I'd Start the Day with Eggs
Dawn had, to say the least, a hectic day.
Usually, she would get up in the morning and have a hot cup of tea, chai if she her supplies lasted long enough. Then, eat a fresh cooked egg and maybe bacon if she was lucky to find a pig. Then, after eating she would practice her mana facet. Maybe she would summon her spirit, Kara the gnome, and practice. Then after, she would prepare for the daily adventure. After going round and killing a couple beasts, she would go back to her hammock and take a well-deserved rest.
Not today it seems.
First off, she ran out of tea. She had to grumpily replace it with it chamomile. Who even likes that? It tastes like dirt, and made Dawn gag. For some reason, her chicken was gone and so were all the pigs in the area for some reason. THEN she had to eat some of the hastily created carrots from Kara. Dawn would take an egg any day before carrots. THEN, IF ALL THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, the Axis Knights had found her.
"MIDNIGHT, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR STEALING THE RUBY HEART, NOT TO MENTION TEN THOUSAND GEMS IN POTIONS, RELICS, AND OTHER PRICELESS ARTIFACTS!" The head knight shouted from beneath the hill. Dawn sighed, flipping on her black cloak. "MY NAME IS NOT MIDNIGHT! IT'S DAWN! AND I ONLY TOOK THE RUBY HEART! NOT THE REST! I JUST Kindaaaa.. happened to be at the place at the wrong time. Buttttt still I kinda know that stealing is bad, so that's why I ONLY steal when I need to!" She said, poking her head out to look at the army of knights climbing the hill. She giggled, looking at the sweat glinting on their heads. It was burning hot today, and only Dawn was immune because of her protective magic barrier, refusing to let any heat make her falter. "Kara, give me lift." She said to the ground, and a pillar of rock shot up underneath her feet. The knights all shouted in protest as she stood unreachable above their heads. Dawn hummed a tune to their shouts of protest and swords banging on the rock pillar. "HAHAHA, You can't get me here! I'm at a distance where you can't touch me! Not even magic can hit me here!" She said gloatingly, chuckling happily. An eerie silence fell on the army. "Huh?" Dawn said, secretly concerned. She'd always play the part of the villain as long as SHE needed her too, but it didn't work when there was no audience to act for. "Aw, are you all that depressed? I know you can't hit me, but you don’t have to be all quiet like that." She said, lowering herself down to the ground. She spread her arms, lowering her guard. Still nothing. Dawn let out a exasperated sigh, crossing her arms. "Hey, I can't be a villain without an audience." She said, flicking her fingers.
Her eyes locked with the head knight's.
It happened too fast. She couldn't react fast enough.
I'm sorry.
With a sharp pain, a gleaming sword pierced her chest, only a hint away from the killing blow. Dawn shakenly turned her head to face her attacker. Someone with a black cloak identical to hers. She couldn't see their face, only a demonic smile glinting in the smile.
With a cough, the sword was pulled out. Dawn fell to her knees, trying to steady herself.
Pain. It was all she could think of. The burning pain that didn't let her think. The pain that muddled with her thoughts.
Dawn rose slowly to her fighting stance, shakenly holding her staff. Usually, if she ever got hurt (if that was possible), she would calmly dump the target into a random hole and have them get out themselves.
But now, she was mad.
The wound magically closed, and the smile from the stranger vanished. The pressure around Dawn grew immensely, into one that would bring any strong man to his knees. Dawn glared down at the army, everyone falling to their knees. "LEAVE." She shouted, and everyone but the cloaked figure fled. She turned her head to the one who had caused her harm, but he was already turning away. Dawn lowered her staff in surprise. "HEY! YOU DARED INJURE ME?" She said, rage burning in her eyes. The cloaked figure smiled, and continued walking away.
"T͗̄̏ͦ̐͡͏̵̲͎̺h̸̪̥̬̱͖ͭͩ̐͠ĭ̟̺̯̮ͬ̅̚̕s͈̦ͨͬͤ̇͝ ͙̫̘̹ͪ͐ͮ̌̔͌̚̚ĭ́͢͏̖̖̣s̽ͣ̄͆̌̓̿̿͏̴̣̙̬̗͔̬̮ ͚̻̘͎ͨ̓ͮ͟n̟̹̱̼̰͂ỏ̴̰̥̥̩̪̉̅̆t̨̟̘͈͖͚̆̒̋̀̓ͯͬ͠ ̪͖̣̼ͫ͋͒̎ȍ̴̢̫̟̹͎̮͖̂v̴̸̰͈͙̹̰̣̻̄̏͞e̘͉̹̩̜͉̫͖͐ŕ͉̻͇̘ͨ̃ͦͮ͒ ̧̲̤͚̭̩̟͎̺͍͌̿͌̂͌͑͟ỳ̢̗̹̼̤͗̕ë̪̲͓̘̣́͐͐̓͡t̷̳̞̙̣̄̍͆,̩̟̩̣̓͊ ̣͛̓̿́ͪ͒͛͡c̷̥̣̯͉̎͌̂ͫ͋̈́̃ͨ͝h̲̝̺͍͚̙̣̪̓ͫ̃i̶̟̍̈́͌͂̌̑͆̽ḽ̸̠͕͔̦̣̉̆͟d̏̓͊͌҉̛̻̺̜̮́ ̷̆ͪ̌̉̑͐͡͏͙͈͎͔͕͈o͔̓̓̉͑f̶͉͓̄ͧͩ͋ͤ̐ͣ̔ ̺̺ͬ̅̃͑ͭͩ͜͞t̵͉̩̫̊͂ͣ̈̃̎͡h̹̮̘̹̦͋́̎ͬͫ̓̿ͫ̋e̲̪̙̯̻̞͗̈́̍͐̾̿̕͢ ͈̱̝̝͓̦̱̹̜̓̾͛ͬS͗͌̍̃̓ͯ̅̆̒͏̸̶͔͈̟ ̫͍̬͕̘̻̼̎ͦ̎͒̓̂̕͡U̷̺̼͈͎̗̬͎̮̳͒ͩ̈̔̂̿̀͝ ̜̱̑͂̌̈̐ͮͦN͚̦͉͕̙̞̅̏͌̔ͪͣͫ̋ͅ ̘̬̼͚͐̐ͪ̋̒͢͡.̴̫̲̘͙͑̎͝͝ ̈́̂̂̉ͪͤͧ͆҉̵̢͎̗͖̭̲̙̝̹͖̖̙̖͉͓̥̪͈͉̫͗̊̿͋̄̌ͤͧͯ̾̓͆͘͜͠͞ ."
It whispered, and disappeared into the shadows. With a grunt, Dawn fell onto her knees. Dammit… The forced healing is lashing back.. I can't die here! She thought, dragging her feet back up the hill. Every breath felt like daggers poking into her chest, the pain and agony clouding her mind. She was only held together by pure will power, the only instruction of moving forward step by step.
Tick.
Dawn coughed out blood.
Tick.
She took another step forward.
Tock.
She collapsed right in front of the door, reaching out a shaking hand.
"K….Kara.." She whispered, the cheerful gnome poking out of the ground.
"Get for me the ruby heart."
Dawn tried to keep her eyes open, her breathing shuttering. Ah… Is it nighttime yet? I want to take a nap on the hammock… She thought, her eyelids fluttering. A red glint appeared in front of her, and she pulled it closer to her chest. "Mmm.. Thanks there Kara…" She whispered, letting the last of her magic trickle into the red stone as her final whisper of hope.
"It’s finally dawn…"
The stone glowed with a purpose, it's magic working fast to repair the damage. It tried to heal the poison, but the strength was more than it could handle. So, the magic stone compromised and sent the girl away to a place where that magic was rendered useless.
A place where a certain purple pony lived.
Twilight had, to say the least, a hectic day.
After more or less accidently casting an unfinished spell given to her by her idol and ruler, Princess Celestia, things had quite, to Twilight's dismay, terribly wrong. The spell, as annoying as it was, had decided to every so carefully fiddle with the elements and their bearers. What was worst that she was the only one who seemed to notice and truly care about the obvious chaos the five were causing. So, in a desperate attempt to right the chaos she had made, the librarian set out to help her friends remember who they were, and restore the peace. After she dug out a solution she apparently known all along, she vanished and was brought into an peculiar realm with Princess Celestia. After learning that the spell needed a TRUE understanding of friendship to work, Twilight Sparkle was granted the form of an Alicorn, wings and all, and became another Princess of Equestria.
Twilight couldn't decide whether she should be happy, mildly concerned, or in a state of panic.
I'm pretty sure she had already decided.
With a dazzle, shining form of Twilight's cutie mark descended upon Equestria. Her friends gathered around the light anxiously, concerned yet curious. Twilight appeared before her friends in a burst of light, forcing them the shield their eyes for the sake of their eyesight. "Twilight...is that really you?" The cowboy styled Applejack questioned, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the more regal form of the purple mare. Before she could respond, Twilight extended her new purple wings in shock. Her friends gazed in away, Rainbow dash murmuring something about unfair, stealing winged awesomeness.
"Uh...it's me." She said, curiously twitching the wings. She gave an awkward smile, preparing to speak. Before she could utter a single word, however, the same light that accompanied the arrival of the newest alicorn shined above them. The Mane Six both backed up in confusion, peering at the light curiously. It wasn't bright enough to blind them, like Twilight's, but rather shown with an glow as bright as the full moon above them. What was stranger, was this aura it was giving out. Unlike Twilight's, giving out a feeling of royalty and magic, this one had an feeling of…. Peculiarity. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Princess Celestia walk towards them from behind, a regal stand with a hint of curiosity in it. And a hint of cake.. Twilight thought, watching Celestia concealing wipe a bit of icing off her muzzle. "Princess Celestia!" She called out, causing her friends to look back, surprise still deeply etched into their features. But not the Pinkie-Pie-Just-Threw-A-Surprise-Party surprise, more of the Suddenly-The-House-Is-On-Fire-Pinkie-Was-It-You? Surprise. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
The Princess wore a look of concern as she gazed upwards. "I'm afraid not, my faithful student. This is completely unexpected." Fluttershy a squeak and hid behind Applejack.
"Um...P-Princess, is it dangerous?" Fluttershy asked, and got a therepedic pat from Applejack in turn.
"Judging by its glow, I don't believe so, but I highly recommend staying back and holding your ground." The Princess looked at the ball of light as it began to lower, gathering her magic in case she needed to shield her subjects at a moment's notice. Everypony held their breath as it got closer to the ground. When it touched the ground, the light began to dissipate. Magic.., pure magic indeed… Twilight thought, her horn tingling with preparedness. What was revealed was so mind blowing that even the immortal sun goddess, who had over a thousand years to perfect her Royal Poker Face and had seen nearly everything, had a look of utter shock on her face.
In the space where the light vanished a pony stood still. A unicorn with a dark purple mane to compliment her purple coat, and a single pink highlight going straight across her mane and tail. A cutie mark with multiple small stars of hope surrounding a single large star in the middle.
Before them was Twilight Sparkle herself.
And then Rarity passed out.
"P-Princess? What is this?" Twilight questioned, her face in a mess of confusion and curiosity. Before the befuddled Princess could answer, they heard a meek cough from the new clone. Everyone turned their eyes to her, frozen. The new Twilight coughed multiple times, turning her head to look over her shoulder. "Well, it least it seems I survived the mana infusion. Unluckily, I'm in….. This place." She said out loud, with Twilight's voice. "Eck. My voice is all messed up." She said, trying to clear her throat. The Twilight clone stood there for a few moments, unaware of the group of awestruck ponies. Pinkie was the first to speak, her erratic pink tail twitching. "This is going to be interesting!" She said, and the ponies all turned their heads to shush her.
The Twilight clone paused.
She turned her head ever
So
Slowly.
When they could fully see the clone's face, instead of the purple eyes that had the intelligent look Twilight bore, it had changed into stern blue eyes that had seen too much, been hurt too much, lived too much, died too much. The clone narrowed her eyes in disgust, shock, and something that you probably couldn't make heads or tails of, and the world seemed to hold its breath.
Without another moment's notice, the stranger disappeared with a spark of magic.
And with that, the Twilight Clone left without a trace.
Twilight spoke first.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA JUST HAPPENED?"
Author's Note
I'd take eggs anyday over carrots.
Well Pinkie, hope you enjoy everypony scolding you now.
But seriously, Dawn that was stupid there. How dimwitted can you get?
Well, what should you expect from her? She'd only started this for HER.
