Isn't Understanding Magic Worth The Cost?
Twilight Sparkle struggled to keep her eyes open. Her vision blurred, she could only make out a bright light shining onto her. The smell of blood and rotting flesh permeated the air, causing her to cough and retch as she gasped for air. Her sight coming back to her, she focused on her left arm, which was strapped to the metallic surface she was lying on. She clenched her fist and tried to wriggle that arm free. She looked at her right arm, which was also strapped in, and tried to wriggle that one free too. With all her might, she tried pulling both arms out of the straps. But as much as she struggled and wormed, it was no use. She tried to move her legs too but they were also held firmly in place.
“Whu…” Twilight mumbled weakly, “Where...am I?”
She observed her surroundings. There were scanners emitting a cyan light to her left and a bespectacled human in a lab coat, standing in front of a sharp mechanism and a wooden shelf filled with rows upon rows of brains in jars, to her right. The human looked exactly like Twilight but there was something...off...about her. She wore a toothy smile that looked too big for a face. While she was used to Pinkie Pie having a smile like that, it looked wrong when it was seen on somebody else. Especially when that somebody else had an uncanny resemblance to her human form.
“Good, you’re still alive,” her doppleganger said, “I was worried that I hit you too hard. It would be very annoying to have drawn your attention only to accidentally give you a fatal skull fracture.”
Twilight continued to try and release herself from the straps.
“Oh, I wouldn’t recommend doing that,” the other her said, “You might get rope burn doing that. Or would it be leather burn? Well, you get some kind of burn. Also, I made the straps extra tight so you won’t try to escape.”
“Escape?” Twilight asked frantically, “Where am I? What is all this?”
“You know that message Sunset sent you?” the other Twilight replied, “The one that said it was an emergency and the school was in peril? That was me. Not the school being peril because I made that up but me writing to you pretending to be Sunset.”
The other Twilight giggled, “That Sunset Shimmer sure was something, wasn’t she? Rudely taking away my magic. I didn’t even get the chance to find out just how powerful I was. But, luckily for me, I have a remedy for that.”
Twilight scowled at her other self, “What did you do to her?”
The other Twilight tutted as she waved her finger about, “You really don’t wanna know.”
“If you hurt her, I’ll-”
“You’ll what? Spit in my eye?”
Twilight looked towards the row of brain-filled jars, “Are...are those?”
“Brains?” her duplicate responded, “Yes, they are. Some of them from donations, others I had personally extracted myself.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in fear at what her other self said. Did she just admit to murdering people by plucking their brains out?
“You see,” the other Twilight said as she patted the device behind her, “You are not the first test subject I had. Although, I’m honestly hoping you’ll be the last. It would be unfortunate if your body was going to reject me the same way the other subjects rejected my previous brain transplant patients. That said, my latest test was a success and I can safely assure you she was very pleased with her new body. Though, you’d think a little girl would rather get older the natural way than ask someone to scoop her brain out and put it inside a teenager. Especially since the process was very messy. Then again, her new body wasn’t from around here so perhaps she knew what she was in for if she ever decided to go through that portal under the statue at Canterlot High. Anyway, I should stop rambling now. There’s only so much time before someone finds this place.”
Twilight quivered, “What are going to do to me?”
The other Twilight pushed the machine towards her captive, “I just told you what I was going to do to you. Well, one thing I would do to you anyway. That’s merely a last resort should things get a little bit more complicated.”
Without warning, the duplicate placed a helmet-shaped part of the machine onto Twilight’s head. Twilight continued to struggle and panic. She started to hyperventilate. Her heart was beating like a racehorse. She needed a way to get out and she needed it now. She frantically tried pulling her arms and legs out of their bonds again.
“Hmm,” the other Twilight hummed as she looked at the readings on the scanner, “You really should lower your heart rate. It’s currently at 130 beats per minute.”
“Let me go!” Twilight shouted, “Please!”
“You know, begging isn’t going to get you anywhere,” her duplicate apathetically responded.
The other Twilight removed the helmet from her identical captive, which flew halfway across the room due to the latter thrashing about. She pressed a button on the mechanism that caused a mechanical arm to emerge. The arm had what looked like an unusual combination between a scalpel and an egg-beater attached to the end of it, with the scalpel covered in blood.
“SOMEPONY!” Twilight shouted “HELP!”
“Don’t bother,” the doppelganger said coldly, “I had the lab sound-proofed months ago. Mainly due to complaints from the neighbours that the machinery was keeping them awake.”
Tired from the constant struggling, Twilight slumped back into the table. She could still feel her heart beating at a rapid pace. She hyperventilated as the arm moved the blade directly above her head.
“You know, this device isn’t used just for brain transplantation,” the duplicate explained, “I also use it for memory alteration and/or to imprint information.”
The blade lowered towards Twilight’s head. Twilight actually felt the scalpel touch her forehead. She knew that, if she continued to struggle, it would slice right through the skin. Perhaps even deeper than that.
“You know how you were trying to wriggle yourself free?” the other Twilight rhetorically asked, “Yeah, you really don’t want to do that now. So sit back and think of something nice. Trust me, you’ll live longer.”
And with a flick of a switch, the device whirred to life and began to slice through Twilight’s skull. Twilight screamed in agony as the muscle and tendons in her forehead were severed. She could feel the knife piercing the bone as it carved away in a circular motion. Feeling the resulting blood flow trickling down her face, she closed her eyes as tightly as possible. Soon enough, the blade stopped its incision and slowly pulled away from her cranium. Twilight gasped for air. She could taste the blood and sweat dripping down her mouth. Even though the scalpel had done its job, she could still feel its sting around her head. Her eyes still closed tightly, she felt something grip at her head. She screamed even more as whatever had a hold on her head slowly removed her skullcap. She felt sick. She didn’t know how long she was going to last. And then she felt a sharp stab in her thigh. Her eyes bolted wide open, her sight tinted with a red shade, she continued to hyperventilate from the sudden energy rush.
“Nothing like an adrenaline shot to keep you awake for the next step,” the duplicate said jovially, “Can’t have you be too relaxed and nod off halfway through.”
Twilight could only stare at her other self in shock. She was too terrified to even try hating her captor for what she did. To see someone, to hear their callous words, with her face and in her voice just felt wrong. Like the other self shouldn’t exist but does so anyway. Ignoring her captive’s stare, the other Twilight opened up a compartment in the mechanism and pulled out some electrodes.
“I always thought that whoever said the brain was the sexiest organ was a liar,” she said as she gently attached the electrodes to her captive’s exposed brain, “But actually seeing yours while it’s still inside you is making me rethink my opinion.”
“W...Why,” Twilight weakly asked, “Why are you...doing...this?”
“Your friends took away my magic,” the other self bitterly replied, “I was this close to understanding it. To know what I could do with such power. So now I’ve been trying to take it back, using whatever methods necessary.”
She pointed towards six jars, all in a row and each containing different coloured orbs of energy. Twilight felt a sudden zap of electricity through her brain as she witnessed the duplicate flip a switch. She convulsed and seized up as the electricity surged through her. The duplicate switched the electricity off, with Twilight slumping over. While she felt like she had the biggest headache ever, she wondered if the suffering was over.
“Don’t relax just yet,” the other Twilight said, “That was just a warm-up. A little test to see if everything is in good shape.”
The other Twilight looked towards the monitor, which now showed Twilight’s memories. Memories of her coming to Canterlot High. Memories of defeating foe after foe with her friends. Even the disaster known as their first Grand Galloping Gala together. Twilight looked over at her other self. She could tell by the way the other self was looking at the monitor that she was envious of her. That deep down, she wanted what Twilight had.
“You...d..don’t...have...to...do...th..this,” Twilight weakly said, “There is...another way.”
Her duplicate looked at her morosely, different from her usual excitement, “I’m sorry. It’s too late to turn back now.”
She knelt down and pulled out a long, sharp device that almost looked like something one would find on a car battery.
“Anyway,” the other self said in her cheerful, if demented, demeanour, “Let’s see if I can alter your memories to remove that Element of Magic from you. And if that doesn’t work, well, brain transplantation’s always an option.”
The other Twilight knelt down and prodded the exposed hippocampus of her counterpart. While it was painless compared to everything else she was put through, Twilight could still feel discomfort at what her other self was doing. Images flashed before her eyes. Images of her time under Celestia’s tutelage. But rather than the kind mentor she knew, the Celestia in her ‘memories’ was cruel and abusive, even tyrannical. Twilight shook her head to try and force these horrid images out.
“No…” Twilight muttered weakly “Stop…messing…with…my…braaaaaaain!”
Her speech slurred with each zap. She could see her other self smiling out the corner of her eye. It wasn’t the demented smile she had when she woke up nor was it the almost sweet one she had throughout the whole thing. Instead, it was one of pure sadistic glee. She knew that if the other self couldn’t have friends, neither could she. And there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it. More mental images flashed before her eyes. Every memory became more twisted and perverted than the last. Images of Rainbow Dash breaking Scootaloo’s wings, Rarity flaying mares alive and sowing their skin into dresses, even Pinkie Pie baking ponies into her cakes.
The other self looked up at the monitor. It showed when Twilight’s friends became corrupted by Discord.
“I guess friendship is magic in your world too” the other self said to her barely awake captive, “While I know from experience that having friends is unnecessary to obtain magic, if I were to make it look like you never had any friends, then maybe your natural talent for magic might force itself out of you. Or at least that’s my current hypothesis.”
“Please...don’t…” Twilight weakly pleaded.
The other self didn’t listen. She just kept poking and prodding until she finally saw something glowing in Twilight’s mouth. She estatically ran over somewhere to grab a pair of tongs. Meanwhile, Twilight continued to have flashbacks to Discord’s reign of terror. But rather than save the day like she thought they did, they remained corrupted by Discord. And Discord was never reformed by Fluttershy. If anything, Celestia was responsible for releasing the foul Lord of Chaos in the first place.
“How…” Twilight mumbled to the mental image of Celestia, relaying her own warped memories, “How could you...Discord…”
She recalled Celestia laughing and saying she wanted Twilight and her ‘friends’ to play a game with Discord. It wouldn’t have surprised her if her friends deliberately lost the game simply for the sole purpose of tormenting Twilight more.
“With friends like you, who needs...enemies?” Twilight quietly whispered before passing out, the orb forcing itself out of her throat.
The duplicate ran back and quickly picked out the orb. She stared at the orb in awe. The supposed Element of Magic, now in her possession. She looked at her now-comatose captive, relieved that she didn’t have to resort to Plan B. While she could have called in a favour to have Cozy Glow help her transplant her brain into Twilight’s body, she was worried that Cozy might have botched the job, should that have happened. It was hard to trust the girl to not drop one’s very essence because she had difficulty controlling her new hands. As she placed the orb of magic into an empty jar, she pulled out seven gems from her pocket.
“Now for the next phase.”
Author's Note
What better way to kick off Spook Month than with something a little scarier than Wilson Fisk-impersonating monkeys?Even though I intend on updating that fic on Halloween.
Also, I just felt like writing something akin to the grimdark fics of old like Cupcakes. Mind you, this is definitely more tamer than Cupcakes.
Yes, I am aware I published this on the 2nd but I started writing this on the 1st so...you know. 
