The Discordian's Daughter

Chapters

Part 1, Chapter 1
Part 1, Chapter 2
Part 1, Chapter 3
Part 1, Chapter 4
Part 1, Chapter 5
Part 1, Chapter 7
Part 1, Chapter 8
Part 1, Chapter 9
Part 1, Chapter 10
Part 1, Chapter 11
Part 2, Chapter 1
Part 2, Chapter 2
Part 2, Chapter 3
Part 2, Chapter 4
Part 2, Chapter 5
Part 2, Chapter 6
Part 2, Chapter 7
Part 2, Chapter 8
Part 2, Chapter 9
Part 2, Chapter 10
Part 2, Chapter 11
Part 2, Chapter 12
Part 2, Chapter 13
Appendix A: Deleted Chapter
Appendix B: Partial Original Draft
Part 1, Chapter 6

Part 1, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She was awakened by a loud thud. It was followed by another, and then another. As the sounds continued, the time between each sound decreased and the volume grew louder.

While the noise was very alarming, the pony soon discovered that it was the least of her worries. She was certain that her eyes were now open, but she saw nothing. She turned her head left and right, hoping to get her bearings. Nothing.

Her heart began racing. She quickly escalated from turning her head to moving her entire body. No part of her was restrained, but that did little to relax her because she also noticed there was no floor. She was floating, though she couldn't tell in what exactly. When trying to move her body, she felt resistance, as though she were swimming in water, but this couldn't have been water. If it was, how was she breathing?

The pony was too terrified to care. Whatever it was she was floating in, she wanted out of it. She pushed forward in an effort to swim out, but this effort was quickly halted. Only a few inches in front of her, her head collided with a wall. She desperately moved her hooves up and down this newfound surface, hoping to find either an ending point or a place where she could break through. Nothing. The wall had no openings or obvious weak points. It was smooth and completely solid. She concluded it was made of glass, but it was very thick and resisting her efforts with ease.

She spun herself around hoping that the area behind her would be different, but it wasn't. Moving forward in this direction yielded the same result: a run-in with a thick piece of glass. Her panic level rose even higher. She turned herself to the left and to the right, pushed herself upward and downward. It was useless. There was glass in every direction, only inches from her starting point. These were not merely glass walls. They were part of a giant glass container, and she was on the inside.

The pony was no longer able to think rationally. She pushed forward and pounded on the front glass as hard as she could and screamed with all the force her lungs could muster. Her screaming made no sound, however. It felt like whatever she was swimming in was muffling her voice, but she kept trying anyway, all the while pounding and pounding on the glass. The noise she was making was almost drowning out the thudding sound that was still coming from overhead, whatever it was...

“This is the worst whack-a-mole game I’ve ever played!” declared Pinkie Pie.

“That’s because it’s a butter churn, Pinkie,” said Spike.

“Excuse me, Pinkie, but could you not fool with anything in here? Some of these things are really old,” a concerned Mrs. Cake asked politely.

“Okey dokey!” replied Pinkie as she took her hooves off her whack-a-mole game’s churning staff. “I won anyway.”

“‘Finally!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “You’ve been pounding on that thing for five minutes! I’ve never had a headache this bad!”

“Oh it wasn't that long,” said Twilight. “I think you’re just grumpy.”

“Grumpy? I’m not grumpy! Why would I be grumpy?” said a very grumpy Rainbow Dash.

Twilight laughed. “It’s okay. I understand. I know that touring the home of one of Equestria’s greatest alchemists is not your cup of tea. Of course, neither was it my cup of tea when I went to your Stunt Flyer’s award ceremony last week.”

“How could you have not liked that? It was awesome!” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, there was no flying and there were no stunts, just some ponies I’ve never heard of walking up to a podium and getting awards that I never head of before.” Twilight answered bluntly.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue back, but then instead sighed and conceded. “I know.” She paused, and then smiled. “I’m still glad you went with me though.”

Twilight returned her smile. “No problem. And since you agreed to come see Professor Voidsdale’s house with me, I’d say we’re even.”

“A deal’s a deal,” Rainbow agreed.

Twilight couldn’t believe how hard it was to get ponies to go with her to see Professor Voidsdale’s home after Mrs. Cake invited her. She could only get Rainbow Dash to come along by playing the you-owe-me card. Pinkie only agreed to come because her boss, Mrs. Cake, was to be their tour guide. Rarity said she couldn't go because she had to get ready for an upcoming fashion trade show, a trade show that Twilight was pretty sure had happened last week. Fluttershy said that Angel was sick with faux pox, an illness that Twilight had never heard of before and in fact sounded made up. Then there was Applejack, the keeper of the Element of Honesty, which Twilight noticed never stopped her from dodging questions.

All of this made her grateful for Spike, who agreed to come with her without any hesitation. He was truly the most loyal assistant — and friend — she could have hoped for.

Still, now that she was actually in the house she realized almost any pony not in love with history like herself would be bored with it. Nothing in the room was very eye-catching. The walls were an empty white with patches of dull brown bricks here and there. The floor was plain, gray stone. There was an old stove sitting behind the counter at the front of the room they were in, but it was very worn, rusted, and dull as was the rest of the kitchenware around it. The only other object in the room besides the butter churn was a wooden china cabinet that stood along the wall at the back of the room. Inside the cabinet there was some gold - or at least gold-painted - china, but it had long since lost its luster. Alchemists were known for having a fascination with gold and, since Professor Voidsdale was a wealthy pony, Twilight thought that his estate would be covered in it. This wasn’t even remotely the case.

Sadly, the most visually interesting thing in the room was the painting of the Professor himself hung on the left-hand wall and even that was faded and depressing. The painter hadn’t picked a very exciting pose for his subject. It was just a plain view of the professor from the shoulders up. He was old and gray with a blonde mane that was starting to fade. He wore bifocals in front of his big yellow eyes and what looked to be a red sweater vest on his torso. His smile was small and a little crooked, as if he wasn’t sure if he should be smiling.

Regardless, Twilight decided that she herself should be smiling. It was nice of Mrs. Cake to give her and her friends their own personal private tour of the Professor’s estate prior to it being open to the public.

Twilight turned to her party’s host. “Thanks for giving us this pre-tour, um, tour, Mrs. Cake. I think it’s great that you volunteered to be a guide here."

“Thank you, Twilight, and you’re welcome,” Mrs. Cake replied. “You were the first pony I thought of when I signed up for this. I know you’re a big fan of Professor Voidsdale just like me so I knew you’d love this. And management said it would be okay so you’re not imposing or anything.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’m specifically a fan of Professor Voidsdale, but I love Equestrian history and alchemy and he’s a big part of both,” said Twilight. “My guess is that you’re more of a fan of him as a baker and not as an alchemist.”

Mrs. Cake laughed. “Oh not necessarily. I actually enjoy learning about alchemy. It’s not that different from cooking really. I mean it’s no wonder so many alchemists were also chefs or bakers.”

“Hmmm. I suppose not,” Twilight agreed.

“So, what was it that this professor did that was so important, anyway?” interrupted Rainbow Dash.

Twilight smirked. “I guess this was yet another history class you slept through, Rainbow?”

“Um, maybe,” said Rainbow Dash while scratching the back of her neck.

Mrs. Cake laughed. “Well, to get you up to speed, Rainbow Dash, why don’t I give you the introductory speech I have planned for the tour?”

“Hmm, I’d like to hear that,” said Twilight.

“Oo! Me too!” said Pinkie Pie.

“Sure. Why not?” said Spike

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine.”

Mrs. Cake turned around and walked behind the counter at the front of the room, then faced her audience and cleared her throat.

“First of all, welcome, everypony, to the estate of Professor Nolan Voidsdale. The professor lived in this home during the latter part of his distinguished career, around the time our Princesses Celestia and Luna began their reign. It was in this very place that he discovered many of the formulae alchemists still use to this day, including his most famous discovery, geenidye...”

Rainbow Dash nudged Spike and whispered “Hey, what’s geenidye?”

“No idea,” whispered Spike.

“Unfortunately,” Mrs. Cake continued, “when the professor passed away, he left his home in a very poor state and Princess Celestia had it condemned. However, she decided not to have it demolished for the sake of preserving Equestria's history. Then, just a year ago, the Equestria Historical Society finally convinced her majesty to allow this home be restored to a structurally-sound state and open it up for everypony to see. Thanks to their efforts, we are now able to give you a better glimpse into the life of one the most brilliant minds in pony history.”

Mrs. Cake paused. “How was that?”

“Yay!” said Pinkie Pie as she started clapping. “Go Mrs. C.!”

“Hmm. You’re a pretty awesome speaker, Mrs. Cake!” said Rainbow Dash.

“I agree!” said Twilight. “It got me excited all over again about what we’re going to see in this place.”

The pony pulled her hooves away from the wall of her prison, and ceased her shouting so she could catch her breath. Her body and her throat were both sore, and her mind began slipping from panic into despair. She was trapped, possibly forever. Her body began trembling and she could feel tears trying to form, but the chemical she was submerged in wouldn't allow it. They dissolved instantly.

Silent and motionless, she floated in her cell for several moments, neither knowing what to do nor having the strength to do it. Her mind was making the reluctant, painful journey towards accepting her fate.

Then she heard something. It was faint, but it sounded like a short crackle, like the sound of...glass breaking.

Instantly snapping back to attention, she reached out with her hooves once again and touched the glass in front of her. Moving her limbs around, it only took seconds to find a small break in the wall, right around when she had been pounding on it. Quickly she centered herself around the crack and with a burst of adrenaline pounded on it repeatedly even harder than before. Soon there was another cracking sound, then another, and another. The sounds gave her all the encouragement she needed to continue pounding.

Then, at long last, a piece of the glass broke free and a hole stood in its place. She could feel the chemical inside the chamber escaping through it. There was no light coming from the opening and everything was still pitch black, but she didn't care. She aimed her legs directly below the hole, hoping to make it bigger. She succeeded. She then moved to the right of it and expanded the opening that way as well. The cloud-like substance was escaping rapidly now and natural gravity began to take over. She was sinking to the bottom of the container, but that didn't deter her. She continued striking at whatever area was in front of her, knocking out the glass piece by piece until the chemical completely escaped and her rear hooves reached the bottom of the chamber, this time supporting her on their own. With the strange mist now completely gone, she could breathe the real air coming from wherever she was. It was cold and stale, but given the circumstances, she thought it was wonderful.

Now that her hooves were on solid ground, she decided to change up her plan of attack on the remaining glass. Backing up as far as she could in the chamber, she tilted her head and charged at it. The glass shattered as soon as the headbutt made contact and she burst through the wall as if it were paper. For that short moment, it felt glorious.

She was very quickly thrust back into reality, though. The container she was in was, apparently, not at floor level and she tripped and collapsed onto the ground in front of it. She was already sore from pounding and headbutting glass and this unexpected meeting with a stone floor didn't help. She groaned out loud. The groan did little to relieve the pain, but she was happy about one thing: she could hear the groan.

"What is all that noise?” Pinkie asked after she and the others heard a series of alarming shattering sounds followed by a very disturbing groan.

“I-I don’t know,” stammered Mrs. Cake.

“Is there still some restoration going on, Mrs. Cake?” Twilight asked.

“No. The workers were done last week,” she replied. She paused for a moment, then raised a question. “Did-did that groaning just now sound like a pony to you?”

“I thought it sounded like a Ghostie!” said Pinkie Pike.

Everypony’s eyes widened, Spike’s especially. “Please don’t say things like that, Pinkie!”

“Oh don’t be such a scaredy-dragon,” said Pinkie Pie. “Ghosties don’t have to be scary.” Pinkie’s voice turned singsong “When I was a little filly and the sun was going do—”

“—Don’t. Even. Start,” interrupted Rainbow Dash as she covered Pinkie Pie’s mouth.

Pulling herself off the floor wasn't easy. She felt like she had just been in a fight, a fight that she had lost. Every part of her body was telling her to stay on the floor and rest, but her mind knew better. Falling asleep in an unknown place that you can’t see is never a good idea. She had hoped that once she broke out of the glass, she would be able to at least see the room around it, but such was not the case. It was pitch black in every direction, and she was forced to rely on her other senses.

From her collision with the ground, she had learned the hard way that it was unquestionably stone. Once she was on her feet, the sound of her hooves making contact with the surface beneath her confirmed this.

She didn’t detect any striking smells, but the air flowing through her nostrils was dusty and dry. Wherever this place was, it was very old.

Her ears didn't hear anything, either. Other than the sounds she had been making herself, the room was uncomfortably silent. She did notice, however, that no sound she made had an echo of any sort. Not only was this place old, but it was small and enclosed.

The pony began walking forward, which was just as difficult as standing up in the first place. It’s true that she was sore from breaking out of her glass chamber, but there was something else, too. Her legs were wobbly and difficult to balance on, as if they were long out-of-practice. Also, she kept stepping on something, something thin and thread-like. After feeling several tugs on her head, she concluded it was her own hair.

Moving very slowly, she made her way forward, completely blind. She was surprised when, after several paces, she didn't run into anything. The path seemed to be clear. Not only was this room old, small and confined, but it was also, so far, empty.

“Oof!" She exclaimed after she walked head-on into a large, wooden object. It wasn't quite enough of a hit to knock her down, but it was nonetheless jolting. What was more shocking, however, was the eerie squeaking sound it made, that and the sound was soon followed by the feeling of a giant wooden object collapsing on top of her.

“Whoah! That one was even louder!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash..

“I can’t tell where it’s coming from, either,” said Mrs. Cake while looking around the room for the sound’s source. “It sounds like the noises are coming from all around us!”

“Really?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Because that last one definitely sounded like it was coming from below us to me.”

Mrs. Cake raised an eyebrow, “Below us? Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash confirmed. “Maybe it’s coming from the basement or something.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Mrs. Cake said, both of her eyebrows now raised, “this house has no basement.”

The pony could now confirm that the heavy wooden object that had fell on her was in fact a bookshelf, though it was mostly empty. She felt a few books lying on the ground to either side of her, but none had actually hit her during the collapse. Of course, this didn’t make the shelf itself any less painful on impact.

She was growing amazed at her own resilience. Despite everything that she had been through up until this point and all of the aches, scars and sore spots she had accumulated, she could still move, and she still had the will to do so. Her forelegs had very little wiggle room, but with what little space she had she managed to get her hooves on the top of one of the shelf’s ledges near her head. Using that grip, she pulled herself up. After sliding upward as far as she could go, she felt an open space above her head. She was near the top of the shelf. With great difficulty, she re-positioned her hooves onto the new ledge that was now at head-level, and pulled again. Slowly, the pressure from the large piece of furniture dropped passed her face and she knew she was going to escape.

Continuing to slide forward, the pony eventually freed her head completely, followed by her forelegs. The wood scraped against her body as she used her hind legs to kick the rest of herself out. Finally only her rear hooves remained pinned down. Quickly, she yanked them out simultaneously and heard the bookshelf hit the ground.

Even though it was painful beyond belief, she rolled herself over to lay down in a more natural position for a pony. She breathed heavily while she tried to recover her strength, but it was difficult. That bookshelf had now made her chest sore as well. Every bone and muscle in her body was aching unbearably. Just the thought of standing up made her hurt even more. Still, she knew she couldn’t just lay here. With every last bit of willpower in her, she reached out with her forelegs and slowly began to crawl.

Her belly rubbing against the stone floor didn’t exactly feel comfortable, but she was glad to be feeling that instead of the pressure from a heavy bookshelf. And while she couldn’t tell if she was making any progress inching her way forward like this, at least she wasn’t running into anything

After crawling for what seem like an eternity, though, her front hooves made contact with another ledge of some sort. She flinched at first, desperately hoping it was not another shelf, but then she very carefully touched it again. It wasn’t wood. It was stone, much like the floor. She moved her hoof above it and found another ledge, but it was indented far back from the first one. Her excitement and her hope began to renew themselves. It was a staircase! Quickly she hoisted herself onto what felt like the first step, then the next. Then she was further encouraged to find that there was another step after that one, and after she cleared that one, another. She gained more hope with each new step she found as she made her ascension. That is, until she hit her head on something.

“Ouch!” She said out loud as she grabbed her head with her hoof. After that particular pain subsided, she reached above her head to feel what she had run into. It was a flat, hard surface that stretched out of legs’ reach in every direction. Her heart sank once again. The stairs apparently only lead straight to the ceiling. It was another dead end. She had escaped from two traps, only the find she was still confined.

But then she heard something coming from beyond the ceiling. It was faint and muffled, but it was very real. It sounded like voices.

She threw her front hooves upward and began pounding the ceiling just as hard as she had pounded the glass earlier. “Hey!” she screamed. “Somepony help me! Help!”

Everypony froze in place when they heard the horrible screams coming from below them. It was too muffled to make out what the voice was saying, but it definitely sounded like speech.

“It...it is a pony!” exclaimed Mrs. Cake.

“It’s coming from over there!” Rainbow Dash said pointing at the large china cabinet along the wall behind where they were.

Everypony walked over to the cabinet. The sound grew louder as they approached. Once they were right in front of it, the shouting sounded like it was coming from directly below them.

The group was in a state of stunned silence, but Twilight eventually took it upon herself to speak up. “Hello! Can you hear us?” She shouted at the floor.

The shouting went silent for a brief moment, but then started up again. The voice was still muffled and difficult to decipher, but Twilight noticed two words: “Help me..”

“She needs help!” shouted Twilight. She turned to Mrs. Cake. “Are you sure there’s no basement? Is there any way to get down to her?”

“I didn’t know about any basement until now. It’s not in any of the floor plans!” She replied.

Twilight was struggling to think, but it was difficult. The muffled screaming was keeping the tension high. Something had to be done and done now. There had to be a way to get down there...

“What does this do?” Pinkie Pie said as she walked over to the cabinet. Nopony was really sure what she was referring to at first, but then Pinkie walked over to a very specific piece of china. It was a golden teapot, and the only one on its shelf that was still upright. She stared at it for a moment, but then decided to pull the spout of the teapot like a lever. After pulling it towards herself a few degrees, there was a loud click.

A rumbling began to shake the floor just below everypony’s hooves. They instantly backed up and watched in shock as a large square piece of the stone floor started sliding back into the wall with a loud grinding noise. It revealed a black opening, a staircase...and one terrified pony.

Her body was an aqua, similar to Rainbow Dash, and she looked just about as young. Unlike Rainbow Dash, though, she had no cutie mark — unusual for a pony of her apparent age — and her mane was a solid green. The color was not the first thing Twilight and the others noticed about her mane, however. In addition to being very unkempt, it was long, very long, and spreading in every direction like vines. She layed there on the staircase, staring up at Twilight and the others with wide open yellow eyes, and huffing and puffing like she had just been saved from drowning. Her onlookers were too startled to say anything. All they could do was return her gaze. She continued breathing heavily for several seconds. Then, after one particularly long, exhausted exhale, her eyes closed and her face fell to the floor. After that, she stopped moving.

Shaking off the initial shock, Twilight rushed over to her. “Are-are you okay?” There was no response. She timidly touched the pony’s back, then turned to others. “She’s still breathing. I think she just fainted. Could somepony help me get her up?”

Without saying anything, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and floated over to the unconscious mare. Putting her two front hooves under the pony’s forelegs, she got a grip and lifted her off the ground, carrying her to the counter at the front of the room where Mrs. Cake had given her speech. The pony’s long, disheveled hair dragged along the ground for the duration of her flight.

Rainbow Dash gently laid the pony on the counter face-up while letting her hair hang off the sides of it like icicles. The others gathered around her. The counter was too high for Spike to see over so he jumped on Twilight’s back to get a better look. “Wow! she’s a mess!” he observed.

“No kidding,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’ve never seen this many bruises and scars on one pony before.”

“I hope she’s okay,” said Twilight.

“Is there anything we can do for her?” Asked Pinkie Pie, turning to Mrs. Cake.

“Well, we have a first aid kit here of course, but I’m afraid she may be a little past that.” She thought for a moment, then continued. “Oh! But there’s a hospital just down the street from here. They should be able to help.”

“Rainbow, how, uh, heavy is she?” Twilight asked. “Do you think you could carry her all the way there?”

“Sure. No problem,” Rainbow Dash answered.

“Thank you,” replied Twilight looking directly into Rainbow Dash's eyes. “You’re doing her a big favor.”

Again without saying a word, Rainbow Dash gripped the pony and lifted her up, this time carrying her towards the door. Mrs Cake walked over to open it for her.

Twilight was about to follow her Pegasus friend out, but then her eye caught another glimpse of the hole the strange pony had crawled out of. She called out to Rainbow Dash. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit. Somepony needs to make sure there’s nopony else down there.”

“Okay. Go ahead,” said Rainbow Dash as she was about to exit the doorway. “I can get her checked in.”

“Thank you,” said Twilight once again.

“I should go with you too,” said Mrs. Cake. “After all, I work here and my bosses are going to be asking questions. And besides, there was something... familiar about that pony and maybe what’s down there will help me jog my memory.”

“I’ll go too!” said Pinkie Pie.

“Are you sure, Pinkie? I don’t know what’s down there,” said Twilight.

“Oh come on!” said Pinkie Pie, smiling. “You know I’ve gone with you through worse.”

Twilight smiled. “Yes you have. Thank you.”

Twilight turned head to take a look at the little dragon on her back. “How about you, Spike?”

“I’m on your back so I’m going wherever you’re going,” said Spike.

Twilight’s smile grew. Nopony knew what to expect down there but everypony was willing to take the risk with her. She turned her head back toward their destination. “Thanks everypony. Let’s go!”

Part 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The staircase was only wide enough to fit one pony at a time so Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake traversed it single-file with Twilight leading the way. The opening didn’t leave much head room and all of them had to lower their heads to proceed. Spike was forced to dismount Twilight and join the others on the ground.

Their view quickly darkened as they descended. The light from the main floor only went so far and most of this lower room, whatever it was, was black as night. Twilight used her magic to illuminate it. Her horn worked better than any candle and soon everypony was able to see a majority of the room, though the back portion remained dark.

It was a small room, but nonetheless odd. The floor, the ceiling, and everything in between was coated in bright, clashing colors. Part of one of the walls was red, the next part orange, and the part beyond that pink. The stone floor was painted seemingly at random with streaks of blue, magenta, peach, neon green and various other shades. There was no clear pattern for anything. Colors simply started and stopped at whatever point they wished as if the room’s painter did his job blindfolded.

“Whoah!” said Spike as he took the sight in. “What is this place?”

Twilight looked around. The room was rectangular in shape, with bookshelves lining both of the longer walls. One of the bookshelves was toppled over. A few books were scattered around it on the floor. There were also small end tables placed beside each of the shelves. On these end tables were beakers, vials, and even burners. The shelves themselves also housed a few beakers in addition to their sparse population of books. Some of beakers even still had liquids in them.

“I think this was a lab,” Twilight said out loud.

“A lab?” said Mrs. Cake. “But Professor Voidsdale’s lab is upstairs just beyond the kitchen. It was the next part of the house I was going to show you.”

Twilight walked over to one of the books next to the collapsed shelf to examine it, but as she moved forward and the back of the room became illuminated by her horn, something else caught her attention, as well as Pinkie Pie’s.

“What is that?” shouted Pinkie.

Twilight didn’t have an immediate answer. On the back of the wall was large glass tube, twice as tall and wide as her. There was a large hole in it and shards of glass littered the surrounding floor.

“Was-was this where she came from?" Twilight questioned aloud. "She was trapped in a glass tube in the basement?”

“How horrible!” said Mrs. Cake. “Who would do something like that?”

Twilight turned to her former tour guide. “Mrs. Cake, do you know anything about the ponies who restored this house? Were they, you know, on-the-level?”

“They were approved by Princess Celestia herself,” answered Mrs. Cake, “and they were done very quickly. I don’t think they would’ve had time to build something like this.”

Spike started tugging on Twilight’s leg. “Um...Twilight?”

“What is it, Spike?” She asked him.

Spike pointed to a portrait hanging on the wall to the right of the fallen bookshelf and directly above one of the end tables a few hooves behind Mrs. Cake. Twilight’s eyes widened as she gasped. She had noticed the portrait when she first observed the room from the staircase, but she hadn’t paid attention to what it was a portrait of. Now, with her light shining directly on it, she couldn’t believe that she had missed it.

Despite it being a painting, it more resembled the artwork from the stained glass windows in the royal palace, in particular the window with that depicted a certain familiar creature. That same certain creature was portrayed here in the same caricatured style. It had the head of a pony, one antler of a ram and another antler of a deer, and a body made up of all sorts of other things.

And the onlookers knew this creature’s name all too well: Discord.

“I-I don’t believe it...” stammered Mrs. Cake.

“Professor Voidsdale was a Discordian!” exclaimed Twilight. Her astonishment was palpable. Everything she had learned about the professor suddenly felt irrelevant. Until now she had only thought of him as a genius and important figure in alchemy. She didn’t know what to think anymore.

“What’s a Disco-Dan?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Discordian,” Spike said, correcting Pinkie. “He was a Discord worshiper!”

Pinkie covered her mouth with her hoof, trying to contain a gasp.

Twilight approached the picture. As she crept closer, she could see there was a small sign below it. It read:

There are no rules. Anywhere.

Her eyes lowered off the painting itself to see what was on the table below it. There were two items on it: a thick, heavily-worn book and a small framed picture. And as soon as she laid eyes on this smaller picture, she gasped again.

“What is it, Twilight?” said Spike, who was right beside her, but too short to see what she was seeing.

“But that’s not possible!” Twilight said as she picked up the picture and handed it to Spike.

Spike took the picture from Twilight and looked at it. There were two figures in the picture. One of them was Professor Nolan Voidsdale, looking very much like he did in the larger picture in the kitchen, though his timid smile was a little wider and more confident. In this picture, however, there was somepony else beside him. Standing next to the professor was a much younger female pony. Her body was aqua, her eyes were yellow, and her green, unkempt hair was streaming down both sides of her face.

“That’s her!” Spike exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake walked closer to look at the picture. As soon as she saw it, Mrs. Cake’s eyes widened. “Oh my. It-it all makes sense now! That’s why she looked familiar!”

“What do you mean, Mrs. Cake?” asked Twilight.

“Her name is Willow,” Mrs. Cake answered, “Willow Merrymane Voidsdale. She was, er, she is the Professor’s daughter.”

“The one that disappeared?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” replied Mrs. Cake. “I’ve never seen a picture of her before, but I read a book a long time ago that described what she looked like. She matches the description perfectly!”

“But...wouldn’t she be a really really really old mare by now?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“She certainly would,” Twilight said as she turned and focused her horn’s light once again on the shattered glass tube. “But I think this might explain why she isn’t. I think he sealed her in there, probably with some chemical he made to keep her preserved all this time.”

“Ooo! You mean like this one?” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Twilight turned to Pinkie and saw she was holding a syringe with a strange blue liquid inside it. “Where did you get that?”

“From the chest next to the tubey thing!” Pinkie answered.

Twilight looked at the tube once again. Sitting open on the floor next to it was a small wooden chest. Placed next to the larger, much more prominent glass chamber, Twilight hadn’t noticed it until now.

She walked up to the chest and looked inside. The chest contained many more syringes like the one Pinkie Pie was holding, all of them with the same liquid inside them. It looked like a filly’s crayon box, except that all the crayons were blue and sharpened to a skin-piercing point.

Spike was looking in the box as well. “So he just took his own daughter, stuck her with a bunch of needles, stuffed her in a tube and just left her down here?” he huffed.

“I know, Spike," said Twilight flatly, "It makes me mad too. I really don’t know what to think of the Professor now. Why did he do this to her? What was going on down here?”

Twilight’s own words made her remember that there was a book on the table where she got the picture of Willow that might have been able to answer her question. She turned around and returned to the table, blew the dust off the old book and opened it. Flipping through the pages, she saw that the entire book was hoof-written. Every page was filled from beginning to end with writing and there were crude pictures and mathematical formulae scattered throughout. Several pages had dates listed on them. She decided to turn back to the first page and look at it more closely. She was able to confirm her suspicions on the very first line:

This is the journal of Professor Nolan Voidsdale, Alchemist and humble servant to the Lord of Chaos..

“Well,” Twilight said out loud, “it looks like we’ll be able to find out what he was up to. This is his journal.”

She turned to Mrs. Cake. “Would it be okay if I took this book and the picture home to do some research?”

“Well, once I tell management about this room, I’m sure they will want Equestria’s best scholars to study everything in it,” Mrs. Cake said. Then she smiled. “So I think you’re the perfect pony to start with! I’ll let them know. I’m sure they won’t mind if Twilight Sparkle takes a few things for research.”

Twilight blushed a little. “Thanks, Mrs. Cake.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you think you should take?” she asked.

Twilight looked around the room a little, then answered “The box of syringes.”

“Why do you want those?” asked Spike.

“Well, I don’t know exactly what they’re for,” Twilight explained, “but the fact that the box they were in was right next to the tube Willow came out of and in such large supply makes me think that maybe they’re something that she needs.”

“You might be right,” said Mrs. Cake. “Anything else you need?”

Twilight looked around again briefly and concluded, “I think that’ll be all for no—”

“Take this too!” Pinkie interrupted Twilight while shoving another book in her face.

“What is this, Pinkie?” said Twilight as she took the book from Pinkie. She looked at the cover. The title read Cooking with Chaos: Discordian Delicacies.

Twilight sighed. “A cookbook, Pinkie?”

“Yup!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “It’s got tons of neat dessert recipes, like this one!” She yanked the book away from Twilight, flipped to a very specific page and showed it to her friend.

Twilight looked at the recipe on the page. “Discordian Pie?”

“It’s a pie that changes flavor every time you bite into it! So, like, the first bite may taste like cherries but then the second bite could be like pumpkin, and then the third bite like key lime! Oo! and then what if the next one was pecan, and the next one—”

“I see,” Twilight interrupted as politely as she could.

“Hmm...that does sound interesting, actually,” said Mrs. Cake. “Tell you what, I don’t want to take anything out of here if we don’t need to, but if you could copy down that recipe maybe we could—”

“Done!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she produced a piece of paper with the entire recipe meticulously copied onto it and showed it to a very surprised Mrs. Cake.

“Well I guess that’s settled,” said Twilight. “Anyway, now that we have everything I think we should catch up to Rainbow Dash at the hospital.” Her tone became more serious. “I hope Willow is alright.”

Part 1, Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“How’s she doing, Rainbow?” Twilight asked as soon as she, Pinkie Pie, and Spike entered the waiting room at the hospital.

It was a rather plain room, with beige walls and blue carpeting. Chairs were complemented by a water cooler next to each wall along with a magazine rack. Rainbow Dash was sitting in the seat closest to the check-in window on the far side of the room. She was reading a magazine when the rest of the group walked in.

“I don’t know,” she replied, “but they’re sure taking their sweet time.”

“Well, she was hurt pretty badly,” Twilight reminded her, “I’m sure whatever the doctors need to do is going to take a while.”

“Yeah. I know,” sighed Rainbow Dash as she lowered her reading material to look at her friends. She quickly noticed that one was missing. “Hey, where’s Mrs. Cake?”

“She stayed behind to tell her managers about this situation,” explained Twilight, “There weren’t any other ponies in that basement but the room itself was quite, um, interesting.”

“How do you mean?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie quickly jumped into the conversation. “The room was painted all these weird colors and there was a big broken glass tube in the back and there were needles and this super yummy pie recipe and oh there was this journal and it says that Professor Voidsdale’s an accordian!”

Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh, Discordian, Pinkie,” Spike said correcting her once again.

Rainbow Dash blinked but otherwise her expression didn’t change. “Still confused.”

“Professor Voidsdale was one of Discord’s followers!” Twilight clarified.

“What!?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash..

“I know! I’m just as surprised as you,” said Twilight. She then continued to explain what she and others found down there, how the room was a second lab apparently dedicated to the Professor’s Discordian activities, how they found a shattered glass tube in the back that the pony they met on the staircase had escaped from, and how that pony, Willow, was Professor Voidsdale’s daughter.

“Wow!” is all Rainbow Dash could say. She went silent for a moment. At last, she said “So...if she’s the daughter of a Discordian, isn’t that, you know, gonna be a problem? I mean, what if she’s still on Discord’s side?”

“I thought about that, too,” said Twilight, “But just because her Dad was a Discordian doesn’t mean she is. Besides, he did apparently stuff her into a big glass tube and left her in his basement.”

“True. I’m sure she loves him for that.” said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.

“Still, we won’t really know anything about that until the hospital releases her and we ask her ourselves,” Twilight said.

“Yeah. I guess not,” Rainbow Dash agreed, “Well, I guess it’s time to get back to the waiting game.”

She picked up the magazine she had been looking at and resumed reading. Twilight decided to sit in the seat across from her. Almost instinctively, Spike took the seat next to her. Pinkie Pie decided to sit to sit right next to Rainbow Dash.

In nearly synchronous motion, Spike and Pinkie each grabbed a nearby magazine to pass the time. Twilight, on the other hand, decided to use her horn to levitate Professor Voidsdale’s journal out of her satchel.

She started from the very beginning, at the sentence she had read before.

This is the journal of Professor Nolan Voidsdale, Alchemist and humble servant to the Lord of Chaos.

Wow. It feels good finally being able to write that again. I’ve had to keep my mouth shut about that for so long I about had an identity crisis. They’ve been hunting us down like timberwolves since the master was turned to stone by those contemptible alicorns. So far, I’ve managed to stay out of sight. Granted, I had to take a few drastic measures. I had to move far away from Las Capellas. The alicorns’ soldiers were swarming like parasprites there. Still, I really miss that town. If things could go back to the way they were, I would return to that city in a heartbeat.

I decided to move to the northeast. That may sound like a stupid idea since that’s the region where the alicorns have decided to reign from, but it’s actually ingenious, just like everything I do. They think this place is safe and secured. Therefore, they won’t be on a witch hunt for people like me. I just don’t tell them who my master is and they don’t ask. Ah, the ol’ hiding-in-plain-sight trick never fails. I mean, I’m not even trying to keep a low profile. In the last few months I’ve been here I’ve proudly and openly practiced my baking and even my alchemy. So many ponies have complemented my cakes and pies that I’m thinking about setting up a bakery and a group of alchemists up here who are trying to put together a society for ponies of the trade want me to be among its founding members!

That’s all well and good, but my true goals here are altogether different. Of course, if I told the citizens what those goals were I would be imprisoned for sure, so I have to keep my ambitions buried, literally. I arranged to have this second laboratory built underneath my home. I told the workers and anypony else who asked that I was just putting in a storage cellar, another stroke of genius by yours truly. Nopony batted an eye at it and nopony asked about it. As far as they’re concerned, it’s just a boring, dusty cellar.

My guests didn’t even ask where the door to it was after it was finished. Just to make sure, though, I did a little construction work of my own and made the entrance to it look like any other part of the floor and wired the opening mechanism to an inconspicuous teapot in china cabinet. A teapot! You would have to be the most random thinker in the world to even consider unlocking a door with a teapot!

Anyway, now that this “cellar” is set up and secured, I can get to my real business...

“Excuse me, Ms. Dash?” a nurse called out from the doorway leading to to the doctor’s office.

“Ugh. I hate it when they call me that,” Rainbow Dash mumbled to herself. She put the magazine down and walked over to the nurse. “What’s up?”

“Well, uh, your friend is ready to be released,” she began timidly, “but, well, there are a few things the doctor would like to discuss with you before you see her.”

"That doesn't sound good," Twilight said aloud as she and the others put down their diversions and walked over to Rainbow Dash and the nurse.

“Um, I’m sorry. What are you here for?” the nurse asked Twilight.

“Oh. they’re all with me,” said Rainbow Dash, “They should probably hear whatever the doctor has to say too.”

“Oh, um, very well,” the nurse agreed.

The group followed the nurse into a typical doctor’s office, complete with a counter, a sink, a stock of medical supplies, a second door leading to other parts of the hospital and of course an examination table. The doctor was standing by the counter. Willow was nowhere in sight, however.

The doctor was looking very intently at a clipboard when the ponies walked in. It was a few seconds before he even acknowledged their presence. “Hello, Ms. Dash,” he said, not looking up.

Rainbow Dash had just been called “Ms. Dash” again, but this time she brushed it off. “Hello, sir. Um, the nurse said you had something to say to me about my friend.” she answered.

The doctor exhaled slowly, as if bracing himself for something. He placed the clipboard he was holding on the counter and turned to look at her. He started slightly when he saw two other ponies and a small dragon standing next to her.

Rainbow Dash noticed his surprise. “Oh. They’re all with me,” she repeated.

“Oh. Quite alright.” he said, then took another deep breath.

At long last, he spoke. “Well, first off let me say that your friend is going to be okay...physically. She's waiting in the next room. She had several minor injuries, but nothing at all serious. We had to put a few patches on her, but those spots should be healed by tomorrow. Her body’s also very fatigued, but again she should be fine after a good night’s rest.”

Nopony gave a reaction to this, save for Rainbow Dash who asked "Um, what do you mean that she's okay 'physically'?"

“Well,” the doctor continued, “Your friend also appears to be suffering from some form of...amnesia.”

Everypony’s eyes widened. “You mean...she doesn’t remember anything?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I asked her a series of standard questions.” explained the doctor.”She doesn’t remember who she is, where she lives or — I’m sad to say — you, Ms. Dash.”

The ponies and spike all lowered their heads and frowned.

“If I may ask, Ms. Dash, what kind of accident was this pony in?” inquired the doctor. “It would have to be pretty serious to cause head trauma like that.”

Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Well, she was locked in a bas—”

“—a bookshelf fell on her.” Twilight said cutting Pinkie off.

“Hmmm...I suppose that would do it if the shelf was heavy enough,” the doctor speculated.

“Oh very heavy,” Twilight assured him, albeit with a sub-par acting performance. “So, what do you think we should do, doctor?”

“Well, I suggest that after she gets rested up that you try to jog her memory any way you can,” the doctor recommended. “Perhaps you could do some of the activities that you normally do with her, or maybe have her meet some people who know her well.”

“Ooo!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “Maybe we can throw her a party!”

“Well, I suppose that would be one way of doing it, yes,” said the doctor with some hesitation.

“Woo-hoo!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she jumped up in the air. Her landing was followed by a few sprinkles of confetti of unknown origin slowly floating to the ground.

Nopony gave a reaction to this either, although Twilight did have to blow a piece of confetti away from her mouth. After doing so, she continued talking to the doctor, “So, how long do you think it will be before she gets her memory back?”

“Very hard to say,” said the doctor plainly. “It could happen right away or it could take a very long time.”

Twilight paused for a moment before responding. “We understand. Thank you for letting us know. May we see her now?”

“Of course,” said the doctor. He then turned and walked out the only other door in the office.

Once he was out of earshot, Pinkie nudged Twilight. “Um, why did you stop me from telling him how we found her?”

“I just think it’s best that nopony knows about that for now unless they have to,” Twilight explained, “It’s a very unusual circumstance and I think people would be afraid of her if they knew.”

“Yeah, I’m with Twilight on this one,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Me too,” said Spike. “It wouldn’t be a very warm Ponyville welcoming if everypony treated her like a weirdo.”

“Exactly,” agreed Twilight as she turned her head down to look at Spike. “We’ll just tell everypony that she’s a friend from out of town and they won’t see anything weird about her at a—”

“Hey mare!” a voice said interrupting Twilight. She turned her head back to find the source and was met with the gaze of two large yellow eyes staring at her, only inches from her face.

Twilight gasped and fell backwards onto the floor.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” said the voice, which Twilight could now see was coming from an aqua-colored pony with long, disheveled green hair. “Didn’t mean to shake ya’ up.”

“Oh,” Twilight replied, laughing slightly as she got back on her hooves. “I’m just glad you’re alright, Willow.”

“Willow? Is-is that what they call me?” the pony asked sheepishly.

“Of course, silly!” said Pinkie Pie. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Um...is it?”, the pony said.

“Wow. You don’t even remember your name?” asked Rainbow Dash.

The pony shook her head. “The doc was askin’ me all sorts of mumbo-jumbo ‘bout me. I-I didn’t know jack.” She frowned.

“Aw, you don’t have to be sad about it,” said Pinkie Pie consolingly, “I don’t know who Jack is either.”

Spike sighed, “I...don’t think that’s what’ she meant, Pinkie.”

“Oh hey there!” said the pony, her tone lightening when noticed Spike. “I didn’t see ya down there, little guy. You’re a dragon, huh?”

Spike’s chest stuck out a bit in pride as he confidently answered “Why yes, I am!”

Noticing how close Spike was standing to Twilight, the pony turned to her. “It’s pretty cool that you have a pet dragon!”

“Hey! I’m not a pet!” said an offended Spike.

Twilight laughed, “No, he’s my assistant, and my friend.”

“Oh really? That’s-that’s pretty groovy too, I guess.” the pony replied.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Groovy? Wow, you have been gone a long time.”

“Uh, been gone?” the pony asked, puzzled. “Where was I before?”

“Well, it’s a long story and honestly we’re a little fuzzy on some of the details,” Twilight explained, “but if you would come back with us to Ponyville, we can tell you what we know along the way and who knows, maybe we’ll be able to jog your memory and you can fill in the gaps.”

The pony paused for a moment before answering. “Well, seeing as I got nuthin’ else to go on — nuthin' I remember anyway — I guess I can wrap with ya.”

Twilight smiled along with the others. “Great! Well, let’s get you checked out and we’ll be on our way!”

“Sweet,” said the pony. “Oh and that name you called me before, uh, Willow? Yeah we can stick to that. I kinda dig it.”

After the ponies checked Willow out of the hospital, Twilight lead them in the direction of the train station. Halfway through the short journey, Rainbow Dash, who had been hovering above the rest of the group, flew down alongside Twilight and nudged her.

“Hey,” she whispered, “Do you think it’s a good idea to bring her to Ponyville so soon?”

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.

“Well, ya know, we don’t know what her crazy dad did to her yet and I was thinking maybe we should take her to the Princess first.”

“I would, Rainbow,” answered Twilight, “but Princess Celestia is in Coltropolis right now for that festival. She hasn’t answered my letters in days. I’ll definitely write her another one as soon as I can about this, but until she gets back I don’t have much choice but to keep an eye on her myself for a while.”

Twilight lowered her head. “Besides, I just feel bad for her. Her own Dad locked her up in a glass jar in the basement and left her there and now it looks as though he erased her memory too. I want to do what I can to help her, and I want to find out what was going on in that lab.”

Part 1, Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Well, this is it!” Twilight said as her and Willow stood just a short distance away from the Golden Oaks library.

Willows eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She stopped breathing and froze in place.

“Um...are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“Mare...you live in a tree?” Willow asked.

“Oh. Well, yes. Yes I do,” Twilight answered. She had almost forgotten herself. Since this was the home she had lived in for so long, she had almost taken for granted that it was made out of a large oak.

“That. Is. So. Far Out!” Willow exclaimed. She dashed towards the library like a filly who had just spotted an ice cream stand. She didn’t make it far, though. Halfway through her gallop, a clump of her long green hair slipped under her hoof. She tripped and fell forwards, her jaw digging into the grass.

“Whoah there!” Twilight said as she caught up with her new friend. “Take it easy. You don’t want to add any more injuries to the list. So, you like trees?”

Willow spat some grass out of her mouth as she lifted herself off the ground. “I love everythin’ green, mare. Trees, grass, plants, I dig 'em all!”

"I thought you didn't remember anything." said Twilight.

"I don't," Willow confirmed, "but I know what I like when I see it."

Twilight laughed. "Well, it's a start."

The train ride home from the hospital had consisted predominantly of Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash asking Willow questions and Willow answering nearly all of them with variants of “no” and “I don’t know”. Her mind was completely void of any significant memories prior to her awaking in that glass chamber. Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike described to her the room that chamber was in, the one that had been completely dark to her when she escaped. Willow said the description didn’t sound familiar at all. Twilight told her about Discord and his followers, the Discordians, and how her father was one of them. None of it registered. Twilight even showed her the picture of her standing next to her father. She didn’t even recognize him.

Still, Willow was able to keep the conversation going with the others for the duration of the trip. By the time the train arrived at the station, everypony had given her life story as well as the dragon. They continued to talk even after they got off. Likely, the conversation would have gone even longer had not the darkening sky reminded everypony how late it was. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie broke themselves away from the group to their homes and turn in for the night, leaving Spike and Twilight with Willow.

Willow, however, was currently making an all-new friend out of Twilight's abode. Right after she arose from her initial stumble, Willow resumed quickly — albeit more carefully — making her way to the front of Golden Oaks. Instead of going to the door, though, she made a right a began walking around the tree, while never taking her eyes off it. A small but giddy grin could be seen across her face the entire time. Occasionally, she would lift up one of her hooves and place it on the bark, as if she couldn’t believe it was there.

By the time Willow completed her circuit around the tree, Twilight had made it to the front door. Willow almost ran into her. “This is just too solid, mare!” said the pony who was green in more ways than one. “And you said I get to sleep here tonight?”

Twilight smiled. “Of course. I’ve got plenty of extra room. I’m glad you like it.”

Willow pointed to a small window to the left of them higher up on the tree. “Can I sleep in there?”

Twilight turned her head to look at the window. “Sure!”

“Sweet!” Willow said excitedly. “I wanna check out the leaves!”

“It’s kind of strange that you don’t have a cutie mark yet,” remarked Twilight as she opened the door, “It’s pretty obvious what your passion is.”

Spike was in the main library finishing a light dusting of the area when Twilight and Willow entered. Twilight had been so busy talking with Willow since they parted with the others that she didn’t even realize that he had gotten so far ahead of them. It made her glad, though, to see that he was also thinking ahead of them and tidying up.

Willow’s look of awe and wonder at the library’s interior rivaled that of her reaction to its exterior. “Whoah. There’s a whole lot of dead trees inside this live one.” she commented.

“What? Oh, you mean the books,” replied Twilight. “Well, like I told you on the train, I'm an egghead.”

“You weren’t trippin’, mare,” said Willow.

Twilight turned to her assistant. “Spike, I’m going to show Willow upstairs. She wants to sleep in the west wing study.”

“Your home has another study besides this one?” asked Willow in disbelief.

“Well, this is a library, too. Technically all of the rooms are studies,” Twilight answered.

“Uh, you may want to hold off on that,” said Spike, “I haven’t cleaned it yet.”

“Spike, we haven’t used that room since we cleaned it the last time. I’m sure it’s fine,” Twilight assured him.

“That was weeks ago,” Spike argued, “It’s probably dusty by now.”

“Hey, it’s all copasetic,” said Willow, “I just got out of a giant glass tube. I can wrap with a little dust.”

Spike shrugged. “Well, I guess as long as it’s, uh, copasetic with you it’s copasetic with me,” he said, unsure if he was using the word correctly.

Willow bared her small-mouthed smile to him and turned to Twilight, who placed her satchel on the ground and lead her up the stairs.

After they had climbed the steps, they made a left and went to the nearest room on that side of the floor. Twilight opened the door. She saw the room was still mostly clean, though with a few dust spots. It was a small room, containing only a half-sized bookshelf, an end table, and a couch. Above the couch was a small round window, showing a view partly of the night sky, but mostly of the leaves on the branches around the room.

Almost as soon as she walked into the room and saw the window she went over to it and felt around it with her hooves until she figured out how to open it. After she slid it open and the slight breeze began drifting in from the outside, Willow got up on the couch and stuck her head out the window. When she brought her head back in, she was holding a plucked leaf in her teeth by the stem. She walked over to the end table and placed it down.

“Uh, hey mare, since this is going to be my pad for a while,” said Willow to Twilight, “you don’t mind if I spruce up the place a bit, do ya? I was thinking of pinning this leaf on the wall for starters.”

“Oh. Not at all,” said Twilight graciously, “Make yourself a home. Wait here. I’ll get you a pin so you can hang that up.”

Twilight walked out of the room and into the adjacent one where she had some household supplies — perfectly organized, of course. It took her no time at all to collect a few pins and return to Willow’s new living space. Willow was staring out the window with her back to the door when Twilight came in.

“Here you go!” she said as she entered the room and placed the pins next to the leaf on the table.

But as soon as she let go of the pins, Twilight was pushed to the floor with a force like ten stallions. It was so sudden that it nearly knocked the wind out of her. After her body hit the floor, Twilight could feel a presence standing over her, a presence that enveloped her like a cage. She looked up to see that she was surrounded by solid green hair and staring down from the middle of it all was Willow. But where her usual tiny smile once was, there was a wide, toothy, malicious grin and in place of her big yellow eyes were even bigger white ones, with no pupils.

Twilight wasn’t paralyzed when she was knocked to the ground, but now she was paralyzed by fear. Her mouth was open wide with fright, but yet she couldn’t let out a gasp, let alone scream.

However, Willow — if the thing standing over Twilight was still in fact Wilow — could speak very clearly. “What’s the matter? Too scared to wiggle, you pathetic bookworm!?” it yelled down at her. Its voice was as terrifying to Twilight as its appearance. It certainly wasn’t Willow’s voice. It was sharp and high-pitched, yet at the same time thundering and loud. Twilight thought her ears would bleed.

However, she quickly learned that bleeding ears was not the injury she should be worried about as the creature lifted its front-left hoof and aimed it directly at Twilight’s head. Twilight rolled out from under it through the opening the lifted hoof had left, pushing past the curtain of hair in the way. The creature’s hoof slammed to the ground with the sound of splintering wood. Twilight immediately rose to her hooves, and bolted out the door and onto the staircase.

“Get your worthless flank back here!” screamed the creature as it gave chase to its prey.

Halfway down the stairs, Twilight nearly collided with Spike coming up from the main floor. “Twilight! I heard some noises. Is everything alri—whoah!” he said stopping himself as he saw the deranged-looking thing that was charging after her.

Without even stopping, Twilight grabbed Spike and threw him on her back as she charged down the rest of the stairs. As she was nearing the first floor, her flight reflex was begging her to go out the front door and keep running, but she knew she couldn’t do that. This thing, whatever it was, was too dangerous to let loose into Ponyville. Instead, immediately after the stairs ended she turned towards the main bookshelf. As soon as there was no more room to run, she lifted Spike off her back and onto the floor, then turned to face her attacker.

Almost as soon as the main room was in the creature’s view, it leapt off the stairs, landing with an earth-shaking thud only a short distance from Twilight and Spike. Its hair was now covering its face, but that didn’t stop it from facing its prey.

Twilight’s horn lit up as she quickly cast a forcefield around herself and Spike. The creature charged. Twilight strengthened the forcefield as much as she could and braced for impact. But the type of impact she received was not the one she expected.

The creature plowed through the forcefield like it wasn’t even there and once again pushed Twilight to ground. This time, the creature pinned her legs. Shocked and panicked, Twilight twisted back and forth trying to get out of the creature’s hold.

“Ah! Now that squirm’s more like it!” it said with demented joy.

Twilight screamed. “Spike! Spike!”

Spike’s eyes were wide with terror as he saw and heard Twilight helpless against the monstrosity towering over her. Trying his best to calm himself, Spike weighed his options. He couldn’t breath fire on the creature because he would risk burning Twilight and there would be no way he could fight this thing hand-to-hoof. His only choice was to find a weapon.

His eyes quickly surveyed the room looking for something, anything he could use. Twilight’s home wasn’t exactly an armory and Spike could see nothing that would be useful against something that strong. But then his eyes spotted something sitting at the bottom of the stairs. It was Twilight’s satchel, a satchel filled with those syringes they had found in the professor's lab.

As fast as he could, Spike ran over to the satchel, pulled it open and yanked out the first syringe he saw, almost pricking himself on it in the process. Then he turned around to eye his target. It was still trying to subdue the flailing Twilight beneath it. The thing seemed to be completely focused on that task, and its back was exposed.

Clenching his free fist and gripping the syringe tightly in the other, Spike rushed towards Twilight’s attacker and with all his might jammed the syringe into the creature’s upper thigh.

Almost as soon as Spike had made his move, Twilight felt the thing’s body tighten like it had just received an electric shock. She looked up too see its face frozen with a stunned expression. Then, before Twilight could move, the creature’s eyes closed and it collapsed on top of her.

Part 1, Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I really need to get some sleep, but I’m so excited that I don’t think I could. I have all the materials I need and I’m ready to begin. I would start working right now, but I have a really busy day planned tomorrow and I need my rest. I figured writing in this journal for a few minutes would help me wind down.

It’s going to be so glorious once my plan is put into motion. Our master, the Lord of Chaos himself, will be returned to the throne and the alicorn sisters will be eliminated. They think they’ve defeated him — defeated us — but they’ll soon learn that the Discordians are still here, and we still believe.

I’ll give them credit, they turned our master into stone and forced us into hiding. Many of our members left us entirely. My wife was among them. She thought I was foolish for staying, but she’ll soon see that I was right.

Discord is not defeated. He is testing us, just like he always has. This is no different than the time he turned me into a raccoon or made my stove run away. He’s teaching us how to live and delight in the insanity of life. Life isn’t supposed to be lived “in Harmony”.

That’s where the alicorns are wrong and it shows! Life is boring now that the master isn’t here. Everyday it’s the same old thing. How does anypony live like this?

Well, they soon won’t have to anymore because we, the remaining servants of Discord, are going to storm the castle, overthrow those stuck-up princesses and take those six detestable little toys of theirs. We’ll use those so-called Elements of Harmony to free our magnificent lord from his prison. Then, there we be a wonderful celebration where we’ll crush those tacky trinkets into dust.

So how are we going to storm the castle and defeat the alicorns when they’re so powerful and there’s so few of us left? Well, that’s where the plan comes in. You see, we can’t go around seeking new members or building an army. The princesses have eyes everywhere and it would attract too much attention. But with my alchemy and my genius, I have come up with a better solution...

“Twilight! She’s waking up!” yelled Rainbow Dash.

Twilight immediately closed Professor Voidsdale’s journal, turned around and faced the now-moving pony lying on the floor. “Stand back, Rainbow!” she shouted as she rushed towards the awaking pony, horn illuminated.

Immediately after Willow — or whatever was controlling her — was subdued, Twilight asked Spike to go out and fetch Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Mrs. Cake while she watched over Willow’s motionless body, a satchel full of needles by her side.

Rainbow Dash arrived first, but Spike was still out gathering the other two. Even so, Twilight couldn’t exactly postpone explaining why Willow was lying unconscious on the floor until they arrived. After she described to Rainbow Dash what had just happened, Rainbow decided to keep watch over Willow for her while Twilight searched the journal for clues to the green-haired pony’s condition.

Willow let out a long moan that sounded like she had just recovered from a severe blow to the head. However, the moan was, at least, in her own voice.

“Whoah...that was one strange trip,” she said after finally managing to stand up all the way.

She shook her head slowly to get her hair out of her face. Once she could clearly see, she realized that two ponies were staring at her and neither of them looked particularly happy.

“Uh...hi?” she greeted them cautiously.

“Why did you attack Twilight last night!?” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“Whoah! Whoah, mare! What're ya'll talkin' about?" answered Willow in a panicky voice.

“Oh! Let me guess,” said Rainbow Dash with a sarcastic tone, “You don’t remember, is that it?”

Willow began to tremble and her speech became stammered. “N-no! No! You-you gotta believe me. I didn't do nuthin'!”

“Well, I don’t!” Rainbow Dash declared. “I’m not buyin’ this whole amnesia thing. You’ve been leading us on this whole time, just waitin’ to get the jump on Twilight!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled at Willow's accuser.

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond to Twilight. She kept her eyes focused on Willow and began to step forward towards her. Willow, trembling, began walking backwards, trying to keep her distance.

“Twilight’s my friend! And when ponies mess with my friends, I mess with them!”

Willow had backed all the way to the wall in an attempt to stay away from her accuser. Out of room and shaking like the leaf she had plucked from the tree the night before, she fell to the floor, put her forelegs over her face and cried out “Stop!”

The scream was desperate and genuine, so much so that Rainbow Dash obeyed and stopped approaching the trembling pony.

“I-I dunno what you’re talkin’ about! What’s-what’s happening?” Willow asked. her voice sounding like it was on the brink of sobbing and she was breathing heavily, as if she had just been strangled.

Rainbow Dash stood there silently for a moment. Gradually, her stance loosened and she lowered her head. At long last she timidly spoke to the green pony before her. “Hey. I’m sorry.”

At Rainbow Dash’s apology, Willow's breathing slowed back to its normal pace and her shaking eventually diminished. She calmly stood back up. “It’s all good, mare. We’re cool,” she said as she walked toward the pony she had previously backed away from. Once she was in range, she lifted her forelegs and gave Rainbow Dash a warm embrace. Rainbow Dash smiled and gently patted her back.

Willow backed down from the hug and turned to look at Twilight. “Uh, I seriously don’t know what's goin' on. You all right?”

Twilight nodded.

“I'm okay,” said Twilight. “Well, I'm not okay, but I don’t think you’re to blame for it. So... what is the last thing you remember?”

Willow thought for a moment, then offered “The last thing...was you leavin’ to get a pin. Then I went to go check out the leaves some more and then there was funky green haze in my eyes and all I could hear was noise. Couldn’t feel nothin’ either. Then it all faded out and when I woke up ya’ll were givin’ me the freaky faces.”

Twilight explained to Willow what happened in the missing pieces of her memory, how she — or at least the thing that possessed her body — had pounced on her, chased her down the stairs, and pinned her to the floor. Twilight then told her how Spike subdued the creature by using a syringe they had found next to her glass prison.

Willow’s face nearly turned pale. She quickly approached Twilight and embraced her even more tightly than she had Rainbow Dash. “I-I dunno what to say. I would never do that, mare. Never!”

Twilight returned the hug. “I don’t know what’s happening to you, Willow, but we’re going to find out and we’re going to fix it!”

Willow let go of Twilight. “Well mare, I’m glad to be out of my old man’s shack, but I’m not glad to hear that I got some bad juju in me,” She frowned. “Every silver lining’s got a touch of gray, I guess.”

“Well, I think the touch of gray in this case is your father,” said Twilight.

“Yeah,” Willow agreed, “I don’t remember him, but it sounds like I don’t want to. Whatever happened to him, anyway?”

“He exploded,” Twilight said casually.

“Ah,” Willow replied. Then, she started. “Wait, wha?”

“He was a very talented alchemist, but he was also a bit of a klutz. And it didn’t help that he liked to experiment with the, uh, explode-y kind of alchemy. That’s why his home was condemned for so long. He had made so many things go boom in his house that it damaged the foundation. Anyway, one day he took it a little too far and blew himself up.”

Willow looked at Twilight with a blank, stunned expression. “Huh...heavy.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Wait, so he was a gray pony with a yellow mane and he was clumsy? Wow. That really reminds me of —” Rainbow Dash stopped herself and her face straightened, “You know what, I’m not even going there.”

“I wanna go there!” said an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie as she burst through the door right next to them. “Wait, where are you not going?”

“Hey there, funny mare!” Willow greeted Pinkie.

Mrs. Cake and Spike came in shortly after Pinkie Pie, and much less flamboyantly. “I’m so sorry we didn’t get here sooner, Twilight,” said Mrs. Cake. “I was already asleep and Spike and Pinkie had to wake me up. So is something wrong?”

Twilight explained to them what had happened the same way she explained it Rainbow Dash, though adding that Willow had awoken with no memory of the incident.

She ended her explanation with “...so I think whatever Professor Voidsdale was doing to her did something to her mind and he made the chemical that’s in these syringes to keep it in check.”

Mrs. Cake put her hoof on Willow’s shoulder. “You poor thing,” she said consolingly. Then she turned to Twilight. “So...what are we going to do?”

Twilight thought for a moment, then said in a very serious tone. “Willow, I think it’s best that you don’t go outside at all until we have this figured out.”

Willow frowned. “Bummer. I’m mean, I guess you’re right n’ all, but it’s just kind of a drag. I wanna be free for once, ya know?.”

“I know,” said Twilight, “but I have the professor’s journal and an entire library of research. With any luck, it won’t be long.”

“Does this mean that we can’t have a welcoming party?” Pinkie suddenly blurted out.

“I think that’s out of the question, Pinkie,” said Spike.

Pinkie immediately bursted into tears. “But I already sent the invites!” she sobbed.

“You did what!?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “You only got off the train two hours ago!”

“Huh,” said Mrs. Cake, “And where, pray tell, was this party going to take place?”

Pinkie wiped her eyes and she sniffled. “Sugarcube Corner."

“Naturally.” said Mrs. Cake sarcastically. “Thank you for letting me know.”

"Ugh," groaned Willow, “Double bummer. I was lookin’ forward to groovin’ with some new ponies.”

“I’m sorry, Willow,” said Twilight, “but we just can’t let our guard down like that.”

“Guard! That’s it! We can still do it!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she instantly jumped up and down excitedly.

“Um, how?” asked Spike.

“We can give her a bodyguard!” suggested Pinkie. “Well, not really a bodyguard because we’re not protecting her from other ponies and instead are protecting other ponies from her, but still! We’ll just have somepony follow her around with a bunch of needles and if she starts acting funny, we poke her!”

“Ouch,” said Willow.

“That’s still too risky,” said Twilight. “Whatever attacked me last night was really powerful.”

“Hmmm...when’s the party?” asked Willow.

“Two days from now!” Pinkie happily answered.

“Okay then. Twilight, how ‘bout this,” said Willow looking at her host. “We figure out how to handle, um, me in the next two days. I’ll stay in your pad the whole time. If it’s all good by then, then we party! How’s that sound?”

Twilight thought again for a moment, then said “Well, it’s not a lot of time, but I think it’s enough for me to at least find a temporary way of keeping that monster from coming out. Okay. I agree. We’ll try to get you fixed up in two days so you’ll be ready for your big Ponyville welcome!”

“Sweet! Thanks, mare!” said Willow, her smile finally returning.

“Yay!” shouted Pinkie Pie, once again jumping up in the air and coming back down with confetti in tow.

“Wonderful,” said Mrs. Cake, “Willow, Twilight, let me know if you need anything. In the meantime, I’m going home. I have to get some rest tonight because I, apparently, have to get ready for a big party soon.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cake,” said Twilight. “Have a good night!”

Mrs. Cake turned and began to walk toward the door. Upon seeing her leaving, Willow asked Twilight. “Hey mare, since I’m going to be cooped up for a while, do you mind if I step outside now and get one last breath of fresh air?”

“Well, as long as you keep it short and we’re out there with you, I guess it’s okay,” said Twilight.

“That’s cool with me,” agreed Willow.

Her, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash stepped outside. They waved at Mrs. Cake who was now a distance away from the library.

Willow took a deep breath, inhaling the night air as if she was trying to store it up for her impending incarceration. Her eyes also wandered back and forth as if she was trying to memorize every detail of the view.

“Such a solid place ya’ll got here. Really wish I could go out and take it all in,” she said.

“You will,” Twilight encouraged her. “We just have to —”

“Um, Twilight?” said Spike, tugging at her leg and pointing to her left.

Twilight turned and looked in the direction he was pointing. Far away, she could see a white object rushing towards them. At this distance, it resembled a marshmallow.

“Oh no,” is all she could say.

Rainbow Dash now turned to look as well. Her eyes widened. “Not good.”

“Incoming!” yelled Pinkie Pie as she ran and hid behind the Golden Oaks Library’s trunk.

As if it had just then dawned on her that something was amiss, Willow slowly turned to look at the incoming white blur. “Wha—?”

She was too late. As soon as she laid eyes on it, it was right on top of her, grabbing her and pinning her against the tree.

“What happened to your hair!? It’s absolutely dreadful!” screamed Rarity right into Willow’s face as she held her against the tree.

It took Willow a few seconds to shake off the shock of the surprise impact. After her vision corrected itself and she could clearly see the heavily-makeuped, meticulously-groomed white pony before her, her face turned grim. “Lay off, mare!” she said, pushing Rarity’s hooves off her. “You don’t even know me and you’re already trashin’ my style!?”

Rarity’s expression became as cross as Willow’s. “What style? You obviously have never combed that hair in your life! And it’s so long that it’s dragging on the ground! Did you even know that your mane exists?”

“Rarity! What are you doing!?” yelled Rainbow Dash.

Twilight was gritting her teeth. “Don’t make her angry...” she muttered.

“It’s called natural, princess!” Willow yelled at her second accuser of the night. “Some ponies actually like lookin’ the way we’re meant to look. You know, the look where you’re not drownin’ your mane in toxins?”

“You don’t have to be so hot and bothered just because you’re jealous!” Rarity rebutted.

Willow’s eyes sharpened, “I would never be jealous of somepony like you, prissy!”

For one tense moment, the two stared at each other loathingly, then finally Rarity stuck her nose up at Willow. “Fine! If you want to be a slob the rest of your life that’s your choice!”. She then turned around and stomped away, passing up Twilight and the others like they were part of the scenery.

Everypony was silent. Twilight, however, attempted to break the silence on a positive note. “Well, at least we know you don’t transform when you get angry.”

Willow shrugged. “I wasn’t mad when it happened last time, either. And I wouldn’t be mad now if it weren’t for whats-her-name over there gettin’ all high an’ mighty on me.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said Twilight sincerely. “Her name is Rarity. She’s actually a very nice pony. It’s just that fashion is her specialty and beauty is important to her.”

“A little too important sometimes.” added Rainbow Dash.

“I see that, mare.” said Willow. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Bowing her head, she declared “Ya know, I don’t like fightin’. I love everypony, even if they don’t love me back.”

She slowly walked towards Rarity, who was now a distance away from the group. When she finally got in range, she called out to her. “Hey mare, wait up!”

Rarity reluctantly stopped at Willow’s call and waited for the unkempt pony to catch up. “What?” she huffed.

“Look,” said Willow, “I think we got off on the wrong hoof, mare. I-I actually think you’re pretty. I just didn’t dig the tone is all. Pinning me to a tree didn’t help either.”

Rarity looked a little surprised by the apology. “Oh, um, well, I, uh, I’m sorry about that.” Her face flushed and she hung her head. “I really don’t know what came over me. I guess I’ve had a rather stressful day. I don’t even know who you are.”

Willow’s tiny smile emerged. “Well, now you do! I’m Willow. I’m Twilight’s, uh, guest.”

Rarity returned the smile. “Willow. What a lovely name. My name is Rarity.”

“Nice to meet you proper this time,” said Willow.

“I’m sorry for what I said about your hair,” said Rarity, “It’s just, well, it’s just not a style I’m used to.”

“Hey, different strokes for different folks,” said Willow. Then, she got an idea. “Hey, I tell ya what, why don’t we hang some time and I’ll let you style my hair however you want.”

Rarity instantly bubbled up with excitement. “You would let me do that?”

“Sure! I can’t promise I’ll keep what you give me, but it’d be a great way to wrap together, ya know?”

“Absolutely!” said Rarity. “How long are you going to be in town, dear? Would tomorrow night be okay?”

“Uh, sure!” said Willow hesitantly. “I just, uh, have to make sure it’s cool with Twilight.”

“Of course. I understand,” said Rarity as she turned to begin walking away. “Well, let’s plan for tomorrow night and you just let me know before then if you can’t make it. Have a good evening, Willow!”

“Same to too, Rarity!” said Willow as she watched Rarity walk away.

Willow returned to Twilight and the others. “What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It’s all good,” said Willow. “She wants to hang out and give me a new do tomorrow night!”

“Uh...you really think that’s a good idea?” asked Spike.

“I don’t think it is,” said Rainbow Dash bluntly.

“Sorry Willow, but I agree with Rainbow,” said Twilight. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to fix your problem in that amount of time. The two days we just planned on is already stretching it.”

“Hey wait!” said Spike as if he was suddenly inspired. “This could be a great way to test out Pinkie’s bodyguard idea! I, er, one of us should go with Willow to Rarity’s place and see if I’m, uh, they’re able to keep the monster from coming out!”

“Hmm. I can dig that.” said Willow.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re just looking for an excuse to go to Rarity’s.”

“I am not!” said Spike indignantly. “I just want to protect her. Uh, Willow I mean, you know, from herself.”

“I see,” said Twilight with a smirk.

“C’mon! I stopped that thing once already! I can do it again!” argued Spike.

Twilight sighed, “Yes. Yes you did. Okay. Willow, you can go see Rarity tomorrow night.”

“Groovy!” said Willow..

Twilight then turned to Spike and gave him a very stern look. “But I need you to stay focused, Spike. This is very serious.”

“I know, Twilight,” said Spike sincerely. “I won’t let you down.”

Twilight smiled. “I know you won’t.”

Pinkie stuck her head out from behind the tree. “Is she gone yet?”

Part 1, Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I don’t understand it! I spent months and months developing Ataxium, accounting for every potentially negative side effect it could possibly have on its user. I thought I was wasting my time when I decided to create that counteragent for it. Ataxium was going to work so what was the point?

However, just moments ago, that counteragent saved my life.

Initially, the subject showed positive results once injected with the formula. The Ataxium strengthened the pony’s body exponentially. I placed various objects in front of the subject one at a time and asked the subject to break them. Each object was made out of stronger material than the last one, but it didn’t matter. None of them were even a contest. The subject’s hooves broke through metal just as easily as they broke through wood. Even the diamond I presented was pulverized into dust right before my eyes. The teeth were just as powerful. I have seen dragons in my day that had a more difficult time devouring gems than this enhanced pony did.

I didn’t have anything magical at the ready for testing the subject’s resistance to spells and such. I am an Earth Pony, after all. However, fire has similar properties to magic so for a preliminary test I decided to try igniting the subject’s hair with a torch. It didn't even singe. I was truly excited at that point. The subject’s body was transformed in the exact way I had predicted. I thought my project was a complete success. My brothers and I were only days away from going to war against the alicorns.

But just a few moments ago, the subject attacked me.

It all happened so quickly that my recollection is still foggy, but even now as I look around at the devastation in this room, I can see how terrible the attack was. Two of my shelves are now in splinters. My alchemy equipment is scattered all over the floor and most of it is broken as well. I can even see cracks in the walls, and these walls are made of stone.

My memory is gradually starting to return to me now, but the more it does the more I wish it wouldn’t. I keep seeing flashes of that creature, that monster the subject became. Its eyes were white and empty, its teeth were sharper than knives, and that voice...that voice was like a banshee’s.

It lunged at me and only narrowly missed. I ran for the door but the creature got ahead of me and blocked the way. I ran in the other direction and it stopped me that way too. I kept running around, practically doing laps around the room as the monster gave chase. Once or twice I tripped and it almost got me. It even got close enough once to tear my vest. And all the while it was taunting me, telling me how miserable I was and calling me every name in the book in that terrible screeching voice.

What I realize now that I have time to think is that the creature’s insults were very specific to me. For example, it mockingly repeated some of the things I had said to the subject earlier today. This must mean that the subject’s memory was retained during the transformation. Sill, the pony’s disposition certainly wasn’t. The monster had the exact opposite personality of the subject. The pony I chose for testing was a very passive and friendly individual. The thing that attacked me on the other hand, was aggressive and — to say the least — abusive. This was far from the spirit of all-accepting chaos our master would have us have. This was hate, pure unbridled hate.

And it almost took me. It was fortunate that right when it had me cornered, I happened to be near where the counteragent had fallen from its shelf. The creature pounced, I pointed the syringe outward at the last possible second and it sank into its chest. The creature fell on top of me, unconscious.

It’s still lying on the floor right now as I’m writing this. I’m not sure when it will get back up, but I have to stay here in case it does. I can’t let that thing leave this room! Of course, if the counteragent does what it’s supposed to do, the subject should return to normal upon awakening.

Even if that’s the case though, I'm not sure if the counteragent’s effects are permanent. The subject may eventually transform again and I will once again have to subdue the creature. I may have to make more of this concoction — a lot more — to keep that thing from resurfacing until I can find a more permanent solution. And to think, before this incident I didn’t even care enough about the counteragent to give it a name. It’s the antidote to Ataxium, so...Antaxium, I guess.

Still, I can’t believe I need such a thing. I’m certain all of my calculations were correct for the Ataxium formula. I thoroughly researched everything. I just don’t know what went wrong!

That was the last entry in Professor Voidsdale’s journal Twilight read before she decided to head out to Willow’s welcoming party at Sugarcube Corner. Her mind was still mulling over the details, and not just of the chilling account of the creature’s first attack. Twilight's mind kept going back to the way the Professor kept referring to Willow as “the subject” or “the pony”. It was the same in every previous entry as well. This was his own daughter he was experimenting on, and yet he refused to even mention her name.

It also didn’t help her mood that it had been another long frustrating day of getting nowhere in her search for a cure to her new friend’s condition. Just like the day before, her attempts to interpret the Discordian alchemy in the journal were fruitless. She also combed the vast library of Golden Oaks looking for anything that would at least give her a starting point. Nothing. Discordian alchemy had been lost to the ages and very few books even mentioned its existence.

At least there existed a way to keep Willow from fully transforming in the first place. Spike's report on the incident at Rarity's place made Twilight confident enough to let Willow go with Spike ahead of her to the party.

And now that Twilight was approaching Sugarcube Corner herself, she could see that the party was quite lively. She could hear upbeat music mixed in the voices of many ponies in conversation with one another and the bright lights coming from inside almost made the night sky look like mid-day.

One curious thing Twilight noticed though was that Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie were standing outside to the left of the entrance behind what looked like a hastily-constructed concessions stand. There was a big wooden sign suspended by poles over it that read “Discordian Pies”.

“Oh! Hi Twilight!” Pinkie shouted while waving to the Unicorn approaching the stand.

“Hi Pinkie!” said Twilight returning the greeting with a smile. “So how are the, uh, Discordian Pies doing?”

“They’re an amazing success!” said Mrs. Cake excitedly. “Pinkie and I baked a few the day after we got back from Canterlot. I put a few slices on the sample tray for ponies to try and they just couldn’t stay away from them!”

“Wow. That’s great!” said Twilight. “I’m glad everypony likes them.”

“Yes. I was worried when the recipe said each bite would be a different flavor,” said Mrs. Cake, “but no matter what flavor you get it’s delicious! And besides, sharing what flavor you get with the ponies you’re with is a great way to break the ice!”

“Hmm, I never thought of that.” Twilight said.

“The whole thing almost didn’t happen, though. Some of the symbols and ingredients in that recipe we found in Professor Voidale’s lab were...strange. I had never seen anything like them before, but Pinkie Pie figured them out.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Uh, Pinkie, you understood the Professor’s directions!?”

“Yup.” said Pinkie nonchalantly.

Twilight sighed, remembering who she was talking to. “Well, after this party is over I have a job for you.”

“There you are, Twilight!” said a voice coming from just out of Twilight’s view, a voice with a familiar southern accent.

“Oh hi there, Applejack!” said Twilight as she turned to greet her friend.

“What took ya so long?” asked Applejack. “I thought you’d be the first pony here since the guest of honor is a friend of your family an’ all.”

“She is? Er, I mean yes, she is!” said Twilight trying to play along with the lie that Willow had evidently told her friend. “Well, I had just a little bit of, um, studying I wanted to finish up before I got here. So where’s Willow now?”

“Over at that table in the corner,” said Applejack, pointing at a table in the far back and barely visible from the outside of the building. “She’s been there talkin’ to Fluttershy for a while now. I think those two are really gettin’ along.”

“Really?” said Twilight.

“Yeah. Well, you got yourself two hardcore nature lovers there so I think they got a lot to talk about,” said Applejack.

“Did you get to talk to her yourself at all?” Twilight asked.

“Of course!” said Applejack smiling. “She’s a friendly gal, if a bit weird.”

“Yeah that about sums her up,” laughed Twilight. Then she changed the subject. “Is Spike still with her?”

“Yup. He’s been stickin’ to her like glue the whole time we’ve been here. I think Rarity may finally have some competition,” joked Applejack.

“Oh I’m sure Rarity has nothing to worry about,” said Twilight giggling. “Well, I better see what he’s up to.”

“Have at it. I’m gonna pick me up another one of these pies!” said Applejack as she walked to the front of the concession stand.

Twilight entered Sugarcube Corner and quickly discovered that the party was just as lively as it looked from outside. She had expected to see some of her closer friends in attendance like Rarity and Rainbow Dash and while she did see them among the crowd it looked like half of Ponyville was there too.

It was obvious, however, that most hadn’t come to see Willow specifically. There was at least one slice of a certain newly-discovered dessert on everypony’s plate.

Willow herself had a half-eaten Discordian Pie on her dish, as did her current conversation partner, Fluttershy. They were sitting across from each other at the same table, their eyes fixed on an open napkin with some crude drawings on it as they talked to each other excitedly.

“Ooo! And maybe we could have a tropical exhibit over here with some pretty fishies or maybe some toucans!” said Fluttershy ecstatically as she pointed to a corner of the napkin art.

“Hmmm, that’d be pretty groovy!” Willow agreed. “I dig palm trees!”

“Hey there! What’re you two doing?” asked Twilight.

“Oh, um, hi Twilight,” said Fluttershy. “We’re thinking about maybe building an indoor Rainforest together!”

“Oh really?” said Twilight.

“Yup. She’s got the critters and I’ve got the green! Well, the green plants anyway,” explained Willow.

“Wow! That’s a great way to put your passions together!” Twilight said happily.

Suddenly, a yawn came out from somewhere between the two ponies at the table, followed by a half-hearted “Yeah...it’s great.”

Spike had been sitting at the table on a stool too short for him. He had to pull himself up onto the tabletop before Twilight could see he was there. He was still carrying the new satchel Twilight gave him to tote the syringes less conspicuously, but he was rubbing his eyes as if he had just woken up.

“Hey there, little guy,” said Willow. “Get your nap in?”

“Spike!” said Twilight indignantly. “You were napping?”

Willow chuckled a little. “Not everypony digs the whole flora-fauna scene. I think me an’ critter mare here put ‘em out. It's all good.”

“No, it isn’t ‘all good’!” said Twilight angrily.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy in her usual timid voice. “Were we supposed to keep him awake?”

“No! It’s just that—” Twilight stopped herself before she said anything further. Her eyes lined up with Spike’s. “Spike, we need to talk.”

Spike instantly looked guilty. He sighed as he conceded “Okay.”

He hopped down from the table and followed Twilight to an empty corner in the room. Once they were isolated, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she said very sternly “You realize how bad that could have been, right?”

“I do!” exclaimed Spike. “I-I’m so sorry! I was trying to stay awake! Really! I don’t know what happened!”

“Well, we’re lucky nothing did happen,” declared Twilight.

Spike hung his head and stared at the ground to avoid her gaze. But then he felt a hoof rest gently on his shoulder. He turned his eyes back up to Twilight’s face. Her expression hadn’t changed, but yet it now looked somehow more forgiving. “I know you’re trying, but you just need to try a little harder, okay?” she said softly. “All these ponies here may not realize it, but they’re counting on you. I am too.”

Twilight gave her closest friend a hug. Spike then turned and walked back to the table where Willow and Fluttershy were sitting and returned to his own diminutive seat.

“Are-are you in trouble, Spike?” asked Fluttershy, concerned.

“No, It’s okay,” Spike assured her, “It’s just that Twilight really needs me to keep an eye on Willow.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, not expecting that answer, “Um, I’m not sure if it’s my business, but why do you need to watch her?”

“Uh...well..” Spike began as his eyes shifted a few times, “because...she has fainting spells.”

“Oh my!” said Fluttershy in the world’s most timid alarm. She turned to look at Willow, whose hair had now draped over her face. “Is that true?”

There was no answer.

After going a few seconds without a response, Fluttershy tried to get her attention again. “Um, Willow?”

There was still no answer. Spike quickly reached into his satchel for a syringe. But as soon he got the bag open, a hoof kicked his stool out from under him and he fell to the floor face first.

Then he heard that voice again, a voice that roared like a lion and screeched like a bat at the same time.

It said “I’ll show you a fainting spell!”

Part 1, Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Twilight had been so upset with Spike that she had allowed her judgment to lapse. Still, she had little time to think about that now.

The creature shook its hair out of its face revealing its glaring white eyes and demonic grin to the Pegasus across the table. Fluttershy shrieked and fell backwards in her chair onto the floor. Her face stayed fixed in mortal terror on the monster as she crawled backwards into the corner. The monster leapt up from the seat where Willow had been sitting and landed on the table itself, collapsing it instantly as the creature marched forward unphased.

The entire establishment broke out in panic. Screaming and shouting completely blurred out the still-playing music as everypony rushed to the door, trampling each other on the way out. The commotion distracted the creature from its prey.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going? The party’s just starting!” it screeched at the herd of ponies pushing towards the exit.

The creature whipped its head around and grabbed the barely conscious Spike lying on the floor next to her hooves with her teeth. He screamed as the monster tossed him into the air and then turned around and kicked him in mid-fall with its powerful hind legs. Spike was sent flying towards the chaotic crowd trying to escape. He missed them, instead crashing through the nearest window.

“Spike!” Twilight screamed.

“Hmmm, that was fun! I guess I’ll have to go fetch the ball,” said the monster deviously. It charged to the front of the establishment, but not towards the door. Instead it darted for the section of the wall nearest the window and tore through it like it was paper.

Twilight was shifting in place. She instinctively wanted to chase after the creature and protect Spike, but she knew from their last encounter that she was powerless against it. Ultimately though, she decided that she had to try all the same. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself and began her gallop towards the now-broken wall.

But before she even took two steps, a foreleg stretched out in front of her pushed her back.

“Step aside, Twilight!” demanded Fluttershy.

Twilight stopped immediately, allowing Fluttershy to walk ahead of her. She wanted to tell Fluttershy to stop and that it was too dangerous, but one glance at Fluttershy’s eyes as she passed told Twilight that it would be useless. Fluttershy was in one of those moods again...

Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake were standing outside watching the mass exodus from the party when Spike came shattering through a window, flying through the air, breaking through their sign, and then hitting the pie stand itself head-first before finally dropping to the ground in front of them.

“Oh my!” shrieked Mrs. Cake.

“Spike!” Pinkie shouted as the young dragon laid on the ground groaning. She picked him up with her forelegs and held him like a newborn in front of her face. “I told you not to use my party cannon!”

Spike was barely able to move let alone speak, but he managed to respond, “...I...didn’t...”

Suddenly, the wall of Sugarcube Corner right next to them burst open with a thundering crash. The dust of the impact cleared, and Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie gaped at the grinning, blank-eyed pony that emerged from the new opening. The monster glared directly back at them.

“It’s not nice to stare, you know!” It growled.

Pinkie threw Spike onto her back as she and Mrs. Cake turned and galloped away as fast as they could. Not more than a few hooves in front of them, though, they were stopped dead in their tracks as the creature leaped out in front of them.

“Too slow!” it yelled.

The two ponies turned and ran for their lives in the opposite direction, heading back towards Sugarcube Corner. They were within range of the concession stand when suddenly they each felt a foreleg of the monster slam into their backs, driving them hard onto the ground. Spike flew off Pinkie Pie’s back upon the impact and landed a few hooves in front of them while she and Mrs. Cake were pinned to the ground by the creature, its hooves dug into them as if they were its new shoes.

The ponies squirmed and struggled with all their might trying to escape the hold of the creature’s hooves. The creature laughed maniacally at their vain attempts, its laughter infinitely more piercing than its voice.

“What’s the matter?” It mocked. “Maybe you should have laid off all those sweets!”

Mrs. Cake’s voice trembled as she continued to struggle. “Who-who are you?”

The creature looked up from its captives and its eyes quickly found the damaged sign above the concession stand. The middle part of the sign had broken off when Spike flew into it. The piece with the letters C-O-R-D-I-A-N was missing.

The monster grinned. “I like it!”

It lowered its head and grabbed Mrs. Cake’s hair with its teeth, forcing her to lift her head up. “Read it!” it demanded in a muffled growl.

Mrs. Cake could barely utter it. “Dis-dis-dis....pies...?”

The creature whipped the two ponies around and pinned them again so fast that they couldn’t react. Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake were now gazing upward straight into the monster’s cold eyes.

It bared its toothy, malicious smile again as it declared, “I am Despise. And I. Hate. You!”

“Hi-ya!” Fluttershy cried as swooped down and dove at Despise’s side with her forelegs straight out. Quickly the pony ducked and Fluttershy swished passed it. She had missed, but her attack wasn’t a complete failure. The monstrous mare’s attention instantly shifted completely to Fluttershy and it released its two would-be victims.

Pinkie Pie and Mrs. Cake quickly rose to their hooves and made a break for Sugarcube Corner, with Pinkie Pie scooping Spike back up as they passed him.

Twilight saw them approaching from the new hole in the wall of the bakery. As soon as she saw Spike on Pinkie Pie’s back, she headed straight for her.

“Spike! are you okay?”

Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie stopped before they collided with Twilight.

Spike let out a groan. “Twilight...is that you?”

Twilight’s eyes filled with worry as her horn lit up and she levitated Spike off of Pinkie’s back and floated him over to her own.

“It’s okay, Spike. I’ll get you home,” She reassured him. Then she faced his two rescuers. “Are you two okay?”

Both Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie were out of breath..

“We’re-we’re fine for now,” was all Mrs. Cake managed to get out between huffing.

“Yup,” added Pinkie Pie while panting just as heavily, “Fluttershy saved us.”

“Fluttershy!?” Twilight repeated. She looked over Mrs. Cake and Pinkie and saw the Pegasus they referred to circling Despise in the air, constantly swooping past her face as if trying to pester her like a gnat.

And Despise was indeed getting irritated. She started snapping her jaws at the Pegasus like a dog trying to grab a bird. Several unsuccessful grabs later, she screamed at her agitator, “Face me on hoof, chicken-horse!”

Fluttershy stopped and hovered in one spot above the pony’s head just out of its reach. She looked Despise right in the eye.“If that’s what the big bully wants!”

“Fluttershy, no!” Twilight cried out.

She was too late. Fluttershy landed, closed her wings, and charged her opponent. At the last minute, Despise side-stepped her and grabbed her hair with its teeth as she ran by. Then she yanked her head and spun Fluttershy around in the air like a lasso. Fluttershy screamed, but her scream was cut short. At the apex of one of the swings, Despise whipped her downward and slammed her into the ground.

Everypony gasped when Fluttershy hit the earth. Despise stood over her while she laid motionless. Within seconds, Fluttershy let out a groan and lifted up her eyes to see her adversary. Her adversary grinned and slowly uttered a single word —

“...Run...”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened and with a burst of adrenaline she rose up, expanded her wings and dashed through the air in the opposite direction.

Despise galloped after her, cackling like the demented madpony she was.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight screamed in horror as saw the monster give chase, a chase that was headed straight into Ponyville.

“Oh dear! This is awful!” said Mrs. Cake. “What are we going to do now?”

“We fight back!” said a voice coming from behind.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Mrs. Cake turned around. Standing behind them were Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. All were unharmed and their expressions were resolute.

Twilight smiled. “I’m so glad to you’re all still here!”

“Honestly, did you really think we would just run home with the rest of the crowd?” asked Rarity rhetorically.

“Yeah! We were just hiding so we could study the enemy and know how to take it down!” said a confident Rainbow Dash.

“Really?” said Pinkie Pie naively. “That’s fantabulous! I thought for sure you were just hiding because you were scared that Despise was going to mash you into pudding!”

The three stood silent and stared blankly at Pinkie Pie for a moment. Finally, Applejack timidly admitted, “Well, uh, yeah that may have had a little bit to do with it, but, uh, it was mostly the whole studying-the-enemy thing.”

“Well, did you figure out how to take it down?” asked Twilight.

Applejack looked at the Rainbow Dash and then Rarity. When neither of them spoke up, she scratched her head with her hoof.

“Um,no. No we didn’t.”

The disappointment emitting from Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Mrs. Cake was palpable.

Applejack quickly turned around the subject. “So what is that thing, Twilight?”

“I don’t have time to explain now,” Twilight answered while illuminating her horn. Her magic grabbed the satchel wrapped around Spike and gently slipped it off. She levitated it to the top of her horn and balanced it there. “But this satchel contains some syringes with the antidote in them. If we can get them into Willow’s — er, Despise’s — body, she’ll pass out and when she wakes up she’ll be Willow again.”

Rarity gasped. “Is that what happened when I was giving her a makeover!?”

“Mrs. Cake,” said Twilight as her horn lit up once more and she levitated Spike off her back, “could you take Spike home and make sure he’s okay?”

“I absolutely can, Twilight,” said Mrs. Cake sincerely. She walked underneath Spike and Twilight lowered him gently onto her back.

“Thank you so much,” said Twilight very gratefully.

Mrs. Cake immediately took off in the direction of the Golden Oaks library. Twilight turned to the remaining ponies.

“Sounds like we’re going to need somepony to distract her while somepony else goes in with the needle,” said Applejack.

“Well, that won’t be too hard!” said Rainbow Dash. “Did you see the way she was acting? Her attention span is worse than Pinkie Pie’s!”

“That cloud looks like a pumpkin!” said Pinkie Pie looking up at the sky.

“Hmmm, good observation, Rainbow!” said Twilight. “Okay. I have an idea...”

Part 1, Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ataxium may add another benefit as well. You see, in order to make a pony resistant to magic, I had to make a formula that was very magic-like in nature. So in addition to protecting a pony from magic, it may also grant them some “magic” power of its own. Exactly how that power would manifest is anypony’s guess. In fact, it may be different for each pony that the Ataxium is given to. It will be very interesting to see...

Fluttershy made a right and flew down yet another street in her effort to get away, but this one was her last. As soon as she made the corner, she slammed head-first into and shop sign. She was sent spinning through the air, ultimately landing on the ground hard, her body splayed.

Despise stopped in front of Fluttershy and pressed her hoof down firmly onto Fluttershy’s hair, pinning her in place. “That was fun,” Despise snarled, “but I want to play a different game now. I call this one ‘Splatter-shy’!”

“Ooo! Can I play?” a perky voice spoke up just ahead of them.

Despise looked up to see who was speaking, but then she got hit in the face with a pie.

“Go for it, Twilight!” Pinkie shouted.

Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack pulled around the shop behind Despise and Twilight quickly levitated a syringe and fired it towards Despise’s exposed backside.

But right before it the syringe made contact with the stunned mad pony, there was a loud snapping sound like the crack of a whip. Despise’s tail had twitched at the last minute and deflected the incoming needle, sending it flying out of sight. The tail’s response to the projectile was instantaneous, almost as if it had acted on its own.

Despise angrily shook the pie’s contents off her face and turned around. “Nice try, nerd!”

As soon as Despise turned around something about her began to change, something that made Twilight and her friends jump back. The pony’s long green hair began floating, as if Despise was underwater. It lifted up and scattered around her head like branches of a tree and began to sway in a non-existent wind.

Then Twlight’s eyes shifted down as she saw something forming on Despise’s rear thigh. She gasped. It was Despise’s cutie mark — a wreath of thorns.

Suddenly, before anypony could react, strands of Despise’s hair shot out all directions and wrapped themselves around each of the six ponies, hoisting them off the ground and pulling them towards the maniacal pony’s face. Each of the six struggled to escape the grasp of the lock of hair holding her, but it was useless. It may have looked and felt like hair, but it was stronger than steel.

“Let us go!” yelled Rainbow Dash staring defiantly into Despise’s eyes as she wrestled to get her wings free.

“Oh I’m going to let you go,” said Despise deviously. “I just wanted all of you where I can see you. Now that I do see you though, I think you would look better over here!”

Despise turned around and her hair whipped back and threw its six captives down the street and towards the center of town faster than a slingshot. All six of them almost collided with the west side of city hall, but at the last second Twilight put up a barrier to catch them. The ponies made contact with the much softer magical wall, then fell to the ground.

Hitting the solid ground was better than smashing through city hall, but the hit was still heavy. Twilight groaned as she tried to get back on her hooves after the impact. “Is-is everypony okay?”

“C’mon Twilight!” said Applejack in a surprisingly casual tone. Twilight turned to her and saw her get up without any trouble. “I work on a farm. I’ve had a lot worse hits than that!”

“Yeah! And I’ve flown into things way faster!” said Rainbow Dash confidently as she got up. However, she soon put her hoof to her forehead. “Ugh. Still doesn’t make it hurt less. How’re you doing, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, um, I’m fine,” Fluttershy said as she tried to join the other three on-hoof. After struggling with her balance for a second or two though, she collapsed back onto the ground.

“I lost an eyelash!” Rarity screamed, not even trying to stand up.

“Is this it?” asked a completely unphased Pinkie Pie next to her. She was sporting a new mustache that looked curiously like Rarity’s lost eyelash.

Twilight’s ears perked up. There was an ominous sound, like a heavy object being hurled through the air.

She turned around and saw a lamp post heading straight towards them. Quickly, she used her magic to cover all six of them in a barrier as the post came crashing down. It bounced off the barrier and landed with a loud thud a few hooves in front of them.

They looked up to see the projectile’s source. Despise was staring at them in the distance. Ponies on the street were running scared in every direction that didn’t lead to her. Her empty eyes and malicious grin looked like they were glowing in the dark. The hair from her mane and her tail was still floating all around her, like the waves of a flame.

“You don’t frighten us, you horrid creature!” said Rarity boldly as she stood up and quickly fixed her eyelash. She stepped out in front of the others and lit up her horn. It produced a large ball of light that she immediately fired at their enemy. A strand of Despise’s hair deflected it, inches away from the mad pony’s face. Rarity stepped closer and fired another one. The hair blocked it again. Rarity continued to march forward, delivering an onslaught of light projectiles as she went. Despise blocked one after the other. It didn’t matter how fast they were going or how close Rarity was getting. Nothing went through, but Rarity persevered.

“Rarity! Stop! Magic doesn’t work!” Twilight cried out, but Rarity continued her assault, firing one light ball after another like a pitching machine. As Rarity closed in, Despise’s hair kept deflecting her attacks with ease. A twinge of fear began to show in Rarity’s eyes as she got closer to her target.

But then, when she so was close to Despise that she could feel the wind generated by the flailing strands of hair, a single ball of light made it past the barricade, hitting Despise in the lower leg. The pony let out a short but screeching scream and her hair quickly covered the area of impact.

Twilight gaped in shock. Rarity managed to hit her, and with magic noless. How? Twilight’s mind went back to the first night the creature had appeared, when it charged straight through her magic barrier with no resistance. She tried to remember anything that was different about that situation, anything at all. Then, a revelation suddenly came to her: Despise’s hair was covering her face when she charged.

After so many failed attempts, Rarity was just as stunned as Twilight when one of her attacks actually succeeded. However, her surprise broke her focus and interrupted her barrage of magic. And that was just enough time for Despise’s hair to counter. A lock of hair shot out at Rarity and wrapped around her like a snake. It hoisted her off the ground, whipped her around and threw her back towards her friends.

Rarity screamed as the hair released her, but her scream was cut short by a sudden, unexpected, and strangely soft impact.

“Gotchya!” said Rainbow Dash as she intercepted Rarity’s flight by catching her with her forelegs. Then she circled around and followed Twilight, Applejack and the others from the air. The group was falling back.

Fluttershy and the two Earth Ponies ran across a nearby bridge and down a hill towards a small set of cottages while Rainbow Dash followed them in the sky carrying Rarity. The group darted around to the farthest side of the largest cottage and out of Despise’s view. Rainbow Dash landed and placed Rarity back on the group.

“Are you okay, Rarity?” asked Twilight.

“I’m alright, dear,” said Rarity in a trembling voice that said she wasn’t. She cleared her throat and attempted to resume a braver, more dignified tone. “I think the important thing is that I managed to hurt her.”

“Well, she almost did worse to you there,” said Applejack.

“I know,” Rarity admitted, “but I was just so angry at seeing that horrible brute terrifying those townsfolk that I lost my reason.”

“I think you were just mad because she made you lose an eyelash,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Well at least you’re okay now,” said Twilight. “And like you said, you were finally able to find a weakness.”

“Yes. It’s only her hair that’s invincible,” confirmed Rarity.

“That makes sense. Otherwise those needles wouldn’t work,” said Applejack.

“Um, but how do we get past her hair?” asked Fluttershy.

“That is a tall order,” said Applejack. “It’s like it’s got a mind of its own.”

“Well, you saw how Rarity did it, right?” said Rainbow Dash. “We just have to keep the hair busy. If one pony can do it by herself, then all of us together could do it no problem! The five of us will just keep attacking it over and over and that’ll leave her body open so Twilight can stick her with that needle!”

Twilight thought for a moment, then conceded “It’s risky, but it’s all we’ve got. We don’t have any more time.”

“That’s right!” said a chilling voice coming from nearby. “You don’t!”

The ponies turned around and saw Despise. The hair of her mane was wrapped around the branch of a tall nearby tree and she was hanging from it like a demented monkey. She stared down at them, her wide grin almost literally glowing.

All of the ponies jumped back in surprise, but Rainbow Dash quickly overcame her initial shock. “That just makes it easier! Let’s get ‘er!” she shouted as she took off and flew straight towards their adversary.

An unprepared Twilight began to cry out “Rainbow, wai—”

But she was too late. While still hanging by her mane, Despise’s tail stretched out and in the blink of an eye formed into a thin wall. Rainbow Dash hit it at speed head-on and the collision sent her crashing back to the ground.

Despise swung herself back and forth to gain momentum. Once she had enough, she released herself, flipped in mid-air, and began to descend hooves-first straight onto Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash still had enough will in her to get back into air and out of the way faster than Despise could land. Despise fell past her, landing on the open ground which shook with the impact.

Twilight, Rarity, and the Earth Ponies backed away from their opponent, but kept their eyes fixed. Fluttershy took to the air to join Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked down at Despise. “Ha!” she yelled. “You missed m—”

Her gloating was cut off when a strand of Despise’s hair lashed out at her, wrapped around her neck and yanked her to the ground. Rainbow Dash had already blacked out, but Despise still pushed her hooves into the Pegasus's torso. She smiled. “No. I didn’t.”

Rainbow Dash’s defeat drove the rest of the ponies to attack at once.

“You. Leave. Her. Alone!” screamed Fluttershy angrily as she dived toward the evil pony that had incapacitated her friend. Before her assault got anywhere near Despise, though, a large part of the pony’s mane split down the middle and formed two propellers, propellers that spun faster than the wheels of a wagon rolling downhill. The transformation was so instantaneous that Fluttershy couldn’t react. Like a bird that didn’t see the windmill, she dove straight into the vortex. The spinning hair trapped her and forced her to take a hit from each and every one of its rotations. Her body tumbled through the tornado, taking blow after blow from the blades until finally one revolution knocked her downward. She hit the ground hard and joined Rainbow Dash in unconsciousness.

“Somepony needs a good kick in the behind!” declared Applejack as she circled around Despise. Once she reached the mad pony’s backside, she got into position to give Despise the hardest mule kick she could muster. But as soon as she extended her legs, Despise’s tail wrapped around her hooves, picked her up and slammed her on the ground. Then it lifted the stunned pony again and slammed her down a second time. It did this over and over again, putting more force into it each time. Applejack had already blacked out by the time the hair stopped pounding her into the ground and threw her into a nearby tree.

“Yoo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie called out to Despise. The monstrous mare’s eyes shifted over to her where they saw another pie heading straight towards them. Despise’s left bang split in two. One lock of hair shot out directly underneath the airborne dessert, then reached up and grabbed it by the pan, stopping it inches from Despise’s face. The other strand stretched out even further and wrapped itself around Pinkie Pie like a cobra.

“The joke’s old,” said Despise as the part of her hair holding the pie turned it around and drove it into Pinkie Pie’s face. The lock holding Pinkie then turned her around and tossed her into the wall of the nearest cottage. Pinkie hit the wall so hard that it cracked. She toppled backwards onto the ground unconscious, the pie and its pan still covering her face.

“Are you ready for round two?” said Rarity as her horn lit up to deliver yet another onslaught of light.

“This time, yes!” said Despise as she removed her eyes from Pinkie Pie and focused them on the attacking unicorn. Her right bang shot out and wrapped around Rarity’s horn right before she could fire the first shot. With nowhere to go, the light magic exploded on Rarity’s horn, sending searing pain tearing through her head. She screamed as Despise’s hair released her and she collapsed on the ground, her hooves holding her head in agony.

Within the short amount of time it took Twilight to levitate a needle out of the satchel she was carrying and get it into position to fire into Despise’s body, the demented pony had taken down each and every one of her friends with relative ease. With all of her other rivals defeated, Despise turned her menacing stare over to Twilight. Twilight kept her eyes fixed on her while keeping the syringe she intended to use hovering in the air, trying to appear unafraid of the pony in front of her. However, her body was visibly trembling.

Before Twilight could even flinch, a strand of hair darted out and snatched the blue needle from the air and held it in front of Twilight’s face. “Out!” Despise screamed and her hair flung the antidote backwards and out of sight.

The hair immediately followed up by reaching around Twilight’s neck and ripping the satchel off of her like a poorly-sewn patch. ‘And you don’t need these either!”

The force of the hair’s grab yanked Twilight forward, almost causing her to lose her balance. Once her hooves stabilized, she looked up and saw the strand of hair that had grabbed her satchel swinging it around like it had done with Fluttershy earlier. It whipped back and sent the bag of syringes flying back towards the center of town, near where Twilight and the others were before falling back to this area.

Twilight’s friends laid all around her and her enemy and that enemy’s only known weakness was just sent soaring into the distance. Twilight had stood against this pony before on her own and failed. There was only one choice left. Quickly turning to face the direction that the satchel was thrown in, Twilight galloped away and didn’t look back.

“You ponies sure love to run!” said Despise mockingly. “Well, that’s fine by me.” The hair of Despise’s mane and her tail each split into two parts that looked like large bent blades. Each of them stuck their tips into the ground and instantly grew longer, hoisting Despise’s body into the air. Then the front-right blade lifted itself out of the ground and took a step forward, followed by the front-left blade, then the two rears. The motions repeated, creating a complete walk cycle. They were like giant spider’s legs, crawling towards their prey at a frightening pace while Despise herself dangled at the top of them like a ragdoll. Each step shook the ground and crushed anything that happened to be beneath it.

Twilight turned her head just enough to see the monstrous form that was chasing her. Her eyes widened and she gasped. Quickly she whipped her head back faced forward again, as if hoping that not looking at Despise would somehow make her vanish.

The sounds kept getting louder and louder to Twilight. Despise was closing in, but the satchel was in sight now. As soon as she was in range, Twilight lit her horn and began to levitate the bag of needles, but her magic was interrupted. One of the giant legs came bearing down on the satchel, landing between the strap and the bag with a heavy thud.

Twilight was startled, but not stopped. She began to change her course to move around the giant blade of hair to get to the bag of the satchel itself. This was futile. Just as she was about to go past it, the hairs of the blade spread themselves out in both directions, forming a curved wall that Twilight hit head-on. Twilight grunted as collision with the wall knocked her to the ground. Quickly she rolled over and got back on her hooves. She saw that she was surrounded in every direction by green hair. Each of the four legs had spread itself out like the one she had collided with. She was now inside a dome. And dangling from the top of the dome and glaring at her much like she was in the tree before, was Despise.

“Welcome to the big top!” Despise quipped. “I can’t wait to see what act you’ll do for me next!”

Twilight’s eyes shifted back and forth, looking for a way out or something to aid her. They found none. She could see the strap of the satchel still wrapped around the hair that had pinned it, but unfortunately the bag itself was outside of the dome.

Twilight began to tremble as she looked up at her captor. “Wha-what do you want from us?”

“I want you to suffer!” Despise exclaimed.

“Wh-why?” asked Twilight anxiously.

“I hate you. I hate your friends. I hate every pony I’ve met, and every one that ever will exist.”

“..but why—” Twilight tried to ask.

“—because I do!” screamed Despise. “I live for your pain. The sound of ponies suffering is the greatest gift they can give me. It’s music to my ears.”

Twilight was shivering with fear at the words said by Despise’s screeching voice. Willow seemingly found something to love about everypony, but Despise was her opposite and therefore only found things to hate. It was that simple. There was no negotiating and no way to change her mind. Twilight’s eyes started to water as she began to accept her fate.

But then her ears perked up. She heard something coming from outside the dome. It sounded like scratching, like somepony trying to get in. More curiously, the sound’s source kept rising. Was someone climbing Despise’s hair? The entire dome started to twitch and vibrate, but it quickly returned to its hardened state. It was as if the hair itself was trying to react to whatever was climbing it, but its master didn’t allow it.

“Anyway,” continued Despise. “Like I said, this is the circus and it’s time to tame the lio—”

Despise suddenly cut her speech off and began to scream. It echoed throughout the dome she had created and Twilight feared going deaf. As she covered her ears with her hooves though, the scream faded and she looked up to see Despise slowly being lowered to the ground by her own hair. Her eyes were shut and she hung motionlessly until her body softly landed on terra firma.

The dome of hair was loosening and began to deflate like a balloon. Soon it gently landed on Twilight, covering her completely. Twilight shook it off and found that she was outside once again.

Despise’s hair was not only flattening, but receding, retracting to its original dimensions. Twilight looked towards the center of the hair at the pony’s body. It was then that she saw what had saved her. In the pony’s back was a syringe containing a familiar blue liquid. It was planted firmly in a very narrow part in the middle of her mane. Even for a needle it would have been a small target, but outside of the dome the pony had created it would have been the only part of her exposed at the time.

More importantly though, lying on the pony’s back just below the syringe was the one who had administered the Antaxium.

“Spike!” Twilight said excitedly as she made her way over to him. As soon as she was within reach she wrapped her forelegs around him and held him tight against herself.

“Ow-ow-ow!” Spike exclaimed. “Watch it. I’m still a little sore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Twilight letting go of him.

“I took him back to your place but refused to stay,” said Mrs. Cake as she emerged from behind the building where she had apparently been hiding. “He demanded over and over that I bring him back to you. I finally gave in.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to get much rest anyway,” said Spike in a weak voice that said he still wasn’t in good shape. “Too many screaming villagers. Besides, it was my job to keep Willow in check, right?”

“Yeah, well, you’re very late,” said Twilight sternly. But then, she smiled and gently placed her hoof on his shoulder. “But at least you’re here now.”

Spike returned her smile. “I’ll always be here, Twilight.”

“That’s very sweet, you two,” said Mrs. Cake sincerely, “but, um, what do you suppose we should do about Willow?”

Part 1, Chapter 10

Chapter 10

When Willow’s eyes opened, she was looking up at a very plain, beige ceiling. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see that the walls of this place were just as unremarkable, save for a simple brown wooden door here and there. The only thing noteworthy was that the walls and ceiling were moving, or rather she was moving in relation to them.

Furthermore, she quickly discovered that she couldn’t move her body at all. Squirming was about the best she could do. She was being held down by something — or rather several somethings — wrapped around her body. They were straps and while she couldn’t discern the material they were made of, she had already declared them inescapable in her mind. She felt weak, and these straps would be a challenge even at her full strength.

Her ears picked up the sounds of several small wheels turning below her, one of which squeaked every so often. Also every so often she could very faintly hear ponies talking among themselves, especially when she passed by the wooden doors, though she couldn’t make out any specific words.

These weren’t the most troubling sounds, though. The noises that had Willow worried were the clopping of hooves coming from every direction. They sounded heavy, like the marching of several powerful stallions.

Willow’s strength began to return gradually, and with it her vision and mental focus sharpened. She surveyed her surroundings again. In addition to the doors, she could also see the occasional poster or chart hung up. She couldn’t read them at this distance, but she could see enough to tell that they were all health- or medicine-related. These observations, along with the sound of the wheels beneath her and the state of being on her back, allowed her to confirm her location — she was in the hallway of a hospital laying on a gurney that was being pulled to a destination unknown to her.

As for who was pulling her, the answer came just as quickly. Following behind her were two large stallions, both wearing heavy, regal-looking armor. They followed Willow’s gurney expressionless, with their eyes focused firmly on the path ahead and the sounds of their powerful hooves hitting the ground as they walked were a match for what Willow’s ear had picked up. Willow lifted her head back. She could see yet another stallion in front of her. This was the one the gurney was hitched to, the one carrying her to wherever they were going.

Willow cleared her throat and tried to speak to her apparent escorts. It was strangely difficult. It felt like she hadn’t spoken in a very long time.

“Hey, uh, colts! Um, what’s with the entourage?” she asked. She was trying to sound casual and unassuming. Her tone, however, made her fear known.

None of the armored ponies responded and the two that Willow could make eye contact with made no effort to do so. For a moment, there was nothing but eerie silence.

Then, an unexpectedly effeminate voice spoke up. “You are going to where you cannot harm anypony again.”

Willow looked to her right. A tall white mare who had apparently been ahead of the group had now slowed down to walk alongside the traveling bed. She bore both the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a Unicorn. Her mane and tail were long and comprised of many beautiful colors. She wore an elegant golden collar and an equally exquisite tiara, both with glistening purple gems at their centers. And the mare’s cutie mark was that of the very sun itself.

“Whoah!” said Willow in amazement. “Somepony must be important. What’s your bag, mare?”

Even when she first spoke, the white mare’s tone was cold and indifferent. This didn’t change in her response. “You may address me as your majesty!” she demanded. Much like the stallions around them, she kept her eyes looking straight into the distance and avoided even looking in Willow’s direction. “And my duty to the people right now is to keep you away from them!”

The white mare’s voice was powerful and authoritative. Willow’s worries extended from voice to her facial expression. “Wha-what did I do?” she asked as her lips began to tremble.

“I think you know,” said the mare sternly.

“I-I don’t!” pleaded Willow. “I swear, ma— er, your highness! Did-that thing come out of me again? That-that thing just takes me over and I can’t do nuthin’. Seriously, nuthin’!”

“You just terrorized a village in my kingdom, damaged its property, and injured several of its citizens,” said the regal pony. “So, until the researchers find a way to remove your powers, you will stay at this hospital where you will be watched day and night by the mightiest of my guards. We have already reinforced the room where you will be staying. No matter how strong you are, you will not be escaping.”

“It ain’t me!” Willow cried in desperation. “I want it gone too! I didn’t mean to hurt nobody! Did-did you talk to Twilight? She’s knows I ain’t bad!”

Her captor’s callous tone was unwavered. “Twilight Sparkle has told me enough. She informed me that you are the daughter of an insurrectionist. She told me how he made you into a weapon designed to destroy me and my sister. She told me how you transformed into a monster capable of nothing but violence.”

Willow now realized who she was being held captive by. This was Princess Celestia, one of the two alicorns her father had tried to overthrow. Now his daughter was in the hands of his mortal enemy, and that enemy had no reason to show her mercy.

Overcome with fear, she could no longer answer her accuser. Her eyes were filled with tears as the guard pulling her gurney turned around a corner at the end of the long hallway. Around that corner was another hallway, but this one was dark and only barely illuminated by red emergency lights, as if no one had ever used it. The group escorted Willow down this hallway only a little ways before they stopped in front of a pair of gigantic double doors sealing by a large, heavy-looking beam.

Willow shivered in misery. This was to be her life now. She had freed herself from that chamber only to become a shut-in at Twilight’s place, and she got out of there only to be locked away in some dark corner of a hospital. All she was doing was going from one prison to another and to another. Fear and frustration cycled through her mind as all hope faded.

Celestia lit her large horn and levitated the beam off of the double doors. She leaned it against the wall as the two guards who had been following the gurney stepped out front and opened the doors themselves. The guard pulling Willow’s gurney moved her into the room. The others followed him and shut the doors behind them.

Willow’s eyes were closed as tears continued to stream from them and the sounds of the doors opening and closing felt like somepony pounding on her heart. However, upon entering the room Willow saw through her eyelids that the room was curiously bright. Even more odd was the smell. Her nostrils could pick up multiple scents, none of which she associated with a hospital, let alone a prison. It made her just curious enough to change her mind about keeping her eyes closed.

When she opened them, the sights they took in made her gasp. This wasn’t cramped cell or dull hospital room. It was as wide open as a warehouse and its floor was covered in...grass? Yes, it was grass, fresh and green as if planted by a diligent farmer during the best of seasons. And almost covering that grass were trees, trees of all sizes and all kinds from evergreen to palm. They were also all accompanied by a wonderful variety of bushes and shrubs. Finally, as if to enhance its beauty even further, one of the walls was transparent, and it showed an incredible view of the clean countryside outside of the hospital.

Willow’s eyes widened as her emotions completely inverted. It was like an oasis, an incredible indoor garden made just for her. She was swaying her head back in forth, trying to take it all in and wishing that she wasn’t still strapped to the gurney. Then all of sudden, she felt the straps that had been holding her in place begin to loosen, including one that had been tying her hair down which hadn’t noticed until now. She looked down and saw all of them being unbuckled by no one, by magic.

She turned to the Alicorn beside her. The Princess’s horn was lit and her scowling expression turned warm and welcoming as she told Willow, “Twilight also informed me that you like plants.”

As soon as the last strap was unfastened, Willow sprung from the gurney and darted for the palm tree nearest her. She placed her front hooves on it, trying to confirm if it was real. Satisfied that it was, she bounced over the nearest bushes, then to another tree, then a few more bushes, then another tree. It was like watching a filly’s first day at Sugarcube Corner and Willow tripping over her own hair every so often only made the sight more amusing.

After all but hugging an evergreen at the far end of the room, Willow followed a trail of shrubs on her way back to the pony who had brought her here. “How-how’d ya pull a gnarly dig like this!?” she asked her in disbelief.

“Oh, it wasn’t that difficult,” said the Princess. “We had time. We’ve kept you sedated for about a week.”

“A week!?” exclaimed Willow.

“Well, um, yes,” said Celestia. “We...couldn’t risk another one of that creature’s attacks, so—”

“You did all this in a week!?” Willow interrupted. “Mare alive, I guess you know how to work that horn.”

The Princess laughed. “Well, I am an Alicorn, after all. I’m also a Princess, so I was able to get help from a few of my very talented subjects.”

Willow was still turning her head back and forth to look at her surroundings while Celestia was talking. However, as soon as Celestia mentioned her subjects, Willow’s gaze returned to the Princess.

“How-how is Twilight?” she asked timidly.

“She’s perfectly fine,” Princess Celestia assured her. “Although, she’s very busy at the moment.”

“What with?” asked Willow.

Celestia paused for a moment before replying. “Twilight feels responsible for your — I mean, Despise’s — attack since she let you into Ponyville, so she decided to help in repairing the damages to Sugarcube Corner and make amends with townsponies. In the meantime, I decided to construct this place so you would be safe and comfortable while we study your condition.”

“I dig,” said Willow. “Do-do you know what’s goin’ down with me?

Celestia shook her head. “I examined you with my magic while you were unconscious and I could certainly sense that there was something very wrong, but I regret to say that I do not know how to treat it.”

Willow frowned at the Princess’s answer. Her eyes turned to the ground.

Celestia walked closer to Willow and put her hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I have sent Equestria’s best researchers in alchemy, magic, and medicine to this hospital. They will find a way to undo what your father did.”

“Did-did you know my old man?” asked Willow looking back up at her.

Celestia lifted her hoof off of Willow’s shoulder and turned to look at the wall-sized window viewing the countryside. “I didn’t know him personally,” she explained. “Luna and I were certainly aware of his reputation, but our kingdom was still very young then and we were too occupied with getting things in order to visit local celebrities. It never occurred to us that he was a Discordian.”

Willow joined Celestia in gazing out the clear wall. “So when I disappeared, that didn’t ring a bell?”

Celestia shook her head again. “Your father was the one who reported you missing. He sent the local forces looking for you. Of course, they never found you. It was just a rabbit trail. His brother was a suspected of kidnapping you for a while, but he was found innocent. I suppose we now know why.”

“His brother? So, like, I had an uncle?” asked Willow looking back at the Princess.

“You certainly did,” confirmed Princess Celestia. “And actually, because of him you may have some still-living relatives as well. Your father never married again and you were his only foal, but his brother had several fillies and colts. I remember that because he was an Earth Pony that married a Pegasus. That was so unusual at the time that all of Equestria was gossiping about it.”

“Far out,” said Willow.

“Your Majesty,” called out one of the guards standing by the double doors. One of the doors was opened slightly, and he looked like he had been talking to some on the outside.

“What is it?” asked Princess Celestia.

“She has visitors,” said the guard.

Willow looked at Celestia. “Do...I get to have visitors?”

The Princess smiled. “Of course.” She called back to the guard. “Send them in!”

The guards opened the doors and Willow galloped towards them, eager to see who was coming to see her.

Right outside of the doors were five ponies Willow knew well. Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were all there to greet her.

Willow shouted excitedly, “Critter mare! Fancy mare! Country mare! Funny mare! Awesome mare! How’s it hangi—”

She cut herself off as soon as her eyes caught up with her brain. All five of the ponies were bearing a similar facial expression, featuring a timid smile and curiously lifted eyebrows. They looked as if they weren’t sure whether to be happy or scared out of their minds. Willow quickly concluded this was for the same reason that each of them were dotted with bruises and bandages and the reason that they were all in wheelchairs. The Princess did mention that Despise injured several townsponies.

Willow put her left hoof behind her head. “Uh, well, this is awkward...”

Part 1, Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It had been a week since Willow began her incarceration at the hospital and, while she still wanted to be free, she was not uncomfortable. In addition to having the most amazing hospital room of all time, she was waited on as if she were the very Princess who had ordered her to be contained. Meals were delivered routinely and workers would come by periodically to keep the Greenhouse — as it came to be known — beautiful and healthy.

That isn’t to say that there were no negatives, however. There was a reason why she was being kept there, after all. The monster, Despise, frequently tried to resume control of her body. This was the only thing that made Willow grateful for being constantly watched. It was certainly unnerving having almost no privacy, but at least whenever she felt her consciousness fading and saw that ominous green haze fill her eyes there was always somepony there with the Antaxium to stop Despise from emerging.

Still, there was the endless testing, too. Alchemists, Unicorn Wizards, and Doctors were always coming in to try this cure or that remedy, none of which were ever successful. She had also already been examined by more types of specialists than she knew existed. None of them ever told her what the results of the studies were, and she had the feeling that was because they found nothing at all.

The beautiful indoor garden prepared for her and the incredible view through her large window had both proven to be double-edged swords. She thought they were wonderful, but sometimes they just intensified her yearning to be free, to explore the real world instead of this mare-made imitation.

At least the Princess had kept her word about allowing visitors. Ponies came in all the time, even outside of the ones that were trying to study her. Of course, most of the visits were from Rainbow Dash and the others that she saw on her first day since they were being treated at the same hospital. The latest she had heard though was that all of them were going to be released soon as their wounds were healing.

Willow did get to see Twilight Sparkle herself more than once, but she was busy and her visits were always very brief. She did mention to Willow though that she was trying her best to decipher her father’s journal any time she got the chance. This filled Willow with a great amount of hope. If anypony was going to find the cure, she was certain it would be Twilight.

It was getting late and Willow sat and looked out the clear wall to watch the sun go down. This was becoming her routine. To her it was a rather spiritual experience. Watching the big ball in the sky sinking into the horizon to the sound of silence made her feel more at peace with her situation

Well, at least it was usually silent. This evening, however, Willow’s witnessing of the sunset was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the other side of the double doors. It sounded like somepony ran into it at full speed.

A little startled, Willow whipped her head around to look at the doors. At first, nothing happened after the initial thud, but then she heard a sound she had grown quite accustomed to — the sound of the door’s beam being lifted.

Soon after she heard that sound, the right-hand door was opened by one of the guards. He was talking to somepony she couldn’t see.

“Are you okay? Good. Uh, next time wait for us to actually open the door, okay?” Willow heard him say to whoever was in the hallway.

Once the door was completely opened, Willow’s guest entered the room. She was a Pegasus, a Pegasus with a gray body and a blonde mane. She was carrying what looked to be a mailbag. Willow also noticed that there was something odd about the pony’s eyes. It looked as if they weren’t positioned in their sockets correctly. Willow assumed that this was because the strange Pegasus had just apparently ran — or rather, flew — straight into a very thick door. The pony was still holding her hoof up to her head as she hovered over to the room’s only other occupant.

“Hi! Are you Window?” the Pegasus blurted out to Willow as if she was clear across the room, even though they were now almost uncomfortably close.

“Uh...the window’s over there, mare,” said Willow trying not to laugh at her guest’s butchering of her name. “If you’re lookin’ for Willow, though, that’s me, uh, most of the time.”

The gray pony reached into her mailbag, pulled out an envelope, and looked at the front of it. Willow could see now that the pony’s usual eyes had nothing to do with the blow to the head she received, at least not the most recent one. Those were genuinely her eyes. This realization only made Willow wonder how the pony was able to read the envelope at all, since each eye was looking in a different direction.

“Oh yeah! It is Widow!” exclaimed the Pegasus as she handed the Earth Pony her mail.

“Well, I ain’t never even been hitched, but close enough,” joked Willow as she accepted the envelope. She looked at the front to determine who the sender was. “Hey! It’s from Smarty Mare!”

“It’s actually from Twilight,” said the delivery pony. “I think she said it’s something from your Dad.”

“Wha...?” Willow said, confused. “I’m — Dad ain’t gonna be sending me nuthin’. I mean, unless he left it with some relative or —”

Willow stopped herself. A revelation came rushing to her. She remembered the picture of her and her father that Twilight showed her. He was gray and had a blonde mane. She also remembered Twilight telling her that he was very clumsy. Also, didn’t Princess Celestia say that his brother married a Pegasus?

Willow lowered the enveloped and looked up at the strange pony hovering in front of her. Her eyes widened. Could it be...

She struggled to find her words. “Uh, um, hey you, um wouldn’t happen to be related to the Voidsdales, uh, would ya?”

Willow stared at the pony.

The pony stared at Willow.

Willow stared at the pony

The pony stared at Willow.

Willow stared at the pony.

The pony stared at Willow.

Willow stared at the pony.

Then the wall-eyed Pegasus smiled as she blurted out, “I have no idea! Well, gotta run!”. She then turned around and flew straight out of the open door, narrowly missing both it and its guard.

Willow stood frozen for a moment as her mind tried to grasp what just happened. Her mind having no luck with that, she shrugged and returned to the piece of mail in her hand.

Upon opening it, she found two slips of paper, one short and one long. The shorter one was on top so she decided to start there.

Dear Willow,

I’m so sorry that I couldn’t give this to you in person, but I’m still very busy.

I’m even more sorry though that you have to go through all of this, but it really is the only way the Princess and I could think of. I’m working closely with all of the ponies who are studying you and we’ve found a few possibilities, but all of them are going to take time. I discovered that Pinkie Pie has a natural talent for deciphering your father’s Discordian Alchemy formulas and that's helped some, but not as much as I hoped. It’s one thing to understand how he did this to you, but it’s another thing to undo it.

Still, there is some good news. Some of the researchers think they’ve found a way to keep Despise from taking you over for a longer period of time, as in maybe weeks! If they can do that, you may be able to come back to Ponyville! I’ll keep you posted!

Anyway, the main reason why I sent you this is that I found a journal entry in your father’s book that I think you should read. I didn’t want to tear the page out (I treat my books better than that!), so I copied it for you down to the letter.

I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Sincerely,

Twilight.

Willow put Twilight’s letter aside and looked at the larger piece of paper. She quickly learned that Twilight was not kidding about copying the journal entry “to the letter”. She even accurately imitated her father’s hoofwriting. Fortunately, her father’s writing was legible.

The test subject for my experiments was my own daughter, Willow. I didn’t want to mention it in this journal in case it were ever discovered. If anypony found the lab and consequently this journal, I could still deny that Willow had any part in my experiments. That way, even if I were captured, she could still be free, free to do what ponies her age do without having to worry about her father’s crazy ideas.

But there’s no point in hiding it now. If the authorities discover the lab and this journal, they will see her too. I placed in her in what I call a suspension chamber. It’s a very large tube-shaped container and it would be obvious to anypony who comes down here. Unfortunately, it’s the only solution I could think of: keep her in suspended animation until I can undo the damage I’ve done to her.

That might be the true reason why I’m allowing myself to write about her now. I can’t believe what I’ve done, but I also can’t confess my crime to anypony. I turned my own daughter, a kind, peaceful pony that I loved very much into a monster.

Willow never cared about my faith in the God of Chaos. She knew about it of course, but she was never interested. Before Discord was imprisoned, I tried many times to bring her to my point of view, but she cared more about being with her friends as well as all those accursed plants of hers for some reason.

But then I came up with my plan to overthrow the Alicorns and I needed a test subject. I didn’t know anyone in the town who I could trust to keep my secrets safe, no one except her.

Willow hates all war and violence, so it definitely took some convincing, but ultimately I prevailed. After many weeks and who knows how many conversations, I finally got her to agree to be my test subject.

I convinced her as I had convinced myself that we had a noble cause to fight for. We were doing what my Master would have wanted. We were going to liberate the ponies of this land from the tyranny of the Alicorns. I know now though that it was all lies and self-delusion. I was angry that my side lost the battle and I wanted to strike back. It was revenge, plain and simple, and I dragged my daughter into a half-baked scheme for retaliation.

How that scheme went so horribly wrong is still beyond my comprehension. I expected her to gain strength and potentially even special powers, but how making those changes to her being resulted in the creation of a second personality that was the inverse of her own is baffling.

The Antaxium I created is able to return her to her usual self, but it doesn’t last and when/where she transforms again is so unpredictable that I can’t just let her roam freely. Also, when the other personality emerges, it’s difficult to inject her with it. I have scars that prove this.

Therefore, the suspension chamber. It will keep her safe and alive until I can find a permanent fix. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to worry about time, though. If she stays in there too long, she will lose her memory.

I just can’t bare the thought of that happening. I don’t want her to forget me, forget our relationship, forget everything we’ve been through. I want her to have a youth to look back upon, and I want her to remember me fondly, just as I think of her fondly each and every day.

I placed a picture of us next to this journal to remind me of what I am now working towards. It’s no longer about my ridiculous notions of vengeance. It’s just about getting things back to the way they were. It’s about bringing her back.

Willow’s transformation erased her cutie mark, and eventually even replaced it. I promise, one day everypony will see her true mark again. It wasn’t a circle of thorns. It was a leaf.

Part 2, Chapter 1

Appendix: Unfinished Original Story

Author's Note:

This is the prologue and first five chapters for the original version of the Discordian's Daughter. After Chapter 5, I decided to drop the concept and start over. I got a quite a few criticisms regarding the writing style as well as some complaints about the cast members acting out of character, especially Twilight. Additionally, when I went to write later chapters I discovered a few serious plot holes. The biggest reason for the rewrite though was that I felt the story was dragging. I got five chapters in and I was still nowhere near the next big plot point. Thus I decided to rewrite it with several major changes. Overall, I am glad that I did.

Also, I have read numerous comments stating that the web page for this story sometimes acts odd and gives the impression that there are more chapters. The removal of these original chapters is likely the cause of this. Rest assured, there are no "secret chapters".

Prologue

There are points in a pony’s life when he or she must make choices. Some choices are easier to make than others, but since nopony can tell the future every choice comes with at least a small amount of risk. Every decision a pony makes has a consequence. The consequence could be something small or something big and that something could be good, or bad.

And sometimes making a decision to join the Equestrian Royal Guard has a consequence of being assigned to the night shift at the Canterlot Archives.

Trove hated the night shift, as his heavy eyelids constantly reminded him. He was tempted to give in and just let them close. There was nothing to see anyway and frankly he had barely slept since last night’s shift. His friends told him he would get used to sleeping during the day, but he had been on this hellish schedule for month now and he still couldn’t adjust.

Still, he knew that keeping his eyes open was his only hope of salvation. Everypony who enlists in Equestria’s Royal Guard gets nightly guard duty as a first assignment and they only got out of it after they “proved their worth”.

“How in the world are you supposed to ‘prove your worth’ when you have a job where nothing happens?”, Trove thought to himself, and not for the first time. He was assigned to the Canterlot Archives, the most uneventful place possible. All there was to do was patrol the empty hallways, look for intruders that were never there and listen to the endless crackling of torches. It was boring, even maddening.

He had never thought to ask his higher-ranking friends what got them relieved from this miserable shift and now that he worked nights and they worked during the day, he was unable to. He assumed nightly guard duty would be easy and he would find his own way to impress his superiors. Never did he imagine how much torture it would be each and every night. And each and every night, he would ponder how to convince the powers that be that he was ready for another assignment.

He thought of perhaps cleaning the place a bit, especially the area he was in. It was the oldest wing on the archives and it had seen better days. However, there was already a cleaning crew, and he feared assisting them would result in his superiors assigning him to the janitorial staff - not exactly a great career move.

Trove concluded that he was only going to get out of this job if he actually caught somepony breaking into the archives, but that didn’t look very likely. While there were actually some very valuable items in the archives that would be worth stealing - rare and top secret scrolls, some expensive marble podiums and pedestals, state-of-the-art science equipment, a few rare art pieces hanging on the walls - no one was going to try to take anything. The heavy penalties for stealing from her majesty along with the intimidating reputation of the Equestrain Royal Guard, exaggerated as it may have been, was enough to keep any thief from setting hoof on the Princess’s property. Why would they risk it when there were other, less-secure places in Equestria that had just as much wealth?

Trove sighed and thought to himself, “Oh well, time to do another patrol”. He made his way slowly down the long, dark hallway, half of him asleep and the other half simply apathetic. After all, nothing was happening, neither in the Archives, nor in his life. If only something would give, anything at this point. He wished for once he would see a moving shadow, smell something out-of-place, or...

...hear something?

Trove stopped in his tracks at one of the doors that lined the hallway. He could hear sounds coming from the other side, sounds of movement.

“An intruder!” Trove thought. “I don’t believe it! I finally got a break!”. He assumed a tall, straight soldier stance and boldy knocked on the door. “Halt! Who goes there?” Trove had been wanting to say that his whole life, and soon he would apprehend this invader, bring him to justice and then he would be in a job where he’d be saying it much, much more.

But the fidgeting sounds from in the room continued as if their source had not heard Trove’s voice at all. Trove knocked even harder. “Sir! I demand that you come out this instant!”. Still no change. “Okay”, he thought, “time to play hardball”. Trove turned around and used his hind legs to kick the door wide open, then flipped back around to face his target - a dark, sinister, lurking...

...raccoon?

Trove’s heart sank. His “intruder” was a tiny, mangy raccoon that had sneaked its way in hoping to find food. It was standing on one of the shelves in the room, staring at Trove like he was an imbecile, which was about what he felt like. He was so eager to catch a thief that he hadn’t considered what form the “thief” would have.

Then something occurred to him: It was better than nothing.

Trove lunged at the raccoon hoping to grab it in one fell swoop, but all he managed to do is hit his head on the shelf. The raccoon had jumped off right before the impact and was now scampering his way out the door and into the hallway.

“Oh no you don’t!”, Trove as he dashed out into the hallway in pursuit of the woodland perpetrator. As fast as he could gallop, however, all he could manage to do was keep the raccoon in his field of vision. He was not gaining any ground.

By the time the raccoon had reached the last turn in the hallway before the front entrance to the wing, Trove had lost hope. He followed the critter around the corner, but then stopped and watched in dismay as it ran out the front door and soon out of his sight.

Now Trove was irritated. That could have been it. He was so close to proving his worth, so close to freedom from this dead-end assignment. He turned around and resumed his patrol of the now empty hallways of the archives, sulking.

His irritation only grew more intense as he continued to dwell on the matter. “It was right there! I could have had it! How much longer is it going to be before another thing like that gets in here, let alone a real thief!” His irritation slowly became rage, and Trove found himself looking for a way to relieve the stress. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, clinched his teeth and, with all his might, slammed his left hoof into the ground.

That did little to ease his frustration, but at the moment he did it something else managed to catch his ear. The impact of his hoof hitting the ground did not sound like it should have. It had a strange echo to it. Was the floor hollow?

He hit the floor hard again with his right hoof. Again, it sounded like the floor was hollow. To make sure he was not simply losing his sanity, he back up a few hooves and knocked on the ground there as well. There the floor sounded solid.

“Is there something under here?” He stomped heavily up and down the surrounding area trying to find out where the hollow sounds started and where they stopped. After some time, he was able to trace the sounds to a large rectangular piece of the floor. If he stepped outside that area, the floor immediately resumed its normal sound.

Trove also noticed something else: one end of the rectangle stopped at a point precisely in-line with a torch on the wall. He looked at the torch. It looked just like any other torch that lined this hallway, save for one small detail that Trove had just then noticed: The bolt that fastened the torch’s mount to the wall was slightly larger and more pronounced than the bolts that fastened the other mounts. It was a small, barely-noticeable difference to be sure, but now that Trove was examining it so closely, it was obvious. He walked up to the torch and touched the bolt. It pressed in. It was a button.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling beneath Trove’s hooves. He turned and looked that space next to him, the same space he discovered was hollow seconds ago. His eyes widened as that part of the stone floor started moving, slowly opening up.

Trove stood there for a moment in surprise at what it revealed: a staircase. No one had told him about any secret passageways in the Archives and Equestrian soldiers asked to guard any Royal property were typically informed of such things, even if they were asked not to discuss them with civilians. Swallowing his shock, Trove decided to grab the torch off the wall, and descend slowly down the stairs.

What he saw at the bottom, he did not quite understand and he certainly did not know how to feel about it. It was wondrous and ominous at the same time and as puzzling as it was amazing. Regardless, it was obviously not designed by Celestia, Luna, or anypony else he could imagine. The more he stared at it, the more he was convinced that nopony could have known about it. It was a true discovery.

And he was the one who discovered it. Reginald Trove Canthide grinned and thought to himself, “Goodbye, night shift!”

Chapter 1

My Dearest Twilight,

I have a special assignment for you. A strange room has been discovered beneath the Antiquine Wing of the Canterlot Archives. But unfortunately, I am currently visiting Las Capellas and I will not return for at least a few more days. I would like you to investigate it as soon as possible and find out what you can about it. I have asked the guards to cooperate in any way they can.

I appreciate your help as always, Twilight. I know I can always count on you.

Regards,

Princess Celestia

This was now the fifth time Twilight had read the letter she had only received that morning. It was just so exciting. The Princess had put her on a mission to investigate a mysterious room hidden in the Archives. It made her feel like she was an archaeologist or a secret agent. Her thoughts went back to one of her favorite fictional characters, Daring Do, discovering exploring some ancient temple, or traversing a hostile jungle. It was an adventure and she just couldn’t wait to get there.

Unfortunately, there was another reason why she had read this letter over and over. She was on the train to Canterlot and there was not much else to do. She had taken this train trip on many occasions, but she had always been with her friends who helped her pass the time. This time she was alone. Well, alone save for Spike, but he was asleep in the seat next to her. The ride between Ponyville and Canterlot was not particularly long, but the quiet, lonely boxcar she was in certainly made it feel like it was taking an eternity.

Twilight was surprised by how fast Spike fell asleep as they had only been seated on the train for a few minutes. Then again, that letter from the Princess came awfully early that morning and since it came by way of Spike’s mouth, it gave him a rather rude awakening. It also seemed like he was really straining himself while loading the luggage onto the train, which confused Twilight. Sure there were three suitcases, but they were only for transporting anything of interest at the site back to her home in Ponyville. They should have been empty at that time and light as a feather.

Nevertheless, this minor curiosity did not diminish Twilight’s enthusiasm for the task ahead. When the train came to a complete stop, she quickly began poking Spike to wake him up. “Spike! Spike! We’re here!” she shouted to him as if he were clear across the room.

“Alright already I’m up!” Spike reluctantly exclaimed after a few pokes. He sat up, yawned, and then hopped onto floor and proceeded towards their luggage. Twilight walked quickly to the exit, eager to get off the train and on with her assignment.

The Canterlot Archives were not very far from the train station so Twilight had planned on just walking the rest of the way. However, seeing the trouble Spike was having with the luggage made her feel guilty about that decision. Spike followed behind her as closely as he could with one travel case in his mouth gripped by his teeth and one additional case in each hand. The case in his left hand seemed to be the main problem as he was dragging it on the ground like a sack of potatoes. “I’m sure there’s nothing in that case. Maybe it’s just the material it’s made of. It was pretty expensive after all.”, Twilight thought.

Finally arriving at the entrance to the Antiquine branch of the Archives, Twilight showed the two guards at the entrance her letter from Princess Celestia and they began to escort her and Spike to the point of interest in the building.

Princess Celestia was usually adamant about keeping buildings like the Archives presentable, but this was the oldest section of the building, and it definitely showed. It was dusty, drab, and void of any decorations, unless one counted the various cracks, dents, and other blemishes that covered the stone walls, floors, and ceiling. Off to each side of the hallway were several wooden doors that were so worn Twilight was getting splinters just looking at them. She didn’t even want to think about the condition of the shelves, books, and scrolls that were likely behind each of those doors. Twilight also couldn’t help but notice how dark it was in this section. Why did the torches still have to be lit while it was broad daylight outside? Why were there no windows? “Perhaps Luna was in charge of this wing.” , Twilight thought to herself.

The guards lead Twilight and Spike around the corner and about halfway down past that to a roped off section of the hallway next to a torch, where they stopped.

Twilight looked at the section of floor blocked by the ropes. She didn’t see anything remarkable. Confused, she turned to the guard on her left. “Um...I’m not sure this qualifies as a secret room” she said to him in a playful tone to soften her sarcasm.

The guard didn’t respond verbally, but raised his left hoof and reached behind the torch on the wall. He pressed what Twilight thought was just a bolt holding the torch’s mount in place. It was soon clear though that it was a button.

A low rumbling sound came from under Twilight’s hooves, like when stone rubbed against stone. She looked down and watched as the piece of the floor inside the ropes slid open from the left side revealing a large opening in the floor. Surprised and startled, she approached the vacant space in the floor and peered down it. It was clearly made intentionally as it was cut in a perfect rectangle that spanned several hooves down the length of the hallway. Its width was a different story, however. It was just wide enough to fit one pony through it at a time.

Then there was what was actually inside the opening. There was a short staircase that descended into a room that could only be described as a complete mess. Books, scrolls papers, and littered the floor along with a myriad of items that looked completely out-of-place. Twilight spotted a spatula, parts of a croquet set, a nail filer, garden shears, some toy dolls, a few empty cologne bottles, a toilet brush, a couple cooking pans and a wiffle bat just to name a few. As Twilight lowered her head she could see that the room was much larger than the staircase that lead to it. There were several rows of shelves separating the room into aisleways like a library as well as more shelves and cabinets along the walls. Going by that alone, it would have looked like it was simply an additional archive room that had been poorly kept, but then there were all those random objects and, even more perplexing, the colors. The floor, the ceiling and everything in between was coated in bright, clashing colors. Part of one of the walls was red, the next part orange, and the part beyond that pink. The stone floor was painted seemingly at random with streaks of blue, magenta, peach, neon green and various other colors for which Twilight did not even know the name. There was no clear pattern for anything. Colors simply started and stopped at whatever point they wished as if the room’s painter did his job blindfolded.

Spike, having fallen behind due to the apparent extra weight he was carrying, had just caught up with Twilight and the guards. He placed the luggage on the ground next to them, then paused to catch his breath. After much heavy gasping, he turned and walked towards Twilight, completely missing the roped off opening in the floor she was staring at.

“So, where’s this secret room?” he asked in a tone that suggested that it had better be worth the trip. Twilight didn’t answer immediately and continued to stare at the discovery before her. Spike turned his head to see what she was so captivated by. His eyes widened, “Holy Cow!”.

“Have any of you gone down there yet?” Twilight asked the guard who had opened the trapdoor.

The guard shook his head. “Our orders were not to go in until you arrived.” He grabbed the torch from the wall while the other guard removed the rope from in front of Twilight. They proceeded down the stairs single file with the torch-wielding guard in front, followed by Twilight, then the second guard. Spike begrudgingly gathered up the suitcases and followed them down.

Chapter 2

At the bottom of the stairs, there was unlit torch on the wall. The first guard used his torch to light it. Once the room illuminated, he noticed other torches further down along the same wall. He proceeded down the hall lighting each one while occasionally stepping on or stumbling over the assorted odds and ends scattered all over the floor.

Twilight, Spike, and the guards could now see more of the room, but it was still just as perplexing.

“Wow. Where do I start?”, Twilight said as the group looked around the room. It was even more of a disaster than how it looked at the top of the stairs and the room’s loud, mismatching colors almost hurt her eyes.

The amount of debris that cluttered the aisleways between and around the shelves was astounding. Now Twilight could see crazy straws, a cowboy hat, a rubix cube, some salt and pepper shakers, and a pair of roller skates in the corner under a table. There were other small tables as well, some upright and some knocked over.

Some of the upright tables had objects on them that gave Twilight her first clue as to the room’s use: beakers, many of them showing signs of heavy use. Was this a lab?

Twilight walked over to the shelf nearest her and examined the spines of the books placed on it. Some were for cooking, some for medicine, some for magic, some for history, and none were in any particular order. There was one category though that had many more books dedicated to it than the others: alchemy.

“Well, it’s a start” she said out loud to herself. “Spike, could you bring the suitcases over here?”

Spike had just finished getting the presumably empty luggage down the stairs and had to take another breath before obeying Twilight’s latest command. He put the cases down at his feet, wiped the sweat from his forehead, picked them up, carried them the remaining distance between him and Twilight and set them down next to her while breathing a sigh of relief.

Twilight levitated one of the books, Abstract Experiments in Alchemy, off the shelf with her horn’s magic and opened it. Flipping through the pages revealed all sorts of bizarre theories and trials in the potion-making arts, but nothing was as shocking as what was scribbled on the back of the front cover, which Twilight read aloud.

“Property of Professor Nolan Voidsdale”.

“Uh...who?” Spike asked.

“He was an alchemy professor Celestia appointed shortly after her and Luna took over Equestria. This must have been a secret lab of his.”

“But if Celestia hired him, why did the lab have to be a secret?”

“Well..” Twilight answered “he was also...a Discordian.”

“Uh..so is that a somepony who plays an accordion at a disco?” Spike asked, half-joking.

“Not quite.” said Twilight, unamused. “Discordians are ponies that were followers of Discord”.

“That guy? Why would anypony want to follow him?”, asked Spike as if the notion were preposterous.

Twilight shrugged “Some ponies believed that chaos was the answer, that life wasn’t meant to be orderly. They thought Discord was the bringer of truth and freedom.”

Spike sneered. “Sounds to me like they got too many hooves to the head.”

“Not at all.” Twilight rebutted, “Some of these ponies were very smart, like the professor here.”

Shifting the subject slightly, Spike asked “So what happened to all them?”

“Well, not surprisingly, many of them had a prompt change of heart when Discord was turned to stone.” Twilight explained. “There were some though, like Voidsdale, who still believed in Discord’s ‘philosophy’ and felt it was their job to continue spreading chaos in his absence.”

“Spreading chaos..well, that explains this room.”. Spike replied while re-scanning his surroundings.

“Exactly! Although, the really weird part about it is that nopony ever discovered it until now. Celestia had the professor arrested when she found out what his true intentions were, but no one ever found out about this room. What was he up to down here?”

Twilight began using the magic in her horn to levitate the books so she could place them in the suitcases that were brought to her. “Could you open that one?” Twilight said to Spike pointing to the “heavy” one that Spike had been dragging this whole trip. This was intentional of course as she wanted to make sure nothing was in it.

Spike unfastened the buckles on the suitcase...

And out popped Pinkie Pie with a big “Surprise!”

Twilight lost control of her levitation and dropped the books as both her and Spike fell to the ground in surprise.

The guard at the door took immediate notice and rushed toward Pinkie as she sat upright in the suitcase. The other guard, who was had just finished lighting all the torches, came charging from the other direction. “No no it’s okay” Twilight told the guards when she saw their reaction. The guards paused, then slowly backed off.

She then turned to their unexpected stowaway. “Pinkie what are you doing here?”

“Well, I went to your house this morning and saw you were leaving but I didn’t know you were leaving today and you didn’t tell anypony you were leaving today and I was like ‘hmmm, why’s she leaving today?’ so I snuck aboard to find why you were leaving today and didn’t tell anypony”.

“Umm...why didn’t you just walk up and ask?” Twilight asked, confused and a bit irritated.

“Yeah..” Spike added with a raised voice. “Instead of making me drag your flank all the way over here!”

Pinkie’s beaming expression remained unchanged. “Well..it’s the weekend and I don’t have to work and I always wanted to know what it felt like to be luggage.”

This was met by an uncomfortable silence from the other two, as well as angry glares.

But Twilight sighed and conceded “Well, I guess you’re here now either way. Sorry for leaving without telling anyone, but the Princess gave me an assignment that I was really excited about and I guess I got carried away”.

“Ooo! A secret mission! What is it?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

Twilight told Pinkie about the letter she got from the Princess and how they were now in a secret room in the Canterlot Archives. She explained about Nolan Voidsdale, which lead her into the explanation of the Discordians.

During the entire speech, Pinkie’s eyes were roaming around the room. Their survey of the area ended on a particular set of objects in the corner.

Twilight continued “...so I’m going to look around here a bit, see what I can find out and maybe bring a few things back with me for further examin - “

“Ooo! Roller skates!” Pinkie exclaimed cutting Twilight off mid-sentence. Pinkie ran over to the roller skates, slipped them on faster than Twilight thought physicall possible, and took off down the aisleway next to the wall.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted. “Stop! You’ll break something!” Her and Spike gave chase and pursued Pinkie down the aisleway. To her credit, Pinkie was managing to dodge every object in the room as they went along, and do so with style. She swerved around one table and ducked under the next, did the splits to avoid a pile of thumbtacks in the middle of the floor, then lifted her legs and skated on one hoof while still managing to dodge every shard of the broken pottery that came next. Then, putting all hooves back on the ground, picked up speed weaved around a bowling ball, a toy boat, three wooden spoons, two large boxes of baking soda, and a cattle prod. Finally, she came upon a large globe on a stand in the middle of the aisleway. In a stunning display, she leaped over it and managed to spin three times in the air before hitting the before she hit the ground and sped on undeterred.

While angry and panicked, Twilight and Spike were impressed, especially when they tried to maneuver through the same mess she just did. Every little object pushed them further and further behind her, and Spike got a few thumbtacks in his foot to prove it.

Pinkie’s amazing performance was cut short, however, when she reached the end of the aisleway and made a sharp right to avoid hitting the far wall. As soon as she finished the turn, she was taken by surprise. The two guards who had been following the chase from the next aisleway over, sprung out to cut her off. Pinkie quickly tried to swerve to avoid them and, while successful, began spinning out of control immediately thereafter. She spun all the way to other side of the room, crashing into a small shelf at the end, which fell on her with a loud crash and a huge cloud of dust.

Twilight, Spike, and the guards hurried over to the crash site and Twilight stopped at the edge of the collapsed shelf. “Um...Pinkie?” Twilight called out to the rubble, half-worried, half-frustrated.

Pinkie broke a hole through the back of the fallen shelf and stuck her head out, with the same expression she had when she popped out of the suitcase just moments ago. “Yup?” She responded.

Twilight groaned at Pinkie’s apparent obliviousness to the situation “Okay. You’re my friend, Pinkie, but honestly you’re aggravating me. You just up and decide to hop into one of my bags, have Spike carry you all the way here, and then you just up and decide to put on roller skates and turn this library or whatever it is into your personal skating rink. I’m here to dis..cov...er...”

The dust from the old collapsed shelf had finally cleared, revealing something that made Twilight cease her rant immediately. On the wall where the shelf had been standing...was a door.

Pinkie turned around to see what Twilight was so surprised to see. She immediately sprang the rest of her body out of the fallen shelf and jumped up and down excitedly “Ooo! It’s another secret room! I wonder if there’s another secret room inside it, and another one inside that, and then another one! Oh it’s like a matryoshka room!”

Twilight and the others observed the door in a quieter, but no less fascinated fashion. It looked more like to the door to a dungeon cell than a door to an archive or lab. There was a large steel lock over the handle and a small window at about head level with iron bars on it. From the window, Twilight could see there was a light inside the room, a white glow with a blue hue to it...

Twilight stared at it for a moment while she was thinking, then she made up her mind. Her horn lit up as her magic connected with the large lock on the door and snapped it off. “Hmmm....obviously not built to keep out a unicorn.” She thought. “I’m going in.” She said to the guards behind her. “Be prepared for anything.”

Twilight once again used magic to open the wooden door. Despite how large and ominous-looking it was, it flew open like it was cardboard, hitting the inside wall. Dust again clouded the air upon the impact. Blowing the dust out of the way as she went, Twilight entered the room, followed closely by Spike and a hopping Pinky Pie. The guards followed after Pinkie Pie, but at this point the dust had cleared, and it was obvious that the room was very small and unable to hold any more occupants. The guards stopped and stood at the ready right outside the doorway.

In complete contrast to the main area, this new, smaller room was very plain. The stone on the walls, floors and ceiling were free of the horrific paint job of the main room. There were no shelves nor any debris on the ground either, though there were several small chests here and there. The door had made this look like it was a prison cell, but it felt more like a janitor closet.

But it was a prison cell. That was clear from the moment Twilight cleared the dust from her vision, because now she could plainly see the source of that strange light she saw from the outside. There on the back wall was what could only be described as a large tube. On the floor was a small, cylindrical pedestal with a matching pedestal attached to the ceiling directly above it. Between the two was either a glass chamber or a magic forcefield, emitting a bluish-white glow.

And floating in the middle of the tube was...a pony.

Twilight, Spike and Pinkie let out a collective gasp. It was true they had the guards with them in case they encountered any trouble, but none of them had actually expected to run into any life in this dark hidden recess of the Archives.

“What, or who, is that?” Spike said in an astonished tone.

“I...I don’t know..” Twilight replied, her eyes wide open and staring at their new discovery.

“Do...do you think it can hear us?” asked Pinkie Pie, her giddiness now dissolved by surprise.

Spike put his hands to the sides of his mouth and shouted a long “Hellllooooo!”. They all paused for a few seconds. Nothing happened.

“I guess not.” said Twilight, now starting to catch her breath. Timidly, she crept closer to the cylinder, unsure of what - if anything - was going to happen. Now right along side it, she carefully placed her hoof over the middle of the tube. It was definitely glass, and the glowing light was apparently due to some sort of gas inside the chamber. She could see its mist floating around the pony inside and occasionally little sparks of electricity would circle around the its body.

She looked closely at the pony. It was obviously female. Her body was an aqua-blue, similar to Rainbow Dash, and she looked about the same age. Unlike Rainbow Dash though, she had no cutie mark and her mane was a solid green. The color was not the first thing Twilight noticed about her mane, however. It was the length. Both the hairs on her head and the hairs of her tail were long, much longer than normal. Together they took up two-thirds of the chamber.

Twilight tilted her head up slightly to examine the pony’s face. It was beautiful, but void of any expression and her eyes were closed. She looked like she was asleep, but sleeping peacefully.

Twilight decided to gently tap the glass to see if there was any reaction. There was none.

After several moments of silence, Spike spoke up. “What are we going to do, Twilight?”

Twilight thought for a few seconds more. She was never a risk-taker, quite the opposite in fact. She believed in being prepared, informed, and cautious and she realized there must be a reason why the pony was in there. Still, she just couldn’t leave somepony stuck in a tube inside a dark dungeon like this. She might be able to find some clue in the main room as to why she was here, but then again that could take a long time and she may search every book and object in the room and still come up empty...

“Pinkie...Spike..backup!” Twilight commanded. “Guards...get ready!” she yelled to the two standing outside the doorway. “I’m going to break the glass!”

Chapter 3

Twilight’s horn began to glow as the others followed her command and backed away from her. She levitated one of the small metal chests from the left side of the room and aimed for the space in the glass below the pony’s hooves. Then, as if hurling a floating baseball, threw it at the glass with all her magical might.

With a loud and piercing crash, the box passed straight through the tube, shattering it instantly. Quickly Twilight put up a forcefield to protect herself from the flying shards. Now only upper portion of the tube remained, still suspended by the cylinder on the ceiling, and pony fell out the bottom, hit the pedestal below, then plopped onto the ground.

The pony laid there motionless, surrounded by a sea of hair reached to the shore of shattered glass around it while the myst of the chemical from the tube filled the room before slowly dissipating. Sparks of electricity lit up here and there as the substance faded, and any creature in the room with fur felt the effects of static.

After a few seconds, the smoke cleared and everyone’s eyes focused on the pony on the floor. No one knew what to expect, if anything. The room was now silent and the pony was still not moving. The thought crossed Twilight, and likely the others as well, that perhaps nothing was going to happen and they were all overreacting.

Then suddenly a cough broke the silence, a cough that obviously didn’t come from any of the onlookers. It was followed by another, and then another. Each cough got louder and longer.

...and then, that mess of green pony hair on the floor started to move.

Everyone somehow manage to freeze themselves more than they already had as the the tangled mass on the floor began to rise, sliding its legs inward and getting ready to stand up, its long hair obscuring its face. The coughing continued until the pony was fully upright, at which point there was one final, disgustingly throaty hack of a cough, followed by slow deliberate inhaling of air.

The pony exhaled a slow, satisfying breath and spoke. “Mare alive! That was a long, strange trip!”

The pony’s audience, while still startled, began to feel more curious than frightened. The volume and pitch of the pony’s voice suggested she was young, but its raspiness made her almost sound like Granny Smith.

She shook her head, trying to get the hair out of her face. Once it was cleared, it revealed to the others in the room with her a pair of yellow eyes and a small, smiling mouth. After a few seconds, perhaps after her eyes focused, she jerked her head back slightly at the sight before her. “Woh! Who are you groovy chicks?”

“Hey! I’m not a chick!.” replied Spike, mildly upset at being confused for a girl.

The pony turned to look at Spike. “Oh hey little buddy! Didn’t see you there! Wow you’re like a little dragon or something. Far out!”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “‘Far out?’ ‘Groovy?’ How long have you been in there?”

The pony looked up at Pinkie, her smile now flattened. “Um...from where?”

“We found you in that giant test tube over there.” Twilight interjected.

The pony turned around to look at her old chamber. “Test tube? Why would I be in there? How’d I get in there?” Her voice was gradually showing signs of nervousness, maybe even panic. She quickly whipped back around to face Twilight ‘How long have I been in there? Who put me in there? Did you put me in there?”

“Well,” answered Twilight, starting to become nervous herself “First of all, no I didn’t put you in there. We found you down here. We’re not going to hurt you. Now as far as how long you’ve been down here, I don’t really know. What’s the last thing you remember?”

The pony only grew more panicked. Her eyes started twitching back and forth, then after a few moments of silence, widened in sheer terror. “I don’t know! I don’t remember anything! Who am I? What is this place? Oh I’m freaking out now, mare. This is really weird. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all!” The now horrified, trembling pony rushed toward Twilight and pressed her face against hers. “What happened to me?”

“Hey!” said Spike sternly, as he pushed the pony away from Twilight. “No one gets in Twilight’s face like that!”

“No. It’s okay.” Twilight said, a response intended to settle down both Spike and the new acquaintance. The pony’s eyes were still wide open with fear and staring straight at Twilight. Twilight was staring back at her, but her eyes were instead showing pity and empathy.

“Look,” Twilight began in a serious tone “I don’t know any more than you do right now and I know it must be scary not being able to remember anything, but we’ll figure it out, together.” Twilight placed her hoof on the pony’s shoulder. “We’re all here for you. Now I want you to take a deep breath and calm down.”

Still trembling, the pony obeyed. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath not unlike the one she took when she first awoke. Her shaking began to slow. She took a few additional deep breaths, then paused as if in deep thought. Her trembling had now stopped completely and after a few moments, she opened her eyes and met with those of her comforter.

“Wow. Thanks a lot, mare. What did the little guy call you again, Twilight?”

“Yup. I’m Twilight Sparkle. The, uh, little guy is my friend and assistant, Spike. And over there is Pinkie Pie.”

“Hi there!” Pinkie Pie interjected in her usual, bubbly fashion.

“Oh and don’t mind the two scary-looking guys behind us. They’re just looking after us.”

The pony let out a short, soft laugh. “Well, nice to meet you all. Sorry about my little freak-out. Um..I would tell you who I am, but um...well I still don’t remember anything.”

“Hmmm..” Twilight said with a contemplative look “I guess until we figure out what your real name is, we’re going to have to make one up.”

“Bushy Hooves!” Pinkie shouted out, obviously referring to her long, unkempt hair.

“Really?” replied Spike “I was thinking ‘Shaggy’”.

The pony remained silent, with a look on her face that implied a certain level of dislike.

Twilight looked at her and thought for a moment. “I know! Your long, green hair kind of makes you look like willow tree. Why don’t we call you..Willow?”

The pony’s mouth slowly reformed its small smile. “I can dig that. Sure.”

Then without warning she launched herself at Twilight and gave her a big, almost suffocating hug. “My name is Willow, and I love you!”

“Um...thanks.” Twilight said while gently pushing her away so she could resume breathing.

“Oh. Sorry,” Willow apologized while stepping back from Twilight, realizing the stranglehold of her hug. “I got a little carried away there. I don’t remember anything about what happened before this, but I do remember that I’m all about peace, love and freedom. That’s what it’s all about, mare!”

Twilight let out a short laugh “Well, you’d fit right in in Ponyville then. We’re all about friendship and harmony.”

“Hmmm...that does sound pretty groovy. Is it far from here?”

“Not at all! After I’m done investigating this room, I would love for you to come with us if you want.”

“Well..I don’t know where I came from..but Ponyville sounds like a place I wanna go.”

“Great! And who knows, we may find something in this room that gives us a clue about your past.”

“Yeah...maybe” Willow said hopefully. “Well, let’s do it!”

Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike all cheered, Pinkie’s cheer of course being the loudest and punctuated by her jumping up and down.

They proceeded out the door of Willow’s small prison and into the main room, happy to have found a new friend in such an unlikely place. Twilight turned her head to one of the guards at the doorway. “The new one is Willow. She’s with us!”

Just as she said that, though, she heard a scream from behind her. She and the others turned around quickly to see the Willow shaking violently, her head facing down to the ground, her teeth clenched, and her entire mane standing up straight into the air like gigantic porcupine quills while rings of electricity flowed down from them.

Everybody stepped back while not taking her eyes off her. The guards’ eyes were especially focused, studying her for any opening they could use to subdue her.

Bolts of electricity poured down Willow like a waterfall of lightning. She continued to shake, and the look on her face indicated that she was in severe pain...

...then, all of sudden, it stopped.

Willow’s hair loosened fell back to a normal position, though now it was dry, frizzy and even more unkempt than before.

The others surrounded her, silently, with eyes open and jaws dropped. Finally, Willow let out a long gasp and Twilight spoke up.

“Uh...Willow?” Is all she could manage to get out as startled as she was.

“I...I’m cool.” Willow answered while still breathing heavily.

“What was that?” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“...not cool. That’s all I know.” answered Willow. Her tone was surprisingly calm considering what just happened, though there was no mistaking her displeasure.

“Are you going to be okay?” Twilight asked.

Willow took one more deep breath “Yeah. I’ll be alright. The bad vibes are gone.”

Twilight was so proud of herself for taking the risk of freeing Willow despite not knowing why she was in there. Now, however, she was beginning to wonder if she made the right choice. Perhaps there was something dangerous about her. She thought for a moment, and decided to think positively. After all, jumping to conclusions had gotten her in serious trouble in the past.

“...Maybe that was just a side effect of being in that tube with that chemical so long.” she offered as an explanation.

“Yeah...” Willow responded, “maybe...”.

Chapter 4

The moment quickly diluted from terrifying to merely awkward, but the group’s gaze was focused on Willow and it was clear that everypony was still nervous. The guards’ facial expressions signaled to Twilight that they still viewed her newfound friend as a threat. Willow, however, looked more embarrassed than anything else.

In an attempt to get past this unpleasantness, Twilight timidly spoke up “Well, if you really think whatever that was is past now, would you like to help me investigate this room? I could definitely use some assistance.”

Willow slowly looked around the room. “Mare alive. Looks like you got your work cut out for you. This is one crazy room.” She paused, then continued “You know something though, mare? It feels like I’ve been here before.”

“It does? Great!”, Twilight replied hopefully, “Like I said maybe we’ll find more things in this place that will jog your memory.”

“That would be very cool.”, said Willow, obviously excited but still not leaving her mellow demeanor.

Twilight turned to the others. “It’s a big place and I need all the help I can get. I could use all of your help, too.”

This request was first met with silence, but it was quickly broken by a loud “Okey dokey!” from Pinkie Pie, who was now acting as if absolutely nothing unsettling just happened.

“Sure thing, Twilight”, Spike answered, perhaps less enthusiastically than Pinkie Pie but nonetheless genuine. “Uh...what do you want us to do?”

“Hmmm...”, Twilight began, “Why don’t we split up and go down separate isles? Spike and I brought three suitcases so let’s split into three groups and each group take a suitcase. Take any object or book that looks like it could give us a clue about what this room is and what it was used for.”

“Sounds good. So..who’s going with who?” Spike asked.

It didn’t take long for Twilight to form the teams in her mind, “Why don’t you go with Pinkie down the aisle we got here from, Spike. The guards can take the aisle on the opposite wall, and Willow and I will start in the aisles in between.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Sparkle”, one of the guards spoke up, “but I think maybe Willow should stay with us. We’re not sure if she’s going to have another..outburst.”

Just when Twilight thought she had gotten everypony’s mind off that incident, the guard brought it up again. It made her upset, but she realized that the guard had a point. Nopony knew what that “outburst” was about but it certainly seemed like it could be something very dangerous to everypony - or at the very least painful to Willow - if it happened again.

Twilight sighed as she turned her head to face her. “Would you be okay with going with the guards instead, Willow? I just think it may be safer since...well, you know..”

She was expecting resistance or at least disappointment, but Willow’s face slowly formed its tiny smile again “Not a problem, mare. I can handle these two cats.”

“Silly. Those are ponies, not cats!” Pinkie Pie interjected.

Surprised yet relieved by Willow’s attitude, Twilight announced her new arrangement “Great, then Willow will go with the guards. Spike, you’ll come with me.”

“Then what’s Pinkie going to do?” Spike asked.

“Pinkie, could you-”

Twilight stopped herself mid-sentence as she turned her head and realized Pinkie was gone, as was one of the suitcases. Within seconds, she could hear various banging and shuffling noises coming from the aisle her and Spike had chased Pinkie down earlier, followed by the familiar sound of roller skates grinding against a stone floor.

“I...guess she’s fine on her own.” said Twilight with some hesitation.

“Well, I guess we better get truckin’, then.” Willow said as she picked up one of the two remaining suitcases with her teeth.

“Okay. Good luck!” Twilight replied happily as her new long-haired friend and the guards turned and headed for other side of the room.

Spike was already picking up last suitcase as Twilight turned to him. “Ready?”

“Yup.”, Spike confirmed, “Let’s go!”

Each of the groups went their separate ways, and as time went on it became obvious that each group was also using separate methods. Twilight’s method was quite ordinary, at least for her. Between flipping through the books on the shelves and sifting through the random junk on the floor, she felt like she was back at home studying while cleaning at the same time, something she did routinely. Spike apparently was in that routine as well and the two worked together like partners in a well-rehearsed ballet. They knew their roles inside-out and no communication was necessary. Consequently, their search through the mysterious room was orderly and quiet.

The same could not be said of the other two groups. Pinkie Pie was making so much noise that a blind pony would have mistaken the room for a fully operational factory. Between the grinding of her newfound roller skates, the clashing and banging of all the random odds and ends, and the rapid opening and closing of hardback books, Twilight was beginning to wonder whether Pinkie Pie was actually investigating the room or tuning up makeshift instruments for an impromptu musical number. Considering the fact that this was Pinkie Pie, the latter seemed much more likely.

Twilight did not want to dwell for too long on what Pinkie Pie was up to, though. Past experience had taught her that it only makes a pony’s head hurt. What she was beginning to dwell on, though, were the sounds coming from the other side of the room where Willow and guards were. There was a lot of talking among them. Twilight could not make out what they were saying, but it sounded like a relaxed conversation, punctuated by occasional laughter. She was encouraged by this. Willow was being escorted by two hardened, indifferent soldiers who obviously saw her as a potential threat and Twilight had feared this would make for a very uncomfortable and tense situation. She was happy to hear them apparently getting along.

All the same, she hoped that their socializing would not distract them from the task at hand. If their side of the room was anything like the aisle she was in, however, it would not make much of a difference. For a room filled with so many books and so much junk, there was strangely little that was noteworthy. Most of the books were reference journals and how-to guides on various subjects, though much like the shelf she checked when she first entered the room, there was a strong emphasis on alchemy. Still Twilight did put a few books into the suitcase, particularly the ones that had writing in the margins. She figured that any writing the Professor himself made could help uncover what his plans were.

A majority of the junk scattered everywhere appeared to be just that: junk. At this point, Twilight was convinced that most of it had the same purpose - or lack thereof - as the room’s bizarre paint job. Professor Voidsdale was a Discordian. He loved chaos, so he littered the floors with assorted garbage to make the room appear as random as possible. It was a tribute to the philosophy he followed, nothing more. Since he was an alchemist, though, Twilight suspected that the beakers may have had a more practical purpose, and she put a few of them in the suitcase, namely the ones that still had chemical residue on them.

Eventually she and Spike made it to the end of their aisle and turned to walk down the adjacent one when they almost collided with Willow and the guards about to do the same. Twilight had noticed that their voices were growing louder and clearer, but she did not think they were that close to her position. “Oh, uh, hey! How’s the search going, guys?”, Twilight asked.

Willow and the guards had been laughing casually together about something. Willow stopped to address Twilight. “Woo-wee, what a long, strange trip it’s been. Have you seen some of this crazy stuff? I’ve seen everything here from toothpaste to barbwire. Like, was this a flee market or somethin’? We’ve mostly been gatherin’ toys. Sharpeye has a little one, ya’ know?”

“Uh...Sharpeye?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Oh,” Willow answered, “That’s this cat right here”, she explained as she pointed to the guard on her right. Sharpeye smiled and nodded. “Cat Number Two,” Willow continued now pointing at the other guard, “calls himself Javelin.” Javelin too acknowledged with a smile and a nod. Willow laughed, “I had a hard time looking they were cracking me up so good.”

“Oh as if you weren’t cutting up too, little lady.” Javelin said in a playful tone.

“Yeah”, Sharpeye added, “I think I was the only one really working.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” rebutted Javelin.

Twilight had not even asked for the guards’ names let alone converse with she first met them. Seeing Willow warming up to them so quickly made her feel a little guilty, but not enough that she was not happy to see them laughing and smiling together.

She laughed at Javelin’s comment as she asked “Well, other than free toys for Sharpeye’s baby, did you guys find anything?”

“I did”, Willow replied, “Check this out.”

She pulled out of her suitcase what looked to be another large reference book, this one with a blue cover. When Twilight looked more closely at it though, she could see that it was well-worn, much more so than the other books she had collected. It looked like it had been used very heavily. More curious, though, was that the book had no title, neither on the cover nor the binding. Twilight used her horn to float the book over to herself and open it. The pages were all hoof-written, with a lot of scribbling in the margins and crudely-drawn diagrams. Twilight also noticed that every few pages there was a date written in the upper-left corner.

“This-this looks like a journal!”, Twilight exclaimed excitedly, “Wow. That’s exactly what I was looking for! Great job, guys!”

The two guards suddenly assumed their formal, upright positions.

“We are proud to serve.”, said Javelin.

“You honor us with your praise.”, said Sharpeye

“Uh...thanks?” said a confused Willow.

“Well,” a delighted Twilight continued, “I guess we should each take a side of this aisle and get it done faster so can help Pinki-”

“All done!”, shouted Pinkie Pie, who was suddenly right behind Twilight.

Everyone jumped, with Twilight almost being knocked to the ground again. Recovering from that initial shock, she was about to ask Pinkie how she managed to sneak up on them, but decided it may be best not to know. Instead, she inquired, “You..did your entire side already?”

“Oh no. I did my entire side, the next row over and this aisle! We’re all done!”, Pinkie answered excitedly.

Twilight was skeptical, “This room has a total of five aisles. You mean you thoroughly went through three of them while the five of us only did two?”

“Of course! I have roller skates!”. Pinkie Pie stood on one hoof and posed gymnast-style to show off her hoofwear.

While she had a good point, Twilight was unsatisfied with this explanation. “Well then, what did you find?”

As Pinkie Pie started opening the suitcase that was on the floor next to her, Twilight’s imagination went wild thinking about what sort of items Pinkie Pie would take from a room like this. Would there be a rubber chicken, large novelty glasses, bunny ears, or perhaps a sock puppet or two? “Likely all of the above and more”, Twilight thought.

However, when the suitcase was opened it was revealed to contain only two items: a thick, well-worn book and a large bottle filled with a mysterious liquid. Twilight maintained her composure but was secretly astonished at how... un-Pinkie these items were. She levitated the book over to herself for a closer look. She blew some of the dust off so she could better read the title on the cover. When she read it, her heart sank. Pinkie Pie had not disappointed after all.

It read “Cooking with Chaos: Discordian Delicacies”.

Twilight sighed, “Pinkie, this looks like a cookbook.”

“Yup!”, Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “I’m going to show it to Mr. and Mrs. Cake. It’s got tons of dessert recipes, like this one!” She pulled the book out of the air, opened it to the page she wanted to show Twilight and put it back, all so swiftly that Twilight’s horn continued to levitate the book as if it had never moved.

Twilight looked at the recipe on the page. “Discordian Pie?”

“I see”, Twilight interrupted as politely as she could. She quickly flipped through the rest of the book. She noticed that, much like the books she chose to put in her suitcase, the cookbook Pinkie found showed signs of heavy use and even had notes scribbled here and there on some of the pages. Perhaps this was not as useless of a find as Twilight first thought. Then there was that bottle with the strange substance in it...

“So..what’s in there?”, Twilight asked Pinkie while looking at the object in question.

“Oh! A lot of the recipes said they needed something called turm oil.”, Pinkie explained, “I never heard of it before and I got worried that Mrs. Cake wouldn’t be able to make all these yummy treats if she didn’t have it so I went digging all around the place and finally I found this bottle under a pile of hacky sacks. It was right next to this one weird broomstick that had a stuffed pony head on it. I think it was supposed to be a toy, but it just looks creepy-”

“I see.”, Twilight said, once again halting Pinkie’s excited ramble. “Honestly, though, I’ve never heard of turm oil either and I’m not sure what it does. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be putting in pony food.”

“But these desserts sound so amazing! And besides the Discoducks were using it!”, Pink Pie argued, possibly referring to the Discordians. “What if I taste-tested it first? I can be the guinea pink!”

This suggestion was followed by a short pause where Twilight’s facial expression failed to change. Pinkie, in desperation, got on her knees and assumed a begging position at Twilight’s hooves. She then proceeded to look up at her with puppy-like eyes and cry “Pleeeeaaasssee....?”

Twilight sighed. She already had taken a serious risk earlier by releasing Willow. Did she really want to compound that by allowing Pinkie Pie to use this unknown chemical as a food ingredient? Then again, Willow so far had not been a problem, save for that strange incident she had earlier, and that happened before they had left the room so nopony was hurt.

“Wait.”, Twilight thought, “That’s it!”

She peered down at her groveling friend. “Okay. you can bring it with us on one condition.”

Pinkie quickly sprang up from her lowly position, nearly hitting Twilight in the jaw on her way up. “Hooray!”, She shouted like a philly on its way to an amusement park. Her enthusiasm was short-lived, however, as the second part of Twilight’s sentence settled into her brain. She became more sheepish as she asked “Um...what’s the condition?”

Twilight placed the book down and levitated the bottle of turm oil over to Pinkie. “You have to take a sip of it right now.”

Chapter 5

Spike, Willow, Javelin and Sharpeye, who had been watching this debate between Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle pan out from the sidelines, were now staring at Twilight in stunned silence. Spike looked especially shocked at her request. “Uh...Twilight?”, he asked timidly..

“We’re not sure what this turm oil stuff does”, Twilight explained, partially to Spike but more directly to Pinkie who she continued to fix her eyes on, “so if you’re going to try it out, I’d rather you do it here and now. That way the only ponies that can get hurt are us. “There’s a lot of strange chemicals in Equestria, especially in alchemy labs. You could end up breathing fire or shooting lightning out of your eyes or something.”

Twilight meant what she said and was genuinely concerned about what effects turm oil could have on the pony that used it, or any nearby pony. Her real goal in insisting that Pinkie drink the substance immediately, however, had to do with giving Pinkie second thoughts about using an unknown chemical as a food ingredient. It was clearly an unwise idea but at the same time Twilight did not want to upset Pinkie by just saying “no”. She was hoping that by confronting Pinkie Pie she would simply change her mind.

It appeared to be working, too. Pinkie seemed to be listening to Twilight’s argument intently and after she was done speaking, there was a long pause as if Pinkie was digesting what she had just been told.

But then she broke the silence with a loud “Okay!”, and pulled the bottle out of the suitcase and popped the cork.

Twilight, Spike and the guards gasped, backed away from Pinkie as quickly as possible. Willow attempted to follow suit, but only made it half as far as the others before she tripped over her own hair and fell to the ground. Even she joined the others, though, in staring back at Pinkie in horror as she lifted the bottle to her mouth.

Pinkie opened her mouth and took a big swig of the turm oil like it was a glass of the Apple family’s cider with a loud, thunderous gulp.

And then there was silence, a long anxious pause that neither Twilight nor the others were able to break. They were too scared. Pinkie was silent as well, but her eyes were closed, as if she was meditating on something.

Then suddenly, the silence was broken as Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, licked her lips and declared, “Mmm! Cherry!”. She rushed over to Twilight and shoved the bottle in her face. “You gotta try this! It’s delicious!”

Twilight flinched at this offer. She was relieved that nothing happened to Pinkie Pie - at least not immediately - but she wasn’t convinced turm oil was safe for consumption and she was definitely upset over Pinkie’s reckless behavior. Still, her fear and shock had subsided enough that she had the nerve to push back. Her horn lit up and her magic swiped the bottle from Pinkie. Twilight placed the bottle behind herself as she stood up to look Pinkie Pie in the eyes. “Pinkie, just because something tastes good doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”, she said to her sternly, “You may have just made yourself sick.”

“But.. I feel fine.”, rebutted Pinkie plainly.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t make you feel bad later.”, Twilight argued, “You may not feel the effects for a while. And even if nothing happens to you, that doesn’t mean it won’t do something bad to another pony. We don’t know what’s in that stuff.”

“Yes we do!” Pinkie argued back. She reached for the cookbook, turned to one of the first pages, and held it up to Twilight’s face.

Twilight’s horn picked up the book and repositioned it slightly. The page explained the recipe for making turm oil, including all its ingredients. To Twilight’s surprise, she recognized all of them. There were no foreign chemicals or unknown elements. All of the ingredients were common, over-the-counter products that could be easily bought from any grocery store at the Ponyville marketplace.

“This-this is a completely normal drink!” Twilight said in astonishment. She closed the book and gave it back to Pinkie, though with a suspicious look on her face. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

Pinkie paused for a moment, then said, “Hmm...I don’t know!”, and smiled.

Twilight put her hoof to her head in disgust.

“Well, since it’s safe,” Javelin spoke up, “mind if I try some?”

“Sure!”, agreed Pinkie, “Just leave enough that I can show Mrs. Cake!”

Javelin walked over, picked up the bottle and took a short drink. After drinking so, however, he seemed more confused than delighted. “Um...that’s not cherry, that’s orange-flavor.”

“Really?”, asked Pinkie, “Let me try again.”. Javelin handed her the bottle and she took another sip. “Well, it’s looks like I was mistaken. That’s actually grape.”

“Hey wait a minute.”, Spike interjected. “Let me try some.”

Spike took the bottle and drank some. He shrugged, “It tastes like Strawberry to me.”

Without saying speaking, Sharpeye walked over and gestured to Spike to hand him the bottle. Spike obliged and Sharpeye tried the drink for himself. His expression after doing so looked more confused than Javelin’s “...Chocolate?”

Twilight’s curiosity was beginning to get the better of her. She motioned to Sharpeye to give her the bottle next. Doing what moments ago she had no intention of doing, she took a sip of the strange concoction. It was definitely an oil, viscous and thick, but the flavor itself was more reminiscent of a certain normal beverage, “Lemonade.” Twilight said surprised, “Wow. That’s actually pretty amazing! Who knew something with such basic ingredients could actually change flavor like that?”

“Now don’t you think it would make a really fun dessert?” Pinkie asked Twilight.

“Yeah,” Twilight said smiling for the first time in a while, “Yeah I think so!”

“Hey!”, a raspy voice interjected, “What does the new chick have to do to get a swig of the wonder juice?”

“Oh, sorry Willow,”, Twilight apologized, “Here!”

“Just not too much, okay? It’s already getting low.”, Pinkie advised.

“No problem, funny mare.” Willow replied as she took the bottle from Twilight.

Willow lifted the bottle and tried to take a sip, but as soon as the liquid reached her tongue, she spat it out, and violently. She continued to spit and cough as if she had just tried to drink the entire bottle in one gulp. The others backed away from her to avoid the spray. Even after she finished spitting, she still panted heavily and hung her tongue out like a dog.

“Mare, that wath not funny.”, Willow said with a lisp that suggested her tongue was now incapacitated.

“What happened, Willow? Did your flavor taste bad?” asked a concerned Twilight.

“Yeth I did”, Willow replied disgruntled, “Thince when ith it a nithe thing to pway a twick on thomepony you juth met?”

Spike was covering his mouth, obviously trying not to burst out laughing at Willow’s new impediment.

The other were amused as well and even Twilight herself was having trouble keeping a straight face, but she managed to maintain her composure. “No one was trying to trick you, Willow. We seriously all tasted something different.”

“I can confirm there was joke intended, miss Willow”. Javelin said confidently.

“Copy that.” said Sharpeye.

“Maybe you just got a bad flavor.” Pinkie Pie suggested. “Wanna try it again?”

Willows tongue slowly retracted back in mouth and she swallowed. “No way, mare. I’m done with that stuff.”

“Hmmm...maybe you’re allergic or something.”, Twilight proposed.

“Yeah...” Willow responded, “maybe...”.

Part 2, Chapter 2