraines.

So she decided to see if she could do the one thing they would still let her do: look out the window. How many more days would it take before their specialist could make a new inhibitor so she could finally start sleeping again?

Sometime around 1:00 am a dark blue nurse with a white mane, and a gold cross cutie mark nurse came in. "Good evening Ms. Dash!" She said, warmly. "By the looks of things you're magic bursts have been giving you some trouble." The nurse said, grabbing something out of her saddle bag.

Rainbow looked at the ring. It looked like a sight for sore eyes: "Is that another inhibitor, darling?" She asked, with a smile. "But I thought -- " She said, stopping when the nurse held a hoof to her mouth.

The nurse smiled. "Apparently we managed to get it much earlier than we expected. I suppose you would like me to try it on now?" The nurse said, holding the object near the earth pony's neck to see if it would fit. After a few seconds she nodded. "Ok this might hurt for just a minute!" She said, as she began to attach the ring to the earth pony's neck.

Rainbow grunted, wanting to shout as the object, did indeed, hurt for a second. The good news is that the pain began to subside along with her migraines. She might be able to sleep anyhow. Despite the fact that the bed here wasn't anywhere near as soft as her bed back home.

After a few minutes she finally managed to drift off to an uneasy sleep (though she would talk to the doctors in the morning about getting a cloud bed like the one she had back home -- especially if she was, indeed, going to be here a while).

In her waking moments she would have expected another odd memory with her friends Sweetberry, Scootaloo, Cherry Blossom, Pinkie, Toola-Roola, and Coconut Cream (or whatever they called themselves in her dreams.) Instead, she wasn't even sure she was herself.

Inside a room was a bug pony filly, sobbing violently. Her cerulean mane covered her face as she sobbed into it. "Why!... Why did they do this to me!" She sobbed, beginning to shake one of her hooves. "I thought they were my friends!"

Rainbow looked on, sadly. What could she do? What could she say? "Maybe Chrysi simply needs to hash things out with her friends!" She thought to herself, the sound of her thoughts booming off audibly for all to hear. "Maybe all they need for her to yell at them! I know how much good it always did me!"

The young filly's eyes darkened and her face took on a deservedly dark tone. "Maybe I should teach them a lesson about friendship!"

Rainbow stepped back, shaking violently.

"Is this what you really think?" Said the voice booming behind her. "Is this how much you value friendship?" She turned around to find a blue eyed red pegasus with a fiesta colored rainbow mane.

For some reason it cut her to the quick. "No! I assure you I had no idea Sky Runner! I just thought they would talk it out! I had no idea what she had planned for them!"

The pegasus looked at her wrathfully. "And my sacrifice? Does it have the same value to you?" She said, her voice booming. "Do you approve of your niece stealing her friends freedom and their consciousnesses?" Thunder boomed brightly in the background, obscuring her view of the pegasus. "What did they ever do to her worthy of this?" The light slowly dimmer revealing the pegasus again, but this time she looked horrifying to say the least. It looked like -- well she couldn't even describe it! Like she had gone to war, and never returned.

"No! I would never approve of it! I would never condone the conversion of her friends --!" Rainbow said, in horror. As if pleading with her friend. "They did nothing worthy of that fate!"

"And yet what she did was worse still!" Said a voice booming behind her. She turned to find a silver unicorn with a purple mane and a red stream traveling down said mane. She was surrounded by an orange earth pony with a blond mane, a yellow earth pony with pink hair, and a pink pegasus with blue hair. "Take a close look! This is what your cousin did to her friends!"

Rainbow shrieked as she looked at their deplorable conditions. They looked worse off than Sky Runner was.

"You did nothing to stop your monster of a niece! And now look at us!" They moaned, looking like they had been in the ground a while. "Is this what you think of friendship! -- "

"Or are you no better than they are?" Moaned a white pegasus with blond hair, looking old and prematurely aged. "I fared better then my friends, but remained scarred for life! And this was her compassion because of how 'kind' I had been to her! Why did she do this to us!? And why was I the only one who returned! She was our friend! Why'd she do this to us?! It didn't even matter whether or not we were in our right minds when we did so!"

"I'm sorry!" Rainbow wailed, hiccupping slightly. "I had no idea! I swear! I'm so sorry!!!"

Behind her a regal voice boomed. "ENOUGH!!!!!"

She looked around to find what made that sound, but in the end she saw nothing. The horrible scene continued around here.

"I gave my life for you Princess Auroras! And how do you repay me!!!" The pegasus ghost moaned, with an unearthly voice.

"ENOUGH!!!" Shouted the regal voice, unheard. "Enough! Please!!! Stop!" The voice begged, becoming ever more desperate.

"Please no! Please! I'm sorry!" Rainbow shouted, waking up with a start.

********

"Tough night?" Celestia asked her sister, chortling slightly at the look of her rumpled mane, and the fact that the princess of the night looked more fatigued than usual. "Canterlot get attacked again? Or, maybe, have the nobles finally found out about your little night court?" She asked, hiding another chuckle behind her hoof.

Luna snorted. "Thou wouldst think it funny? Wouldst though not?" She said, scowling at her sister. "Hast thou other jokes for us to laugh at?"

Celestia just about fell over laughing, she only talked in Old Equish when she was upset, or addressing her subjects. "Let me guess, trying to find another pet again?" Luna looked at her with agitation. "Or maybe the monsters give you grief and --?"

Luna looked at her sister, looking ever more exasperated, before inhaling slightly. "SILENCE!!!!" She barked, invoking the Royal Canterlot Voice (the whole works including smoke, fire, and wind). "Dost though think it amusing that thine sister hath lost her touch? I canst hear our subjects now: 'Oh Celestia never loses her touch! Not like that Luna!' Mark mine words! They shalt talk about me behind mine back!"

Celestia looked on sadly -- this was unusual. She had definitely seen her sister this upset before, but never about failing at her work (as she recall her sister's original fall was because of her feeling like her work wasn't being respected) "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, looking solemnly at her sister. "Maybe I can help?"

"What doth there be to talk of!" She said, looking down -- her hoof rubbing against the table slightly. "Sister, we art losing our touch!" She moaned. "We couldst not banish the nightmares! We couldst not enter our little ponies dreams."

Celestia chuckled. This was the most absurd thing she had ever heard her sister say. "You think you're losing your touch because of one bad night?" She smiled, shaking her head. "And Faust knows that I've had a bad day or three over the years!"

"No!" The alicorn of the night responded. "Not just one night!" She said, looking on distantly. "I've had this problem nearly every night since Hearth's Warming Day!"

Celestia sighed. Maybe her sister had a point. "How many of our little ponies has this been occurring to? Why did you not mention this earlier?"

Luna sighed. "We hoped that we couldst deal with this on our own! We wert reminded of father in his final days." She said, swallowing her tears lest she cry like she did back at their old castle when she was separated from the nightmare that she had borne all those years before. "Two plus a new one last night." She said, shaking slightly.

"Well: tell me about last night? What happened?" The older of the two sisters asked.

The younger sister nodded, taking a deep breath before repeating verbatim the odd occurrences of the night before. Her first stop was Ponyville -- the bearers home town of all places -- she had been there almost every night since Hearth's Warming Day, and yet somepony's nightmares continued, unabated. She'd been trying to get into their dreams but remained unable even to enter -- let alone intervene. This time she was going to get in if it was the last thing she did!

The dream continued to play itself out -- apparently a pony in the hospital (it made sense). So naturally she attempted to dream walk in -- only to find out that her entry was aggravatingly barred again. But she was not going to let go of the issue, the stronger the nightmare the easier her entry would be, and the nightmare was reaching a crescendo -- and at just the right time she might be able to force her way in (sad that she had been reduced to this, she normally entered with such ease. Normally she only showed up so rarely in dreams because of the fact that she was only one pony.)

"We shalt intervene this time Tiberius -- so help us Faust!!!" She shouted, to her pet possum (who remained in the waking world), as she started pushing against the seemingly impenetrable walls of the dream. As she expected, the pony trapped within was begging for help, and the walls finally started to budge (it didn't hurt that the princess was throwing every last ounce of magic she had at the problem.)

Inside she could see a white unicorn with a rainbow mane, blue eyes, and a rainbow colored star cutie mark. She was standing before six zomponies, and a very sick looking pegasus! Each one of the ponies took their turn to yell at the white unicorn, who sobbed uncontrollably.

It was time for her to step in. The problem is that she remained unable to intervene, and remained incorporeal.

"Why'd she do this to us! It didn't even matter whether or not we were in our right minds when we did so!" The old shriveled white pegasus moaned.

The white unicorn began to cry uncontrollably, starting to hiccup.

Luna could sense a familiar relationship between the white unicorn and the red pegasus. Was this nightmare due to some kind of hidden guilt? No! she didn't sense foul play. Did she fail to do something she felt she should have? Furthermore Luna could sense the white unicorn felt guilt towards the other ponies. Why? In any case it was time to step in.

"ENOUGH!!!!!" Luna shouted, powering up her horn to blow away one of the nightmares. To her horror the nightmares remained, and her presence was barely noticed.

The nightmares continued to rebuke her, as the unicorn continued to sob.

"ENOUGH!!!" She shouted again, channeling her magic again -- this time no pony even noticed.

She tried again and again, each time becoming more and more desperate.

She began to beg the dreams."Enough! Please!!! Stop!" Becoming ever more desperate.

In the end the unicorn awoke. She was defeated again. Curses.

"So Luna, you spoke of another pony?" Celestia said, with concern. "Do you know who it was?"

Luna shook her head. She didn't know. "All I knowest sister is that the nightmare comes from Appleloosa. We sensest the nightmare forces at work, but we canst not find any traces of them."

Celestia looked on with dismay. "Are you sure? We destroyed the nightmare forces last year once and for all, when we banished the nightmare from Rarity."

Luna shook her head. "I knowest not, I beleivest it's not the same nightmare. But I can sensest it's malevolence."

Celestia scowled: first exploding skies, then her old friend Cheerilee appeared from nowhere, and now the nightmares reemerge suddenly. Was her Equestria finally coming to an end?

********

"Um Discord?" Fluttershy asked anxiously. "Is... Um... Is this really necessary?" She said, cowering slightly, looking up at Discord sitting in a very expensive looking giant golden sphinx -- and wearing more than his unfair share of gold -- held up by a few dozen stallions.

"That's fine, my dear! I just thought that, if I had to leave the house then, I would bring a grand precession along!" He said, walking down a set of steps in the front of the sphinx. "Ok boys: you can take five!" He said, talking to the stallions, who disappeared into a puff of smoke along with the sphinx and his golden jewelry.

"So... Um... Discord!" Fluttershy said sheepishly. "I'm so glad you could come along!" She said, blushing slightly. "Market days can be really rough sometimes."

Discord smiled enigmatically. "Why certainly! So shall I haves a conversation with Mr. Crates fors you!" He said, resembling a bad rip-off of a bad untouchables movie from the forties.

"No. That'll be ok." The pegasus said, gulping slightly. "So... Um... Discord. I don't mean to be a bother, but when are you going to tell me about whatever it was that caused you to run away... if it's not too much trouble." She said, squeaked slightly -- maybe she was getting a little too eager to ask, but the draconequus had been avoiding the question for days.

"Well, my dear." Discord said, changing to himself, for a second. "That would, indeed be too much trouble. So I would appreciate it if you would butt out." He said harshly, causing the pegasus to start crying.

The lord of chaos sighed ostentatiously -- he would have to deal with the issue sooner or later anyway. "Perhaps, for you." He said, smiling sweetly. "But only you." He said, putting a finger to her muzzle kindly.

Fluttershy puzzled for a second, silently. Why was the draconequus acting so normally all of a sudden? What was so difficult for him to talk about that he had to keep it bottled up? And why was he so uncomfortable about doing so?

The draconequus' eyes darted around for a second, before his face gained a pained anxiety. "That can't be good!" He said, under his breath. Suddenly shrinking seventeen sizes.

A strange pony approached them doing some odd kind of summersault, wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses. "Yo! How's it goin' girl friend!" The white earth pony said, standing on only her front legs, her legs parallel to her barrel, and her head staring out perpendicular to said barrel. Her legs hanging out to the side in a strange fashion. "So. Um. I was wondering if any of you would know the way back to Ponyville!" She said, staring at Fluttershy and Discord with her purple eyes. "You see I kinda got lost somehow on the way to my friend 'Steria's, somehow, and I was hopin' that one of you two might help! Names Sunny by the way!"

Discord's face turned pale, as he quickly turned away, fidgeting with something. "I'm sorry I'm not here right now, could you please leave a message!" He said, as an audible, machine like, beep came from somewhere!

Fluttershy looked on with a funny expression. What kind of name was Sunny? And how is she standing like that, isn't that uncomfortable?

The earth pony with the enormous muzzle looked at her, as if noticing her confusion. "Sorry 'bout that! That's short for Sunny Daze -- see I kind'a like to shorten people's names it's my way of making friends!"

Fluttershy held out her hoof apprehensively to shake it. The white earth pony did a half summersault before landing right in front of the butternut pegasus. "Hello." The pegasus said, gulping slightly. "My name's Fluttershy."

"Great! Nice to meet you 'Shy, mind if I call you 'Shy?" The white earth pony said, shaking her hoof slightly.

"Um... Actually I would prefer if you called me --" The pegasus started, being unable to finish before the white earth pony with the smiling sun cutie mark continued, unabated.

"Great! 'Shy it is!" She said, with a slight giggle, her hoof distorting around the pegasus' hoof as she gave the pegasus a mighty hoofshake. "Sorry 'bout giggling like that! It's just your name reminds me of a pony I know back in Ponyville! 'Cept you look and act way different then she does!" Sunny said, her enthusiasm infectious. "Speaking of which: your friend over there looks familiar for some reason." She said, getting a serious expression. "Do I recognize you from somewhere?" She said, talking to the draconequus.

"Ack nein mächen. Mein name ist Verner fon Discord! Vorld famous rocket zientist! Und I think dat I haf nefer met dü bevore!" Discord said, in a really, really, really, really, atrocious German accent -- while wearing a really ridiculous white wig, and gaudy oversized puffy white mustache from the fake mustache emporium (you know the same place Lord Blueblood goes to shop for his cheesy fake mustaches -- you know for when he's feeling especially villainous.)

Fluttershy chuckled -- what silly joke was that draconequus making this time (that draconequus was always full of them.) "Nah. His name is Discord, and he's a friend of mine, and he's not normally this shy." She said, laughing some more. "Come on Discord!" She said, nudging him slightly with her hoof. "Say hi!"

The lord of chaos shook his head vigorously, pretending he was part of a coo-coo-clock display -- which suddenly materialized in the center of town.

"Huh." The earth pony said, shaking her four-color yellow, pink, orange, and purple mane slightly. "I swear I recognize you from somewhere Discord, can't place where though?" She said, getting a really close look at him. For some reason she felt like she was going to get goose bumps, in the end though her nature took over. "In any case --" She started, probably preparing for more small talk, or maybe to suggest a game.

Discord gulped again, using a crayon that he picked up from somewhere to paint the color in his face back in. "You were trying to find you way back to Ponyville right?" He said, quickly interrupting Sunny Daze. "And you want to FIND YOU WAY BACK TO PONYVILLE! RIGHT!?" He said, emphasizing parts of the sentences.

Sunny Daze shook her head. That was right! "Right on! Thanks Discord!" Said the earth pony surfer mare. "So anyways. I was on my way to check on my friend 'Steria." She said, putting her hoof on her muzzle, and getting a thinking pose. "You know, she's been sick since Christmas, so I was going to go and get her some sweets from the Sweet Shop!" She said, bringing a strange rainbow colored piece of cake out of her bag.

Fluttershy looked at it in awe. That looked very odd, what kind of pastry was that? She have to ask Pinkie later, but it definitely looked tasty.

"And then these groady bug ponies attacked, and totally started taking everyone." Sunny said, frowning -- some agitation showing in her face. "So I tried to tell them that being nasty ain't nice! But they ended up taking me too." She said, getting up on only her back hooves, and motioning like she was being carried away by her front hooves. "When suddenly there's like smoke everywhere, and next think I know I'm in the path of the --" She said, contemplating for a second (probably thinking of the train time.) "4:15 train to some place called 'Fillydelphia'. Naturally, of course, I got out of the way for them." She said, giggling -- motioning like she was somersaulting away from 'the train'. "But they still wanted to know what I was doing on the tracks." She said, matter-of-factly. "So I told them I was looking for Ponyville, and they pointed me off this way." She said, pointing at the town. "'Cept I think I must've gone the wrong way as I don't see Ponyville anywhere!" She said, consternation appearing on her face.

Fluttershy looked on with great discomfort. What happened to this unfortunate mare's muzzle? And did she have a heart for a highlight in her eyes? That didn't make any sense! And what was this about their town being attacked by bug ponies, was Chrysalis being a meanie again? And why didn't she think this was Ponyville? She kept asking herself, in her head. In the end, she just had to ask. "Excuse me... Um... Sunny Daze -- " She started asking, apprehensively.

"Just call me Sunny' 'Shy! No reason to get all formal!" She said, with a giggle, doing a summersault. "My friends don't call me by my full name! Especially not my BFF Sparkleworks!"

"Um... Please don't call me 'Shy, my friends call me -- " Fluttershy started, before being interrupted gain.

"No problem 'Shy! You worry too much!" The mare known for having the record on most pony summersaults said, with a giggle -- motioning slightly. "You have to lay back a little!"

Fluttershy sighed, she wasn't going to get through to this mare was she? "So... Um... Sunny. Why do you think this isn't Ponyville?"

Sunny chuckled. "Cause all the buildings are gone. Where's the Cotton Candy Cafe? Or the Celebration Castle, the Twinkle Twirl's Dance Studio, the salon, or the surf shop?" She asked, chuckling some more -- either distracted, or feeling she had wasted enough of that strange pony's time. "Don't worry 'Shy! I'll figure it out yet. See you later." She said, somersaulting into a gallop.

Fluttershy giggled herself. "Please don't call me ''Shy'!" She yelled at the rapidly retreating earth pony, before turning to Discord, who seemed to be swearing bullets -- shaking like a leaf. "You ok Discord!"

"Yes!" Discord lied. "Everything is fine!" He said, suddenly dressed like Mr. Rogers. "It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood!" He said, lying to her face. "So we can go and get those turnips... Or something!" He said, his claw shaking slightly.

Fluttershy started crying. She had had enough of the draconequus sudden dishonesty and all of his newfound secrets! "I thought you were our friend! Why won't you talk to me! Why do you keep lying to me!" She said, starting to gallop away at high speeds. "Don't you trust me!"

Discord sighed. Even if he smoothen things over he would probably be sleeping in the Everfree tonight! To make matters worse he was on the verge of losing the one thing that he 'reformed' for. And he'd certainly lose something far more important than a friendship if he didn't talk. But would he lose it if he did?

********

Rainbow yawned. Another tough night! Could anything put a stop to these blasted nightmares? Not her own dashing nature, not Zecora's magic, not even the spooky jewelry the doctors gave her! She just wanted to know what it all meant. She meant that she had had plenty of dreams in the past but only a few were remembered vividly -- meanwhile she could recall, in great detail, every last dream since Minty's accident with profound clarity. Rainbow sighed, jealously. Minty, meanwhile seemed to unaffected, giggling innocently, and probably still plotting her makeup Christmas -- blissfully unaware of what she or Pinkie had been experiencing.

Rainbow smirked, maybe her odd luck from yesterday was still working -- it was, naturally -- and the door was once again, mysteriously unlocked. Unfortunately, this time that fact wasn't going to be too helpful as there were now orderlies stationed at her door to make sure she didn't stray too far from her bed again. Rainbow considered using some very colorful words, but decided against that as it would be not terribly dashing! Instead she just sighed on the inside again -- guessing she wasn't going to be going anywhere. The good news, though, was that she had just enough of that romance novel left to last her until Twilight arrived.

About mid morning, she could hear a clamor outside, as both orderlies hit their plots against the door as they scrambled to quickly bow, for some reason. She wondered what the occasion was.

She peeked out the door, discretely hoping her ~~captors~~ guardians wouldn't notice. Walking down the hall, past her room, was a purple unicorn, with a pink mane, and a three flower symbol pass by. "Cheerilee!" Rainbow said to herself (wondering how she even knew that name -- especially considering that she hadn't seen the unicorn before. Wasn't she thinking about Cheerilee the other day too?)

Her head started to hurt, the magic burst was definitely coming! It just got worse when Star Catcher passed by. Wait a minute! That couldn't be Star Catcher -- for one thing it was a pegasus unicorn, while Star Catcher was a pegasus! Secondly, with the exception of the coat, the pegasus unicorn looked nothing like Star Catcher? She just blushed with embarrassment, upset that she confused the strange new pony with someone else. That is until another magic burst: dash it all!

"Ukulele gaily strums! Bongos keep the beat! Any song we play becomes oh so strong and sweet!" Sung the phantoms in her head. "Music is meant to be -- shared by one and all!" They sang as she started dancing to the phantom beat along with a few of her friends (who were only visible to her.)

"Oh wow! Rainbow Dash! That looks fun..." Minty said, with a giggle -- carried away by her friend's excitement. "Wait! Wait! What are you dancing to?" Minty asked innocently -- beginning to realize that something odd was happening -- all while watching her friend make a fool of herself.

"Dash it all!" Rainbow whined to herself, as the inhibiter started to clear the fog again. "This is another fine time for my magic bursts to act up! I suppose if I had any chance of convincing the orderlies before, I do not now!" She thought to herself. Oh well, maybe she could convince the orderlies to let her see her friend Cheerilee. "Excuse me sirs -- "

"If you don't go back to bed I'll break your -- " The minotaur orderly said, with a gruff tone swallowing the conclusion of that rhyme. "if you don't sleep then I'll -- " He said, stopping short of quoting his father (growling slightly at the training in 'assertiveness' he received since his birth.)

"Understood, darling." Rainbow said, with a sigh -- she guessed she was stuck here again. She waited a few seconds, then decided -- against her better judgment -- to try again. "I am sorry, darlings. But would you mind if I went ahead and left to see my friend! I am very worried about her, darling, and --"

"Don't apologize when you can criticize!" Said the second orderly angrily. "Dang it! I'm quoting dad again!" He groaned to himself.

Rainbow supposed that would be a no! Especially when the orderly picked her up, and returned her to bed himself -- don't worry, he was given the riot act later. It was all very demeaning -- especially when her legs worked just fine, thank you.

The good news is she still had her romance book to read -- which she happily dug into. But after a few minutes she sighed, because it was turning out to be a smidgen racy for her tastes. When was she ever going to be out of here? For that matter when was Minty ever going to get out of here?

She tried to listen to the door, as quietly as she could (so as not to be heard by the orderlies.) At least she still had the goings-on at this hospital to help pass the time. Especially when Twilight went by her room with a toy wand (she had managed to open the door a crack a little earlier while the guards were distracted (when 'someone tried to block they showed them that they rocked! ')

Rainbow looked at the wand twice, it's nature quickly beginning to bore its way into her recollection. No! That was Rarity's wand! She said, beginning to see a scene play out in her mind's eye. "Hang on! It's going to be a bumpy rainbow ride!" The voice echoed in her head. What was with these memories, and was it just her or were they getting worse instead of better! Despite the ugly jewelry she was forced to endure.

Phantom Pinkie giggled mindlessly in her head. "What are you doing under all these clothes?" She asked, as rainbow 'came up from under the pile of cloths.

"Oh, dressing up to get some fun ideas for a dress up party!" She said, giggled to herself vapidly, all the while talking to phantom pinkie. This was all extremely demeaning! And why did she always forget who she was during one of these?

Her roommate sighed. "And I didn't get invited at all!" She said, with a sigh. "Only party I got invited to was the sports party!" She said, uncharacteristically with a whine.

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, being shocked out of her burst. "Huh what? Minty darling? Whatever do you mean?" She asked, suddenly wondering if her friend knew what she was talking about.

"Well you got together with all four of your new friends --Cheerilee, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Toola-Roola -- and didn't invite Wysteria, Sunny Dazy, or anyone -- even me! I was really sad." She said, sobbing quietly. "Were you guys that angry that I messed up Christmas? I'm sorry Rainbow! I'll do better next year!"

Rainbow looked at her cross-eyed. "But Minty, darling. You didn't mess up Christmas until this year! Remember!?" She said to her friend -- who's words made no sense. And yet why did her words ring with such truth?

********

"So what's got you so happy?" Spike said, shooting a glare to his mother/sister figure. "You finally got that 'huge crystally tree thing' that that weird Pinkie was talking about?" Spike said sarcastically, chuckling to himself the whole time.

"She said that she knew she could count on me!" Twilight replied ecstatically, sounding more like an exuberant schoolgirl then the princess of friendship. "Do you know what this means?" Twilight said, getting eye to eye with 'her number one assistant', and pressing her hooves against his lips.

"You did a good job?" Spike replied, his voice deadpan.

"No! It means I impressed her! And now she'll give me even more tasks." Twilight replied, falling back into her overeager student mode. "Even more importantly: I discovered something about Equestrian history that even Celestia didn't know!" She said, with literal stars in her eyes.

"Whoopty doo!" Spike said, rolling his eyes. "You're a regular Daring Doo." He said, deadpan. "So 'Daring', you going to help me sort these books?"

Twilight smiled, always glad to see her number one assistant living up to the title and getting interested in the library. Lord knows it was just about all she had besides a seemingly pointless symbolic title (not that she didn't like the title, just that she felt like she could only be described the term fifth wheel princess.)

A slow knocking could be heard at the door.

Twilight sighed patiently -- did anypony bother to read her open sign? "Hey Spike?" Twilight asked, trotting over to the door. "First that other Rainbow the other day, now somepony else. Do you think we need to get a new open sign?" Twilight said, beginning to turn the handle with her magic. "Maybe see if I can enchant it to light up." She said, tilting her head in a thinking pose. "You can come in. It's open." She said, before she turned her head to see the princess standing before her.

"Princess!" Twilight said in horror, quickly bowing deeply. Starting to stammer violently.

"Sorry about that!" Twilight said, blushing with embarrassment. She always expected the most of herself, even under normal circumstances -- but this was her personal teacher, and one of the god princesses of Equestria no less! This made it all the much more difficult -- and sometimes she just plain forgot that that were equals -- let alone that the princess preferred informalities out of court. "So princess, I thought you had returned to Canterlot? Didn't you say Kibitz was going to give you trouble?"

Celestia smiled like a doting mother. "Can't I meet with my fellow princess of Equestria once in a while and have tea or something?" She asked, her smile showing the signs of a smirk in the corners (the princess just wanted a break, or maybe the whole day off -- Luna could handle the hordes of angry nobles demanding handouts for at least as long as it took for her to have some tea.)

"But doesn't the princess have --?" Spike started asking before being shushed by her sister, who had a very earnest expression on her face.

"Quick Spike! Get the tea set! " Twilight said, with earnestness. "And the Platina Grey tea out!" Twilight barked, galloping over to the kitchen as quickly as her legs could take her.

Celestia rolled her eyes, and giggled slightly. "Oh Twilight! Is this really necessary?" She asked herself, with a smile. "Twilight!" She said, snapping her ex-student out of her panic. "Relax! Just sit for a minute! Let young Spike handle it -- I'm sure he can!" She said, winking at the young drake -- who nodded and winked in return.

Twilight nodded (unaware of the signal sent between teacher and number one assistant), holding her chest for a minute while relaxing. "Sorry Princess." She said, bringing the tea makings that she had already gathered to the table. "So what brings you here?" She asked, nervously -- biting her lip slightly.

"Well first of all Twilight." She said, pouring some of the mixture into the cup and taking a sip. "I thought I would congratulate you on the progress you've made, not just as a princess, but as a pony!" She said, thinking for a second. "I mean not many ponies can came up with new magic!" She said, smiling to her former student proudly (of all of her students Twilight had been, by far, the most successful.)

"Thank you." Twilight said, with a blush. "But it was your idea to give me Star Swirl's unfinished spell. I mean: I couldn't have done it without your gentle nudge!"

Celestia stopped, obvious confusion showing on her face. "Unfinished spell? I didn't give her any unfinished spells!" She thought to herself. "Didn't she discover new magic all on her own! How else could she get to astral plane to ascend?" Celestia thought to herself anxiously -- all the while putting on her poker face. "Why, of course, my faithful student! You are most welcome! But do you mind if I ask to see the book? You know to.... um.... check your answers!"

"Sure!" Twilight said with a eager smile, walking over to a locked box that she kept in the corner. "Give me a minute to unlock the box, and get the book out." She said, fidgeting with the lock on the box, as knocking could, once again, be heard on the door. Twilight sighed. "Spike, could you get that for me?" She asked, giving up her magic for a second and resorting to stomping on the lock with her hoof. "I'm a little busy here!"

"Certainly." Spike said helpfully. "Though I doubt it's --" He said, staring hopelessly at the pony at the door. "Rarity!... You are looking beautiful today!" He said, floating slightly as he hovered behind his crush.

"Why thank you, Spike!" Rarity said politely. "Do you know where Twilight is?" She asked, looking around zealously at the shelves around her.

"Sure!" He said, in a spacey voice, pointing at Twilight mindlessly. "She's over there! Can I get you anything? Like maybe a --"

"No, Spike! That will be fine." Rarity said politely, again, walking past the smitten dragon. "I'm terribly sorry to disturb you and .... the princess." She said, gulping slightly -- even now she sometimes had trouble being around the living legend without getting uncomfortable. "But -- " She said, steeling her resolve. "But I need those books, that you borrowed, back, Twilight! I need them for ..." She said, trying to come up with a convincing lie. "Um... Important fashion research!" She said -- trying very hard to not tell Spike or Twilight that she really wanted them for her date that night with a terribly eligible stallion from house Ivy.

"Sorry Rarity." Twilight apologized, pulling the book out of the box. "But Rainbow Dash is still holding on to it. If you want, you can go down to the hospital and see her, maybe they'll let you in before visiting hours, if it's so important!"

"And I shall!" Rarity said, with zeal. "I mean, what would that tomboy need with --? Oh that's right! That other Rainbow Dash!" She said, with a blush. "So ... what brings you here today, princess?"

Celestia continued to hold onto her poker face. "Well I was just asking to take a look at that spell I had Twilight finish last year!" She said, with an innocent smile. "I mean I want to double-check her answers ... You know to make sure she did a good job!" Celesta said, lying unconvincingly -- for a change.

"Oh yes, quite!" Rarity said, with a smile. "The one that made her an alicorn princess." She said, tilting her head in recollection. "I felt bad losing the only other unicorn in our group. But, I suppose, it was for the best. You can't imaging the dreadful problems she was having with shedding! And ghastly headaches! But what brought it up just now?" She asked, curious to know what could be going through the all-wise princess' head.

"Oh, no reason." Celestia said, hiding a smirk, and an eye roll. "Just wanted to see if I could use the spell for other purposes." She lied as Twilight began to walk over with the book. "You know like ... um... to create another Sombra! Or something!" She said, as Twilight exclaimed in the other room. "Thank goodness Twilight this was getting uncomfortable!"

"Here it is!" Twilight said, with a smile, showing the book to her teacher. Eagerly awaiting her former teacher's praise.

"The Swirlnomicom!" The princess exclaimed in pure horror. Twilight and Rarity both looked at the princess with puzzled expressions. Celestia gulped, and opened her muzzle again. "I mean, that's the book I gave you! I'm just so glad to see it." She said, hoping that Twilight's normal fan girl mindset would block her from realizing the truth. "So... um... do you mind if I see the spell?" She asked, with a smile that screamed 'give me the book!'

"Certainly!" Twilight said, dutifully opening the book to the page with last year's spell. "And I even left your note in the page!" She squeaked passionately. Giggling giddily -- didn't Celestia look soooo impressed!

"This is an amazingly bad forgery!" Celestia said to herself, under her breath. "What made Twilight even think I wrote this?" She said to herself, turning to Twilight, and started to scan the page. "Yeah -- she's right! It's definitely 'asking her to complete the spell', but which spell?" She asked herself, quietly -- scanning over the page.

She only needed to get halfway through the spell, though, before she knew exactly which spell it was (and she wished she didn't.) "THE UNICORN DEATH SPELL!!!" She squealed in pure terror. "WHERE DID YOU GET THIS SPELL AND THIS BOOK TWILIGHT?" Celestia shouted at her student violently, looking like she had just seen a team up between Nightmare Moon, Sombra, Tirek, and the Flim Flam Brothers.

The princess quickly recovered, though. And spoke again. "I mean..." She said, trying to come up with a lie. "I should be honest with you." She said, using the patented Cutie Mark Crusader Pout. "I came to remind you that it's almost time for your ... um... yearly physical." She said, hoping both Twilight and Rarity would buy it. "I mean it would be horrible if one of the princesses of Equestria became sick!"

Twilight smiled, obliviously. "Of course!" She said, whipping out a scroll and a quill from somewhere. "I'll schedule an appointment with the doctors as soon as I can."

Celestia frowned, steadfastly. "No I think it would be best if my personal physician saw you tomorrow because ... Only he knows the ins and outs of... um... alicorn physiology." She lied unconvincingly.

"Ok!" Twilight exclaimed obliviously. "I'll start over on a new scroll then." She said, walking into the next room to get another scroll.

"Ok!" Rarity said, frowning. "You can trick Twilight, but not me! What's this about a 'unicorn death spell'? And why are you so afraid of it?"

Celestia sighed, this was generosity and she needed to know. "Sit down Rarity, this is going to be hard to explain." She said, as Twilight walked into the room. "Twilight? Could you get me some things from the quills and sofa's store?" She said, hoping to send Twilight off on an errand. "It's very important that I get them, and I'm very busy!"

"Of course!" Twilight beamed, rushing out the door -- not asking what the 'things' were.

"You were saying?" Rarity asked, making sure the princess didn't renege on her promise.

Celestia sighed. "It's forbidden magic that raises the caster's magic five thousand fold." She said, using her horn to beam the image into the room. "Remember last year when your sister couldn't even make her horn light up?" She asked, waiting for Rarity to respond.

"Of course!" Rarity said, with recollection. "The poor thing couldn't even light up her horn. Mother, Father and I were worried sick!"

"Well if she had chanted these words." Celestia said, as an illusionary felt Sweetie Belle began to read words out of a book. "She would have become more powerful than me." She said, as the image was suddenly dressed like Star Swirl, moving whole planets with a wave of her hoof.

"Splendid!" Rarity responded, imagining the possibilities. "So why don't we -- " She started asking, wondering why they didn't teach it, only to come to a realization. "Wait a minute! Why is it forbidden then?"

Celestia grimaced, sighing noticeably. "When the spell begins to fail..." She said, her horn glowing to a scene of the felt Sweetie Belle exploding into confetti.

"Oh!" Rarity said, with a grimace, eating the terror she suddenly felt. "Isn't there something we can do?" She asked, worried for her friend.

Celestia shrugged. "I don't know." Celestia said, frowning noticeably -- what had her student done to deserve this? First an attempted kidnapping by her angry ex-student, then a crown napping by another angry ex-student, now the Uncorn Death Spell! Was it her? Was she the one bewitching Twilight with bad luck? Or had she just abandoned Twilight like ... -- "I don't even know why it would cause her to ascend. All of my other students that got their hooves on this spell... Well.... They turned into confetti." Celestia said, using a euphemism. "Let's wait until my doctor has looked at her."

Rarity frowned. "I should tell the darling. She needs to know!" Rarity said, starting to walk out the door, before being held tight by the princess' magic.

"No!" Celestia commanded. "I don't want Twilight to worry needlessly! We'll keep this matter to ourselves! At least until my private physician has had a chance to examine her!" She said, watching Rarity open her mouth to protest. "I'm serious Rarity! I order you not to tell Twilight!" She commanded again, on the verge of using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Why?" Rarity asked, taken back at the princess' sudden boorish behavior. "Wouldn't we want Twilight to know?"

The princess sighed. She didn't know if she would have an answer to that question.

********

The rest of the week for Rainbow wasn't much better, first some horrible pony decided to try to hurt Pinkie, Minty, and her (well, there was a stronger word for what they tried to do, but Rainbow perished to use the word.)

And no sooner then she had awoken, then, to make matters worse, she had heard that that horrible pony did something to little Rarity, and she was now forced to endure gaudy pegasus wings to perpetually clash with her regal unicorn horn -- it just wasn't natural!) Finally to her great consternation --

The old doctor turned to the nurse. "So have I finally lost my mind, or do your readings say what mine do?" The doctor asked, scrapping his hoof against the ground slightly. "I mean I tested her thoroughly just over two weeks ago, and her bones were powder! She should have been buried six feet under (Celestia's not King Richard's) days ago!"

The nurse shrugged. "Doctor Stethoscope checked too, but it looks like we were all wrong!" She said, with a very pleased smile. "Either that or the zebra's 'ooga-booga' medicine did the trick!"

If the doctor could have, he literally would have shot daggers out of his eyes. He turned to the nurse violently, taking a lecturing tone. "I DON'T DO WRONG!"

The nurse shrugged nonchalantly -- as if to say 'and maybe this time you did'.

"And the witch doctor's medicine won't work because she doesn't have the proper university training! In fact, I'm not sure why Celestia hasn't sent her to jail!" The doctor said, venting steam at his being (temporally) bested by a folk medicine expert.

"Why would that be?" Minty asked, innocently. "Her medicine tastes like pepper mint! And she's really nice!... Hey! I should get her something for Christmas too!"

The nurse rolled her eyes -- at both of them. "It's a mystery doctor!" She said, with a pleased smile. "In any case, I'll let you make the case doctor." She turned to the mint pony. "And wasn't this Christmas a few weeks ago?"

Minty started to open her mouth, but the doctor put his hoof in front of her face to stop her. He sighed, and turned to the mint green disaster. "Let me guess: make up Christmas?" He said, to eager nodding from the green pony. "I should have guessed." He said under his breath. "In any case, you are in luck ms. Minty." The doctor said, coaxing his smile out of hiding. "It looks like your bones have healed miraculously, and I believe it's safe enough to release you today -- so long as you keep those wounds clean, and don't do anything strenuous!"

"Do you hear that, Rainbow Dash!" Minty said, with glee. "We'll be going back to Ponyville soon!" She tried to shake the doctors hoof only to find that he hadn't removed the casts yet. "Oops...! Well once you've taken these casts off anyways!" She said, with a smile.

The doctor simply shook his head. "In any case, I'll be getting hold of your pink friend to see if she can pick you up. Hopefully she has found accommodations for the two of you until I can release Rainbow Dash!"

The gears in Minty's head stopped cold. "Wait... What do you mean 'until I can release Rainbow Dash'? Weren't you waiting on me to get better to release us?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head sadly. "No. Unfortunately Rainbow Dash has her own problems that must be addressed before she can be released into her own recognizance." He said, with a frown. "And those problems are getting worse not better."

"What do you mean doctor? Did I break Rainbow Dash too!" Minty said, starting to sob quietly. "I didn't mean to! I swear!"

"No! You didn't break her! But her condition does baffle medical science -- an earth pony with magic bursts! How can that even happen? And furthermore her condition has steadily worsened, while yours has quickly improved! Celestia knows if she was a unicorn we would have been forced to perform a keratotomy, but how can one justify the removal of all four of a pony's legs?" He looked down, feeling inadequate again.

Rainbow sighed. This all sounded very bad, and very ugly. And why did that horrible word 'kerat...' -- Oh! She couldn't even think it -- scare her so much?

Minty, though, stood up for her friend. "If Rainbow's not going anywhere! Then I'm not going anywhere!" She said, with defiance. "I won't mess anything else up! And I won't leave her behind!"

The doctor only sighed. "Minty! Minty! Minty! The hospital is for sick ponies, and you are not sick! Allowing you to stay needlessly could expose you to some very bad diseases! Nope... Won't do!" He turned his head to the nurse. "Nurse, could you fetch ms..." He said, looking at a clipboard he had left on one of the counters when he entered. "Pinkie Pie, and tell her that her friend Minty is ready to be picked up?"

"Which one?" The nurse asked, in confusion. "You mean the puffy one that holds all the parties in town? Right?"

The doctor thought for a second. "Yes... Wait... No!!!!" He swallowed a growl and a scream. "Just get both! It's time Ms. Minty was going!" He said, ushering the nurse out of the room.

********

The doctor had had Pinkie drop by the same day to pick her friend up. And she ended up having to stay with Twilight (the poor soul, the bookworm didn't even know what she was getting herself into.) Because the cakes didn't have room for another (that and Twilight's Pinkie had been temporarily been banished to another room, after yelling at her Pinkie because some stallion -- Pukie Pulse, or Cheesie Toast or something -- took a shining after her, and Twilight's Pinkie was none too happy about that.)

So just like that Rainbow was alone again -- this felt like it wasn't just happenstance, it felt like a curse! And due to the incident that Minty, Pinkie, and her had had a few days back they doubled the number of orderlies that were watching her room. And she was just begging to get out, especially as she, once again, ran out of reading materials. Maybe if she asked really, really, really nicely, the orderlies would let her step out for a minute.

"Excuse me, darlings." Rainbow said, politely, trying the door. "I have been terribly stir crazy, and I was wondering, darlings, if it would be ok for me to step out for just a minute?" She asked as politely as she could. To no response. "Darlings?" She asked cautiously, trying the handle as the door slowly creaked open.

Standing before her was that strange pegasus again -- the one with that Time Turner's symbol. He looked much the same as he did before, his hair still grey and balding in front, and still long and wispy in back. His coat still graying. Rainbow Dash sighed -- why did she still think she recognized hem -- maybe this time she could confront this strange pony! "Darling, I apologize if I sound too up front, but what brings you here?"

The pegasus only smiled enigmatically, walking into the room.

Rainbow slowly backed off anxiously.

********

"Some days..." Twilight lamented to herself. She'd been training the young foal, and her mentor for only a couple of weeks in the use of magic, and, though she loved the responsibility, some days she just hated being 'Twilight Sparkle: Teacher for a Day'!

It quickly became obvious that the little one (who hilariously shared the name of Twilight's prissy friend) would be very magical someday -- especially after her boon -- that was assuming that Twilight could keep her focus on the task at hoof -- so far it took a miracle (and some very creative teaching methods) for her to even teach the filly how to feel her own native magic.

And then to make matters worse little Rarity's new magic tended to activate dangerously (for everyone) at the most inopportune of times. But the good news was that once the filly learned a trick she would pick it up with passion -- she could tell by the fact she could see a bright pink light radiating from across town on most nights (Twilight was currently working on levitation, a unicorn's most basic spell.)

Her mentor, meanwhile, was a source of endless consternation. It wasn't that the mare was stupid or anything (she was just almost as smart as Twilight was, but not quite), and the problem certainly didn't seem to be a lack of desire to learn or a lack of concentration (she seemed to be as earnest about learning as anypony), it was just that she seemed clueless on how how to cast magic without a wand. And after all these weeks the best she managed to get was sparks (out of the horn that adorned the head of a full grown mare.) And Twilight could tell the mare's confidence was shaken.

Twilight sighed, she'd figure out a way to get through to the two of them eventually (maybe Pinkie was right about that rap, ignoring the fact that it wasn't the Unicorn Magic Rap, but instead was the Wonderbolt's Rap instead.)

So she decided today, after training the two, to take a break and bring that alternate Rainbow Dash some more books on high fashion that she had brought in from the royal Canterlot library (she knew the 'fashion pony of Ponyville' was short on them, and it was one of the few perks she had as 'the fifth wheel princess'.)

"Now which room was it?" Twilight asked herself, looking at the door numbers -- waiting for her memory to kick in. After tilting her head in thought for a second it came to her. "That's right room twelve." She exclaimed, trotting off to the room her Rainbow Dash had held for a few days a while back. "I think it should be right over here." She said pointing her hoof down a hallway. "I hope Rainbow Dash will like these books on the history of -- " She started saying, before gasping in horror.

She had expected to see four minotaur orderlies eagerly standing guard over the room. Instead she found four sleeping minotaur orderlies.

"Wake up!" She shouted commandingly a few times, finally shaking one of the minotaurs fiercely, in desperation -- trying to get their attention, but they seemed to be out cold.

"Not good! Not good! NOT GOOD!" She shouted to herself, looking around in terror, and stomping violently. "I have to get the doctors..." She said, thinking for a second. The problem with that plan was that this situation demanded immediate action, and even if she did act immediately, she might already be out of time. She weighted her options carefully for a second, before recklessly deciding to run into the room horn blazing. Upon further contemplation (and upon flying into the room at full gallop) she considered that she could be galloping into a trap, but the good news of her decidedly Rainbow Dashian decision was that there was no one that could take an alicorn princess in battle -- at least not anyone that would likely be using any kind of tact or secrecy (let's face it Sombra, Nightmare Mood, The Dazzlings, Sunset Shimmer -- oops she was good now --, Tirek, and even Chrysalis would probably have destroyed the hospital by now, and that assassin earlier simply got lucky -- and let's not forget Discord would probably have the place floating upside down spewing out hot cocoa or something.)

The scene was as pretty much as bad as she imagined, Rainbow was standing in the room, with a blank expression, and her eyes were a solid radioactive neon green color. Hovering over her was an odd looking pegasus with some kind of odd device in his muzzle and, what appeared to be, Time Turner's cutie mark. Twilight guessed that whatever happened to Rainbow Dash was probably caused by said device (but she would have to run some tests to be sure.)

"THOU SHOULST STAYEST AWAY FROM HER!" Twilight commanded fiercely. She smiled, and winked slightly. "Wow! I'm getting really good at the Royal Canterlot voice! In fact, I've been practicing it since my battle with Tirek. How'd I do?" She asked of the pony.

He simply shrugged, turning to Twilight nonchalantly -- the object in his muzzle beginning to glow. "I'm terribly sorry princess but I think it's better if you forget! --" He said, the object glowing more brightly. "I mean it's for both your and the lady's safety. I certainly hope you don't mind." He continued, as the device began to turn and whir.

"Doctor! Please stop!" Rainbow shouted, pleadingly. "She's a friend! Just let her watch! Whatever is wrong with me she can hear too!" She shouted to the pegasus. "I trust her to keep whatever secret it is that I'm holding!

The doctor shook his head soundly, continuing to power up the device. "Now this will cause a temporary headache and permanent memory loss. Let me know if you have any constipation, migraines, or your head explodes!" He said, with as much humor as he was capable of mustering.

"Please! I beg you!" Rainbow shouted. "Don't do this!"

He sighed loudly. "You'll wish you hadn't begged." He said, under his breath putting one hoof on the princess wither and pointing the device at Rainbow Dash's head. "Very well!" He said, as Twilight only had time to gasp.

********

She felt disoriented, especially as she began to look at the landscape.

"You need to stay close!" The old pegasus warned. "It's not safe to wonder too far in the subconscious mind! Believe you me, doing so can result in dreadful consequences."

"What kind of 'dreadful consequences'?" Twilight asked, turning to him with curiosity. "I mean it's only the mind and -- "

"Believe me, you don't really want to know." The pegasus responded, morbidly.

Twilight just gulped, and nodded dutifully.

********

"But wait a minute!" Rainbow's mint friend said, shaking her head in disbelief -- a thought just having occurred to her. "I didn't! I mean I hung them inside and --" She said, pointing at one of the houses -- gasping slightly at the end.

Rainbow ran up to her klutz of a friend, smiling graciously. "You gave us your precious socks darling?" Rainbow said, supportively holding one hoof up to get slightly closer. "How darling!" She said, feeling truly gracious that her friend would give up so much to make up for her Christmas mistake.

Twilight meanwhile turned to the doctor. "This must be a memory correct?" She said watching the scene unfold. "I mean there's no way we could have gone back in time."

The doctor nodded silently -- pointing his hoof at the goings-on. "Just watch."

"By the looks of things this must be right before the accident that sent them to Ponyville." Twilight said, with confidence. "I can tell by the fact that it's winter."

The doctor shook his head. "No! This is what would have happened if there was no accident."

Twilight looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean? Would have? How can this be a memory if it's what was supposed to happen?" She said trying to divine what the stallion was talking about. "Is this like the memories of some other dimensional Rainbow Dash?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not in this particular case, but we simply must be moving on! We won't find the source of her magic bursts here!" He said, pushing Twilight along slightly. The scene fading into the darkness behind them.

********

"Darling!" Rainbow said -- taking a midnight stroll -- before watching, in horror, at the sight before her. "What are you doing digging in the dirt? Aren't you are a princess now, darling?"

"Yes!" Wysteria snapped. "And I hate every minute of it!" Wysteria said, sadly. "I can't dig in the dirt, or sniff, or water my plants -- or anything! And I just hate it." She said, crying softly.

"But darling! You are a princess now!" Rainbow said, frowning with concern. "You should be happy darling! I mean every little girl wants to be a princess, darling!"

"And yet I'm miserable." Said the purple earth pony. "I can't even eat my food normally, Spike has me using thirty different spoons." She said, starting to weep. "THIRTY!!!!" She said as her eyes shot wide like saucers. "Oh! I've never been so miserable in all my life!" She shouted angrily, going feral for a minute -- stamping violently (something that Rainbow didn't even know Wysteria was capable of.)

"Oh darling!" Rainbow said, crying softly herself -- giving her friend a platonic hug. "Go talk to that darling! Spike seems like a darling dragon! Maybe, if you talk to him, he'll understand."

"I hope so!" Wysteria said anxiously. "Could you come with me though? I really need the support." She said, shaking slightly and giggling nervously.

Rainbow was legitimately surprised, she had never seen her friend this way. But she was never afraid when it came to helping her friends -- just ask Daisyjo. "Why certainly, darling!" Rainbow replied eagerly. "I'll bring Pinkie and Minty as well!"

"Wow!" Twilight said. "Thirty spoons?" She said, turning to the doctor with an eye roll. "She's exaggerating right?" She exclaimed, deadpan.

The doctor shook his head. "Not even close! If anything she was not going far enough!"

"You're kidding right?" Twilight said, looking at the doctor. "And how do you even know any of this?"

The doctor simply pointed further into the fog.

Before her she could see Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Minty, this new pony... what was her name? Wysteria, and another pony arguing with a very small blue dragon.

"No I don't want food! And I don't want to sleep!" Wysteria finally announced, strongly. "I want to sniff the flowers, and I want to water my plants, and I want to dig in the dirt!" She said, suddenly breaking into a variation of the royal Canterlot Voice. "WE WISH TO BE US AGAIN!" Something that surprised Twilight, where'd she learn that?

The dragon sniffed violently, and opened his mouth condescendingly. "Princess! Princess! Princess! We all know that isn't possible! You are a princess now! And it's time you started acting like one!" He said turning to Rainbow, Pinkie, Minty, and the other pony. "And princesses have neither friends nor equals! It was decided the moment you touched that flower! Now if you four would be so kind as to leave! We have important princess training to continue!"

Twilight gasped. "Is their Spike really this big of a jerk?" She said, unable to separate her spike from theirs in her mind.

The doctor shook his head. "Not if things were working the way they are supposed to. But something went very wrong this cycle -- and I'm not sure that even I can fix it this time." He said, frowning softly. "Might cause problems though..."

"And what if she no longer wishes to be a princess darling!" Rainbow demanded. "What if we want someone else to be princess instead?"

"Ahhh!!!" The dragon said with enthusiasm. "A coup!!!" He shouted eagerly, beginning to walk towards the door. "Well then! Come along girls! We shall crown the new princesses:" He said, motioning for the five ponies in the room with him. "Princess Pinkie! Princess Rainbow Dash! And Princess Sunny Daze!" He started dancing off eagerly. "To the procession!" He shouted eagerly.

Twilight just shook her head silently. "And I'm guessing by the discerned lack of stallions occurring in these flashbacks that this must be Heathspike." She said, with disgust. "What does Rainbow see in him?"

The doctor turned away. "Under normal circumstances a whole lot! Even under these warped circumstances -- I feel bad for both of them." He turned to Twilight again. "But we must be on our way! He said pointing at a hole that materialized. "Down we go!" He said, pushing the princess down said hole, before jumping in himself.

********

"Excellent plan, Starcatcher." Rainbow said, smiling enthusiastically. "If your darling friends are too shy to come to our party, then we'll bring the party to them!" Rainbow said, grabbing a beautifully decorated layer cake from their new pegasus friend and handing it to a yellow pony with green eyes, and an aqua and purple mane.

As they flew on by. The doctor pointed at the three. "Star Catcher, Rainbow Dash, Meadowbrook. Only two are important, do you know which?" He said, turning to Twilight, who shrugged her withers.

********

"No Darling." Rainbow said to her pink friend, pointing at where she wanted the banner -- not where it was. "More to the left." She said, as Pinkie strained against the forces of gravity. "More! More!" She said, as Pinkie fell off the ladder, dragging the banner down with her. "Perfect!" Rainbow said, with good cheer.

"Hope you brought a book Princess!" The doctor said, lounging comfortably. "We've just started falling!" He said as the friendship ball fell slowly out of range.

********

"But six charm bracelets will be sixtacular!" Sparkleworks said, rearing playfully. Behind her and Razzaroo a pony slowly and gracefully entered the cafe.

"Hello my darlings!" Rainbow said, entering with style and grace, tilting her head up slightly -- like the diva she was -- waving her head slightly to show off her impressive rainbow mane.

"Introducing the one the only Rainbow Dash!" The doctor said as they passed by. "Oh lady! What has that monster done to you!"

"Say again?" Twilight asked, surprised by his sudden emotionality.

"You'll see! I promise!" The doctor exclaimed, blushing slightly.

********

The scenes quickly started to speed up as they flew past.

"How I adore painting my nails!" Rainbow Dash sang imagining herself holding up two different viles of nail polish, one in each hoof, while swiveling around in a bar stool (unfortunately due to being inside her mind, Twilight could see the whole scene.) Around her was a colorful sea of nail polish canisters.

"ARGGG!!! I'm blind!!!!" Twilight shrieked in horror -- at the horrible misshapen wraith before her. "What happened to Rainbow Dash?"

********

"Ok let's dig in!" Scootaloo shouted eagerly.

"It'll be simply dashing!" Rainbow said, not sounding a thing like herself.

"Was this something that really happened?" Twilight asked as they passed by. "This or those horrible scenes with the mutant foals? Or the Ferris Wheel? Or the (Twilight couldn't stop laughing at this concept) gumball house?"

The doctor shook his head. "Diseased memories created by an outside force. The last real memory we saw was before the whole 'painting our nails' moment." He said as both he and Twilight shook in horror.

Finally he shushed her. "The ones to come are real memories, well real and yet not real. I'll let you decide the why." He said, smirking slightly. "They are Rainbow's real memories and yet they aren't Rainbow's memories. You wouldn't understand if I explained it anyway." He said, as the princess frowned -- 'she wouldn't understand', what a ego nut.

********

"Minty:" Rainbow said, looking proud of her friend's moment of brilliance. "throwing Pinkie Pie a surprise birthday party is an absolutely darling idea, darling!" Rainbow said, with graceful exuberance, putting one hoof to her chest, her eyes closed.

"We need balloons and, .... " A pony said as Twilight and the doctor fell out of the scene. "Wait, where was Razzaroo, isn't she the one that throws their parties?"

********

"Hey that's Rarity! And Cheerilee!" Twilight said, as their fall slowed. "And Pinkie, and Minty are over there! And Heathspike." Twilight said, with surprise. "But isn't Heathspike a jerk?"

The doctor shook his head. "Not here! This was what was supposed to happen after the Hearth's Warming disaster that was never supposed to happen. " He said, pointing towards the four unicorns. "Watch!"

While he was doing that, Twilight took a look at her new Rainbow friend, and noticed with shock that the Rainbow earth ponies mane and eye colors were completely gone making her look old and feeble. "What happened?" Twilight asked, of the doctor -- pointing at the wreck of Dash. "Why's Dash all old and grey?"

"The charming 'Rainbow Princess' over there -- "He said pointing at the pink foal. "Failed to cast the spell in time to bring the First Rainbow of the Season, so there will be no rainbows of any kind that year."

Twilight gasped. "So that's what Cheerilee was 'mentoring' her in." She frowned. "That must be why she took it so personally that she couldn't help the filly."

The doctor simply smiled. "Won't matter in a second! Watch!"

"Now who's not listening!" The foal said, earnestly -- causing her mentor to turn around, reluctantly smiling -- she give it one more ready to try once more, if only for her sake.

The unicorns gathered in a circle once again, this time causing the foal's pink magic to activate, which caused her tiny shriveled husk of a horn to grow to full size. The other unicorn's horns quickly joined in -- as if following the pink pony's lead.

"So that's what Cheerilee's color is!" Twilight said, watching a blue light shoot out of the old purple unicorn's horn. "But why did Rainbow want us to see this?"

"who knows." The doctor asked. "Maybe she just wanted us to see that Rainbow?" He said. "Or maybe she felt for the filly."

The cerulean earth pony mouthed some words about the beauty of the rainbow, as Twilight and the doctor sped by, falling towards a black pit.

"In a minute that won't matter!" The doctor said, his voice getting dark. "Kiss happy Rainbow Dash goodbye! It's almost time to meet the lady!" He said, with sorrow apparent.

********

Suddenly it was as if they fell out of the light into the darkness, as -- practically in a line -- the colors shifted from bright and cheerful to dark, muted, and moody. Before everything suddenly came to a stop.

Twilight began to glance around "What happened here? Why's everything so dark and gloomy?" She asked, turning once more to the doctor. "You seem to know what's going on!"

The doctor held up his hoof to stop her. "You'll see." He said, pointing ahead. "Just watch!"

Before she could see a distorted scene before her of a changeling with a rainbow mane talking to what appeared to be Discord. Twilight puzzled, why is this scene in Rainbow's memories? And does Discord have to do with anything?

The doctor shrugged, nonchalantly. "You wished to see! And now you are! This is what happens when two ponies share one mind!" He said matter-of-factly. "Or maybe it's one pony with the memories of two. In any case we'll see."

Twilight looked at him in confusion. What did he mean? And why does he insist in talking in riddles? Was she wrong when she supposed he knew more then he pretended?

Around them, time moved in reverse in spurts.

Ahead they could see a scene of a rainbow maned changeling trying to race away from four other changelings -- her flight was quickly becoming more erratic, had she been hurt? Above the changeling's head a needle flew missing her by mere inches. Giving chase were four other changelings, one having the same style of wheelchair cart as one of the ponies she met during the exchange -- what was his name? Stellar Eclipse?

She could barely make out the voices of the attackers. "Phytolacca you seem to be losing your touch! You should've been able to split a needle length-wise from twice this length!" An older vaguely feline changeling said, talking to a middle-aged changeling stallion with a long thick grey mane. "Maybe I should take over this job? I should have just enough witching potion to finish her off!"

He retorted. "Who said I didn't hit exactly where meant to? The goal, Belladonna, is to force her down right here!" He said, pointing ahead with his hoof. "At that location we should be able to surround The Lady on all sides, and finish her quickly! My poison has ensured it! I just want a little extra insurance." He said, showing his fangs.

The changeling in the wheelchair cart smiled sadistically. "Excellent work Phytolacca! We might finish The Lady yet! But we must be weary! The Lady seems to be extremely hard to squash!"

Twilight gulped, and looked on with awe. Was it just her, or were these four changelings trying to do away with the fifth. Did that make any sense? Didn't the changelings all think with one mind, save their royalty? And what could the rainbow maned changeling do to deserve this treatment?

Time began to fly backwards again, skipping again to a dark room.

The rainbow maned changeling barged in to see, what looked like that other pinkie -- except she had a tiny shriveled horn, tiny shriveled wings, and as she wept she showed tiny fangs -- being attacked by one of the assassins from earlier in the dream. One that looked very familiar to her. Yes! It was the assassin that attacked Minty, Pinkie, Rainbow, and her earlier! What was her name? Oh that was right Mandragora!

Twilight stopped and checked her eyes. This didn't make any sense. Was that other Pinkie a changeling? But why was the only part of her that looked like one was her wings and horn, and why were they so small and shrimpy. Was she a failed conversion? Or was she just bad at taking a form? And why would Mandragora be turning her old like that? Why would the assassin want her gone?

The doctor smiled, and turned to her. "Curious aren't you?" He asked, as Twilight nodded, watching with intent as the rainbow maned changeling came in and began to do battle with the assassin. "Before you ask: no she's not a convert, nor a failed conversion. Heck, she's not even a full changeling!"

Twilight quirked her eyes. 'Not even a full changeling!' Was that even possible? Wasn't it biologically impossible -- ? She started asking, before the doctor gave her a nudge.

The doctor smiled mischievously. "You'll see!" He said, pointing as time began to quickly reverse again.

Suddenly time slowed again as Twilight could see the rainbow maned changeling rush into a room containing another one of the assassins, a distinctly female looking one -- what was her name again Belladonna? And she appeared to be doing something -- with a nefarious looking liquid -- to a small, lightly green hued changeling foal.

Twilight squinted her eyes. Why did she feel like she should know that changeling?

"Looking at the foal are we?" The doctor said, winking slightly. "You probably shouldn't recognize her, her name was 'Princess Larva', and she went to the fields long before you were born -- or at least that's what her mother thinks!" He said, smiling enigmatically at Twilight.

Twilight looked startled for a second, turning to the doctor. "Who's her mother? And why would another changeling want to hurt one of their own foals, was she a burden on the hive?"

The doctor shrugged. "I can only speculate. But you should know her mother -- she keeps claiming to be yours."

"You mean, Chrysalis?!" Twilight said, in horror. "But why would she want to do away with -- "

"Who can say? I don't think she did though. Especially since she legitimately wept for the foal, thinking it was malnutrition."

Twilight turned to the rainbow maned changeling. Pointing to her with her hoof. "Who's she then?"

"That would be Chrysalis aunt, Princess Auroras. And that makes her the foal's great aunt." The doctor replied.

"But why is she defending the foal, or maybe why is she the only one defending the foal?"

The doctor smirked. "Just wait a minute and we'll see."

Time began to flow by more and more rapidly, slowing down less and less until suddenly it stopped at a pony that looked a lot like that other Pinkie Pie, except for her blue eyes, and bright pink mane (which was closer to her Pinkie Pie.)

Twilight shielded her eyes for a minute from the miracle of birth -- to riotous laughter from the doctor. "Having trouble are we?" The old doctor said, laughing again.

Twilight turned, to see the foal, which looked remarkably like the pink filly from the hive earlier. She turned to the doctor. "She's the same foal from the hive isn't she?" She asked the doctor who nodded. "Let me guess? The mom Pinkie Pie over there is really the rainbow maned changeling?"

The doctor nodded again. "You are astute!" Twilight nodded, with pride. "And that makes her and princess larva?"

"First cousins once removed." Twilight said, confidently. "But you still haven't answered whether or not she's a changeling too, and if not what is her nature!" The doctor shook his head -- he wasn't going to say just yet. In the background 'Mom Pie' was talking to a pegasus stallion. Twilight gasped. "That stallion is you! You're a changeling aren't you!"

The doctor shook his head, with pity. "Wrong Princess! But good try. I'll explain when the time is right." He said, as time started to reverse again.

This time rapidly, with scenes and figments streaming by at rapid speed to the point where the images slowly started to form together into a blur until finally it was just a bright white light, which seemed to explode from a point.

Standing before Twilight was the rainbow maned changeling. Her coat held a slight blue, and the band around her barrel was a bright blue. Her rainbow mane and tail had rainbow colors closer to her rainbow dash then the comical pastel hues that that other Rainbow Dash had.

The changeling sighed. "Hello Twilight!" She said, looking down sadly. "I guess you are looking for answers?" She asked, hesitantly, shaking heavily.

********

The changeling waved her hoof, her joints and hoof bending in an unnatural manner.

Before Twilight stood a small changeling filly that looked suspiciously like the grown changeling pony mare.

The filly slowly opened her mouth and, as if orating before a crowd, began to speak. "I've always liked Rainbows!" She said, smiling softly. "They represent freedom." She said, sighing slightly at the scene that began to emerge behind her.

A young changeling foal with rainbow hair sat listlessly before her mentor, an older changeling drone (with about the same amount of character.) The old drone stallion tapped his ruler mercilessly against the desk near the small foal. "Wake up!" He demanded. "The queen has commanded that you be trained properly!" He shouted, almost mindlessly. "Do you know why?"

The foal shook her head politely (swallowing a mischievous grin.) She obviously had better things to do and places to go then the tutorship of professor Chitin.

"Princess!" He said, waking her up from what he considered to be another day dream. "When the queen died then it'll be your job, as her one and only daughter, to lead the hive forward! And to do that you must learn!" He said, waiting impatiently a few minutes. Finally shaking his head he trotted over, grabbed a very large stack of books; and unceremoniously slammed the stack on the desk. "You will be expected to read each and every one, princess."

Time appeared to fast forward, but only a period of months. The foal sat on the throne, while her mother sat nearby, her eyes glued to the foal like a hawk, carefully and fully critiquing her every action.

"Auroras! Honey! You should have decided in favor of the higher noble in this situation, he will be much more important to securing your rule then the lower noble will be." The queen responded coldly. "Beside the higher noble is a pure changeling up to at least fifteen generations, while the other noble is one quarter convert, and to top that off his grandfather was originally of the drone class."

"But mommy!" The foal protested. "The lower noble was right!" She said, with zeal.

The queen shook her hoof violently, resisting the urge to use violence. "And they won't help you move this hive forward after my passing!" She stated angrily. "And nonsense like rainbows and freedom won't help!" She said, rebuking her daughter. "Maybe you have too much of your father in you! She said, ushering a few members of her praetorian guard in. "Gents!" She commanded. "Please remove all pony items from my daughter's room! And her collection of colored rocks! Apparently rainbow's are too big of a distraction for her!"

The foal cried, as the guard left dutifully, gathering a few more of the Hyperion guard to assist.

Once again, the foal stood before Twilight, and orated again. "One of those rainbow's was a gift for my mommy! And you know what she said when she heard that it had been discarded: 'Good! If you are going to be queen someday then you need to get rid of these notions! I'm glad they got rid of all that nonsense!'"

The foal fell to her knees, sobbing violently. "Mommy! Don't you love me?"

In this distance, her mother looked away, almost looking sad. "Princess: you have your duties, and you must learn what it means to be a true princess!"

Time began to pass again, as Twilight could see the foal before her quickly grow into an pre adolescent filly -- around the age of the crusaders.

"Greetings gents!" She said, as she approached her mother's room, holding a flower in her hair, and another in her saddlebag -- both obtained from the lands of the ponies to the north. "I wish to see my mother."

The guards glared at her, and crossed spears. "The egg containing your sister is about to hatch, and nopony is permitted entry until after incubation has completed."

"What do you mean?" The filly asked, looking at the guards. "My mother is in there! As is my sister! Shouldn't I be there for the joyful occasion."

"No!" The guards groused, as the sound of the egg finally cracking could be heard from the other room.

From the crack in the doorway, she could see her mother, and step father, as well as the queen's adviser inside the room.

The adviser's face lit up as soon as he saw the result of the birth. "Excellent, my liege!" The advisor said, taking a careful look at the newborn foal. "Good news, my queen: It's a girl -- your line is secure!"

The queen's husband's face lit up as well. "Excellent! What should we call her? Our daughter! Our one true daughter?!"

The queen's countenance dropped. She frowned looking down. "She is to be called Amethyst! She is now first in line of inheritance and..." She said, swallowing tears. "Auroras is to be disowned, stripped of title and inheritance, and is now to be a bastard!"

The advisor smiled widely. "This means that since you have given birth to a purebred changeling with your true husband that you no longer need that worthless daughter of a convert." He said, feeling high and mighty at the queen's 'right thinking' "What are we to do with her?" He asked, smiling sadistically at the older princess, who he could see through the crack in the door.

Hearing these words caused the rainbow maned changeling -- who Twilight just learned was called Auroras -- to gulp violently -- shaking violently -- as the color quickly drained from her face. She had heard about what happened to the children whom the hive dubbed as bastards. She heard that they could use the same process that transformed ponies into changeling converts to transform intelligent changelings into mindless drones.

She started backing away scooting along the floor backwards as her legs lacked the strength to stand. She had also heard that sometimes, in the hive, unwanted relatives simply disappeared never to be seen again.

One of the praetorian guards grabbed her, dragging her towards the door.

Inside the door she could hear the her parents and their advisor discussing her fate.

"What do you want done with her then, majesty?" The old advisor asked eagerly -- probably already savoring the fate he had planned for the young ex-princess.

The queen, who had been moping -- despite the joyous event, began to speak. "She is to be sent to boarding school with the unicorns!" She proclaimed.

Both the advisor and her father turned their heads in disbelief. "Boarding school? Are you ok, your majesty? Don't you mean -- ?"

The queen turned to them, her face getting stern. "You heard me: she is to be sent to boarding school! And if you wish to remain in my employ then you are not to ask again!" She barked, furiously.

Her husband turned to his wife, the queen. "But my queen! She is the daughter of a half convert, and the child of an illegitimate coupling and --"

"No buts!" The queen commanded, on the verge of using what would later be called The Royal Canterlot Voice. "I am well aware that I shouldn't, but I will anyway!" She said, ushering the guards, and her daughter in. "Just get her out of my way! And nothing more! OR YOU WILL HAVE TO ANSWER TO US!!!" She shouted, causing her husband and adviser to cower in fear.

The guards opened their mouth. "Am I to find a unicorn for her to replace, majesty?"

The queen shook her head vigorously. "She is to find her own form! It's time she stopped living with her head in the clouds, thinking about rainbows, and learned the truth of our kind." She said, ushering the young princess Auroras into exile among the unicorns.

********

Twilight turned and gulped, the night before the wedding, when 'her mother' was still contemplating kidnapping her and taking her to the hive, 'her mother' had said, that this practice was usually reserved for weak babies, in times of famine. Basically the changelings would dispatch a pony, and replace it with their own foal, who would grow up not knowing who or what they really are until they were collected, and returned to the hive. 'Her mother' even claimed that that's what happened to Twilight, calling her something asinine like 'Amaryllis'.

The filly turned to twilight, looking at her sadly. "Mother said I was supposed to dispatch and replace a pony, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it." She said, sobbing softly. "I just couldn't do it!"

Twilight looked on in awe. A changeling with a soul? Are there actually kind changelings out there? Are there some that aren't just petty predators?

The filly raised her hoof, her face turning red. "No wonder I can't be queen! I'm weak! Just like my father! I'll never be a true changeling and nopony would ever love a fraud like me!" She said, her eyes closed, and her changeling horn glowing as she slowly began took on a form. "Instead I took my memories of the ponies, and the phony unobtainable images of beauty that the ponies' stallions used to hide when I passed by -- as well as my own hopes and dreams to take on the form of a fake pony -- to go with me: a fake changeling!" She sighed, looking at her horn -- now a twisted unicorn horn.

"Unicorns represent the mystical powers of the arcane, and the hidden powers of the mind." She said, orating as from a stage -- before turning her face again to Twilight and frowning -- unable to say whatever it was she wanted to say to Twilight.

The scene slowly transitioned to the outsides of an old school. Twilight had seen paintings of the school from the end of the interregnum. This was what Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns had looked like before the beginnings of her reign -- and before Discord's brief reign of the land.

Before Twilight stood the changeling Auroras in her unicorn form: a white unicorn with a rainbow mane, blue eyes, and a rainbow colored star cutie mark. Surrounding her, on all sides, were all manner of young unicorn fillies and colts. Each one mocking her in turn. Others chose the opportunity to push her around, or knock her legs out from under her.

The changeling stood defiantly, but her will seemed to slowly crack, as tears began to form in her eyes. She was muttering something softly, but the words didn't seem to come out.

One of the oldest stallions of the group: a young member of the Moonstone clan chimed in. "If you want this to stop Auroras, then stop being such a lousy unicorn, and cast real magic!" He demanded, ordering some of the stallions to begin tossing objects at her with their magic with a twist of his hoof.

"Please stop!" She said, sobbing slightly -- her horn completely unable to do anything but spark slightly.

"What a complete waste!" Said a young unicorn stallion from house Diamond Glow. "She can't even cast basic magic!" He said, turning his head down, and shaking it melodramatically. "How can she possible represent this school for anything?"

The unicorn from the Moonstone clan turned to his friend. "I know!" He said, laughing haughtily. "I even heard she was a princess somewhere!"

The other unicorn joined into the laughter. "How did a worthless unicorn like this even get into Platina's school for talented mages anyway?" He asked, beginning to walk over to the young princess Auroras. "Nepotism?"

Auroras turned to the two, defiantly. "I can cast magic you can't even believe!" She said, boastfully. "I just can't it under pressure!" She said, unable to catch a piece of rotten fruit that was lobbed at her by one of the students.

Shining Glow, the unicorn from house Diamond Glow, turned to his friend Sunstone, the unicorn from house Moonstone, and ribbed him slightly with his shoulder. "Just can't do it under pressure! Oh! Of course! I'm sure everypony will believe that!"

Both unicorns started laughing, this time riotously. "Maybe we should teach you something about magic!" They said, charging their horns. "Watch and learn!"

" But despite my pessimism there were a few kind unicorns around!" The voice of Auroras beamed through the scene -- which had suddenly stopped. "I'm reminded of regal majesty, a kindred spirit of mine, and the only unicorn who seemed to know, or care what was happening to me!" The voice said, with sadness.

"I think that's just about enough!" Since a unicorn in the distance, who's voice immediately caused the crowd to part. "Can't you see the poor dear is doing the best she can." The pitch black unicorn said, her purple eyes practically peering into the souls of the two stallions.

"But Regal Majesty! She's an insult to our school!" They said. "She'll make a joke of this school!"

"Tut Tut Tut!" She exclaimed, her purple mane blowing in the wind. "And maybe the problem is that you've scared the dear impudent?" She said, her muzzle scrunching slightly. "Now why don't you all head to class!" She said, motioning with her hoof, causing the crowd to quickly scatter. She turned to the young changeling turned unicorn. "So how do you feel my dear?" She said, with pity. "Hopefully those ruffians didn't hurt you too badly!"

"Ok." Auroras said, hiding her tears. "I'm ok -- I think!"

"I'm sorry about them." She said, with a gentle smile. "I may be a bastard child, but ponies fear what my mother would do to them none the same."

The changeling filly turned in awe. "Who's your mother -- " The filly asked, stopping when it became obvious by the older unicorns face that she had touched a nerve.

Regal majesty looked to the side, sighing on the inside. "Queen Platina. The queen of the unicorn tribes, and 'ruler of all she surveys'!" She said, sarcastically. Did Regal Majesty have some kind of issue with her mother?

"And your dad?" Auroras asked, in awe. "Are they afraid of him too?"

"We don't speak of him." Regal Majesty retorted. "Not that mother knows anyway, I've heard speculation of every eligible unicorn in the country, and even some outlandish claims such as commander Hurricane. In the end, I suspect, I got my mother's eyes and mane, and my father's coat -- what little good that is!" She said, wanting a piece of the deadbeat.

Time flowed forward again, a few months -- even possibly a year or two. The changeling turned unicorn sat side by side with the bastard daughter of the princess. Both sighing due to bad news from their respective homes. So the two of them sat a comfortable distance from the other, watching the sun slowly sink, along with their spirits.

Regal majesty turned to her friend, frowning deeply. "So you thought about what you're going to do after boarding school?" She said, after spending much deliberation on her own future. "You know that's where they send nobles children to disappear, right!?" She said, getting up to walk away. "It's not like after we finish here that we'll be expecting much fanfare. Most likely all I can expect is to be married to some deadbeat noble, and shipped off to 'rule' some far away hamlet."

Auroras shook her head. "I think mother still loves me! And I'm certain she'd never do anything cruel like that!" She said, lying to herself. "I'm certain that she'll find a place for me when I return home! I just don't know what it is yet!"

Regal majesty turned, and sighed. "And so why did you stay here during the fourty-seven day Hearth's Warming season celebrations? Instead of returning to your family?"

Auroras sighed, the unicorn was right on that count. She still had the letter from the queen: 'you are not permitted to return at this time. Any attempts to do so will be treated as a mark of treason against the hive itself.'

"In the end, I got out of my unfair share of trouble thanks to that unicorn." The voice said, fondly. "She was honestly the closest thing I had to a friend, and certainly the only unicorn I can recall meeting that showed any kind of true friendship to me." She said, recollecting some of the magic training they had done together. "And honestly her support pushed me on to become a fairly proficient spell caster." The voice said, slowly panning out to the filly. "But in the end she couldn't protect me from everything, and those who'd wish me harm like Shining Glow and Sunstone simply learned to bide their time until the bastard princess wasn't around."

********

The filly -- this time appeared again, as a young adolescent. "The pegasus represent the freedom of the wind, and the ferocity of the storm." She orated, looking off into a growing peep hole into her life. "Of the three tribes, they are the warriors." She said, staring off at herself, sandwiched between the walls of the school, and six angry unicorn stallions -- led by her arch rivals, Shining Glow and Sunstone.

"Please!" The filly begged. "I have to get to class." She pleaded, further squishing against the wall.

"And I think you should be banished to Butterfly Island with all the pegasus tribe's rejects!" Shining Glow said, laughing arrogantly. "But we can't both get what we want!"

His friend joined in, giving him their signature hoof shake. "Scorn! Scorn! Sugar warn horn!" They said, bumping horns.

Sunstone finally opened his mouth (Auroras fully expected it to happen eventually.) "You know, girl, you are a disgrace to this school!" He said, threateningly. "So I think I'm going to ask, as nicely as possible for you to leave!" He said, sharpening his hoof against the cobble stones. "So are you going to leave like a good little filly." He said, his voice filled with superiority. "Or am I going to have to eject you forcibly?" He said, starting to laugh again.

"And how about you leave her alone instead?" Asked a fiery red pegasus who's blue eyes seemed to peer into the stallion's souls. "Unless you want to fight with me?" She said, shaking her fiesta colored rainbow mane defiantly.

Some of the smallest unicorns of the group gulped slightly, but their nerves quickly returned when their two ring leaders spoke.

"What are you even doing here?" Shining Glow asked, haughtily.

"Yeah! Shouldn't a brutish pegasus like you be off with Hurricane's little outfit?" Sunstone asked, joining his friend.

"I think she got confused, and lost her way!" Shining glow said, causing both unicorns to laugh raucously. "You know how stupid these pegasus ponies can be especially with their weak little eyes." He said, intentionally causing his eyes to separate, each looking at opposite directions.

"Certainly!" The other said, poking at her wings. "Oh she looks unhealthy too! Her and her broken worthless wings -- maybe she was sent here because she didn't fit in with her people, you know I've heard stories about what happens to pegasus ponies who can't fly!" He said, snickering sadistically to his friend. "So why don't you get a clue and run along!" Sunstone said dropping a none too subtle hint.

"Before you get yourself hurt!" His friend said, motioning her along -- with a strong sense of superiority.

The pegasus pony only smirked, confidently. "And I think I'm here to fight all six of you!" She said, trotting forward slowly, causing some of the stallions to back off. That only caused her smile to grow, as her confidence appeared to only increase. "Any of you macho stallions want to test their metal against a battle hardened pegasus?" She asked, doing a fake lunge at Sunstone who flinched slightly.

"But... But... But... You... You're just a mare!" One of the stallions stammered, anxiously. "We... We... We... We can take you easy!" He said, charging.

The pegasus didn't even flinch causing the stallion to stop cold, and start to back up. "Heh!" She said to herself, outright. "And I don't even mind that you're all stallions!" She said, smirking sadistically. "In fact, I more than just think that a mare like me can take you all: I KNOW THAT I CAN!" She yelled, causing the smallest stallion to high tail it and run away, was it just Auroras, or was there a slight dull sheen to the cobble stones?

The pegaus turned to the five remaining stallions. "You want to know why?" She asked, the next smallest pegasus, that was starting to shake like a leaf.

"W... Why?" He asked, cowering back as she stuck out her neck to remain eye to eye with him.

"Because, in pegasus ponies, the ferocity of the mares is MUCH higher than that in the stallions!" She said, beginning to chase the smallest stallion against the wall -- causing him to flee at a ninety degree angle and away from the pack.

"Don't think so?" She asked the four remaining unicorns. "Why don't you four come and test that theory?" She said, with a cocky grin -- causing the third stallion to walk away, his head stuck down sullenly.

"Come on!" She grinned again. "I'll even let you get the first hit!" She said, flaring her wings and sticking her neck back as to make her chest stick out prominently (and motioning at it with one of her wings.

"Or are you chicken?" She asked, Sunstone and Shining glow. "Come at me!" She said, in a sultry tone.

"We... We're certainly not chicken! Isn't that true Mystic Star!" Shining Glow said, turning to find his friend had disinvaporated -- metaphorically speaking.

Sunstone gulped. "Maybe we should leave Shining Glow? I... think... we've demonstrated Auroras' need to leave! ... Aptly enough!" He said, running off.

Shining Glow stood there, cussing violently. "This isn't over! It's not over or either of you!" He said, beginning to back off -- well aware he couldn't take the pegasus in a fight, especially if the pampered 'princess' joined in the fray. "I'll be back! And you'll all be sorry!" He shouted, to his friend who had left -- doing his hoof shake all alone. " Scorn! Scorn! Sugar warn horn!" Before quickly fleeing off into the school, whimpering like a wounded dog.

Only once she was certain that the six unicorns were out of range of both sight and sound, did she crumple into the ground, nervously. "Whew!" She exclaimed to herself. "I've never been so frightened in all my days!" The fiery pegasus with the fiesta rainbow mane exclaimed with relief.

"You can come out now." She said, with a motherly voice to the cowering changeling turned unicorn -- still plastered nervously to the wall. "I won't hurt you." She said, beckoning the filly out like a nervous fowl -- walking backwards slightly.

The changeling filly looked at nervously for a minute, before opening her mouth. "Thank you so much!" She said, to a simple nod from the pegasus, and a smile that said 'you're welcome' in a very concise manner. "My name is Auroras, and what's yours?"

The pegasus stood up, chest puffed, wings fully extended, head up high -- exuding boundless confidence (which she wasn't really feeling right now, but she definitely put up a good show.) "Names Sky Runner!" She said, making sure to give her name full effect before continuing. "I'm a transfer student from Commander Hurricane's camp for the young officers (also known as the Hurricane school for gifted fliers.)"

The young unicorn changeling looked her in disbelief. Why was she here then? Pegasus ponies can't cast unicorn magic.

The pegasus met her at the pass. "It's kind of a unification experiment -- not that I agree with it, but you know a young pegasus like me has got to do her duty to the greater good of the unit!" She said, dutifully, breaking into laughter by the end. "But seriously!" She said, taking her own advice. "If those stallions so much as even look at you the wrong way again let me know! And I'll happily turn their faces into the same mush that they have for brains!" She said, smiling earnestly, and causing the young changeling to smile gratefully.

"But why?" Auroras asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to stay out of dirty affairs like this? Aren't you worried it'll make ponies think you're a meddler, or a tattle, or something? Won't they hate you?"

Sky Runner simply blew a raspberry. "And who says I care?" She said, watching the filly changeling's eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. "Besides! I kind of consider this my mission in life! Thing about it is, I lost my father to some monsters when I was still too small to remember him and because of it I have made it my purpose in life to protect the innocent!" She said, regaining her heroic pose. "Kind of like a super hero!"

The scene froze for a second, and the filly spoke to Twilight. "Truth be told, Twilight: I quickly figured out that Sky Runner's father was taken away from her by my mother, and transformed into a drone! She was the youngest of five -- and my older half sister, if you include myself." She said, sighing sadly. "I don't think she ever figured it out... well not before it was much too late to matter! I have always wondered if she would have been such a close friend if she had found out!"

She said, disappearing into the darkness, as the scene resumed.

"Weren't you scared?" Auroras asked, her blue eyes trying to peer into the pegasus soul. "I mean they were six of the biggest and most magical unicorns this school has!

"Of course!" She said, honestly. "But truth be told I wasn't going to let them hurt you! 'Sides I was more angry then scared!" She said, scowling slightly. "Insults about a pegasus' wings and eyes are like the worst possible insults for them! It's because a pegasus eyes and wings are the very things that make us so special, it would be like you losing your horn, or an earth pony losing their legs!" She said, shaking angrily, her hoof tightly pressed against the building. "Good thing I kept it together!" She said, smiling again. "If it had come to a fight I might have had trouble protecting myself -- let alone the both of us against those stallions! (No matter how much I believed I could!)"

"The truth be told -- " The young changeling mare orated. "Her words were prophetic."

********

Time flew forward again, this time only a short period. The young changeling mare appeared again before Twilight, and opened her mouth to orate again.

Before Twilight was a scene of a violently sobbing filly Chrysalis -- her pillow covered in tears. . "Why!... Why did they do this to me!" She sobbed, beginning to shake one of her hooves. "I thought they were my friends!"

Just outside the door, peering in silently Twilight could see the face of Aurora's unicorn form -- looking much older --, her face filled with concern and despair. All she could do was shake her head, and shed a few tears herself -- at the cruelty of pony kind.

The young mare opened her mouth, and began to narrate a voice over above the scene. "I felt for Chrysi -- I really did -- especially when I found out that her friends had been turned against her by that horrible Celestia!" The voice said, swallowing tears as it spoke. "But in the end I could never consent to her methods! Nor approve of 'the justice' she enacted on her ex-friends!" The voice over said, watching an Auroras leave in disgust at something that happened off screen. "Never ever could I approve of what she did! And every time I have even considered so much as attempting to justifying her methods -- " The voice said, trailing off. "All I can see is Sky Runner, lying on the floor -- " The voice said, weeping at a memory that began to materialize in front of her. "Motionless and missing her wings!"

"Please! Just go away!" She said, begging of her old adversaries Sunstone and Shining Glow to just go away. "What did I do to you?" She said, quivering quietly, being reduced to cowering quietly in the corner of her own room.

She swallowed violently as her adversaries and their four big friends (probably hired thugs) slowly approached. "What will Regal Majesty say when she finds out?" She said, desperately.

The stallions smirked evilly. "Oh she won't even know!" They said, approaching her slowly -- savoring every moment. "Sunstone pulled some strings and had her expelled! We'll save the details as you won't care what they are in a second!"

She started to scrunch against one of her own walls. "What will Sky Runner think?" She said, scraping her back hooves against the wall.

"Oh she knows who you are, girl! Just like the six of us!" Shining Glow said with glee. "I made sure to leak the news to her, so she's probably off somewhere sobbing about her daddy!" He said wiping fake tears off his eyelids. "Your kind took him away." He said, causing the changeling unicorn's face to pale. "And now --"

"Please just go away!" The young mare cried. "I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry! Now please just go away! I beg you! I'll do anything!"

The stallions shook their heads. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt? And besides It's time for justice." They said, ordering their four giant friends forward. "You've been picking on us long enough!"

Sunstone tapped his hoof on the ground signaling his four big friends to advance forward, grabbing Auroras, and twisting her around so her face faced the corner, and her plot faced Sunstone.

Shining Glow gloated evilly. "But your kind feeds on love!" He said, smiling disingenuously. "So we're simply going to give you your fill!" He scoffed, stamping his goons to put pressure on her front legs so she'd bend them slightly.

He reared up ominously. "Now smile! Because -- " He started saying, causing Auroras to flinch internally. However, instead of the inevitable, she could hear heavy wheezing. This caused the stallions to let go, all turning around simultaneously.

She reluctantly did the same -- feeling both terrified of what stood before her, and hopeful.

Standing before her was her friend Sky Runner -- never before had she been so happy to see the pegasus.

"Oh Sky Runner -- " She started, before the pegasus shouted at her.

"Run!!!" She shouted to her friend, zipping in front of the sole stallion still standing between the changeling princess and the door -- turning in mid flight for a quick buck that caused him to fly back slightly. "Run Auroras!" She shouted, causing her friend to nod automatically as she started galloping at top speed. "And don't look back!"

Auroras hesitated at the door. "But Sky Runner! Your father! It's my fault! I'm not a unicorn! I'm a -- !" She shouted.

The pegasus only smiled, lovingly -- like one would smile to their sister.

The voice chimed in again. "To this day, I suspect that Sky Runner knew -- at that moment that we were half sisters -- and she knew what happened to her father and she didn't seem to care!" It said, beginning to weep. "But she came to my aid anyway! And at what a price!" The voice moaned. "Those goons had already told her that I was one of the 'monster ponies' that took away her father -- and yet she didn't seem to care? Did she really accept me as a sister, or was it merely her desire to protect?"

The voice stood silent for a minute, with the scene frozen as well.

The princess of friendship appeared to be sobbing slightly, having as much trouble seeing the cruelty of pony towards pony as the changeling princess did. She turned to the doctor. "When are these endless flashbacks going to end?" She begged, on the verge of having a flare up of her rainbow powers.

The doctor remained cold and calculating. "They can't yet! It's time that Rainbow learned the truth." He said to Twilight coldly. "As long as she continues to pretend that she's that alternate Ponyville's Rainbow Dash (you know, 'the glamour girl of Ponyville') she'll never be able to stop these magic bursts!"

Twilight turned to him, thinking he was talking about her Rainbow Dash.

The doctor shook his head. "Not your Rainbow Dash, Twilight. The other Rainbow Dash." He said, with a sigh.

The voice continued sobbing, before bravely continuing their oration. "As I ran away, I could hear her last words." The voice orated.

Before Twilight the scene began to resume.

Sky runner turned to one group of three stallions, pasting them to the wall with one mighty flap of her wings. She turned around, causing a small whirl wind to do the same to the second group -- as Auroras finally fled out the door of her own room.

Behind her she could hear the stallions chuckling, as the pegasus' voice spoke confidently. "You want a piece of somepony? How about me!?" She said, trotting between the stallions and the door. "You mooks wanna dance?" She said, as the stallions began to rise feeling quite cocky now. "You want to know why in the rock paper scissors of war pegasus magic beats unicorn magic?" she said, flaring her wings and puffing her chest -- her face filled with rage. "Come and get it!"

Shining Glow smirked. "And you shall! It's time an example were made of those who make a mockery of this school!" He squeaked, tapping his hoof tenderly, causing the other stallions to circle the pegasus. "And you'll pay for head butting me in my stallion place!"

The pegasus stood defiantly, none the less. "How about you dance with this!? I'll show you why the pegasi are Ponyland's warriors!" She said, propelling herself forward, flooring Sunstone with a quick head butt to the head.

The other five stallions remained confident though, powering up their horns.

Twilight heard the pegasus voice very softly -- as if she was speaking from far away. "I'll show you what kinds of warriors we pegasi are!"

Princess Auroras spoke again, her face contorted in horror. "Even here -- even now -- I have suppressed the memory of what those stallions did to Sky Runner! And I refuse to show it to you!" She said, turning to Twilight. "Do you know what it felt like to see my friends gruesome and lifeless form being dragged away from before my eyes?"

Twilight shook her head, sadly.

"If it wasn't for my friend Regal Majesty, I would have given up and hated all unicorns long ago!" She said, turning to Twilight, her face contorted in rage. She sighed though, her anger giving way to sadness. "But then I would have ended up like my sister or Chrysi!"

"In the end none of those six stallions got what they deserved! Instead their rich and powerful parents pulled some strings and had them only disowned and banished to Earth (the earth pony territories, not the planet.) I wouldn't be surprised if Sunstone and Shining Glow's descendants don't exist to this day -- blissfully unaware of the blood stains on their family's hooves!" She said, giving one last snarl.

********

The young mare stood up again before Twilight. Her temperament returning. "But what I really want to be is an earth pony!" She said, wistfully. "The earth represents kindness. It represents love. The represents growth. And, most importantly, the earth represents family."

The young mare stood staring out a window at the earth pony surfs below, working the fields. They worked together as family.

The voice pushed her hoof, revealing the scene below. "Mommy I can't do it!" The young earth pony colt whined, holding up a very dead flower. "I'll never raise my flowers like you and daddy do!"

The colt's mother gently muzzled him. "You'll get it someday!" She said, with an affectionate smile. "I promise!"

The colt's face frowned in concern, and dismay. "But what happens if my magic never grows in? What If I end up doing something other than working the fields?"

The mother's face smiled. "Then we'll support you whatever you do!" She said, picking up the dead flower, which slowly sprang to life. "And I'm not concerned yet! I think your magic just needs to grow in more!" She said lovingly.

Meanwhile, Twilight could hear the words that echoed in the changeling's head.

"Lady Auroras,

We have decided to respond to your letter, by informing you that your request to return to the hive has been denied. We simply have no resources or space available for you, at this time. You may make another request at a later time to request an appeal.

Prime Minister Wormwood."

The changeling princess sighed to herself. This must have been the hundredth rejection that she had been given by the hive. "Why mother? Don't you love me anymore?" Auroras thought to herself, on the verge of tears. " -- " Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by her teacher.

"Miss. Auroras." The teacher groused. "Are you looking out that window again?" She said, chastising the young mare. "Those earth ponies are surfs -- their lives will never amount to anything!" She said, closing the drapes, scoffing at the ponies below. "And if you keep doing the staring out the window then neither will you!" The teacher said, hitting the desk with her ruler, and returning to the chalkboard.

The young changeling sighed sorrowfully.

"But how could I not?" The young mare asked, turning to Twilight. "I mean look at them! They were all friends! They were all family!" She said, starting to sob. "All of my friends were now gone! I lost Sky Runner to those misfits, and Regal Majesty to child birth." She stopped for a second, tilting her head contemplatively. "I believe it was a stallion from the surf class -- I believe the family name was 'Unicorn', or some other such non-descript thing."

"So there I stood." The changeling said, turning to her past self looking at the drapes questioning whether it should have been herself, and not Sky Runner that those goons caught. The voice continued. "Studying pointless unicorn magic!" She hissed, with agitation. "And do know what the answer was every time I requested to return home?" The voice asked Twilight.

Twilight sighed, having just finished the letter. "The answer was always no?"

Auroas nodded. "Correct! The answer was always no! Did the earth ponies ever do this? Did the earth ponies ever abandon their children? Did they put their positions and self interests before their families? NO!" She shouted, apparently at her mother. "Why did mother get rid of me? Why did she abandon me? Was it because I don't have the actively feed like the rest of the hive, and instead fed on ambient love? Was it because I was born to the wrong father?" She asked Twilight, her eyes screaming in anger. "Why? What did I ever do wrong? All throughout my childhood I fought hard to be everything mother wanted and more! And how did she repay me?" The changeling asked, as a cascade of scenes came flying by. "She banished me as soon as my half sister was born to the 'right father'! And that wasn't even the worst of it! If she'd acted the way towards me, that was expected of her, then I'd have left this plane long ago! Or worse: I'd have been turned into a drone!" She said, the scene growing hazy, and returning to the school.

The changeling's voice boomed over the scene. "In the end I had had it! I spent the rest of my time studying either long forgotten spells and forbidden magic, or staring out the window and dreaming -- dreaming that I had been born an earth pony instead of a blood sucking changeling!" She said, as her past self looked out the window.

Out the window Twilight could see the same earth pony family from before. The colt raced up to his mother, muzzling her eagerly. "Look mommy! I did it!" He said, holding up a small plant. "I made it grow! All by myself."

"Oh that's so great dear!" The mother said, eagerly. "I knew you could do it! See there was nothing to fear!"

The colt turned. "I'm just so glad you supported me! And never gave up on me!"

The mother smiled, lovingly. "Even if you never made anything grow I would still love you! And I would never have given up on you!"

The colt smiled to his mother, thankfully.

As this heartwarming scene progressed, Princess Auroras turned to Twilight. "Do you wonder now why I wished to be one of their kind instead of my own?" She asked, angrily.

Twilight nodded, smiling as much as she was able.

"In the end I learned magic that even the likes of Celestia and Luna have long forgotten." She said, before turning to Twilight with an inquisitive expression. "Did you ever hear of a unicorn spell known as 'winking'?"

Twilight shook her head, she had never heard of this, except in legends that had been passed on since time memorial. And certainly no unicorn she knew even had a vague idea what it meant to wink.

The changeling frowned once more. "I thought so." She said, winking her eye slightly. "And do you know what it was all worth? Nothing!"

********

The doctor sighed, and rubbed his eyes as time slowly slipped forward again.

Before Twilight stood a mare about Twilight's age. The mare's eyes were filled with confusion and wracked with guilt. "Was our kind wrong and the fluttering ones right?" She asked Twilight -- who simply shrugged her withers. "Was the first queen simply leading those that followed her into the pit?" She asked, expecting no answer to come. "Were the fluttering ones, in fact, right to turn their backs on their own kind and try to survive away from the warmth and light of the sunstone?" The voice asked rhetorically.

Twilight looked on with a puzzled expression. Fluttering ones? What could she be talking about? Why did the phrase sound familiar? And why did she immediately dislike them?

Time slipped forward slightly more. The scene changed to the mare talking with a unicorn with Time Turner's symbol -- who slipped her a letter. Twilight guessed that he was probably really a changeling, like the princess. Auroras' voice could be heard booming over the scene. "Upon graduation I learned from a subordinate/confidant of mine that my earlier fears might have been justified." The voice boomed as her past self took the letter, and indignantly crumpled it and trampled it with great intent under her hoof -- before sitting down and weeping silently.

After sobbing for a few minutes quietly, she packed up her few meager possessions before writing a new letter and handing to the fake stallion. "Please send this to mother. Tell her that I wish to participate in one of the hive's many campaigns, and that I regret not being able to return at this time."

Time passed forward some more.

The mare turned to Twilight. "Naturally there was only one choice." She said, pausing for emphasis. "I led an expedition into the dragon territories. And in that Faust forsaken place I remained through Platina's waning years of life and into her children and grand children's lives."

"Wait!" Twilight exclaimed, interrupting the exposition -- puzzling slightly. "How old are you?"

Auroras sighed, painfully. "Older then Chrysalis, older then her brother, older then her mother Amethyst. Older, even, then Celestia." She said, looking like she felt that she was older then dirt.

Twilight's jaw just about dropped. "How?" She asked, wondering if this was even possible. "Don't changelings only live 1000 years, give or take?"

Auroras blushed, looking like she hated herself. "It's some forbidden magic that I learned while at that worthless university." She said puffing her chest slightly. "Basically as long as I feed some of the love energy that I feed on into the spell I'm basically ageless." She said, thinking about all her lost years. After a few seconds, she sighed again. "It turned out that my unique ability to feed off ambient emotional energy long after adulthood turned out to be very handy when on expedition in draconic territory."

Twilight looked at her cross-eyed. "Why? What difference would it make?"

Auroras sighed. "Basically dragons are a lot like changelings in that they don't really love." She said, pausing for a second. "And to make matters worse they don't really experience any other emotions either -- other then greed, anger, hatred, and perhaps envy." She said, turning to Twilight again. "Do you know how hard it is to feed on love when their idea of love is more like longing after other dragon's body like it was meat?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not much!"

Auroras smiled. "Exactly! So in the end we had to feed on whatever little scattered emotion they gave off." She frowned, tapping her hoof nervously. "Any normal changeling would starve in such a place, and that was my unique skills were so useful there." She said, with a smile. "Fortunately, In the end, I also received some chances to use the magic that I had learned at that worthless university." She smirked. "In the end though, it allowed me to bring heroic victories against vastly superior forces, against insurmountable odds." She said, beaming with pride, before her countenance dropped.

Before her Twilight could see a scene of a mail mare nervously handing a letter to Auroras, who was dressed in a fine suit of armor. She promptly proceeded to stomp said letter into the ground -- and ordered that the letter be set ablaze.

Auroras turned to Twilight again. "Do you wonder why my mother hated me? Here was why!" She said, showing the letter to Twilight.

Twilight read the letter. To her dismay it was written by the now Queen Amethyst and stated that their mother had passed on and pronounced that Amethyst not Auroras was to be the new queen. Furthermore it stated that she and her men had been pronounced as traitors to the hive and were not permitted to return home under any circumstances -- ever.

"In the end, though, I brought victory and a favorable treaty to the hive against the dragons. The treaty had stated that the dragons were to give up all claims on the bad lands, and the land that flutter valley used to reside, and in exchange the changelings were to stay out of dragon territory. This was considered, of course, a great victory." She said, as her younger self stood side by side with her sister, the queen, to great fanfare from the hive. "and from that victory is where I earned the nicknames 'Lady Rainbow', 'The Rainbow of Doom', and 'the Rainbow of Darkness'." She said, looking away again. "And the nicknames multiplied from there! But in the end, it was only after that moment that I was allowed to return home -- and even then I was treated as an outsider within my own hive, and amongst my own people." She said, as her younger self could be seen asking something of a noble changeling who promptly scoffed, and walked past her -- making sure to bump her with his shoulder as he passed.

The princess sighed. "In the end though, this wasn't the end of my dismay. Because I was passed up in succession when Chrysalis' brother Vladímir was born, and again when Chrysalis took over as queen after her mother's death. Meanwhile I was sent to endless wars against the dragons, the griffons ,the deer, the bears, and so on and so forth -- endlessly." She said, as before her showed a collage of battles between changelings and various nations, up and including Sombra's Crystal empire, the eagle aerie and zebric kingdoms.

"But was never permitted to return to the hive for any length of time, or serve in any capacity." She said, as her younger self stood before the hive, kicking the ash at the hive as she left.

The mare opened her mouth, in disgust. "I hereby leave this hive! Abdicate my so-called position and leave! Hopefully never to return!" She said to herself, powering up her horn to take a new form.

********

Auroras turned to Twilight again. "But what I really want to be is an earth pony!" She said, her voice filled with sadness. "The earth represents kindness. It represents love. The earth represents growth. And, most importantly, the earth represents family."

Before her Twilight could see an earth pony with a blue coat, a rainbow cutie mark, and a vibrant rainbow mane walk into the Ponyville of Applejack's parent's youths. The earth pony turned to a pink earth pony stallion -- her face blushing heavily. "Excuse me, sir. But I was wondering if you knew of anypony looking for a designer or event organizer?" She said, swallowing harder the more she looked at the stallion. "I know it's not my special talent, but I was hoping to get away from some bad memories from my past, and I was hoping a small town like this would be a -- " She said, tittering like an idiot. "Good place to start over."

He smiled at her, and opened his mouth jousting playfully. "You see something you like?"

"Whatever do you mean?" She said, with a bad case of Rarity would call 'the giggles'.

"Oh no worries ma'am. If you want, you can help me out! I've been looking for an assistant in my party planning, and I could give you a shot for a few days -- you know to see if you'd be a good fit." He said, with an honest smile.

"Thank you sir." She said, bowing politely as he began to walk away.

She turned to Twilight -- as if talking through the third wall. (Pinkie would be very upset, that's her thing!) "A handful of years before Princess Larva was born and several, several, years before you were born Twilight --"

The mare showed a scene of her standing at a lake, closing her eyes and imagining something as her body began to take a shape. "I grew disillusioned with the hive, and decided to live among the earth ponies -- as I had always dreamed! And I even took the shape I had been developing in my mind's eye since my childhood -- basically the form of my dreams!" She said, as the green magic began to clear -- revealing the form Twilight had seen just a minute before. "A blue earth pony with vibrant rainbow hair, and a rainbow cutie mark -- the original shapes and colors of my father, except, mind you, that he was a pegasus!"

Twilight looked around the scene before being pulled back by a surly doctor. "Didn't I tell you not to wonder off?"

"It looks familiar doesn't it?" Lady Rainbow asked.

Twilight nodded, looking out at what might have been the house Granny Smith showed in her presentation (yes, being a princess had its advantages -- as she could see the family appreciation speeches herself.)

"This is your Ponyville -- at least what the town looked like in your parent's generation." She said, looking around wistfully at the memories. "It was a lot smaller then it is now! That apple child -- what was her name?... Ah Apple Bloom! Her grandmother was a relatively young mare, having just had her children, and the town had barely established itself."

The changeling mare waved her hoof, the scene transitioned to a scene of her and the pink stallion from earlier standing before the alter. "In the end." She mused to herself. "I ran into, and eventually married the stallion of my dreams, a young event organizer named 'Bubble Burst', and a dead ringer for his niece -- your Pinkie Pie." She sighed wistfully. "I loved that stallion..." She said, looking on sadly. "And still do!" She said, turning to Twilight. "And that's why what happens next upsets me so. But the good news is that he left a little somepony with me before..." She said, sobbing slightly, unable to finish the sentence.

Twilight turned to her perplexed. "But don't changelings give birth through eggs? And isn't a pony, changeling pair impossible?"

The old changeling simply winked. "Sometimes, if need be, even the special bond between two ponies can be tricked, Twilight! And yes, even biology, with magic, is also not infallible, if need be!" She said, turning to the scene again, stamping her hoof violently as the scene began to shift.

Auroras stood before Twilight in her blue earth pony form -- but only for a minute -- before three large griffons and a small griffon filly angrily pushed her onto her plot. "Get out of our way lameo!" They demanded, dragging along a small griffon filly. "Come along Grizelda! I think we got our discount for that awful party that stallion threw!"

Auroras stood up, defiantly, and opened her mouth. "Whatever do you mean?" She asked, her face growing pale. "Did something happen back there?" She asked, as two of the griffon's continued on, happily ignoring her.

The patriarch of the clan, a graying Griffon with a thinning top opened his mouth. "Oh boo hoo!" He said, mockingly. "Was that your husband?" He asked, pretending to cry. "Well he threw my Grizelda the most absurd coming of age party! Therefore I had no choice but to take a 'five four claw discount'!" he said, clutching his golden talons angrily. "Now come along!" He said to the other three griffons. "And you!" He said, turning his beak to the pony formerly known as Lady Auroras, his face showing a tiny shimmer of what might have been guilt. "You'd best take care of him! I think I got a little bit ruff!" He said, looking down, but only for a second.

The rainbow of doom turned to Twilight, looking dead inside. "In the end, though, I seem cursed to lose those I love!" She said, as the scene suddenly cut to her looking at her bulging belly in the mirror -- with a sigh. "I lost my beloved husband right before the birth of my child. Apparently the family of griffons either didn't like the coming of age party he organized for them, or decided that they wished not to pay (I never figured out which.)"

"In the end, though, I managed to convince an old subordinate of mine whom I granted sentience to assist with the birth." She said, turning to Twilight.

Behind Twilight, she could see an old pegasus assisting with the birthing process -- the very same pegasus that was standing right next to her!

The doctor chuckled humbly. "That would be me." He said, to Twilight, admiring his double. "One of the special abilities of my clan is returning from near death experiences by a kind of living reincarnation. Needless to say, on one of my rebirths, I was captured and converted into a changeling." He trotted over to the ghost of the lady, and bowed humbly. "The lady here granted me my freedom from a mindless existence as a drone; and upon rebirth back into my pony form, I kept my old changeling horn, and use it to power my device." He said, speaking of the device he had used on Rainbow Dash earlier.

He turned to the lady, and frowned slightly. "I haven't forgotten your kindness, and suspect that the other mes haven't either." He said, turning away from the lady. "But in the end I wished it had been me and not Bubble Burst that you picked to be your special somepony!"

Auroras sighed, mischievously. "In the end it couldn't be helped. Remember 'a lady can never choose who she loves'." She said, winking softly. "But in any case, in the end my little princess was born, a half pony. I decided to call her Carolinae -- my little pink rose." She said, starting to sob. "Maybe it's time we wrapped this discussion up." She said, sighing to herself. "Course now she's called Pinkie Pie." She stopped for a second, as Twilight started to protest. "Not your Pinkie Pie, of course." She said, to a sigh of relief from Twilight. The lady stopped to think, before continuing. "Course she wasn't the first half changeling in the hive -- that honor went to one of the children of my sister, I never found out which though." She said, tilting her head to think. "I'm sure I'll figure it out though, eventually, don't worry!"

Twilight thought to herself. "Could Queen Chrysalis be the half changeling? Or do I have 'an uncle' or 'an aunt' somewhere? This might be the key to stopping Queen Chrysalis madness once and for all!" She thought, a smirk growing as Twilight started to formulate a plan.

Lady Auroras turned to the doctor. "Of course, that was where I got the idea that a half changeling could even be born -- though it involved magicks that I could barely speak of, and anypony -- except, perhaps Star Swirl -- could even imagine!" She sighed, as the scene started switching back to the hive. "In the end, though, I made the unfortunate decision to return to the hive, once again. And of course you saw the rest, Twilight." She said, as it felt like all three ponies were beginning to rise. "Someone very powerful in the hive wants me gone! And not me, but also Larva, and my own daughter, Carolinae -- though I can't fathom why!" She said, in disgust. "And to escape them, I ended up fleeing into Discord's little Universe egg."

Twilight gasped, is this what Discord had been trying to hide all week? But he's reformed now and they forgave him a long time ago, so why would he feel the need to hide from this past?

The scene continue to rise as Twilight could see that alternate Ponyville beginning to move again. "The monster transformed me, my daughter, and my Great Niece into the forms you see before you!"

She grunted in pain. "He tried to destroy my mind, and remove all traces of my true self -- to leave me somepony I never was -- and I had no choice but to lock myself, and my memories away -- where his magic couldn't reach! But in the end, it prevented me from being there for either of my children -- and yes! I count poor larva, though she's actually my great niece, as my child! I tried to play Mama Pie, Mama Dash, and Mama Cherry Blossom as long as I could! But in the end I let both Larva, and Carolinae down!" She began to break down into tears. "Why is it I'm cursed to betray and lose those I love!? Why is it I'm stuck as a bad facsimile of an earlier pony!" She said, cursing her current form. "But then, on the other hoof, why does it feel so right? Why does it feel like I should have been born as her!" She began to cry anxiously as the scene began to distort. "Twilight! I don't know why, but I worry my friends from Ponyville are in trouble! Please check on them Twilight!" She said, the voice echoing as the doctors device slowly whirred to a stop.

Twilight was back in the room, and the doctor was nowhere to be found. Where'd he disappear to? Was it just an illusion did she only think she --

Twilight didn't have time to finish that line of thought, though, as Rainbow stood before her -- her face a pale white. "Has my whole life been a lie, darling? Who am I?" She asked, looking at the few things she loved from Ponyville -- a very fashionable hat, and scarf. "It has, darling!" She said, in horror. "I have simply been lying to myself, darling!" She said, throwing the hat on the ground, and hopping on it fiercely. She turned to Twilight and began to look away."Don't look at me, darling! I'm a monster! A rainbowy ravishing monster!" She said, in abstract horror.

"Ok Twilight!" She thought to herself. "Your friend's in trouble! You have to say something to help her." She thought, saying the first thing that came to her mind. "You're not a monster!" Twilight said, honestly -- giving a reassuring smile.

"Oh thank goodness, darling!" Rainbow said, relieved. "But what is a changeling, though, darling? I know that is what I am, but what, exactly, is a changeling?"

Oh Twilight said, chuckling nervously. "A love eating monster."

Rainbow fainted then, and there -- right away.

********

"Any luck?" Solanaceae said, turning to the two remaining assassins under his authority. "We have to find those that the artifacts resonate with." He said, keeping two of the artifacts -- one with a wand and moon symbol, and one with a black shimmering sun symbol -- and dividing the other four between his two remaining assassins.

"And what is that to me?" Belladonna purred. "You would be the only one in trouble! And maybe I'd be next in line." She said, batting an object around with her hooves.

"Yes, and then you'd have Queen Chrysalis and K -- Prince Vladímir snooping around your business all the time." Solanaceae countered.

"Well I think it's a great idea." Phytolacca said, licking his lips. "I'd love to see what these artifacts do when they find their ~~victims~~ bearers!" He said, with a sadistic smirk, lobbing a small needle over his shoulder, which promptly skewered a small fruit fly that had the misfortune of flying in the same room as he was standing.

He stared for a second at the crown with the moon and wand symbol, and smiled eagerly -- like a child who sneaks downstairs to take a look at their Christmas presents. "And apparently one of the bearers lives in our very hive!" He said, pointing the way -- with his body -- like a dog. "You'd best run after them Solanaceae before Belladonna or I get moving." He said, grabbing his collection of needles, and smirking evilly. "You don't need any incentive do you?"

"Not really!" Solanaceae said, smiling nervously -- he hated when Phytolacca had one of these days! He really, really, did!

********

"The great and powerful changeling is happy to serve the queen!" The drone said as she trailed behind Solanaceae mindlessly. He had got her to come alone willingly by telling her that she was needed for a special mission for the hive. "What is it that the queen requires?"

"You'll see!" Solanaceae said, bowing before the elaborately lighted throne -- complete with ancient runic writing passed down since the days when the fluttering ones still lived in Flutter Valley.

He stopped anxiously and bowed deeply. "Majesty! I bring you one of the one of those who resonate with the artifacts of Dicord's rule!"

"Silence!" The changling lord bellowed, causing all to bow low. "Enough with the formalities Solanaceae! Show me the one who resonates! And bring to me the artifact!"

"Of... Of course lo -- liege!" He said, pushing softly of the drone with one of his hooves. "I bring you the changeling convert who resonates with the symbol of black magic!"

"Good! Come forward!" The changing liege bellowed. "Come and speak with your ruler!"

"Of course, majesty!" The drone said mindlessly. "I am proud to serve the -- "

"Of course you are!" The high and exalted changeling said, unenthusiastically. "Just like we feel through the hives channels that you wish to return to your ridiculous and piteous fuzzy form!" The self proclaimed ruler of the changelings said, moving king's knight's pawn forward one. "And I, as the true ruler of the changeling's offer to you a trade: your old nature in exchange of an important service for me!"

"But the great and powerful changeling is happy the way she is!" The great and powerful changeling said, moving queen's pawn forward two.

"Oh pish posh! I know you secretly desire to return to that ridiculous fuzzy creature you were before!" The powerful changeling asked, moving King's Bishop's pawn forward by two. "I mean you have to be aware that you are not really a true changeling, but a piteous unicorn? Correct?"

"No! The great and powerful changeling is happy only to serve the queen!" She said, earnestly moving the queen.

"Then you would be happy to serve the king!" The changeling bellowed -- checkmate.

The great and powerful changeling made a otherworldly shrieking sound. "You betray the hive! You betray the queen! I shall have to report you and -- "

The changeling lord's horn glowed brightly -- bathing the room in green light. "No it is you that betrays the hive by betraying it's one true ruler! I have given you a deal that is beyond benevolent! And yet you refuse to accept! Nay!!! ~~I~~ The hive will not accept such treachery! You will accept and you will like it!" The changeling said, his horn glowing a crimson red color as ice poured into his veins. "And you will put on this crown! And you will take my deal! And you will obey your superior!" The changeling shouted, their eyes glowing eerily.

"Of course." The great and powerful changeling said. "The great and powerful changeling is happy to do nothing but serve her liege." She said, putting the crown on. She began to scream violently as magic began to spew out of the crown in waves visible even to the naked eye.

The changeling lord turned to Solanaceae. "If she's finished then you are Solanaceae! Remember that!" They said, their face filled with vitriol.

"Of course, majesty! But what will happen to her?" Solanaceae asked, anxiously. "Will you really keep your word?"

"I always keeps my word!" The changeling liege retorted. "But, in the end, it's up to the artifact, Solanaceae. I have a feeling it will return her fur. After all, a drone is not what it desires either!"

Throughout the hive drones started to foam at the mouth and collapse.

"What's going on!" Chrysalis shrieked, from her bath as all of her attentions suddenly fell over shaking violently. "Who dares attack the hive! Does Celestia with another war? Because I'd happily oblige her! I still haven't forgotten how she turned my friends against me! And how she stole my daughter away!"

After a few minutes, the shaking started to cease.

The Solanaceae's superior gloated happily. "And you see Solanaceae the trinket follows my orders! As you should!"

"Of course, your majesty!" The element of black magic said, staring at her form in one of the fine mirrors the changeling overlord kept around. "The great and powerful Trixie wishes nothing more than to make the one true king of the changelings happy!" She said, with a light smirk, and a dishonest expression in her eye.

"You see Solanaceae, nothing to worry about! She's thinking in her right mind already!" He said, turning to his lead assassin. "You have done well Solanaceae! But I have not forgotten your failure earlier! You had best bring me the next bearer as well, or you will be finished! Do you hear me!"

Solanaceae nodded dutifully. "Worry not, my lo -- liege! The second artifact begins to resonate! I shall take Phytolacca and Belladonna and find it with haste!"

"Good!" The changeling monarch bellowed, waving their assassin away with their hoof. "Now be gone with you! I have need for Phytolacca soon! I feel that a chance has now arrived to have our justice, not just for our humiliation back at that strange town, but also for the end of Mandragora!"