Banana Split

Spike had been watching for her arrival. He waisted no time on formalities, opening the door, so that she could swoop in and get to it without having to knock.

Cadence rushed to the library, the dragon ran alongside her.

“It’s bad, I’ve never seen her this bad before. She’s Twilghting on a whole new level.”

They threw open the final set of doors.

“Huh whuzat!”

Startled, Twilight looked back and forth, then she looked downward.

“Oh no, I drooled on Ocellus’s essay. I can’t grade it like this, or hand it back to her. This was mouth written, she worked so hard on it, what have I done.”

Starlight lifted her head, zapped it with that spell she used to restore the friendship journal, then nodded back to sleep.

“Thanks Starlight.”

Cadence eyed the room. There was a stack of papers so high it threatened to collapse and crush Twilight. A schedule was written on the blackboard which spilled over onto the walls and floor. Post-its were everywhere, and the next step she took trampled over mile five of the too-do-list.

“Twilight, did you work so hard you passed out.”

“What, no I couldn’t have. I would never sleep on the job. What sort of head-mare would I be it I were the type of pony who sleeps on the job?”

“Starlight’s doing it,” Spike commented.

Twilight said nothing, she just put a blanket over her and motioned for them to take this into the next room.

They tried to close the door gently, yet there was a crash from the stack of papers finally falling over.

“Cadence, I know what you’re going to say.”

“I know a way you might be able to work three times more effectively.”

Twilights eyes bugged out and Cadence just calmly let loose a wry grin.

A few minutes later they were out in the garden.

“Now watch closely. I’m going to cast the spell on you this time, and next time you can do it for yourself.”

With a stick, Cadence drew a triangle in the dirt, then asked Twilight to stand in the center.

Twilight watched her with the upmost seriousness. Cadence believed she could repeat this spell after seeing her perform it once, and Twilight did not want to disappoint.

Cadence explained that this was a well kept secret amongst Alicorns.

“If that’s so, then why hasn’t Celestia taught it to me yet?”

“There are dangers with this spell. Don’t worry, I’m here if anything goes awry. You see Twilight, we as Alicorns embody aspects of the three pony races. We are Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns combined. This spell separates those aspects.”

“You mean I’ll become three ponies, an Earth Pony, a Pegasi and a Unicorn. That is so fascinating. And when the spell wears off, I’ll have the memories of all three.”

“Wait,” Spike interrupted, “what’s the dangerous part. Why hasn’t Celestia shown this to her yet?”

“Just as your bodies will be different from one another, your mind will not be the same in each of your three forms.”

“My mind won’t be the same?” Twilight spoke in a high pitch. She was trembling just a bit. It was an excited tremble though.

“Each of the three will still be you, just different aspects of you. Here’s an example, when Celestia splits her Earth Pony form likes chocolate cake the best, her Unicorn form prefers vanilla, and her Pegasus form just loves strawberry.”

“Really, her favourite cake isn’t any of those three when she’s whole.”

“Here is another example. When I split, my Pegasus form is all about its royal duties, it doesn’t even give my daughter a second thought, that is frightening for me, but it is okay because my earth pony form loves her with a purer form of all the love I have for her.”

Twilight nodded, analyzing the ramifications.

“So what does the unicorn version of you do?” Spike asked.

Cadence’s face blushed a crimson red. “Let’s just say that aspect of me is Shining Armours favourite.”

Twilight remained in the dirt sketched triangle, so Cadence knew she still wished to continue.

Candence readied herself to cast the spell.

“What about princess Luna?” Spike asked.

“She doesn’t do it much, thankfully.”

Spike wouldn’t drop the issue after that cryptic last word, so Cadence explained.

“One of her aspects is, basically Nightmare Moon.”

“Really.”

“Yes.”

“So she can just let Nightmare moon out and talk to her, like they were separate beings.”

“Well, they don’t talk exactly. One time I saw her let Nightmare moon out just so the other two could wail on her. It was… more disturbing then the whole Tantabus thing. That mare’s psychologist sure has his work cut out for him.”

At last they moved on to the spell.

Twilight stood in the triangle, and Cadence stood at the base.

Something glowed in Cadences chest, then moved up to her horn, she passed the glow to Twilight, and Twilight trustingly took it into herself.

‘Where three is one,
Let one be three,
From inner turmoil,
Now be free.

Twilight seemed to fade as three other ponies came into focus. One stood at each of the points, and sure enough there was a lavender unicorn, earth pony, and one Pegasus.

When she was certain the spell was complete, the Unicorn Twilight frolicked outward to where she could spot the others.

“This is amazing, you three are amazing. Now we can get three times the work done. Amazing!”

The Pegasus Twilight, stretched her wings, admiring them in the process. They were more muscular then before. It felt like the strength was there, yet it had been diluted, now she was a more pure version of herself. She wanted to explore her body, get to know it, be physical with it. “Sorry egghead, you’re only getting two times the work done.”

“Excuse me,” unicorn Twilight spoke in shock. “What do you mean only two?”

“I wanna see what this body of mine can do, how different it is without you fillies diluting my awesomeness.”

“Your awesomeness,” Spike raised an eyebrow, speaking in his more dry and sarcastic tone.

“You mean you won’t help at all?”

“I am helping, by getting out of the way. I don’t think I’d know a good essay from a bad one anyway. You two eggheads do you’re thing, me, I need to be doing something at least twenty percent cooler than this right now.”

In a gust of wind, Pegasus Twilight took off with greater speed then Twilight ever thought she was capable.

Unicorn Twilight looked at Cadence. The look seemed to say aren’t you going to go after her.

“Well, I don’t think she’s evil necessarily.”

Earth pony twilight jumped twice into the air, as though trying to take off after Pegasus Twilight. She seemed embarrassed at the realization that she was grounded.

“The way she acted was very familiar.” Earth pony Twilight tried to make an insightful comment, as though looking to redeem herself for her silly actions a moment ago. “Maybe, since wings are new to us, her personality is less formed and just copies a role model.”

“Then why couldn’t it have been Fluttershy?” Unicorn Twilight sighed. “I guess now you’re going to start acting like Pinkie Pie.”

“Of course not, darling.

Unicorn took a moment to catch that last word, but when Earth Pony Twilight caught that look of realization on her face, she couldn’t help but break out laughing. Earth Twi worried that maybe there was a little Pinkie in her.

Meanwhile, Starlight, was still asleep.