The SSby SSparkleChaptersNightmareExtractGrave Problems (Part 1)Grave Problems (Part 2)A Not-So-Warm WelcomeHilarity In DespairSide Story - AwokenArcane WoundsPrologueNightmareLike Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, a small, yellow filly named Applebloom was slowly beginning to settle into her own bed, yawning occasionally, but remaining dormant. Slowly, she felt herself drift into a deep sleep… “Hello? Is anypony thar’?” Applebloom looked around her empty dream, seeing nothing around her but white. She groaned. These had been her dreams for the past few increasingly boring nights. Even though she had full trust in the Princess, and usually wouldn’t doubt her. But she was sure that she was the only one who was having these blank dreams. “Hello, little Applebloom.” Applebloom’s head shot up as she looked above, seeing the slight silhouette of Princess Luna floating in the air. “Princess Luna?” “It is I. I am here to report to you that whatever happens to you in the dream world, remember that it is not real. You must remain strong.” Applebloom was confused by the night Alicorn’s words. What did she mean? Before she could ask her, the vision of her faded away, and Applebloom felt the sudden rush of wind against her face. Looking up with squinted eyes, she saw that she was going through some tunnel. Just as she was bracing herself to be stuck like this, the force propelling her suddenly stopped, and she fell off the object carrying her. Brushing the dirt off her face, she looked up to see the shadow of two ponies staring down at her. Just before they raced off again, she rubbed her eyes to remove some of the dust, and gasped as she saw the swift ponies that were carrying her were joined together like a crazy science experiment. “W-What in th’ hay?” She coughed, slowly getting herself up as she looked at her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be Ponyville at night, although the familiar glow of Princess Twilight’s castle was dimmed down to a darker purple colour. Applebloom was confused at what was happening. Quickly, she rushed over to Twilight’s castle, even though she knew it was a dream. Last time she had a dream about Ponyville, the ponies seemed to act like their real counterparts. She was hoping she could at least get some information from the ‘fake’ Twilight Sparkle. Applebloom finally got to the castle. Her hooves were strangely heavy from the dirt; the black dirt actually felt like it was weighing down her hooves. Running through town normally didn’t entail being covered in dust. “Hello? Miss Twilight?” She opened the castle door, looking around, coating the crystal floors in the black dirt that followed her. “Huh? What the-” Applebloom looked around to see that the black dirt that had gotten stuck to her hooves was slowly fading from the ground. Shrugging, she continued walking along, going up the stairs to see if Princess Twilight was anywhere. A strange, dull noise began to emit from a nearby room, and Applebloom’s ears flicked up. She quickly charged forward, no longer weighed down by the dirt, and rushed towards the door, putting her head against it. Strange mumbling noises, followed by a deafening crash were heard. She pulled her head back and slowly opened the door, to see a pegasus figure jumping through the smashed window. Applebloom rushed into the room, doing her best to avoid the smashed glass as she walked towards the window. She peered through the window to see the pegasus figure chasing after another pony. “Hey! Wait!” Applebloom screamed out as she felt herself lose her balance. Slowly, she began to fall out of the castle window, onto the pavement below. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but before it could strike she felt herself being lifted up by a strange force. “Princess Luna? Is that you?” She shivered, slowly opening her eyes to see the pavement barely scraping her muzzle. She gulped as she heard the pony sighing, about to reply. “No, Princess Luna isn’t here Applebloom.” Applebloom was confused. How did the pony know her name? “But that isn’t important right now. You need to run.” Applebloom looked up at the dark pegasus, who was hovering her above the ground. Although she couldn’t see her properly, she couldn’t help but feel a familiar aura come off her. She reminded her of a pony back in the real Ponyville. “Ah-- Thanks a’ guess.” “No need for words. You have to go.” And with that, Applebloom watched as the pony flew away from the castle. She stared off for a few more seconds until the pegasus left her sight before registering the pony’s words. She began to pick up pace as she ran away from Twilight’s Castle. Although the pegasus didn’t ask her to, she followed the other ponies that were running away earlier. It seemed the ponies hadn’t travelled that far either, as it wasn’t long before she could hear the sound hoofbeats on the black barely metres away from her. Skidding to a stop, she accidentally fell into the dirt. She didn’t want to be seen by the running ponies, but the fact that she was now rapidly choking on the black dirt that had covered her face made that nearly impossible. “What in the name of Celestia is that?” Applebloom shoved her hoof into her mouth to stop herself from coughing as she heard a voice whisper nearby. “Don’t you dare move. I need to check what that is.” Applebloom could feel her heart beating faster as the shadowy pony walked too close for comfort. Looking up at the mare’s figure, she could see a horn and a pair of wings. It was an Alicorn. “Damn,” the Alicorn muttered. “Looks like I was just imaging things.” Chuckling darkly, she continued, “No matter. Now, what was I doing again?” As she slowly walked away, Applebloom noticed something. The pegasus figure that seemed so familiar before was now cornered against the nearby wall, shuddering. Applebloom was about to speak up before she remembered. Right, Alicorn. She could probably vaporize her in one second if she even dared to move. She watched as the Alicorn walked up to the pegasus in a predatory manner. A magenta glow came off her horn. Applebloom inched closer to get a better look at the Alicorn’s face, but the glow effectively obscured all but the eyes, as if it were a balaclava. “Her eyes….ther’ black!” Applebloom exclaimed, before freezing mentally as she covered her mouth. It was too late. Both ponies were staring at her. The Alicorn stared at her, her emotions nearly unreadable. She laughed, before gritting her teeth. “Applebloom. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?!” Applebloom was about to scream and run away, but suddenly felt her body being propelled closer by the Alicorn’s magic. Now, she could almost clearly see her face. That face...was so familiar. “I’m going to have a very stern talk with Applejack after this.” Judging by the look on the pony’s face, she wasn’t being literal. Getting grounded would be the least of her worries. “Twilight! Please, let her go! She has nothing to do with this!” The other pony yelled at the Alicorn, but she just rolled her eyes and scowled. “Wait…..Princess Twilight?” Applebloom’s ears flattened to the sides of her head as the pony, or rather ‘Twilight’, smiled at her. “Ah, seems you’re not as stupid as I thought you would be.” The aura around Applebloom’s body vanished, and she fell to the ground with a thud. “Well, you could say you’re here to witness a very special moment.” Applebloom gulped. She didn’t like the sound of that. Twilight stepped back and wrapped the entire pegasi’s body in her magical aura. The faint glow made pegasus visible. Applebloom, trying to avoid the gaze of the dream world Twilight, slowly sneaked up behind her to look at who the pegasus was. Then, everything became clear. The cyan fur, the rainbow mane. It was Rainbow Dash. However, something was off with her, just like with Twilight. Her entire body was covered in stitches, and just like Twilight, her eyes seemed to be made nearly entirely out of blackness apart from her pupils. Then, Twilight’s magic began its work. Rainbow Dash let out a cry and Applebloom heard multiple snapping noises coming from Rainbow Dash’s body. She wanted to close her eyes and ignore what was happening, but for some reason she just couldn’t turn away. She watched in horror as a black liquid began to seep from Rainbow Dash’s twisted legs. Why would Twilight be doing something like this? That’s when Applebloom realised something. This was just a dream. If she got hurt, she’d just wake up. She latched onto Twilight’s leg. “Miss Twilight, please stop doing whatever the hay you’re doing to Rainbow Dash!” She yelled. Twilight just smiled. “You can’t stop this from happening, past or present.” She mumbled as she focused on dismembering Rainbow Dash. Applebloom lifted an eyebrow. “....What are you talking about?” “This is a warning, little Applebloom. You need to alert everyone. Please.” That was when Applebloom realised that Twilight was no longer the one talking. “...Every….one? Princess Luna, what ar’ yah talking about?” “You’ll find out soon, little Applebloom. There’s a lot more out there than you think. Ponies aren’t alone.” Princess Luna’s voice faded away as Applebloom heard a sickening crunch coming from Rainbow Dash’s direction. Applebloom slowly looked towards the direction. If this was real life, her gag reflex would have activated. Rainbow Dash was still there, but no longer in one piece. The black liquid was still oozing from her body, but she had not stopped breathing. “Applebloom, get out of here.” She wheezed. “It’s only a matter of time.” Applebloom watched as all buildings, ponies, and other things around her poofed out of existence. And then, finally, Applebloom felt herself begin to fade away from the dream as she opened her eyes. She got up. There were things to be done. ExtractTwilight let out a small yawn as she slowly staggered out of bed. She looked out her window at the view of Ponyville below. She sighed, still being able to see her former home. She pushed the negative thoughts out of her head. C’mon Twilight, now isn’t the time to be thinking of those things, She thought to herself as she scanned her new home. It definitely was a lot bigger than the Golden Oaks Library, making it somewhat easy to get lost in, but she was sure she’d get used to it eventually. That’s when she remembered something. “Oh! Princess Celestia told me this place had a library!” She quickly rushed through the different rooms in the Crystal Castle in search of her literary prizes. “There it is!” She let out a tiny squee noise as she slowly pushed the door open with a creak, her eyes lighting up when she saw the magnificent array of books all across the room. She quickly flew through the room, scanning all the books that she had. Some of these books date back to Starswirl’s time! She thought to herself gleefully as she raced through the different archives, all displaying different years, dating up to the recent event of Nightmare Moon’s return. Her curiosity was aroused by a bookshelf that was sparsely filled. ‘Unknown Times - Before Equestria’ She rushed down to bookshelf of her focus. Most of the books there appeared to be scorched, missing covers, or had smudged ink. It didn’t matter though; she wasn’t if even Celestia herself knew of these books. How did the castle obtain these? She picked a few of them up and briefly glanced through their pages. Most of them appeared to be about some alien history. Twilight, wide eyed, flipped through the pages, seeing pictures and words she’d never heard or seen before. “I’ve got to show these to Celestia!” Twilight beamed, grabbing two of the books before preparing to race off. ‘Wait.’ Twilight froze midair. “Hello? Rarity, is that you?” ‘You missed a book.’ Although Twilight still had no idea who was talking, she looked back and confirmed that it spoke the truth. “Uhm, what’s so important about that other book?” Twilight asked the voice, uncertain if she was talking to herself. ‘It’s a spellbook.’ Twilight’s ears perked up a little at those words. Slowly making her way back to the bookshelf, she stared at the remaining books. One had a purple pattern, and seemed to have been kept in better shape than the others. ‘Take a look at it.’ After some deliberation, Twilight picked up the small book with her magic and began to scan through the pages. It was indeed, as the voice had said, a spellbook. She wasn’t sure if it was some form of dark magic, but she didn’t care, hyped up as she was from finding books about an otherwise unknown civilization. “Oh. Well, thanks-” ‘You don’t have to thank me. I’m the one who should be thanking you.’ Twilight was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, but her thirst for new knowledge overpowered whatever misgivings she had. She placed down the two other books, curious about the spellbook that had been called to her attention. Placing it down on a table, she began to read. “Hmm, Shapeshift Spell, Drought Spell, Telepathy Spell…..” Twilight began to trail off as she read through the extensive repository of spells. “Wait...Extractor Spell?” Twilight thought aloud as she flipped onto the page of the rather unusual spell. “This spell has the ability to extract beings, or other objects out of something without harm, unless it is cast on a….human?” Twilight stopped at that word, but elected to continue reading, making a mental note to look it up later. “The spell should only be used by people with extensive experience in spellcasting. It is not a beginner’s spell!” Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed for a second. This spell seems to imply some practical use…. but… what could I use it for? Twilight scrunched her muzzle. “A spell that can take objects out of other objects without harming said object…..I’ve got it!” Around a year ago, Twilight and her friends had to give up one of the things that made them special; their Elements of Harmony. But because of that, it was a lot more difficult to remove evil beings from Equestria. But with the help of the spell… A lightbulb went off in her head. We could get the Elements back without harming the Tree of Harmony! Twilight’s eyes scanned the page once more, checking the requirements of the spell. It appeared she happened to have everything on hoof. “Should I tell the girls?” She thought out loud to herself. She didn’t know how her friends would react if they knew she brought back the Elements of Harmony through the use of a long-forgotten spell. ‘I think you know how they’d react. I suggest that you keep this one to yourself, Princess Twilight.’ Twilight frowned. She still had no idea where the voice was coming from. She got an idea. Firing up her horn, she abruptly filled the entire room with a purple aura. Hmmm. The Detect Life Spell isn’t seeing anything. “Are you a voice in my head?” ‘I guess you could say that.’ Twilight tried to shake off the weird feeling of knowing that there was somepony or something following her around that she couldn’t detect. Maybe it had something to do with the book? Twilight slammed the book shut. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Where had the voice come from? Would the spell get the Elements back? She shook those thoughts off. “I’ll try the spell tonight. I’ll just go out to town today.” She sighed, already exhausted from her awareness of the new knowledge from those few books. As Twilight slowly walked away from the library, leaving the books behind, she felt the weird feeling fade. Trotting over to her front door, she to felt the breeze coming through. Weird, I don’t remember opening that door. She flew out and looked down at Ponyville. It was finally time to start her day without her feelings about the Castle weighing her down. “Sister, should we warn Princess Twilight about the Castle?” Luna asked her celestial sister. “I think it would be better if she figured it out by herself. Remember, not even we knew what it was at first.” A silence gathered in the room as the two royal sisters sat next to each other in their dining chamber. “....Do you think this has something to do with ‘5170’?” Luna asked in a near whisper, sipping on her tea. “Luna…. please don’t jump to conclusions,” Celestia’s expression fell. “We know that even Twilight wouldn’t be able to stop him. He likes to take drastic actions. If he was here, we would have known by now.” Luna sighed. “Right. Sorry, sister.” She looked out the window down at Ponyville. “But there is a disturbance in her town. Do you think Princess Twilight and her friends could stop it?” “I’m sure they will sister. They always do.” ‘I hope.’ Grave Problems (Part 1)Twilight sighed, closing the crystal door behind her. Today had been a long and tiring day. She had helped Fluttershy with her animals, Rarity with her dresses, and Applejack with rounding up pigs on her farm. But even after all of that, she didn’t feel the slightest bit tired. ‘Go back to the library.’ Twilight groaned. She had forgotten about the pestering voice. She locked the doors to the library using her magic and flew into her bed. ‘Go back to the library, Twilight.’ Giving another groan, she stuffed her face into a pillow. She sat, waiting for the voice to continue. All was silent save the sound of her breathing. Heh, maybe it finally went awa- ‘Go back to the library, now.’ “That’s it!” Twilight flung her pillow across the room and quickly flew down to the library, whacked the door open. “Where in Equestria is that book?” She looked around to see where she left the spellbook. “Ah, there it is! …..Though I don’t remember putting it back on the shelf.” Twilight shrugged and brushed aside the anomaly. There were more urgent matters at the moment. “Alright, book, what do you want?” ‘Practice the Extractor Spell.’ Twilight blinked. “Really? Is that all you wanted me to do?” ‘Yes. Just go upstairs and practice it before you finally decide to use it.’ Twilight let out a small ‘huh’ noise before grabbing the book and carrying it upstairs. “Wait a second!” She stopped. If the voice belonged to a visible being, it’d probably be shaking in irritation. “I need to test this thing for dark magic.” Lighting up her horn she aimed it at the spellbook, which glowed in her purple aura. Twilight gave the book a once-over, the voice remaining silent. Then, without a noise, the book slowly fell back onto the ground. “Hmmm. No dark magic, that’s good.” The confirmation didn’t do anything to make her bad feeling about the spellbook and the weird voice go away though. She mentally noted that she’d have to take extra precautions. She opened the door to her personal study only to see Spike sitting on her counter writing on a scroll. “Oh, hi Twilight!” He cheerfully greeted. “I was just writing a letter to the Princess telling her about the Castle.” “That’s a good idea Spike!” Twilight set the spellbook down on the table and flipped through the pages until she got to the right spell. “Spike, would you mind doing that in another room? I’m testing out a new spell I found in my library and I don’t you to get hurt when something bad happens.” Spike nodded, picking up his quills and paper before walking out of the room. “Do you want the door locked?” he asked as he looked back into the room. Twilight, engrossed in the book, just gave him a small nod before returning to her reading. “Got it. Just give me a call if you need anything, alright?” “Got it, Spike.” Twilight gave her assistant a wink before he closed the door, the lavender princess hearing a clicking noise from the other side. “Oh, and don’t eat too much ice-cream!” she yelled out after him, laughing a little bit when she heard him groan. Twilight’s light mood faded as she turned back towards her book. “Alright, time to test this out.” She quickly read through the required pages again, just to make sure she wasn’t missing anything out. That was when she saw an extra footnote. NOTICE: Low success rate (50% chance failure). No negative effects upon failure. “Eh?” Twilight said in a half-annoyed tone. “Well, I guess I’ll be here for a while.” * * * “Rainbow Dash darling, have you seen Twilight lately?” The fashion unicorn asked her speedster friend as the two relaxed in her boutique. “The poor dear hasn’t shown up since she found that new book..” “I have no idea, Rarity,” Rainbow yawned fiddling with a scarf Rarity had given her that day as a present. “You know Twilight, she’s an egghead. That books obviously got her sucked in.” “Of course darling, but she doesn’t spend that much time reading, does she?” She said rhetorically. “Hm, well….Yeah. Psh, I wouldn’t worry. She’s probably read half her library by now. Or more.” Rainbow snarked. “But I guess you are right. She hasn’t been around in a while.” “Speaking of which, darling, do you mind checking up on her. I haven’t been able to do so, with all this fashion and so.” Rarity winked. Rainbow sighed. “Eh, I guess I could. Although, you sure she’s not doing something I shouldn’t be messing with? Twilight gets real serious with her work.” “I’m sure that she would have told us like I said, darling.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’ll be there in a flash. See you later, Rares!” Barely moments after that, Rainbow Dash had already flown half-way to Twilight’s Castle. * * * Rainbow Dash landed in front of her friend’s castle, knocking violently on the door. “Yo, Twi! Open up!”” No response. “Hm, maybe Spike is in here somewhere.” Rainbow Dash touched the door only for it to slowly creak open. “And she also forgot to lock her door.” Slowly slipping through the crack in the door she created, Rainbow looked through the room. Everything was silent, and no one seemed to be home. That was of course, until she saw a dim light coming from one of the rooms. Slowly opening the door, she saw Spike half-asleep on the floor. “Rainbow...Dash? Is that you?” Spike yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Yeah, but I’m just looking for Twi. You seen her?” Spike nodded sleepily, pointing directly upwards. “She’s been upstairs...for a few weeks. Won’t come back...down.” Rainbow Dash frowned. Spike looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in forever. “You need some help first?” Rainbow Dash asked the sleepy dragon, who happily nodded at her request. “Do I ever?” * * * “Ugh, finally.” Twilight mumbled as she stared over at the spellbook. “I’ve barely had anything to eat. After this is cast I can finally get out of here.” Twilight’s horn lit up once again as she prepared to cast the practice Extractor Spell. This time, I won't fail. She thought to herself as she pushed every ounce of her magic into the spell. And this time, instead of it simply vanishing, it stayed on her horn. “Ohhh, thank Celestia.” Twilight was half-way through wanting to pass out and jump like Pinkie Pie, but she still had to actually fire the spell. She looked around her room for a target. How about...Oh! If I just aim for a random object, it won’t do any harm. Pointing directly towards one of her wardrobes, and fired. It didn’t hit. “H-Huh? Did it fail again?!” Twilight’s eye twitched. “No problem, I’ll just do it one more taaaa…” Twilight stumbled off mid-sentence, staring at the seemingly empty space directly in front of wardrobes. She was right, it didn’t hit. It had hit something directly in front of the wardrobe, evident by the glowing effect in the middle of the air. Twilight laughed nervously. “It can hit air? Some lousy spell.” The voice laughed. ‘That wasn’t air. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.’ “H-Huh? what do you mean by tha-” Twilight blacked out before she could finish her sentence. * * * Rainbow Dash, feeling satisfied after helping Spike finally get some shut-eye was about to exit the Castle. “Twilight!” She went wide-eyed as she remembered why she was there in the first place. How could she forget? Racing up the stairs, the pegasus speedster saw that a room had an extremely bright light radiating from it. “Twilight? You in there?” Rainbow sighed when she got no answer, and opened the door much to her surprise. Huh, Spike said he locked this. And all she saw was a smashed window. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash rushed over to the window, only to see a silhouette of the Alicorn Princess speeding away. Spreading her wings, she jumped out the window and gave chase. She had no idea what was in store for her. Grave Problems (Part 2)She coughed shakily, raising her body off the ground once she had gotten away. That was a close one. She thought, wiping some dust off off her body-- no, Twilight Sparkle’s body. She’d have to get used to that. She looked around, getting used to the vision that the Princess seemed to live with. It’ll do. She froze when she heard the crunching of leaves behind her new body, followed by an exhausted voice. “Twilight…..where are you?” She sighed. The pegasus still was chasing after her, even after all the swerves she had done past nearby buildings and hazards. She spread her wings and flew up to a nearby building, just as a weary blue pegasi stepped into view. “T-Twilight…..” Rainbow yawned and began to look around in the leaves. “Rainbow Dash, it’s okay, I’m just practicing flying,” she yelled, doing her best impression of the Alicorn. It was quite easy, considering she was her at the moment. Rainbow Dash stood there for a good few seconds, blinking in confusion. She shook her head before bursting into laughter. “Bwahaha! You seriously expect me to think you would be flying this late at night?” She wiped away a tear and waiting for “Twilight’s” response. Perhaps not as easy as I thought. This is going nowhere. She can’t know any of this happened. She coughed again, before she flew back down the the laughing pegasus, who was surprised to see her friend refraining from eye contact. “Uh, Twilight, you okay?” She tried squatting to see if she could see her eyes, but they were covered by her blue mane. “Yeah, but I led you down here because I wanted to show you something.” Although it didn’t sound much like Twilight, she was happy when Dash awkwardly accepted to follow her. Her mistake. The pegasus followed after the Alicorn, not questioning her motives or ideas. It might have been late, but she was still her friend. Then again...She wasn’t bringing me here. Dash was cut short when Twilight stopped in front of her. “Are we here yet?” She nodded, and Dash swore the area around the two of them got darker. “Hey, what’s going on he-” And then everything went black. * * * Dash woke up in a cramped space. A little too cramped. Sighing, she went to open her eyes. ‘Where the hay am I?’ she meant to say, but all that came out was garbled noise. Bleh, I gotta stop tucking myself under the covers. She thought, ignoring the dreaded noise that came out of her mouth. Reaching out for the cover, she felt something hard against her head. She tried focusing her eyes, but it was far too dark to see anything. Dash gulped nervously, grabbing around the edges of the strange box that seemed to be covering her. Box. Dash suddenly panicked, cold sweat running down her muzzle as she realised this could very well be what she thought it was. Then, something gave way, and she flinched as she felt something fall onto her face. Brushing it off, she continued past the wood and tried to dig through the mush that was slowly mixing in with her fur. She gasped for air as soon as the mud moved past by force. Finally, she could relax. But then she realised something. Hopping out of the small hole she had created, she looked around to see where she was, although the heavy rain made it hard to see. She was at a cemetery. Her eye twitched. “W-What the…” Her usually egotistical personality took a backseat to her fear. Why was she here? What’s going on? Why was she…..buried?? “That’s a good question for you to ask.” Dash froze, before she realised the display she was making and quickly turned around. “Who are…..you?” Dash really meant that question for once. Being popular also meant that usually fans and admirers would encounter her, and she’d try not to forget them. This was different. Standing before the confused pegasus was a giant creature--maybe two or three times her size, staring down at her. It had a wispy appearance, almost like it wasn’t there. From it’s head sprouted antlers, which were connected to a skull of some shape. The lower body seemed to be shaped like one of the cows at Applejack’s farm, but it was rather long and slender. “LiberDrio.” The figure simply said, staring down at Dash with its cold black eyes. “You’ll be wanting revenge now, I presume?” Dash blinked. “Uh…..What?” She asked, and although she tried the best to smirk, she didn’t exactly feel like it with this ‘thing’ in front of her. “Twilight Sparkle killed you.” Dash blinked a few more times. That’s crazy. She would have said, if she didn’t wake up underground in a coffin. You’re some sort of prankster, right? A small tombstone titled “Rainbow Dash” was one of the first things she saw. She froze in place. “W-Why?” She finally managed to blurt out, wanting answers. “Well, I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. But, you do want revenge, yes?” She winced. “No….I don’t.” Even if Twilight did do what this creature was saying, she wouldn’t plan revenge on anyone. That was stupid, even for her. The creature snarled, it’s pupils lightly shimmering. “You will soon.” And with that, it slowly dissolved away until it was no more. Dash sighed. What is going on? She was going to get answers, she knew it, but for the moment all she wanted to do was sleep. Her legs fell down on themselves and she found herself unable to get up as she began to nod off, but not before she heard a strangely familiar voice behind her. “There, there. You’ve been through a lot, just rest for now.” A Not-So-Warm WelcomeTwilight awoke, heart pounding and hooves shaking. The smell of dried mud filled her nostrils as she looked down at her body and saw it covered in dirt. Grunting, she lifted herself out of her bed, which was now covered in the dirt. Rubbing the sleep out of her still weary eyes, she awkwardly jerked up the stairs towards her study room. What...happened last night? She thought to herself as she opened the door. The room looked like it had just exploded. The walls were charred black, aside from some hoof prints. Twilight usually very clean and proper, but now the room was in shambles, along with a few blood marks on the shattered glass. “What happened here?” Twilight asked sleepily before she covered her mouth with her hoof so she wouldn’t scream. Her voice, it sounded nothing like her. A lot lower, almost aggressive. Had she used a mind-control spell? No, those were against the law and used dark magic. Scurrying out of the room, she headed towards a room that Rarity had lovingly accessorized for her. It was filled with jewels, and most importantly, mirrors. When she was opening the door, she swear she saw something wrong with her aura, but that wasn’t important right now. As soon as Twilight had looked around the room, she noticed something. Every mirror in the room, (That Rarity had given to Twilight so she could admire herself) had the reflection of a purple alicorn in them. Her horn was lit up with a starry black aura, like her eyes were black pits, though she clearly had two white pupils. Then Twilight realised something. She was looking at herself. “Well, that’s certainly an improvement.” She watched as all her reflections were replaced with a shadowy looking pony with yellow pupils. “Black is a nicer colour on you.” Twilight’s eyes twitched, and before she could even think, she replied angrily. “What did you do to me?!” Her horn lit up again with the same sickly dark aura. “To be honest with you, Princess, it’s less of ‘what I did’ and more of ‘what YOU did’. She scowled. I don’t have time for this. Although it was her thought, there was something about the intent of it that rubbed her the wrong way. “What do you mean by that?” “You will find out soon enough. Ah well, have fun with your friends.” With that, all the reflections turned back to normal. Twilight’s heart was racing. All of this was happening too fast, and next thing she knew she had passed out. *** Rarity lifted the delicate china up to her muzzle, taking a sip of the golden flower tea. Placing it back down, she waited for her guest Applejack to do the same before she started a conversation. “Did Dash ever come back?” Applejack asked, after Rarity brought up the subject of the cyan mare. Rarity stopped and thought at the earth pony’s words. It’s True, Rainbow Dash hadn’t come back to her house that night, but it was deathly late, and she had a day job to attend to. She’d need some sleep. “She didn't come back here, Darling, but I’m sure she’s just resting at her home. She was over for a long time, after all.” Another sip, and more silence. Applejack's hooves awkwardly batted against the small table. Beep… Beep….. Beep…. The ponies ears perked up at the noise, which appeared to be coming from under the Carousel Boutique. “D-Do you hear that, Applejack?” The beeping got louder. Beep…. Beep…. Beep…. “Rarity I-I think ya’ll should get out of he-” *** “It’s okay Applejack, Miss Rarity will be okay, she just needs some recovery a-” “BUT SHE MIGHT BE DEAD!!” “We’re sorry Miss Applejack, but we have to wait until her heart beat is back to normal.” Rarity heard a groaning sound. “D-Dawg-nabbit….” Beep, beep, beep. Rarity, slowly but steadily opened her eyes, vision still blurry from what she presumed was the night before. Applejack, slumping back into her bed, was rubbing her eyes and staring at the wall, red markings showing under her eyes. The nurse she was talking to was gone already, attending to other patients. She was in the hospital. Rarity, rubbing her eyes, turned her head to look at her heartbeat monitor. Next to her heartbeat, which seemed to be normal, it displayed her temperature. 60 Degrees F. She rubbed her eyes again, that shouldn’t be right. It was still 60. She peered over, looking at a patient next to her, who was currently asleep. His body temperature was 98.96. A completely normal temperature for a pony. The light quickly faded and the room became darker, the sound of thunder and a pitter-patter on the windows rang through the room. Rarity shivered. If she was under a blanket, why was she so cold? She looked over to see Applejack the same, tucking her face into her hooves and shivering. Then the nurse walked in again. “Miss Rarity, you’re finally awake. Don’t worry, we have prepared you some drinks for the cold weather.” She brought in a tray, lifting up the drinks with her magic and setting them to the side tables next to the two. Applejack quickly turned her head to meet Rarity’s gaze and sighed happily. “Thank you.” Rarity smiled weakly, picking up the cup of hot liquid akin to an earth pony. “But… if I may ask, why are we in the hospital?” The nurse’s smile faltered, if only for a second as she looked at the confused mare. “Well, a hospital is a place where injured or sick ponies come…” Rarity mouthed a silent ‘o’ as she remembered the night before. Or, at least she think she did. It had been a cozy night, the unicorn had invited Applejack over. They two of them had sat and talked, before everything went black. But then there was something else. Rarity didn’t know what, something else in her mind wanted to fog it out, like a bad memory. “O-Oh.” Rarity chuckled lightly, rubbing her neck. “W-Well dear, are the two of us going to be okay?” Rarity gave a toothy smile and for some reason the nurse flinched. This time her smile didn’t return. “Well, miss Rarity…. In the state we found you….” She gulped. “We’re not exactly sure how to… fix what has happened.” The two of them froze, before fear overcame them. Rarity shook every limb of her body under the sheets, making sure it was still there. Still is. “W-What do you mean darling? I can still feel my legs. My arms. My tail…..my….tail.” It was still there, she knew it. It felt weird though, like instead of the usual soft tail she could feel what felt like another hoof. The nurse smiled weakly. “Don’t worry, you should be completely fine.” Even though the unicorn was still shocked, she let the thought by. Maybe her tail just burned off? Okay, even that was an unpleasant thought to her. ‘Nah, you’re fine.’ Rarity blinked. “Excuse me, darling, did you say something?” The nurse shook her head. “Probably just a side effect. It will pass soon.” ‘Hey, hey! Check out this!’ Rarity and Applejack suddenly shivered and the nurse dropped her clipboard on the ground. When Applejack slowly lifted up her hoof, five small sharp claws were sticking out, like Spike’s hand. The two of them turned to each other. They screamed. Hilarity In DespairSince the disappearance of not only Rainbow Dash but Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville had been in melancholy. The only real comfort they had after the ebbing of the two was Pinkie Pie, who co-ran the Sugarcube Corner with Mr. and Mrs. Cake. But even the joyous pink pony herself was feeling a bit down. Ponyville felt barren now and not only was it quiet, but horrifying. The Princess of Friendship and Equestria’s fastest flier had gone missing in a night. Celestia had sent out a message to the public to keep them feel safe but truth to say, even the ruler of the land was feeling nervous. In a way she knew this would happen, but she didn’t know Rainbow Dash would go missing too. It had already been two weeks and now Rarity and Applejack were in hospital with no visitors allowed from the public. Whatever was happening there, they were trying to keep it a secret. Of course, Pinkie Pie was trying not to worry. She didn’t want to seem like a stalker of whatever was happening in the twos lives. Apparently eyewitness reported Rarity’s house exploding, but the hospital as well as Celestia herself insisted that the two were in perfect health. It was... confusing to the pony, but she knew that Celestia wouldn’t lie. She was sure her friends were okay. And then, she finally got out of bed. She’d been sitting in her room for the last few hours thinking about her friends. The only friend of hers that was left to talk to was Fluttershy, She was a great friend and Pinkie knew that. but she could barely hang out with her because of her duty to take care of her animals. But when they did get to hang out together they had a lot of fun. Pinkie Pie was sure that when Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Dashie came back they’d all have fun again. If they do come back… The party mare instantly shook her head mentally at her sudden thought. No! Pinkie Pie, don’t be so glum. They’ll be back soon! “Pinkie Pie, are you awake yet?” The voice of Mrs. Cake rang through her bedroom and her ears perked up, going back to her usual self. “Mhmm!” She instantly came down the stairs and smiled widely at the two ponies. “I’m going to go out to town today!” The two of them stared at the mare for a bit before letting her go. Even after her best efforts she was still slightly off her usual self... Oh well, she could at least go out to town. The time at town was sadly uneventful. it was only 3PM by the time Pinkie Pie was done, after finishing her day in front of the mysterious Everfree Forest. She stopped and turned back towards the forest. She felt an emotion she rarely felt... dread. But for some reason, also longing. She felt her hoof go forward, and then her other hoof. Before she knew it, she had walked into the Everfree Forest. Really, she had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. She just knew she had too. “U-Uhm, hello? Is anyone there?” The pink pony’s ears perked up when she heard a frail voice coming from a nearby bush. She walked over to it slowly and checked inside, only to see a small, yellow foal whimpering. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Pinkie Pie Shockingly asked as she picked up the little pony. “Y-Yeah, I am. My mother told me to stay here.” The freckled pony sniffed and clinged to Pinkie’s coat. “But she hasn’t c-come back yet.” She seemed to perk up nearly instantly. “But I know where mama lives when she's not with me.” “I can take you there if you want! My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?” Pinkie had never seen this foal before or her somepony who looked like her, so she was excited to meet her. The foal wiped her remaining tears away, “My name is Honey Speedster.” The filly climbed onto Pinkie Pie’s back as she began to walk where the filly directed her. “My mama, Star Shimmers told me to stay here a long time ago but…” She started tearing up again as Pinkie tried to soothe her. “It’s okay. I’ll get you back to your mother!” The party pony smiled although the feeling of dread from the forest hadn’t left her. Honey began to lead Pinkie Pie past all the houses near Sweet Apple Acres. Until finally Pinkie reached a old-looking cottage away from town Pinkie knocked on the door. “Hello? Is anypony in there?” A unicorn with a pale blue coat and purple hair opened the door. Her eyes opened wide and she hugged Honey with a wide smile on her face. “Oh, thank you Pinkie Pie!” The dark mare chirped in a voice that reminded Pinkie of Queen Chrysalis. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around Ponyville before. How do you know my name?” Pinkie asked kindly despite the fact that she could see the house behind the two ponies begin to glitch and shimmer. “Oh, we Spirits know everyone's names!” Honey’s eyes shimmered as she and her mother laughed. Pinkie Pie laughed too. And then like everypony else, she passed out. *** Pinkie yawned and woke up in her bed. It was perfectly comfortable, she felt like she was in heaven. For all she could know what she had just done was all a dream. When she jumped out of her bed, the floor almost felt like pillows. Every scent throughout the house was lovely too. Then a quiet knock at the door interrupted her paradise and she rushed down to see who was there. As soon as she opened the door, a small eep was heard as Fluttershy fell onto the floor. “Oh, I’m sorry Fluttershy! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Pinkie said apologetically but still in a cheery voice. “O-oh, it’s fine Pinkie Pie… I just wanted to know if you wanted to… hang out?” She asked meekly. “Of course!” Pinkie gave her a small hug. “Where do you wanna go?” “U-Uhm, w-wanna go to the Ponyville Tower?” “Sure! Let me grab my stuff!” Pinkie smiled before returning in barely a second with a picnic basket. Pinkie and Fluttershy carried the basket up to a giant tower with a gold bell at the top of it. Hanging underneath it was a giant clock, which had been off time ever since the day Iron Will appeared. “Thanks for hanging out with me today, Pinkie…” Fluttershy sighed. “It’s been awfully quiet lately.” She took another bite out of the lettuce sandwich Pinkie had somehow made under a second. “It’s okay Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie smiled wrapping her hoof around the pegasus. “Our friends will be back in no time!” She took another bite and Fluttershy frowned. “Are you sure about that?” Pinkie turned towards Fluttershy confused. “What do you mean?” She asked, her mouth still full of food. “I-I mean….it’s been awhile since we saw Dash and Twilight….Do you think they’re coming back?” Pinkie gasped a little and hugged the pegasus. “Of course they’re coming back! We just have to wait.” Despite the kind pony’s words, Fluttershy still felt a little worried but suppressed the feeling and smiled. “Y-Yeah.” She took the bite of the last sandwich. “Thanks for coming out here with me today, Fluttershy.” Pinkie Pie smiled kindly at the pony and she returned the gesture. “It was no issue, Angel is taking care of the animals.” Her eyes widened. “O-Oh dear! I forgot to feed Angel! Thanks for talking Pinkie Pie, sorry!” And with that Fluttershy raced off faster than Pinkie had ever seen. Pinkie bounced happily back to Sugarcube Corner, through the door and into her room. The Cakes greeted her and she explained what happened, making the two of them smile. She laid back onto her bed and sighed as she saw the sun starting to set. And then it hit her. The beautiful scents of the bakery faded away as the sun seemed blinding to her now fragile eyes. her bed sheets felt like cacti needles prickling her and the happiness was gone. The usual pink party pony felt like a void. Her energy depleted and her smile gone. Hell, she didn’t even know if she could lift her own hoof anymore. Nothing seemed to matter. She hadn’t felt like this since the rock farm. Her eyes became glassy and she wept. She wept and wept until her bedsheets were a darker shade of blue and pink. Pinkie’s life now felt like it had a gaping void in it, something that parties and friendship couldn’t heal. It was an obsession. She had no idea where the urge had come from, but it was there and strong. It was practically crawling on her back as she sobbed. Then she stopped, The urge was all she cared about and all she needed. She headed to Fluttershy’s house. Side Story - AwokenSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Arcane WoundsSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.PrologueTwilight let out a sigh. So much had happened that day. Equestria nearly got taken over, she had adsorbed three different types of power, and most importantly, she defeated a powerful foe and had gotten herself a new home. It towered over the rest of Ponyville, glittering brilliantly as she and her friends stared up at it. Made completely of pure crystal. Twilight was glad that Spike hadn’t decided to eat it yet. He clambered into her new, clean bed, sniffing in the new smell as she used her magic to cast her covers over her. “Ah, lavender.” It seemed the magical box that helped them defeat Tirek also knew what one of her favourite smells was. Finally, Equestria was at peace for another day. Twilight sat back into her pillow, exhaled, and slowly fell asleep. Celestia was waiting outside her window, staring at the moon that was slowly being raised by her younger sister. Looking down at her former-student’s village, she could see her new castle, twinkling in the distance. She sighed, both happily and sadly. She was proud to see how much Twilight had grown and learned, now that she had evolved into the pony she was now. But at the same time, despite the castle’s beauty, she couldn’t help but feel a strange aura coming off it. She pushed this strange feeling to the back of her mind, and returned back to her sleeping dorms. She knew that something was coming, and that for the first time in a very long time, it wouldn’t be Twilight Sparkle to predict it.
NightmareLike Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, a small, yellow filly named Applebloom was slowly beginning to settle into her own bed, yawning occasionally, but remaining dormant. Slowly, she felt herself drift into a deep sleep… “Hello? Is anypony thar’?” Applebloom looked around her empty dream, seeing nothing around her but white. She groaned. These had been her dreams for the past few increasingly boring nights. Even though she had full trust in the Princess, and usually wouldn’t doubt her. But she was sure that she was the only one who was having these blank dreams. “Hello, little Applebloom.” Applebloom’s head shot up as she looked above, seeing the slight silhouette of Princess Luna floating in the air. “Princess Luna?” “It is I. I am here to report to you that whatever happens to you in the dream world, remember that it is not real. You must remain strong.” Applebloom was confused by the night Alicorn’s words. What did she mean? Before she could ask her, the vision of her faded away, and Applebloom felt the sudden rush of wind against her face. Looking up with squinted eyes, she saw that she was going through some tunnel. Just as she was bracing herself to be stuck like this, the force propelling her suddenly stopped, and she fell off the object carrying her. Brushing the dirt off her face, she looked up to see the shadow of two ponies staring down at her. Just before they raced off again, she rubbed her eyes to remove some of the dust, and gasped as she saw the swift ponies that were carrying her were joined together like a crazy science experiment. “W-What in th’ hay?” She coughed, slowly getting herself up as she looked at her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be Ponyville at night, although the familiar glow of Princess Twilight’s castle was dimmed down to a darker purple colour. Applebloom was confused at what was happening. Quickly, she rushed over to Twilight’s castle, even though she knew it was a dream. Last time she had a dream about Ponyville, the ponies seemed to act like their real counterparts. She was hoping she could at least get some information from the ‘fake’ Twilight Sparkle. Applebloom finally got to the castle. Her hooves were strangely heavy from the dirt; the black dirt actually felt like it was weighing down her hooves. Running through town normally didn’t entail being covered in dust. “Hello? Miss Twilight?” She opened the castle door, looking around, coating the crystal floors in the black dirt that followed her. “Huh? What the-” Applebloom looked around to see that the black dirt that had gotten stuck to her hooves was slowly fading from the ground. Shrugging, she continued walking along, going up the stairs to see if Princess Twilight was anywhere. A strange, dull noise began to emit from a nearby room, and Applebloom’s ears flicked up. She quickly charged forward, no longer weighed down by the dirt, and rushed towards the door, putting her head against it. Strange mumbling noises, followed by a deafening crash were heard. She pulled her head back and slowly opened the door, to see a pegasus figure jumping through the smashed window. Applebloom rushed into the room, doing her best to avoid the smashed glass as she walked towards the window. She peered through the window to see the pegasus figure chasing after another pony. “Hey! Wait!” Applebloom screamed out as she felt herself lose her balance. Slowly, she began to fall out of the castle window, onto the pavement below. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but before it could strike she felt herself being lifted up by a strange force. “Princess Luna? Is that you?” She shivered, slowly opening her eyes to see the pavement barely scraping her muzzle. She gulped as she heard the pony sighing, about to reply. “No, Princess Luna isn’t here Applebloom.” Applebloom was confused. How did the pony know her name? “But that isn’t important right now. You need to run.” Applebloom looked up at the dark pegasus, who was hovering her above the ground. Although she couldn’t see her properly, she couldn’t help but feel a familiar aura come off her. She reminded her of a pony back in the real Ponyville. “Ah-- Thanks a’ guess.” “No need for words. You have to go.” And with that, Applebloom watched as the pony flew away from the castle. She stared off for a few more seconds until the pegasus left her sight before registering the pony’s words. She began to pick up pace as she ran away from Twilight’s Castle. Although the pegasus didn’t ask her to, she followed the other ponies that were running away earlier. It seemed the ponies hadn’t travelled that far either, as it wasn’t long before she could hear the sound hoofbeats on the black barely metres away from her. Skidding to a stop, she accidentally fell into the dirt. She didn’t want to be seen by the running ponies, but the fact that she was now rapidly choking on the black dirt that had covered her face made that nearly impossible. “What in the name of Celestia is that?” Applebloom shoved her hoof into her mouth to stop herself from coughing as she heard a voice whisper nearby. “Don’t you dare move. I need to check what that is.” Applebloom could feel her heart beating faster as the shadowy pony walked too close for comfort. Looking up at the mare’s figure, she could see a horn and a pair of wings. It was an Alicorn. “Damn,” the Alicorn muttered. “Looks like I was just imaging things.” Chuckling darkly, she continued, “No matter. Now, what was I doing again?” As she slowly walked away, Applebloom noticed something. The pegasus figure that seemed so familiar before was now cornered against the nearby wall, shuddering. Applebloom was about to speak up before she remembered. Right, Alicorn. She could probably vaporize her in one second if she even dared to move. She watched as the Alicorn walked up to the pegasus in a predatory manner. A magenta glow came off her horn. Applebloom inched closer to get a better look at the Alicorn’s face, but the glow effectively obscured all but the eyes, as if it were a balaclava. “Her eyes….ther’ black!” Applebloom exclaimed, before freezing mentally as she covered her mouth. It was too late. Both ponies were staring at her. The Alicorn stared at her, her emotions nearly unreadable. She laughed, before gritting her teeth. “Applebloom. What. Are. You. Doing. Here?!” Applebloom was about to scream and run away, but suddenly felt her body being propelled closer by the Alicorn’s magic. Now, she could almost clearly see her face. That face...was so familiar. “I’m going to have a very stern talk with Applejack after this.” Judging by the look on the pony’s face, she wasn’t being literal. Getting grounded would be the least of her worries. “Twilight! Please, let her go! She has nothing to do with this!” The other pony yelled at the Alicorn, but she just rolled her eyes and scowled. “Wait…..Princess Twilight?” Applebloom’s ears flattened to the sides of her head as the pony, or rather ‘Twilight’, smiled at her. “Ah, seems you’re not as stupid as I thought you would be.” The aura around Applebloom’s body vanished, and she fell to the ground with a thud. “Well, you could say you’re here to witness a very special moment.” Applebloom gulped. She didn’t like the sound of that. Twilight stepped back and wrapped the entire pegasi’s body in her magical aura. The faint glow made pegasus visible. Applebloom, trying to avoid the gaze of the dream world Twilight, slowly sneaked up behind her to look at who the pegasus was. Then, everything became clear. The cyan fur, the rainbow mane. It was Rainbow Dash. However, something was off with her, just like with Twilight. Her entire body was covered in stitches, and just like Twilight, her eyes seemed to be made nearly entirely out of blackness apart from her pupils. Then, Twilight’s magic began its work. Rainbow Dash let out a cry and Applebloom heard multiple snapping noises coming from Rainbow Dash’s body. She wanted to close her eyes and ignore what was happening, but for some reason she just couldn’t turn away. She watched in horror as a black liquid began to seep from Rainbow Dash’s twisted legs. Why would Twilight be doing something like this? That’s when Applebloom realised something. This was just a dream. If she got hurt, she’d just wake up. She latched onto Twilight’s leg. “Miss Twilight, please stop doing whatever the hay you’re doing to Rainbow Dash!” She yelled. Twilight just smiled. “You can’t stop this from happening, past or present.” She mumbled as she focused on dismembering Rainbow Dash. Applebloom lifted an eyebrow. “....What are you talking about?” “This is a warning, little Applebloom. You need to alert everyone. Please.” That was when Applebloom realised that Twilight was no longer the one talking. “...Every….one? Princess Luna, what ar’ yah talking about?” “You’ll find out soon, little Applebloom. There’s a lot more out there than you think. Ponies aren’t alone.” Princess Luna’s voice faded away as Applebloom heard a sickening crunch coming from Rainbow Dash’s direction. Applebloom slowly looked towards the direction. If this was real life, her gag reflex would have activated. Rainbow Dash was still there, but no longer in one piece. The black liquid was still oozing from her body, but she had not stopped breathing. “Applebloom, get out of here.” She wheezed. “It’s only a matter of time.” Applebloom watched as all buildings, ponies, and other things around her poofed out of existence. And then, finally, Applebloom felt herself begin to fade away from the dream as she opened her eyes. She got up. There were things to be done.
ExtractTwilight let out a small yawn as she slowly staggered out of bed. She looked out her window at the view of Ponyville below. She sighed, still being able to see her former home. She pushed the negative thoughts out of her head. C’mon Twilight, now isn’t the time to be thinking of those things, She thought to herself as she scanned her new home. It definitely was a lot bigger than the Golden Oaks Library, making it somewhat easy to get lost in, but she was sure she’d get used to it eventually. That’s when she remembered something. “Oh! Princess Celestia told me this place had a library!” She quickly rushed through the different rooms in the Crystal Castle in search of her literary prizes. “There it is!” She let out a tiny squee noise as she slowly pushed the door open with a creak, her eyes lighting up when she saw the magnificent array of books all across the room. She quickly flew through the room, scanning all the books that she had. Some of these books date back to Starswirl’s time! She thought to herself gleefully as she raced through the different archives, all displaying different years, dating up to the recent event of Nightmare Moon’s return. Her curiosity was aroused by a bookshelf that was sparsely filled. ‘Unknown Times - Before Equestria’ She rushed down to bookshelf of her focus. Most of the books there appeared to be scorched, missing covers, or had smudged ink. It didn’t matter though; she wasn’t if even Celestia herself knew of these books. How did the castle obtain these? She picked a few of them up and briefly glanced through their pages. Most of them appeared to be about some alien history. Twilight, wide eyed, flipped through the pages, seeing pictures and words she’d never heard or seen before. “I’ve got to show these to Celestia!” Twilight beamed, grabbing two of the books before preparing to race off. ‘Wait.’ Twilight froze midair. “Hello? Rarity, is that you?” ‘You missed a book.’ Although Twilight still had no idea who was talking, she looked back and confirmed that it spoke the truth. “Uhm, what’s so important about that other book?” Twilight asked the voice, uncertain if she was talking to herself. ‘It’s a spellbook.’ Twilight’s ears perked up a little at those words. Slowly making her way back to the bookshelf, she stared at the remaining books. One had a purple pattern, and seemed to have been kept in better shape than the others. ‘Take a look at it.’ After some deliberation, Twilight picked up the small book with her magic and began to scan through the pages. It was indeed, as the voice had said, a spellbook. She wasn’t sure if it was some form of dark magic, but she didn’t care, hyped up as she was from finding books about an otherwise unknown civilization. “Oh. Well, thanks-” ‘You don’t have to thank me. I’m the one who should be thanking you.’ Twilight was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, but her thirst for new knowledge overpowered whatever misgivings she had. She placed down the two other books, curious about the spellbook that had been called to her attention. Placing it down on a table, she began to read. “Hmm, Shapeshift Spell, Drought Spell, Telepathy Spell…..” Twilight began to trail off as she read through the extensive repository of spells. “Wait...Extractor Spell?” Twilight thought aloud as she flipped onto the page of the rather unusual spell. “This spell has the ability to extract beings, or other objects out of something without harm, unless it is cast on a….human?” Twilight stopped at that word, but elected to continue reading, making a mental note to look it up later. “The spell should only be used by people with extensive experience in spellcasting. It is not a beginner’s spell!” Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed for a second. This spell seems to imply some practical use…. but… what could I use it for? Twilight scrunched her muzzle. “A spell that can take objects out of other objects without harming said object…..I’ve got it!” Around a year ago, Twilight and her friends had to give up one of the things that made them special; their Elements of Harmony. But because of that, it was a lot more difficult to remove evil beings from Equestria. But with the help of the spell… A lightbulb went off in her head. We could get the Elements back without harming the Tree of Harmony! Twilight’s eyes scanned the page once more, checking the requirements of the spell. It appeared she happened to have everything on hoof. “Should I tell the girls?” She thought out loud to herself. She didn’t know how her friends would react if they knew she brought back the Elements of Harmony through the use of a long-forgotten spell. ‘I think you know how they’d react. I suggest that you keep this one to yourself, Princess Twilight.’ Twilight frowned. She still had no idea where the voice was coming from. She got an idea. Firing up her horn, she abruptly filled the entire room with a purple aura. Hmmm. The Detect Life Spell isn’t seeing anything. “Are you a voice in my head?” ‘I guess you could say that.’ Twilight tried to shake off the weird feeling of knowing that there was somepony or something following her around that she couldn’t detect. Maybe it had something to do with the book? Twilight slammed the book shut. She didn’t know what to do anymore. Where had the voice come from? Would the spell get the Elements back? She shook those thoughts off. “I’ll try the spell tonight. I’ll just go out to town today.” She sighed, already exhausted from her awareness of the new knowledge from those few books. As Twilight slowly walked away from the library, leaving the books behind, she felt the weird feeling fade. Trotting over to her front door, she to felt the breeze coming through. Weird, I don’t remember opening that door. She flew out and looked down at Ponyville. It was finally time to start her day without her feelings about the Castle weighing her down. “Sister, should we warn Princess Twilight about the Castle?” Luna asked her celestial sister. “I think it would be better if she figured it out by herself. Remember, not even we knew what it was at first.” A silence gathered in the room as the two royal sisters sat next to each other in their dining chamber. “....Do you think this has something to do with ‘5170’?” Luna asked in a near whisper, sipping on her tea. “Luna…. please don’t jump to conclusions,” Celestia’s expression fell. “We know that even Twilight wouldn’t be able to stop him. He likes to take drastic actions. If he was here, we would have known by now.” Luna sighed. “Right. Sorry, sister.” She looked out the window down at Ponyville. “But there is a disturbance in her town. Do you think Princess Twilight and her friends could stop it?” “I’m sure they will sister. They always do.” ‘I hope.’
Grave Problems (Part 1)Twilight sighed, closing the crystal door behind her. Today had been a long and tiring day. She had helped Fluttershy with her animals, Rarity with her dresses, and Applejack with rounding up pigs on her farm. But even after all of that, she didn’t feel the slightest bit tired. ‘Go back to the library.’ Twilight groaned. She had forgotten about the pestering voice. She locked the doors to the library using her magic and flew into her bed. ‘Go back to the library, Twilight.’ Giving another groan, she stuffed her face into a pillow. She sat, waiting for the voice to continue. All was silent save the sound of her breathing. Heh, maybe it finally went awa- ‘Go back to the library, now.’ “That’s it!” Twilight flung her pillow across the room and quickly flew down to the library, whacked the door open. “Where in Equestria is that book?” She looked around to see where she left the spellbook. “Ah, there it is! …..Though I don’t remember putting it back on the shelf.” Twilight shrugged and brushed aside the anomaly. There were more urgent matters at the moment. “Alright, book, what do you want?” ‘Practice the Extractor Spell.’ Twilight blinked. “Really? Is that all you wanted me to do?” ‘Yes. Just go upstairs and practice it before you finally decide to use it.’ Twilight let out a small ‘huh’ noise before grabbing the book and carrying it upstairs. “Wait a second!” She stopped. If the voice belonged to a visible being, it’d probably be shaking in irritation. “I need to test this thing for dark magic.” Lighting up her horn she aimed it at the spellbook, which glowed in her purple aura. Twilight gave the book a once-over, the voice remaining silent. Then, without a noise, the book slowly fell back onto the ground. “Hmmm. No dark magic, that’s good.” The confirmation didn’t do anything to make her bad feeling about the spellbook and the weird voice go away though. She mentally noted that she’d have to take extra precautions. She opened the door to her personal study only to see Spike sitting on her counter writing on a scroll. “Oh, hi Twilight!” He cheerfully greeted. “I was just writing a letter to the Princess telling her about the Castle.” “That’s a good idea Spike!” Twilight set the spellbook down on the table and flipped through the pages until she got to the right spell. “Spike, would you mind doing that in another room? I’m testing out a new spell I found in my library and I don’t you to get hurt when something bad happens.” Spike nodded, picking up his quills and paper before walking out of the room. “Do you want the door locked?” he asked as he looked back into the room. Twilight, engrossed in the book, just gave him a small nod before returning to her reading. “Got it. Just give me a call if you need anything, alright?” “Got it, Spike.” Twilight gave her assistant a wink before he closed the door, the lavender princess hearing a clicking noise from the other side. “Oh, and don’t eat too much ice-cream!” she yelled out after him, laughing a little bit when she heard him groan. Twilight’s light mood faded as she turned back towards her book. “Alright, time to test this out.” She quickly read through the required pages again, just to make sure she wasn’t missing anything out. That was when she saw an extra footnote. NOTICE: Low success rate (50% chance failure). No negative effects upon failure. “Eh?” Twilight said in a half-annoyed tone. “Well, I guess I’ll be here for a while.” * * * “Rainbow Dash darling, have you seen Twilight lately?” The fashion unicorn asked her speedster friend as the two relaxed in her boutique. “The poor dear hasn’t shown up since she found that new book..” “I have no idea, Rarity,” Rainbow yawned fiddling with a scarf Rarity had given her that day as a present. “You know Twilight, she’s an egghead. That books obviously got her sucked in.” “Of course darling, but she doesn’t spend that much time reading, does she?” She said rhetorically. “Hm, well….Yeah. Psh, I wouldn’t worry. She’s probably read half her library by now. Or more.” Rainbow snarked. “But I guess you are right. She hasn’t been around in a while.” “Speaking of which, darling, do you mind checking up on her. I haven’t been able to do so, with all this fashion and so.” Rarity winked. Rainbow sighed. “Eh, I guess I could. Although, you sure she’s not doing something I shouldn’t be messing with? Twilight gets real serious with her work.” “I’m sure that she would have told us like I said, darling.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’ll be there in a flash. See you later, Rares!” Barely moments after that, Rainbow Dash had already flown half-way to Twilight’s Castle. * * * Rainbow Dash landed in front of her friend’s castle, knocking violently on the door. “Yo, Twi! Open up!”” No response. “Hm, maybe Spike is in here somewhere.” Rainbow Dash touched the door only for it to slowly creak open. “And she also forgot to lock her door.” Slowly slipping through the crack in the door she created, Rainbow looked through the room. Everything was silent, and no one seemed to be home. That was of course, until she saw a dim light coming from one of the rooms. Slowly opening the door, she saw Spike half-asleep on the floor. “Rainbow...Dash? Is that you?” Spike yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Yeah, but I’m just looking for Twi. You seen her?” Spike nodded sleepily, pointing directly upwards. “She’s been upstairs...for a few weeks. Won’t come back...down.” Rainbow Dash frowned. Spike looked like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in forever. “You need some help first?” Rainbow Dash asked the sleepy dragon, who happily nodded at her request. “Do I ever?” * * * “Ugh, finally.” Twilight mumbled as she stared over at the spellbook. “I’ve barely had anything to eat. After this is cast I can finally get out of here.” Twilight’s horn lit up once again as she prepared to cast the practice Extractor Spell. This time, I won't fail. She thought to herself as she pushed every ounce of her magic into the spell. And this time, instead of it simply vanishing, it stayed on her horn. “Ohhh, thank Celestia.” Twilight was half-way through wanting to pass out and jump like Pinkie Pie, but she still had to actually fire the spell. She looked around her room for a target. How about...Oh! If I just aim for a random object, it won’t do any harm. Pointing directly towards one of her wardrobes, and fired. It didn’t hit. “H-Huh? Did it fail again?!” Twilight’s eye twitched. “No problem, I’ll just do it one more taaaa…” Twilight stumbled off mid-sentence, staring at the seemingly empty space directly in front of wardrobes. She was right, it didn’t hit. It had hit something directly in front of the wardrobe, evident by the glowing effect in the middle of the air. Twilight laughed nervously. “It can hit air? Some lousy spell.” The voice laughed. ‘That wasn’t air. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.’ “H-Huh? what do you mean by tha-” Twilight blacked out before she could finish her sentence. * * * Rainbow Dash, feeling satisfied after helping Spike finally get some shut-eye was about to exit the Castle. “Twilight!” She went wide-eyed as she remembered why she was there in the first place. How could she forget? Racing up the stairs, the pegasus speedster saw that a room had an extremely bright light radiating from it. “Twilight? You in there?” Rainbow sighed when she got no answer, and opened the door much to her surprise. Huh, Spike said he locked this. And all she saw was a smashed window. “Twilight!” Rainbow Dash rushed over to the window, only to see a silhouette of the Alicorn Princess speeding away. Spreading her wings, she jumped out the window and gave chase. She had no idea what was in store for her.
Grave Problems (Part 2)She coughed shakily, raising her body off the ground once she had gotten away. That was a close one. She thought, wiping some dust off off her body-- no, Twilight Sparkle’s body. She’d have to get used to that. She looked around, getting used to the vision that the Princess seemed to live with. It’ll do. She froze when she heard the crunching of leaves behind her new body, followed by an exhausted voice. “Twilight…..where are you?” She sighed. The pegasus still was chasing after her, even after all the swerves she had done past nearby buildings and hazards. She spread her wings and flew up to a nearby building, just as a weary blue pegasi stepped into view. “T-Twilight…..” Rainbow yawned and began to look around in the leaves. “Rainbow Dash, it’s okay, I’m just practicing flying,” she yelled, doing her best impression of the Alicorn. It was quite easy, considering she was her at the moment. Rainbow Dash stood there for a good few seconds, blinking in confusion. She shook her head before bursting into laughter. “Bwahaha! You seriously expect me to think you would be flying this late at night?” She wiped away a tear and waiting for “Twilight’s” response. Perhaps not as easy as I thought. This is going nowhere. She can’t know any of this happened. She coughed again, before she flew back down the the laughing pegasus, who was surprised to see her friend refraining from eye contact. “Uh, Twilight, you okay?” She tried squatting to see if she could see her eyes, but they were covered by her blue mane. “Yeah, but I led you down here because I wanted to show you something.” Although it didn’t sound much like Twilight, she was happy when Dash awkwardly accepted to follow her. Her mistake. The pegasus followed after the Alicorn, not questioning her motives or ideas. It might have been late, but she was still her friend. Then again...She wasn’t bringing me here. Dash was cut short when Twilight stopped in front of her. “Are we here yet?” She nodded, and Dash swore the area around the two of them got darker. “Hey, what’s going on he-” And then everything went black. * * * Dash woke up in a cramped space. A little too cramped. Sighing, she went to open her eyes. ‘Where the hay am I?’ she meant to say, but all that came out was garbled noise. Bleh, I gotta stop tucking myself under the covers. She thought, ignoring the dreaded noise that came out of her mouth. Reaching out for the cover, she felt something hard against her head. She tried focusing her eyes, but it was far too dark to see anything. Dash gulped nervously, grabbing around the edges of the strange box that seemed to be covering her. Box. Dash suddenly panicked, cold sweat running down her muzzle as she realised this could very well be what she thought it was. Then, something gave way, and she flinched as she felt something fall onto her face. Brushing it off, she continued past the wood and tried to dig through the mush that was slowly mixing in with her fur. She gasped for air as soon as the mud moved past by force. Finally, she could relax. But then she realised something. Hopping out of the small hole she had created, she looked around to see where she was, although the heavy rain made it hard to see. She was at a cemetery. Her eye twitched. “W-What the…” Her usually egotistical personality took a backseat to her fear. Why was she here? What’s going on? Why was she…..buried?? “That’s a good question for you to ask.” Dash froze, before she realised the display she was making and quickly turned around. “Who are…..you?” Dash really meant that question for once. Being popular also meant that usually fans and admirers would encounter her, and she’d try not to forget them. This was different. Standing before the confused pegasus was a giant creature--maybe two or three times her size, staring down at her. It had a wispy appearance, almost like it wasn’t there. From it’s head sprouted antlers, which were connected to a skull of some shape. The lower body seemed to be shaped like one of the cows at Applejack’s farm, but it was rather long and slender. “LiberDrio.” The figure simply said, staring down at Dash with its cold black eyes. “You’ll be wanting revenge now, I presume?” Dash blinked. “Uh…..What?” She asked, and although she tried the best to smirk, she didn’t exactly feel like it with this ‘thing’ in front of her. “Twilight Sparkle killed you.” Dash blinked a few more times. That’s crazy. She would have said, if she didn’t wake up underground in a coffin. You’re some sort of prankster, right? A small tombstone titled “Rainbow Dash” was one of the first things she saw. She froze in place. “W-Why?” She finally managed to blurt out, wanting answers. “Well, I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. But, you do want revenge, yes?” She winced. “No….I don’t.” Even if Twilight did do what this creature was saying, she wouldn’t plan revenge on anyone. That was stupid, even for her. The creature snarled, it’s pupils lightly shimmering. “You will soon.” And with that, it slowly dissolved away until it was no more. Dash sighed. What is going on? She was going to get answers, she knew it, but for the moment all she wanted to do was sleep. Her legs fell down on themselves and she found herself unable to get up as she began to nod off, but not before she heard a strangely familiar voice behind her. “There, there. You’ve been through a lot, just rest for now.”
A Not-So-Warm WelcomeTwilight awoke, heart pounding and hooves shaking. The smell of dried mud filled her nostrils as she looked down at her body and saw it covered in dirt. Grunting, she lifted herself out of her bed, which was now covered in the dirt. Rubbing the sleep out of her still weary eyes, she awkwardly jerked up the stairs towards her study room. What...happened last night? She thought to herself as she opened the door. The room looked like it had just exploded. The walls were charred black, aside from some hoof prints. Twilight usually very clean and proper, but now the room was in shambles, along with a few blood marks on the shattered glass. “What happened here?” Twilight asked sleepily before she covered her mouth with her hoof so she wouldn’t scream. Her voice, it sounded nothing like her. A lot lower, almost aggressive. Had she used a mind-control spell? No, those were against the law and used dark magic. Scurrying out of the room, she headed towards a room that Rarity had lovingly accessorized for her. It was filled with jewels, and most importantly, mirrors. When she was opening the door, she swear she saw something wrong with her aura, but that wasn’t important right now. As soon as Twilight had looked around the room, she noticed something. Every mirror in the room, (That Rarity had given to Twilight so she could admire herself) had the reflection of a purple alicorn in them. Her horn was lit up with a starry black aura, like her eyes were black pits, though she clearly had two white pupils. Then Twilight realised something. She was looking at herself. “Well, that’s certainly an improvement.” She watched as all her reflections were replaced with a shadowy looking pony with yellow pupils. “Black is a nicer colour on you.” Twilight’s eyes twitched, and before she could even think, she replied angrily. “What did you do to me?!” Her horn lit up again with the same sickly dark aura. “To be honest with you, Princess, it’s less of ‘what I did’ and more of ‘what YOU did’. She scowled. I don’t have time for this. Although it was her thought, there was something about the intent of it that rubbed her the wrong way. “What do you mean by that?” “You will find out soon enough. Ah well, have fun with your friends.” With that, all the reflections turned back to normal. Twilight’s heart was racing. All of this was happening too fast, and next thing she knew she had passed out. *** Rarity lifted the delicate china up to her muzzle, taking a sip of the golden flower tea. Placing it back down, she waited for her guest Applejack to do the same before she started a conversation. “Did Dash ever come back?” Applejack asked, after Rarity brought up the subject of the cyan mare. Rarity stopped and thought at the earth pony’s words. It’s True, Rainbow Dash hadn’t come back to her house that night, but it was deathly late, and she had a day job to attend to. She’d need some sleep. “She didn't come back here, Darling, but I’m sure she’s just resting at her home. She was over for a long time, after all.” Another sip, and more silence. Applejack's hooves awkwardly batted against the small table. Beep… Beep….. Beep…. The ponies ears perked up at the noise, which appeared to be coming from under the Carousel Boutique. “D-Do you hear that, Applejack?” The beeping got louder. Beep…. Beep…. Beep…. “Rarity I-I think ya’ll should get out of he-” *** “It’s okay Applejack, Miss Rarity will be okay, she just needs some recovery a-” “BUT SHE MIGHT BE DEAD!!” “We’re sorry Miss Applejack, but we have to wait until her heart beat is back to normal.” Rarity heard a groaning sound. “D-Dawg-nabbit….” Beep, beep, beep. Rarity, slowly but steadily opened her eyes, vision still blurry from what she presumed was the night before. Applejack, slumping back into her bed, was rubbing her eyes and staring at the wall, red markings showing under her eyes. The nurse she was talking to was gone already, attending to other patients. She was in the hospital. Rarity, rubbing her eyes, turned her head to look at her heartbeat monitor. Next to her heartbeat, which seemed to be normal, it displayed her temperature. 60 Degrees F. She rubbed her eyes again, that shouldn’t be right. It was still 60. She peered over, looking at a patient next to her, who was currently asleep. His body temperature was 98.96. A completely normal temperature for a pony. The light quickly faded and the room became darker, the sound of thunder and a pitter-patter on the windows rang through the room. Rarity shivered. If she was under a blanket, why was she so cold? She looked over to see Applejack the same, tucking her face into her hooves and shivering. Then the nurse walked in again. “Miss Rarity, you’re finally awake. Don’t worry, we have prepared you some drinks for the cold weather.” She brought in a tray, lifting up the drinks with her magic and setting them to the side tables next to the two. Applejack quickly turned her head to meet Rarity’s gaze and sighed happily. “Thank you.” Rarity smiled weakly, picking up the cup of hot liquid akin to an earth pony. “But… if I may ask, why are we in the hospital?” The nurse’s smile faltered, if only for a second as she looked at the confused mare. “Well, a hospital is a place where injured or sick ponies come…” Rarity mouthed a silent ‘o’ as she remembered the night before. Or, at least she think she did. It had been a cozy night, the unicorn had invited Applejack over. They two of them had sat and talked, before everything went black. But then there was something else. Rarity didn’t know what, something else in her mind wanted to fog it out, like a bad memory. “O-Oh.” Rarity chuckled lightly, rubbing her neck. “W-Well dear, are the two of us going to be okay?” Rarity gave a toothy smile and for some reason the nurse flinched. This time her smile didn’t return. “Well, miss Rarity…. In the state we found you….” She gulped. “We’re not exactly sure how to… fix what has happened.” The two of them froze, before fear overcame them. Rarity shook every limb of her body under the sheets, making sure it was still there. Still is. “W-What do you mean darling? I can still feel my legs. My arms. My tail…..my….tail.” It was still there, she knew it. It felt weird though, like instead of the usual soft tail she could feel what felt like another hoof. The nurse smiled weakly. “Don’t worry, you should be completely fine.” Even though the unicorn was still shocked, she let the thought by. Maybe her tail just burned off? Okay, even that was an unpleasant thought to her. ‘Nah, you’re fine.’ Rarity blinked. “Excuse me, darling, did you say something?” The nurse shook her head. “Probably just a side effect. It will pass soon.” ‘Hey, hey! Check out this!’ Rarity and Applejack suddenly shivered and the nurse dropped her clipboard on the ground. When Applejack slowly lifted up her hoof, five small sharp claws were sticking out, like Spike’s hand. The two of them turned to each other. They screamed.
Hilarity In DespairSince the disappearance of not only Rainbow Dash but Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville had been in melancholy. The only real comfort they had after the ebbing of the two was Pinkie Pie, who co-ran the Sugarcube Corner with Mr. and Mrs. Cake. But even the joyous pink pony herself was feeling a bit down. Ponyville felt barren now and not only was it quiet, but horrifying. The Princess of Friendship and Equestria’s fastest flier had gone missing in a night. Celestia had sent out a message to the public to keep them feel safe but truth to say, even the ruler of the land was feeling nervous. In a way she knew this would happen, but she didn’t know Rainbow Dash would go missing too. It had already been two weeks and now Rarity and Applejack were in hospital with no visitors allowed from the public. Whatever was happening there, they were trying to keep it a secret. Of course, Pinkie Pie was trying not to worry. She didn’t want to seem like a stalker of whatever was happening in the twos lives. Apparently eyewitness reported Rarity’s house exploding, but the hospital as well as Celestia herself insisted that the two were in perfect health. It was... confusing to the pony, but she knew that Celestia wouldn’t lie. She was sure her friends were okay. And then, she finally got out of bed. She’d been sitting in her room for the last few hours thinking about her friends. The only friend of hers that was left to talk to was Fluttershy, She was a great friend and Pinkie knew that. but she could barely hang out with her because of her duty to take care of her animals. But when they did get to hang out together they had a lot of fun. Pinkie Pie was sure that when Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Dashie came back they’d all have fun again. If they do come back… The party mare instantly shook her head mentally at her sudden thought. No! Pinkie Pie, don’t be so glum. They’ll be back soon! “Pinkie Pie, are you awake yet?” The voice of Mrs. Cake rang through her bedroom and her ears perked up, going back to her usual self. “Mhmm!” She instantly came down the stairs and smiled widely at the two ponies. “I’m going to go out to town today!” The two of them stared at the mare for a bit before letting her go. Even after her best efforts she was still slightly off her usual self... Oh well, she could at least go out to town. The time at town was sadly uneventful. it was only 3PM by the time Pinkie Pie was done, after finishing her day in front of the mysterious Everfree Forest. She stopped and turned back towards the forest. She felt an emotion she rarely felt... dread. But for some reason, also longing. She felt her hoof go forward, and then her other hoof. Before she knew it, she had walked into the Everfree Forest. Really, she had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. She just knew she had too. “U-Uhm, hello? Is anyone there?” The pink pony’s ears perked up when she heard a frail voice coming from a nearby bush. She walked over to it slowly and checked inside, only to see a small, yellow foal whimpering. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Pinkie Pie Shockingly asked as she picked up the little pony. “Y-Yeah, I am. My mother told me to stay here.” The freckled pony sniffed and clinged to Pinkie’s coat. “But she hasn’t c-come back yet.” She seemed to perk up nearly instantly. “But I know where mama lives when she's not with me.” “I can take you there if you want! My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours?” Pinkie had never seen this foal before or her somepony who looked like her, so she was excited to meet her. The foal wiped her remaining tears away, “My name is Honey Speedster.” The filly climbed onto Pinkie Pie’s back as she began to walk where the filly directed her. “My mama, Star Shimmers told me to stay here a long time ago but…” She started tearing up again as Pinkie tried to soothe her. “It’s okay. I’ll get you back to your mother!” The party pony smiled although the feeling of dread from the forest hadn’t left her. Honey began to lead Pinkie Pie past all the houses near Sweet Apple Acres. Until finally Pinkie reached a old-looking cottage away from town Pinkie knocked on the door. “Hello? Is anypony in there?” A unicorn with a pale blue coat and purple hair opened the door. Her eyes opened wide and she hugged Honey with a wide smile on her face. “Oh, thank you Pinkie Pie!” The dark mare chirped in a voice that reminded Pinkie of Queen Chrysalis. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around Ponyville before. How do you know my name?” Pinkie asked kindly despite the fact that she could see the house behind the two ponies begin to glitch and shimmer. “Oh, we Spirits know everyone's names!” Honey’s eyes shimmered as she and her mother laughed. Pinkie Pie laughed too. And then like everypony else, she passed out. *** Pinkie yawned and woke up in her bed. It was perfectly comfortable, she felt like she was in heaven. For all she could know what she had just done was all a dream. When she jumped out of her bed, the floor almost felt like pillows. Every scent throughout the house was lovely too. Then a quiet knock at the door interrupted her paradise and she rushed down to see who was there. As soon as she opened the door, a small eep was heard as Fluttershy fell onto the floor. “Oh, I’m sorry Fluttershy! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Pinkie said apologetically but still in a cheery voice. “O-oh, it’s fine Pinkie Pie… I just wanted to know if you wanted to… hang out?” She asked meekly. “Of course!” Pinkie gave her a small hug. “Where do you wanna go?” “U-Uhm, w-wanna go to the Ponyville Tower?” “Sure! Let me grab my stuff!” Pinkie smiled before returning in barely a second with a picnic basket. Pinkie and Fluttershy carried the basket up to a giant tower with a gold bell at the top of it. Hanging underneath it was a giant clock, which had been off time ever since the day Iron Will appeared. “Thanks for hanging out with me today, Pinkie…” Fluttershy sighed. “It’s been awfully quiet lately.” She took another bite out of the lettuce sandwich Pinkie had somehow made under a second. “It’s okay Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie smiled wrapping her hoof around the pegasus. “Our friends will be back in no time!” She took another bite and Fluttershy frowned. “Are you sure about that?” Pinkie turned towards Fluttershy confused. “What do you mean?” She asked, her mouth still full of food. “I-I mean….it’s been awhile since we saw Dash and Twilight….Do you think they’re coming back?” Pinkie gasped a little and hugged the pegasus. “Of course they’re coming back! We just have to wait.” Despite the kind pony’s words, Fluttershy still felt a little worried but suppressed the feeling and smiled. “Y-Yeah.” She took the bite of the last sandwich. “Thanks for coming out here with me today, Fluttershy.” Pinkie Pie smiled kindly at the pony and she returned the gesture. “It was no issue, Angel is taking care of the animals.” Her eyes widened. “O-Oh dear! I forgot to feed Angel! Thanks for talking Pinkie Pie, sorry!” And with that Fluttershy raced off faster than Pinkie had ever seen. Pinkie bounced happily back to Sugarcube Corner, through the door and into her room. The Cakes greeted her and she explained what happened, making the two of them smile. She laid back onto her bed and sighed as she saw the sun starting to set. And then it hit her. The beautiful scents of the bakery faded away as the sun seemed blinding to her now fragile eyes. her bed sheets felt like cacti needles prickling her and the happiness was gone. The usual pink party pony felt like a void. Her energy depleted and her smile gone. Hell, she didn’t even know if she could lift her own hoof anymore. Nothing seemed to matter. She hadn’t felt like this since the rock farm. Her eyes became glassy and she wept. She wept and wept until her bedsheets were a darker shade of blue and pink. Pinkie’s life now felt like it had a gaping void in it, something that parties and friendship couldn’t heal. It was an obsession. She had no idea where the urge had come from, but it was there and strong. It was practically crawling on her back as she sobbed. Then she stopped, The urge was all she cared about and all she needed. She headed to Fluttershy’s house.
PrologueTwilight let out a sigh. So much had happened that day. Equestria nearly got taken over, she had adsorbed three different types of power, and most importantly, she defeated a powerful foe and had gotten herself a new home. It towered over the rest of Ponyville, glittering brilliantly as she and her friends stared up at it. Made completely of pure crystal. Twilight was glad that Spike hadn’t decided to eat it yet. He clambered into her new, clean bed, sniffing in the new smell as she used her magic to cast her covers over her. “Ah, lavender.” It seemed the magical box that helped them defeat Tirek also knew what one of her favourite smells was. Finally, Equestria was at peace for another day. Twilight sat back into her pillow, exhaled, and slowly fell asleep. Celestia was waiting outside her window, staring at the moon that was slowly being raised by her younger sister. Looking down at her former-student’s village, she could see her new castle, twinkling in the distance. She sighed, both happily and sadly. She was proud to see how much Twilight had grown and learned, now that she had evolved into the pony she was now. But at the same time, despite the castle’s beauty, she couldn’t help but feel a strange aura coming off it. She pushed this strange feeling to the back of her mind, and returned back to her sleeping dorms. She knew that something was coming, and that for the first time in a very long time, it wouldn’t be Twilight Sparkle to predict it.
