"How did you get a castle?!"

Her cosmic twin had a whole castle! Made entirely out of crystal even. This world really was different. She never got a castle, nor was she offered one nor did she ever ask for one. Twilight actually kind of liked being the princess that lived like everyone else and she also loved her library. That oak tree had been her home since she first arrived to Ponyville and she did tend to have a tendency to get attached to things. Or ponies... It kind of confused her why her other self would abandon the golden oak library for a castle. When did they even build this?

"You mean you don't have one? Oh well that must mean you haven't faced Tirek yet." Twilight replied as she, her twin, Starlight and Spike entered inside. They had spent the whole rest of the day having fun with their alter selves and she apparently had forgotten to mention the castle to herself. Probably assuming she already had a castle as well.

"Who in Equestria is Tirek?" Twilight asked with confusion.

"Oh right, sorry" Twilight giggled, realizing she only confused her twin further "Tirek is- MPFH" Starlight blocked her mouth with a hoof before she could say anything.

"As a pony that tried to mess with time once i would suggest against revealing that information lest things get wacky when she goes back to her world." she said removing her hoof from Twilight, allowing her to talk again.

"Right, sorry" the alicorn smiled sheepishly and then turned towards her twin "All I can say is that the golden oak library got blown up then the tree of harmony made this castle and i moved in"

"That raises more questions than answers" alternate Twilight replied "But I'll guess I'll take it if that's all I'll get"

The four of them walked through the halls and Twilight was already starting to feel lost. It made sense her twin decided to stay here because the library got destroyed. Why else would someone want to live in a giant crystal maze. It also saddened her to learn the library was no more. She had spent most of her best times there. So many memories. Just. Gone. Like everything else will. Like everyone else...

"I take it you're already confused" Starlight laughed snapping her out of her thoughts. She couldn't believe she had an actual student. The closest she got to that was Silver Spoon and that didn't go exactly well "Don't worry it doesn't get better from here. I still get lost sometimes...all of the time."

"Oh don't scare her Starlight" Twilight pouted "But i will admit it's easy to get lost here. Heh. Remember that time i was scared to be here Spike?"

"Haha who can forget that" Spike replied with a grin.

"Why would you be scared?" Twilight tilted her head in confusion.

"Well, not as scared as i was home sick. I guess i just loved my old library so much it kind of felt odd to live anywhere else. Then my friends noticed so they took the remaining roots of the tree and made it into a chandelier that now hangs in the map room."

"Map room?"

"Yeah we're here so let us show you" the purple alicorn opened a huge door and revealed the inside to be a massive room, in the middle of which was a round table, with seven seats around it. six of the seats were decorated with the cutie marks of Twilight and her friends and the seat next to the one with Twilight's cutie mark seemed to be smaller than the rest of them. Above the table was the mentioned chandelier made out of the roots of the once golden oak library. On the surface of the table there appeared to be a holographic map of all Equestria and even some of the nations around.

Twilight was in awe. She had heard of holographic magic but she never thought she'd see a holographic map of all Equestria. It kind of reminded her of New Ponyville. Maybe she could use this map as base to build a replica of all Equestria.

Wait. Why did her twin have a map of all Equestria? Could she...

"WOW. A holographic map of all Equestria! Why do you have this" she asked with enthusiasm.

"It came with the castle. The map calls us from time to time whenever there's a friendship problem to solve." Twilight replied happily.

"And I take it you're not gonna explain what that means either?" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow.

The alicorn blushed awkwardly when she realized she was only confusing her twin further and raising her curiosity when she couldn't answer certain things without risking to create a whacky timeline.

"It's basically whenever there is some sort of conflict between ponies the map calls us and sends us there and then calls us back when we solve the problem."

"So you just go around Equestria doing peace keeping" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow looking down on the map.

"Yes. Basically" Twilight replied "In fact that's how I met Starlight here-"

"I don't think she needs to know my backstory!" Starlight interrupted her teacher an embarrassed look on her face.

"Oops sorry" Twilight smiled sheepishly. The visiting Twilight however was too distracted looking at the map, something grabbing her attention.

"I'm if I'm right to assume this map shows political borders, right?" she asked keeping her eyes fixated.

"That's right" her alternate self replied "As you can see it shows where Equestria ends and other neighboring nations begin."

"Then why does it still show the Crystal Empire as independent? Hasn't it been taken into Equestria's territory yet?"

Twilight, Starlight and Spike looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what to make of what they were told. Then they turned back at the new Twilight.

"Why would it be taken into Equestria's territory?" Spike asked. Twilight just looked at them back, just as confused. Why of course it would be taken into Equestria's territory what kind of question was that. Without Shining or Cadence to be in charge Celestia just had to take control of it. It was the rational thing to do.

"Well when Shining and Cadence-" she started to reply but then came to a pause in realization. If Crystal Empire was still independent does that mean...

"When they retired." She said quickly. The other three looked at her with surprise.

"Why would they retire?" Twilight asked.

"Oh they decided ruling over a nation wasn't their thing." She replied and smiled sheepishly.

"When?" Starlight asked.

"... sometime after Cadence got pregnant." Twilight answered somewhat nervously

"Oh. Well I guess that makes sense." Native Twilight said "Makes sense they would take a break from ruling the Empire to take care of Flurry."

Flurry?

"Flurry?" Both twins looked at each other in confusion.

"Has Cadence not given birth yet?" native Twilight tilted her head.

"Err no!" Twilight was quick to respond, looking somewhat nervous, eyelid twitching just a bit "Is that what their kid is called here?" The other alicorn looked at her for a moment then she smiled.

"That's right. Our niece is called Flurry Heart. And she's just so sweet" the princess giggled thinking about her little beloved niece.

"A niece you say" Twilight said almost mechanically. Her ear twitching slightly.

"Yeah. Trust me you'll love her. I guess I can introduce you to her once we make sure this whole situation is sorted."

While Twilight was busy ranting to her alternate self about how cute their baby niece was, Starlight and Spike were exchanging concerned looks. Something about the new Twilight wasn't feeling right. And that wasn't just because she seemed to be a bit backwards as far as timeline is concerned. Or the fact there were now two Twilights, which could only mean chaos. But she also seemed a bit, strange. Throughout the whole day she has been a bit too.... friendly. Even for Twilight. Like Pinkie Pie level of friendly. She would actively go out of her way to act friendly with anyone in anyway and was a bit passive aggressive when it came to having others reciprocate. She was eager to get to know everyone of them and the other of the other world ponies and although that's not a bad thing it seemed she was a bit.... obsessed. Like she was desperate to make new friends. Not to mention her occasional eye and ear twitches or nervous behavior.

Even right now she was acting very nervously. Spike didn't quite catch to it but Starlight noticed that the mention of Cadence and Shining Armor having a daughter triggered her in some way. She didn't look to be comfortable. And both Starlight and Spike could swear that at some point she gave this world's Twilight a strange look. Right now she was frantically looking around, as of searching for an excuse or something.

"Oh so this is what's left of the library?" She quickly said looking up at the chandelier made out of tree roots.

"Yeah" Twilight replied "All they could save. I must say, making the roots into a chandelier was actually a very clever recycling project. A bit sad this is all that's left but at least I'm glad I have friends who would go to such lengths to make me feel better." She said with a smile.

"Yeah" Twilight giggled nervously looking down, a manic grin on her face "Really lucky we are for our friends"

"Umm are you okay" the two ponies and the dragon looked at her with concerned faces.

"Oh I'm fine I'm fine!" Twilight made reassuring gestures with her hooves, still grinning "It's just i feel a bit sleepy. I guess traveling through worlds can be a bit tiresome" she laughed sheepishly.

"Uh yeah. I would think so." Starlight said with slight suspicion.

"I don't really know" Spike continued "I mean, me and Twilight traveled to that other world once and we didn't really feel- BLEGH" his words were cut in half as he suddenly puked breathed out a stream of fire that materialized into a letter. "UGH why does she have to always do it like that?!" Spike complained. Twilight's horn lit up and she picked the letter, opening it.

"It's from Princess Celestia. She is worried about the situation and asks if she and should intervein." she said with a smile as she read the letter, while her other world twin seemed even more triggered than before.

"Yo know i should really go to sleep i can barely keep my eyes open anymore" Twilight said laughing sheepishly as she started walking towards the door "Alright bye!" she quickly closed the door behind her. The remaining three just stood there with confuse looks.

"Does she know where the bedrooms are?" Spike asked.

"Don't worry" Starlight replied "She'll come back when she realizes she has no idea where she's going. But please tell me she seemed a bit weird to you as well."

"Yeah" the dragon confirmed "She looked all nervous and unhinged. Even for Twilight."

"Hey i am not weird, nervous or unhinged!" Twilight protested "Besides don't be so rude she just traveled to a whole different world because some crazy demon snatched her away from home. Everypony would be a bit anxious in situations like that."

"I'm not so sure" Starlight pondered "she seemed awfully triggered when we started talking about your brother and Princess Cadence."

"Maybe you're a bit too worried and stressed out by the situation you've started interpreting things. Speaking of which. Spike write back to princess Celestia." She summoned some paper and a quill and handed them to Spike who stood waiting for what to write.

"Dear princess Celestia" Twilight started "I'm happy to inform that the situation isn't so dire. Or at least not yet. So far all that has happened is that Volo brought here different versions of me and my friends from other worlds. Kind of like when I entered that mirror that one time. I don't know what the purpose of this was, maybe to cause confusion. But so far it's seems alright. Oh and besides that there was also an incident in the graveyard but for the sake of everyone's sanity I will not be describing that just know that no pony alive got hurt in the process. So there is no need for you to step in yet. However I will love if you would please send me any information about this Volo character that you know. Who and what is it? Anything you can tell us that may help us help Discord. Oh also don't let my brother or Cadence come. I know Shining will rush in to come help me when he finds out what's going on. But I don't want them to get mixed into whatever is going on. I don't know yet in how much danger we are. Your faithful student. Twilight Sparkle."

Spike wrote everything down in a hurry and with a blow of fire he sent it off to Celestia.

"Good" Twilight nodded "Now all we got to do is wait for-"

"Ahem sorry" Twilight leaned in from the door, smiling sheepishly "Does anypony know where to find the bedrooms?"

"Of course they're alive" Twilight was pacing back and forth in the bedroom she was given. Hopefully the walls were soun proof so no one could hear her talking or making any noise. "I mean, what else did I expect. Taking a deal with the first shady creature that came to me when I was vulnerable. 'I'll offer a second chance' it said. Of course the world it sent me in is one where everything is better off that what I got back in my own world!"

She was fuming in rage. Eyes wide and pupils shrinked to the size of apple seeds.

"Of course this would all be like 'Oh hey look at this other you that has everything! She has a brother. A sister in law. A NIECE!'" she threw a book her twin have her to the wall "Friends that pay attention to her needs! Damn it I should have known when I didn't see any indication she was doing the same thing I am!"

Twilight did the breathing exercise Cadence had told her and once she was calmer she sat down on the bed and sighed.

"I guess I shouldn't be mad at her. It's not really her fault." Deep inside Twilight felt kind of bad for her counterpart. If she has not gone through the same things then she's not really aware of what awaits her. Does she even realize she's immortal? She's completely unprepared.

"I could tell her" Twilight wondered "but then she'll freak out, like everyone else. They all freak out when I offer the solution. At least she could probably understand. Am I willing to risk it though?"

She looked over at her bags and levitated them over. She didn't pack much. She didn't pack at all actually, Volo did all the packaging. All he had packed were a bunch of books, some related to forbidden magic and transmutation, and also a bunch of various poisons and chemicals. Strange. When she was offered a second chance, she thought it meant something like doing things differently and not do what she did in her own world. Giving her this looks as if Volo wants her to keep going. Does it?

Twilight laid down and started to think. That was all she could do in all honesty. She didn't think she would be able to sleep. Not without Mac at least. Why couldn't she bring him with her.

"So let's see. In this world the things that happen back in my world did not happen. My cosmic twin does not know what I've been through nor what she will eventually go through. And I am equipped with all the tools i need to keep going with my mission." she hummed to herself and eventually realization hit her. A wide grin creeped itself in her face and soon she started giggling maniacally "Oh i see" she started laughing " so i'm given a second chance to finish what i started!" She stood up and started examining every content of her bags, giggling in glee as she did so. Her friends here are better and more considerate. Making them better candidates than the ones back in her world. And Cadence and Shinning were still alive, meaning she could save them this time. It all made sense. This was truly a second chance.

"Don't worry Twilight" she chuckled "I went through pain. But i promise. You will not have to go through the same. You'll understand in due time. Once i get rid of death none of us have to suffer anymore. Maybe after i get them all to understand my way in this world i can use Volo's powers to go back to my world and launch an invasion even. Now that is what i call a second chance!"

The mad alicorn laughed uncontrollably but then suddenly stopped as a thought hit her. She did not know if Volo would be an ally or fiend. From what she heard so far it is not a good creature. Let alone one to feel safe around or trust. For what she knows it could just kill everyone in a blink of an eye and that would be no good.

Twilight would have too keep a close eye on it while she continued her work. Seems her trouble know no end. Not only did she have to start from scratch but she had to be wary of Discord's more psychotic cousin or whatever relation those two had. She needed to find a way to neutralize or at the very least recruit Volo. As to how one would go about neutralizing a godlike being that would be anyone's guess. But Twilight will find a way. She always finds a way....

"Now" she chuckled "let's make some new dolls~"

The mad crowd of ponies marching was enough to distract from anything, let alone a tiny spider. Said spider was currently crawling on the window frame of a small house.

"That should keep them busy" it giggled and went inside through the open window. Once inside it crawled its way into the kitchen where it transformed into a pony with white coat, long black måne and pitch black eyes that looked more like holes.

"Sorry to keep you waiting" Volo said " I sent a crowd of dendrophiliacs towards Sweet Apple Acres. That should keep them distracted for a bit. But Discord must soon come looking for me after they fix that so let's keep it quick." It sat down on a table in the middle of the room as it looked around, admiring the blood and gøre covering everything in the room "i see you got busy while waiting."

"Well I had to do something about the family living here" a hooded pony sitting across Volo on the table spoke, cleaning a scalpel in her hooves "And I thought why not take a look at their inner anatomy. Maybe ponies in this world have different organs. Turns out they don't but hey, it's worth looking into it." She laughed.

"As long as you clean your mess afterwards. If they find this and blame it on me Discord's gonna call the deal off and I'll be out of here. Not only would that spell bad news for you my darling but I'm known as someone who respects the deals I make and I would hate that reputation to be ruined for the foolish mistake of someone else." It stared at the other pony with a malicious smile and a threatening look "Anyway. So tell me what the hell did I smuggle into this world."

The hooded pony said nothing and threw a few files on the table. Volo tilted its head and looked at them curiously before picking one and opening it and seeing a photograph of Twilight in the first page.

Subject file

Name: Twilight Sparkle

Aliases: Dollmaker

Species: Alicorn pony

Personality: sadistic, manic, emotionally unstable, paranoid, obsessive, traumatized, curious, self-opinionated, thanatophobic, smart, remorseful.

Skills and powers: skilled planner, great intelligence, great magical skills, willingness to do anything that's necessary to her cause, pure dedication, alicorn immortality.

Weapons and arsenal: chemical weapons and poisons, radioactive weapons, traps, dark magic.

Weaknesses: her trauma, will not try to kill unless she really has to, is emotionally unstable, fear of grief.

Ideals and beliefs: immortalism, ethical darwinism, totalitarianism, body alternation

Goals:
Create a dollhouse perfect replica of Ponyville in her basement(succeeded)
Turn all residents of Ponyville she considers her friends into living dolls and imprison them in her dollhouse town(partially succeeded)
Eradicate death from Equestria(failed)
Get her friends to agree to her plan(failed in general, succeeded with Lyra)
Preserve her friendships forever(failed)
Take down Celestia(failed)
Build a dictatorial regime where everyone is forced into either being her friend for eternity, tortured till they comply or killed for being 'irredeemable'(succeeded until she got caught)

Crimes: Mass kidnapping, spreading of misinformation, conspiracy to form a dictatorship, invasive body alternation, poisoning, turning unwilling victims into living dolls, imprisoning the citizens of Ponyville in her basement, murder, attempted murder, causing Stockholm syndrome, causing trauma, use of chemical weapons, use of radioactive weapons, torture(both mental and physical), causing suicides, oppressing her subjects, holding ponies captive under threat of violence, cover-ups, brainwashing, slavery, child abduction, animal abduction, theft, breaking and entering, plotting to murder a princess Luna, murdering two royal guards, causing severe bodily harm to princess Luna, attempting to murder princess Celestia.

Background and analysis:
The subject's story starts when her brother dies and she goes to comfort her grieving sister in law only to find her dead from suicide. She will go on to be haunted by the trauma of what she witnessed that day. Eventually she becomes self aware of her own immortality as an alicorn and grows afraid of the future and that her life will be a constant funeral after funeral of friends and loved ones until she eventually ends up like her sister in law Cadence and kills herself out of grief. As her mental health slowly declines she sets on in a crusade to erase all death. Going as far as to study dark and forbidden magic. She built a miniature replica of Ponyville in her basement, and started luring people into her house, offering them food pr drinks which contained lethal poisons in them, bringing the victims into a state of near death so that Twilight could perform a spell that will turn the victim's body into plastic and then shrinking them, turning them into literal dolls that will remain immobile but conscious until Twilight allowed them to move. She proceeded to do so with everyone in Ponyville she considered a friend. Obviously turning unconsenting ponies into dolls isn't going to get received well so the dolls started rebelling. So in return Twilight decided to torture them into behaving. Going as far as to melt some of them to death to make an example to the others. Eventually her activities got attention and Luna came to Ponyville to investigate. Twilight killed two guards by accident and tried to assassinate Luna by poisoning her with radioactive material but Luna discovered Twilight and tried to bring her down. However Twilight showed to be very strong and and durable, even withstanding Luna's strongest attack and eventually she brutalized Luna to the point she had to escape back to Celestia. Seeing Luna all beaten and bloody, Celestia decided to step in and fight Twilight herself. She tried to talk Twilight to snap out of her madness but Twilight was too far corrupted at that point. The fight started and eventually Twilight was fatally wounded and escaped into the Everfree forest, never to be found and her fate remaining a mystery to all. Her story spread and she came to be known as Dollmaker, a lonely mare who got corrupted by madness.
This version of Twilight is truly a tragic one and as mentioned by Lunar Guards and Luna herself she might very well be a new incarnation of Nightmare.
While she is not a serial killer per se, only killing when she needs to make a point and she doesn't particularly enjoy it, Twilight would be considered a hybrid between an organised and disorganized serial killer because her methods and tactics are very carefully planned and thought through while her targets tend to be random and it can go either to a planned kidnapping to having to grab a random pony that walked into the library to read a book.
Her relationship to her more same alternate will likely be characterized by either envy and pity. Being jealous that this other Twilight has it better than her or feeling worried that her other self does not understand the grim reality of her immortality yet. She may even attempt to convert her to her side.
In relation to the rest of the Mad Six she is by far the most powerful and also most likely to be in conflict with the other five due to them being killers that bring death while Twilight seeks to erase death. Most likely to be rivals with Fluttershy due to ideological differences. Likely to ally with Rarity and Applejack.

"Girl's got issues" Volo chuckled "and an admirable cause. Not a big fan of this totalitarianism in all honesty. But I'll tolerate it. I see some potential in her."

"I know!" the hooded pony clapped her hooves together gleefully "she's perfect for this experiment!"

Volo closed the file and looked at the other five. Thinking which one to pick next.

Author's Note

So the first time I published it half the chapter got deleted somehow so I had to redo it. Fml.
So anyways to explain why this is late(again, fcking chapters spontaneously deleting half themselves).
So basically I got the idea to make this and the next five chapters to be introductions of each of the mad six, including little patient files in the end of each chapter. And I wanted to do it in the same order the characters get introduced in the show because idk writer's inspiration ig. So obviously this first chapter will be focused onTwilight. However the problem came with Pinkie because technically we see her first right after Twilight but she only gets introduced officially last. So she could simultaneously be both second and last and I've been losing my mind on where to actually place her. Anyway I got it solved now. So yeah. This chapters are late because Pinkie just has to have bilocation on the timeline because of course she does she's fcking Pinkie Pie, that pink annoying criminally insane daughter of a [pony slur].

Anyways everything is fine now. Next chapter we have a strange family gathering. Who's it gonna be? How dangerous is she? Who is this hooded pony working with Volo? Why does she know more than Volo about the mad six? What's her gain? And did that crowd of dendrophiliacs manage to molest the trees in Sweet Apple Acres? For that and more madness stay tuned and follow the story.