Friendship is Manic

“Gah!” Twilight gasped, hastily disentangling himself from Nightmare Moon and rushing backwards to the relative safety of his newfound companions. Nightmare Moon herself didn’t so much get up as melt, all of the scant coloration of her form dissolving into liquid night, only to bubble up and reshape itself to present her in a standing position.

“Were you not impressed by our divine beauty?” Nightmare Moon asked with a wry smile, her darker-than-dark eyes boring into Twilight’s own. “We were most surprised you dared touch us at all. Many would die for such a privilege, and many have.”

Twilight felt a lump rising in his throat, and he swallowed it uncomfortably, but said nothing. A nervous glance at his friends revealed their own tense wariness, but nopony dared speak.

“Have you nothing to say to us?” Nightmare Moon asked, her wry smile widening into a sinister grin.

“What do you mean, to ‘us’?” asked Pinkie Pie.

For a fraction of a moment, Nightmare Moon’s sinister smile faltered.

“I think she’s using the ‘royal we’,” Twilight explained. “It’s an old tradition amongst queens, kings, and other monarchs. Celestia used it herself until a few centuries ago, when language language had evolved beyond its convention.”

Nightmare Moon’s grin dropped back to a wry smile, though this time somewhat strained.

“Historical linguistics lesson later,” Spike pleaded. “Dealing with evil demigoddess now.”

Nightmare Moon tried to reacquire her look of malicious glee, but the moment looked to be lost.

“She wasn’t using the ‘royal we’ earlier,” Rarity pointed out.

Nightmare Moon frowned.

“Sounds like a bunch of malarkey, if ya ask me,” Applejack added. “All them hoity-toity city folk, talkin’ like they’re better than the hard workin’ common ponies that run this kingdom.”

Nightmare Moon snarled.

“Princess Celestia is a butterfly?!” Pinkie gasped.

“Enough!” Nightmare Moon thundered, quite literally, as dark clouds materialized in the air over the Everfree, thunderbolts of unnatural cobalt singing the air. “I am Equestria’s doom, and I demand to be treated with the proper fear and respect such a threat deserves!”

“But you said ‘I’ again, so which is it?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Is it ‘you’ or ‘me’ or ‘I’ or ‘we’ or ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ or... Holy cow!”

A massive thunderbolt struck directly where Nightmare Moon had been standing, leaving only a roiling plume of umbral smoke. Sparks flared and popped like dying stars in miniature, and this time Twilight was certain he could hear screaming voices in the crackle of the fiery vapor.

“Our sister is more of a fool than we had thought if she chose you lot as her champions,” Nightmare Moon’s voice faded on the wind of the dissipating smoke. “We should destroy you all here and now to spare you another moment of your wretched existence. However, we have a more fitting punishment in mind for your insolence. We shall destroy that which you seek before you may claim it, so that you may bear witness to Equestria’s fall from your failure. Only then, when you have tasted the bitter sting of your own weakness, shall I grant you the mercy of death.”

The rest of the smoke billowed away on the chill wind, taking an echoing chorus of angry laughter with it.

“I had been wondering why she didn’t just blow us all up with spooky dark magic right away,” Pinkie Pie said after the group had caught their breath. “I guess that does answer my other question, too, though; why she didn’t just destroy the whatever-it-is we’re searching for to use against her the moment she came back from the moon. What is it we’re searching for, anyway, Twilight? You haven’t told us yet other than ‘lost magic treasure’.”

“Yeah, what exactly is this magic treasure, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m all for saving Equestria, but it would be nice if this ‘treasure’ was also still a treasure, if you catch my drift.”

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking of all the toys and treats I’ll be able to buy for my animal friends with my share,” Fluttershy added quietly. “Uh... Twilight...?”

Twilight had fallen to his knees, his eyes wide, staring blankly ahead.

“Twilight, buddy?” Spike asked. “You okay?”

“I was finally right,” Twilight whispered.

“What was that, Twi?” Spike ventured further, giving Twilight an affectionate yet wary pat on the shoulder. “You’re scaring us.”

“I was finally right!” Twilight shouted, his fists clenching and unclenching, the blank look in his eyes turning wild and fiery. “I sent Princess Celestia six hundred letters about a magical catastrophe about to befall Equestria. Six hundred! The one time I’m right, that I actually have a chance to save Equestria, to do something, to matter, to prove to Celestia and everypony else that I’m not crazy, I get so excited about saving the day that I overlook the simplest of details.”

“That Nightmare Moon could go right to the treasure immediately and destroy it?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Yes!” Twilight choked. “Equestria, the world, my dream of not being crazy... They’re all doomed!”

“Prince Twilight, you’re giving up?” Rarity asked. “Just like that?”

“I’m not a prince!” Twilight spat.

“I don’t care what you are, as long as you’re not a quitter,” Rainbow Dash said. “Sure, you’ve been a little weird since we met. Okay, you’ve been really weird, but the idea of this adventure has been the most fun thing I’ve done in ages. Besides that, Equestria is depending on us, and that means we can’t give up no matter what!”

“If mah granny had given up on concoctin’ the best apple cider in town after just the first few hundred failed batches, we’d have nothin’ but a useless apple farm and a few hundred bowls of stinky mush,” Applejack added. “But she stuck it out, made the best durn recipe ever, and now we’re the biggest apple cider suppliers this side of Canterlot.”

“It doesn’t matter if we give up,” Twilight said sourly. “Nightmare Moon is probably there right now. Maybe she already destroyed the treasure. They’re the Elements of Harmony, by the way, not that it matters anymore.”

“Elements of Harmony...” Pinkie Pie thought aloud, stroking his chin. “...That sounds familiar.”

“I could ask the animals of the forest to help us get there faster,” Fluttershy suggested. “Maybe Nightmare Moon didn’t find these Elements yet, and we still have time?”

“She can teleport, she’s got alicorn magic, and the Elements were hidden away in her older sister’s old castle,” Twilight huffed, sitting back, crossing his arms across his legs, and burying his face in them. “If I actually knew the teleport spell well enough not to get stuck in a wall each time I used it, and didn't have such a horn-ache from practicing, maybe I could have gotten there just in time as well.”

“You’re really giving up?” Spike asked. “I had expected more from you, Twilight.”

“Go away, Spike,” Twilight sighed. “All of you, go away. Please.”

The others exchanged uncertain looks. Spike, meanwhile, merely rolled his eyes.

“Okay,” Spike said simply. “I guess Equestria is doomed, then. All thanks to you, Twilight.”

“...What?” Twilight said, daring to peek up.

“You said it yourself,” Spike said with an exaggerated shrug. “Nightmare Moon probably already found the Elements and destroyed them. I’m sure Princess Celestia will be so disappointed in you.”

“What?!” Twilight gasped. “Spike...”

“I guess you really are just a crazy unicorn after all,” Spike said, turning his back to Twilight and crossing his arms, hanging his head.

At least, that’s the impression Twilight could see from behind. Spike glanced up the slightest bit, saw that the rest of the group was watching him with equal parts surprise and suspicion, and gave them all a wink.

“Three...” Spike mouthed, but did not speak aloud. “Two... One...”

“I’m not crazy,” Twilight said quietly, fire returning to his eyes, one of which gave a sudden twitch. “I’m NOT crazy. I saw what nopony else was willing to see. I found what nopony else could find. I’ll show you. I’ll show them. I’ll show them all. I’m not crazy! EVERYPONY ELSE IS CRAZY!

“We’re all going to be heroes and save Equestria whether you believe in me or not, Spike!” Twilight declared, scrambling to his feet. “Come on, everypony. Let’s go stop Nightmare Moon!”

“I knew you had it in you, Twilight,” Spike said with a wide, toothy grin. “So, which way to the Elements of Harmony? Uh, Twilight? What are you doing?”

One of his eyes still twitching spasmodically, both eyes glowing fiercely, and breathing haggardly, Twilight cast a dim yet brightening glow from the tip of his horn.

“There’s only one way to get us there fast enough,” Twilight said through gritted teeth, a low, uncomfortable chortle rising in his throat. “I can do it! I know the spell! I have the magic! Goddesses above, this hurts like Tartarus!”

“Twilight, no!” Spike gasped, but it was too late.

A blinding flash erupted from Twilight’s horn, enveloping them all.

. . .

There was nothing.

Nothing but more nothing, and then some nothing, and more nothing after that. An infinity of naught, an eternity without time, a void without space, a canvas without paint, a story without ink, unwritten, undreamt, and forgotten before it was even created.

Then, with a blinding brilliance that hurt like the sun rising in his face, Twilight fell out of nonexistence and back into the all-too-real agony of reality. Tumbling several times with the gloriously aching body he had suddenly reacquired after briefly passing through that horrible oblivion between teleports, Twilight finally came to rest against the base of a gnarled old tree with a facefull of dirt, crumpled leaves, and what felt like a large rock wedged inside his mouth.

“...Mmm?” Twilight called out, although the decaying detritus of the forest floor proved quite muffling.

“Twilight!” Spike’s voice called out in turn, as if he had somehow understood Twilight all the same. “Are you there? Are you hurt? Are you insane?!”

Twilight gasped and spat out his mouthful of dirt, leaves, and the lone stone as Spike’s surprisingly strong hand bopped him across the top of his head. Shaking said head to clear the after-image of dancing spots, Twilight stood up and brushed himself off, his dizziness slowly subsiding and the dreary darkness of the Everfree Forest coming into focus all around him. Spike was looking up at him with a mixture of worried terror and furious consternation.

Twilight opened his mouth to speak, only for Spike to shout “What were you thinking?! You could have teleported us all inside a tree, or left parts of our bodies behind, or gotten us all lost in transit forever!”

“I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight said with a giddy grin. “It was the only way to reach the castle in time. But we made it! I finally performed a proper teleport spell, the biggest one anypony outside of Celestia herself has made in centuries!”

Spike’s draconic brow furrowed, then just kept on furrowing, lowering so darkly and heavily across his slitted eyes that they threatened to close entirely.

“Pop quiz, Twilight,” Spike hissed through gritted teeth.

“Spike, I hardly think this is the time for--” Twilight began.

“Question one,” Spike interrupted. “Does it look like we teleported to an ancient castle?”

Twilight was about to retort that of course they had, only to falter, look around at the seemingly endless expanse of gnarled, towering trees and darkened underbrush all about them, and finally admit with a defeated squeak, “No.”

“Question two,” Spike went on. “Do you see any of the rest of the ‘brave and noble heroes’ you asked to join us?”

Twilight didn’t have to answer; his pained expression spoke for him.

“That’s what I thought,” Spike said. “Question three. Where are they?”

“...Uh...” Twilight managed to utter, although he found it hard to say more. “...They’re back where we last left them... Probably. Maybe I was only able to teleport the two of us?”

“Probably?” Spike echoed, one of his brows rising while the other remained firmly lowered. “And if you’re wrong?”

“Then... Uh... Well, you see...” Twilight stammered as Spike’s lone skeptical eyebrow rose higher, then higher, and higher still, threatening to float right off his face. “They may have teleported randomly, and be scattered across the Everfree Forest like we were. Or... Parts of them may have been. Or they never reappeared.”

“Final question,” Spike said. “Can you find them?”

“I should be able to,” Twilight said with a small smile. “Tracking magic is easy enough, so I just have to cast a spell to lead us to traces of my own spell-signature wherever they reappeared... Hopefully.”

There was a tense silence for a moment, Spike staring expectantly at Twilight, Twilight standing still and doing nothing.

“...Well?” Spike asked at last. “Why aren’t you casting the spell?”

“I thought I was casting the spell,” Twilight said as his face fell and his eyes widened. “No, don’t tell me I burnt out again!”

Twilight’s hands flew to his horn, feeling no breaks, no cracks, and most surprisingly of all, no aches or pains, even after such a tremendous expenditure of magic.

“And now we have to wait for you to recharge,” Spike grumbled. “Just great!”

“No...” Twilight uttered in a voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t think that’ll work.”

“Why not?” Spike asked.

“My horn doesn’t even hurt,” Twilight said. “It hurt like crazy all day after I tried to teleport last, and that was just me moving from my bedroom to being stuck in the wall between my bedroom and the next room over.”

“...So?” Spike huffed, not following.

“I think I broke it,” Twilight said, his voice wavering. “My magic. My horn. All of it. I think I burnt out for good.”

Spike’s gaze softened, but only for a moment, before hardening more fiercely than ever.

Spike stared at Twilight for a good long while.

Twilight tried his best to return the stare with an earnest, hopeful grin against what felt like a horrendous weight crushing down on his shoulders.

Spike’s stare intensified.

Twilight’s grin wavered. He felt a cold sweat break out across his coat.

Spike’s stare could have stopped a stampeding royal guardsman.

Twilight swallowed uncomfortably, his breath catching in his throat.

Empires had crumbled to dust under less pressure than that which currently flowed from Spike’s stare. The tides of war, famine, plague, and death itself held nothing to the infinite displeasure of this one, tiny dragon.

“Okay I’m sorry I was stupid and I messed up big time!” Twilight finally blurted in a mad rush, taking a deep breath at last. “I may have cost myself my magic and killed our new friends and doomed all of Equestria. Stop staring at me like that! You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“Your heart isn’t going to get a chance to attack you before I do,” grumbled a scratchy, androgynous voice as a blur of azure feathers and polychromatic hair dashed out of the underbrush and tackled into Twilight, knocking him to the ground, Rainbow Dash pinning him down with surprising strength for such a slight, short stallion. “What did you do?! Where’s Fluttershy? Where’s everypony else? Where the Tartarus are we?!”

“Can’t... Answer...” Twilight wheezed.

“Why?” Rainbow Dash demanded, giving Twilight a rough shake.

“Can’t... Breathe...” Twilight sputtered.

Rainbow let up on Twilight, but not by much.

“I’m good at magic, but teleportation is a really advanced spell,” Twilight said. “I thought it would be the only way to get us all there fast enough, but it looks like I failed.”

“You could have killed us all, then?” Rainbow asked.

“He may have killed us all anyway,” Spike mumbled.

“I could have,” Twilight sighed, but his gaze hardened. “But I had to try. I had to do something. Would you rather we have walked to the center of the Everfree Forest, only to arrive long after Nightmare Moon destroyed the Elements? I know it was risky, but you said it yourself, Rainbow. We can’t give up, no matter what. I put everything I had into that spell to try and save Equestria. Yes, to prove to myself that I could do it, that I could matter enough to be the one to save the day, but also to really, genuinely save everypony we know and love from Nightmare Moon. If I could try again, I would, even if it meant it would be the last spell I ever cast. Even if I knew I’d lose all my magic to save Equestria, if there was even the slimmest chance that it would work and I had no other options, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Spike’s gaze softened, and he looked away.

“You’re right, Twilight,” Spike sighed. “There was no real option, I guess. I’m sorry I yelled at you... And I’m sorry about your magic.”

“It’s okay, Spike,” Twilight said with another small smile. “I’d probably have yelled at me too if I were in your position.”

“...Fine,” Rainbow Dash relented at last, getting up off of Twilight and helping him up. “I’m sorry, too. But we should hurry. Maybe there’s still time.”

“We can’t give up no matter what, right?” Twilight said.

“No matter what,” Rainbow agreed.

“There’s only one other problem,” Spike said. “Which way are the castle ruins from here?”

Before Twilight could attempt an answer, the three of them spun around at the sound of something rustling in the underbrush. Something was stirring in the pile of dirt and leaves at the base of the old tree where Twilight had reappeared, the grime finally parting as the lone rock that had wedged itself in Twilight’s mouth rolled free. It continued to roll, somehow propelling itself past Rainbow and Spike before coming to rest at Twilight’s hooves.

You have passed the trial of the mystic with grace and sacrifice, whispered a voice in Twilight’s mind, causing him to flinch as the stone rose from the ground, floating before him. Fear not, Twilight Sparkle, for hope yet remains. The sun has yet to fully set. The moon has yet to reach its zenith. Whether one shall reign supreme or they both shall share the skies in the true balance of harmony shall be yours to decide.

Cracks appeared in the rock, a bright, violet luminance shining from within. The light grew brighter until whatever lay inside shattered through its stone skin, revealing a gem glowing so brightly it hurt to look at.

Your companions shall be tested in their own way, the voice continued in Twilight’s mind. We have taken it upon ourselves to give your world a chance to save itself. Neither defeat nor victory are certain. You, however, have been chosen as the anchor point through which victory may be achieved.

Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle, the voice finished as the gem flew towards Twilight. You are now the host of the Element of Magic. First, however, a few adjustments are in order...