Haven

Moon Dancer’s house was the last place Twilight wanted to be.

Given the choice, she would have chosen the most boring library in existence with virtually no books in sight over this, but she had no choice. She knew it was the eight thing to do. She had to make it up to the unicorn no matter what it took. She had to apologize for everything that had happened. The only way she could finally bury her past for good is if she corrected the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life, even though she knew it wasn’t entirely her fault.

The state of the house did not fill her with confidence whatsoever. The rock fence was overgrown with moss and falling apart at the seams, to the point where even touching it would cause a piece of it to collapse. The garden hadn’t been tended to in a very long time. Weeds were everywhere, and a dead tree stood off to the right, sporting thick branches that once contained leaves. The roof of the house was beginning to cave in, and become covered with green. Moon Dancer had really let her place go, that much was apparent. Everything set off alarm bells in her head that clanged to the tune of: “mission abort! Mission abort! Do not proceed!” over and over. The sight was so bad that Twilight didn’t even know whether Moon Dancer was still living in that house.

Then it hit her. She was crippled. She had been hurt so badly that she could barely even walk. The details of the incident were still fuzzy, but bits and pieces were starting to come back the longer she was at this place. Somehow, she knew that the house wasn’t always like this…and it was all her fault.

“I caused this…” Twilight whispered.

Even Minuette looked disturbed. “Yeeeeah. We haven’t been over here in ages, but Moon Dancer really let this place go. I don’t blame her though. Having to utilize a prosthetic hoof is something that doesn’t come naturally to most ponies. She probably can’t even tend to her garden anymore.”

“P-prosthetic?”

“You didn’t hear about the aftermath?” Twinkleshine asked. “The surgery?” Then she realized. “Oh yeah, the authorities picked you up very quick. You really have been at Broadhoof for a while, huh?”

“For most of my formative years, yeah.” replied Twilight blankly.

“We’ve seen some pictures she sent us,” Lemon Hearts said. “But it’s probably not best to show you…she has gotten better with time, but…try not to freak out, okay?”

Twilight nodded silently. She didn’t see how this could get any worse. But she was about to be in for a rude awakening. Wasting no time, Lemon Hearts walked up to the rustic door that had a crescent shaped symbol on the top and knocked on it. There was a brief period of silence for about a few minutes. Every moment that passed, Twilight could feel the air growing colder around her as brief flashes from her subconscious passed through her mind.

An out of control unicorn filly…

Delusions of grandeur…

Attacking several innocent fillies by this very house…

“I am the Princess’s personal student!” the wannabe young protégé proclaimed. “And SHE NEEDS ME NOW!!!!!!”

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut to block out the memories, only opening them again once she heard the sound of a very old door opening. Swallowing her apprehension, she took a couple steps forward and was horrified at the sight of the mare before her.

In the place of the proud unicorn mage she expected to see was a pony she couldn’t initially tell was a unicorn at first. Her horn was completely severed, leaving only the stump behind. Her right eye was completely scarred, meaning she could only see out of her left. There was a prosthetic hoof where organic matter used to be, and her body was covered in burns and dry cuts. An entire side of her face looked misshapen, like it had been surgically repaired after a massive accident. There was no denying who this mare was.

It was Moon Dancer.

“What do you want?!” she demanded, getting in Lemon Hearts’s face and forcing the mare to retreat back. “I’m TRYING to study!!”

“We’re…” Minuette took a shaky breath. “We’re h-here to see you, Moon Dancer…we wanted to see how you’re doing.”

This seemed to satisfy her. The anger present in Moon Dancer’s eyes simmered a bit, but hints of skepticism still remained in spite of that. “Fine, I guess. Midterms are coming up. Though I don’t suppose you got a copy of Starswirl the Bearded’s Guide To Arcane Theory for me to borrow, do you?”

“Actually, we do!” Twinkleshine’s horn glowed blue and she fished a thick blue tome out of her saddlebag and gave it to her. “Limited edition. We got it at the library right before we came here.”

“Thanks.”

The moment Twinkleshine took a few awkward steps to the right, however, Moon Dancer’s expression changed. It morphed from calm suspicion to blazing anger the moment she locked eyes with Twilight. It was a look of betrayal, a look of fury brought upon by lingering trauma coming to the surface and exploding all at once. In that moment, the conversation was over and all attempts at small talk went out the window.

“Why is she here?!” the crippled unicorn asked angrily, her tone containing hints of fear in it as well.

“Moon Dancer, we can explain-“ Lemon Hearts began to say.

“YOU BROUGHT HER HERE?!” Moon Dancer interrupted in an accusing tone, her rage barely contained underneath it. “GET THAT FREAK AWAY FROM ME RIGHT NOW!!! HOW DID SHE-“

“She was let out of Broadhoof not too long ago…” Minuette said cautiously. “And…she wanted to make things right with you.”

“To Tartarus she does!!” yelled Moon Dancer, taking a threatening step forward and wincing as she did so. “She just wants to hurt me again!! The nerve you ponies have to bring her back here after what she did to me, to us!!” She looked back at Twilight. “You!! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ME, MS. PROTÉGÉ!!! You think I’ve FORGOTTEN about you?!”

“N-n-no!” Twilight stammered. “Moon Dancer, please-“

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” Moon Dancer screamed, limping out of the house on her prosthetic hoof. She may still have been in pain, but she still wanted vengeance for everything. “HAVEN’T I ALREADY BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH PAIN WITH YOU?!” Tears of anger sprang to her eyes and she blinked them back hurriedly. “DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH, YOU APATHETIC, DERANGED PSYCHOPATH?!!”

“Moon Dancer-“

“YOU RUINED MY LIFE!!!!!”

Twilight was paralyzed with fear, unable to move from where she was. But she knew one thing. Moon Dancer wanted to kill her, and she was ready to do so at any moment. She didn’t care about the repercussions. All she wanted to do was destroy the one pony who had put her through so much pain and suffering. Her eyes were filled with a fiery thirst for vengeance. Her horn was crackling with magic barely contained. If she let it loose, she could blow up the whole city.

“Moon Dancer, wait!!” Minuette cut in, jumping in front of her right on time. “I know we’ve had bad history together, but she’s changed! She’s cured now! If you could give her a chance-“

“GIVE HER A CHANCE?!! WE GAVE HER A CHANCE, MINUETTE!!! AND SHE HURT ALL OF US!!! SHE’LL DO IT AGAIN!!!”

“That’s not true! You don’t know-“

“No…” Twilight interrupted, cutting her off. She shook her head sadly. She couldn’t do this. It was all too much, and all she was doing was making the situation worse with her presence. “I caused this. I did this to you, Moon Dancer. And I’m sorry for coming here.”

Moon Dancer was caught off guard by her answer. “Twilight-“

But it was too late. Twilight took off as fast as she could down the next block. She didn’t know where she was going. But she knew it couldn’t be here.

Moon Dancer’s House
Dining Room…

“Do you think she’ll come back?” Minuette asked worriedly, taking a bite of one of the fresh made oats Moon Dancer had made for her. They were all sitting at the dining room table after Twilight had run off, letting their emotions calm down before taking any course of action.

“I hope so…” Twinkleshine replied. She sighed. “This isn’t right. One of us should’ve gone after her. She’s probably having another horrible experience right now.”

“She needs to be alone,” Lemon Hearts countered. “No point in making an already bad situation worse by rubbing it in. If we’re to find her at all, there has to be some form of resolution we can cheer her up with.”

Moon Dancer walked over and gave them each glasses of water to drink. “Here you girls go. I know it’s been hot today, so…it’s the least I can do.”

“Thanks.”

She took her own seat on the opposite side of the table. “I just still find it very hard to believe that Twilight…cured herself. You don’t do that. In all my research of mental illnesses, that just…doesn’t happen. It’s an anomaly.”

“But Twilight did,” Minuette insisted. “When she came to my house, she…genuinely wanted to make things right. I guess I’m more trusting of her because I want to believe all that time locked away cured her. Wouldn’t you…?”

“I have a hard time believing it,” Moon Dancer admitted. “The way I see things…ponies don’t change. They never do. You can try to change them all you want, but…it just doesn’t happen, especially for something as complex as OCPD. Do you know how many ponies would die for a cure to that illness, yet Twilight just does? By having a delusion no less?”

“You don’t trust her, do you?” Lemon Hearts assumed.

“Well can you blame me?” asked Moon Dancer. “Lemon Hearts, she hurt us. If you received it as bad as I did, you’d understand why I feel this way. I really thought my life was over for a good 10 years. It was only because of my sister did I have any hope for my future after losing one of my hooves. She pushed me to…” She took a shaky breath. “…to never give up on myself…”

“None of us are trying to invalidate your feelings in any way,” Twinkleshine added. “It’s just-“

“You want me to put my trust in the pony who hurt me the most.”

“No!” Minuette cried. Then she corrected herself upon receiving a glare. “I mean, yes, but can’t you see that she’s changed? She’s making amends of her free will, and she really wants to make things better. Isn’t there room to…give her another chance? If not now, then…letting her prove it to you?”

Moon Dancer looked down. “I don’t know. After all the suffering she put me through…I don’t trust her. And I think you shouldn’t either.”

“Well somepony has to.” Minuette said, putting a firm hoof on the table.

“Why?”

“Because…” she answered point-blankly. “If I don’t initiate that connection and tell her that she’s right to make a conscious effort…then…who will…?”

The four of them sat in silence, unable to answer the question themselves.

Twilight ran as fast as she could through the streets of Canterlot. Her hooves made clip clop noises on the ground as she bumped past other ponies in a mad dash to get as far away from the sight of her greatest mistake as she could. She had no concept of direction, no thought as to where her hooves would take her. All she wanted was to find some place to die. This was a mistake. What was she thinking?! It was hopeless. She had involved herself in a situation that had no clear solution, and she had no clue of how she was going to find one.

Eventually, she found an abandoned alleyway located just a couple blocks away and collapsed, allowing the darkness to swallow her whole.