What Are You Doing, Twilight?

The ground cracked beneath their hooves as they stumbled on, its sweet smell touching their noses. Twilight had no idea what this place was, but she was sure she would've liked it under normal circumstances. . . Probably. The grass was colored like a rainbow, the ground was made of chocolate and the air tasted a bit like lemonade. Really – if it were not for those pink cotton candy clouds with scissors for hands, snipping wildly at the air –  it seemed like an ideal vacation spot.

Trixie was frightened, and also everything about her had changed color, well, everything aside from cloak and wizard hat. She looked as weird as everything else and Twilight didn't even want to look at herself. Although she had noticed the lack of her blanket. She shivered and turned her attention towards those creatures who slowly advanced towards them. Black top hats and moustaches of chocolate, the entire coloration reminded her of something.

An egg of purple with darker dots on it, a dragon baby looking up to her.

The ponies turned around each other, Trixie panicking even more than Twilight. "We can't get out of here,“ she cried, tears flowing down her ruined face.

"No, we can. . . I'm sure we can, we just need to. . .“ At that moment she realized that she didn't know what to do. If they ran they'd get pierced and sliced, if they stayed the same would happen, there wasn't even going to be much of a time difference as it stood and they were both just little fillies. It seemed kind of unfair, actually. She had just gotten the strength back to her legs, she was smart and her Papa was going to miss her. An unworldly scream followed and the creatures jumped at them. Twilight could only close her eyes, praying that Shining Armor would come to save her.

"CANDY!“

The yell easily overshadowed the screeching noise the candy attackers made, and as Twilight opened her eyes she saw an aquamarine unicorn with a cyan mane with white highlights. Her horn stood out strangely, since it hadn't been there before. What was there was the smile that was so wide it looked like it did really hurt.

Lyra smashed through one cloud head on, jumped over her friends, made a turn upon landing and bucked another cloud. Only then did she look at her friends.

"Run!“

She didn't need to say it another time, although Trixie reacted a split second faster than Twilight. As they started galloping she felt it almost immediately, the scissors at her tail. She didn't care how much of it she'd lose, she just needed to hurry up.  So they went at their quickest speed, the weight of their tiny hooves enough to transform the ground into chocolate sprinkles for the grass. Once or twice she felt herself running straight into a puddle but that would be easy to clean.

What she didn't hear was the sound of them being followed. After some time of running wildly across the field, she looked back and stopped.

"What're you doing?“ Lyra asked mid-run.

"There's nopony following us,“ she answered truthfully.

That made the others stop and they walked right back to her. They looked over the fields to find that Twilight had been right. Almost a second later all three fillies collapsed onto the ground, catching their breaths.

"Never again,“ Lyra complained.

Twilight looked at the far off mountains, the sun above them and the clouds. She really hoped they wouldn't suddenly come down. She stood still for a moment before it made click in her mind and she realized something, something they had forgotten to notice. Not just the mountains, the fields and the clouds. The whole thing was wrong.

"Where are we?“ Twilight asked.

The question hit home instantly and both her companions suddenly looked around. Then another question fell.

"Why do you have a horn?“

Trixie stared at Lyra, who stared at her in return. "I've got a horn,“ the green filly asked, touching her forehead. With a squee of delight she noted it's presence. "I've got a horn. I've got a horn,“ she sang.

Twilight looked at the filly who now was dancing around Trixie. The blue filly simply returned to looked extraordinarily annoyed. They both seemed to ignore the position they were in, but then again. . . Lyra had a horn. That would've maybe made a good enough cause for a party, not that Twilight knew how to throw one. Thing was, she had read about parties. Loud things with everypony having fun. The filly couldn't quite imagining a lot of ponies together without there suddenly being problems but then again, her papa had never allowed her to have a party. She had heard that Shining Armor had done a lot of partying before he'd left and her father had not been pleased. So she figured that a party might not be what was needed right now.

"Here you stand, hunted by the embodiment of chaos, somewhere impossible with candy clouds that kill. And you dance, quite the priorities you have.“ The voice didn't sound just through Twilight's head this time, instead it echoed across the land.

"What?“ Lyra asked, obviously surprised, Trixie just gazed around.

"Oh, yeah. . . I'm the ghost Twilight talked about. You can call me. . . A wise goat? Yeah, I'm a wise goat.“ The explanation wasn't enough to tell them anything, though.

Twilight took it upon herself to ask the important question: "And who are you, Mister Goat?“

   "Not important. Right now, the only thing that matters is you Twilight Sparkle. That *Magia** creature has been here for centuries but it had never made contact with ponykind before. It's just been in this world and ponies shouldn't be able to enter here. Twilight Sparkle, you, out of all the beings in the universe are the only one with a talent for a dead thing. For some strange reason you're still connected to magic.*“

     At least Lyra seemed impressed, "Wow, Twilight is a magician!“

     She would've been glad to see that wise goat herself at this very moment. She just had Lyra to stare at now and the way she grinned did nothing for any kind of suspense that the voice had been building up. Still, there were more questions, but before she could ask any of them the voice spoke up again.

   "Nothing really matters, my little ponies. The princesses were wise enough to foresee something like this. Twilight Sparkle, your mere presence here is proof enough that this world and Equestria are crashing together. When they have both melded together, it is the end. Sad to say, I don't know how you could escape from this place-“

   "Can I cast a spell?“ Twilight asked.

   "What?“

     Again, Twilight couldn't elaborate as the screeching echoed over them. In the distance she suddenly saw something moving and clouds raining down on the sky. That was when she knew that the time of talking was over.

   "We need to run,“ Lyra said and turned.

   "NO!“ shouted Twilight, "I'll handle this.“

     That was the moment she knew she had to try it out. If the voice had been right, then maybe this would be just like the stories she had read. She was about to become a hero, she was about to save them all. She took a deep breath, lowered her head and closed her eyes. Then, she just took it all in. The gushes of wind around her, blowing the sweet scent of this world into her nose, the grass brushed against her legs and the chocolate felt soft beneath her hooves. She heard them in the distance now, falling, crying, marching, snipping, wailing, hurling themselves towards the three who didn't belong. All those things made the world up but she felt something else, too, something warm, something nice. Something she hadn't felt before. She took the feeling in. It felt like the embrace of a parent, so warm, so nice, like a good friend returning home, like peace.

   "What are you doing, Twilight? Your horn is glowing,“ she heard Lyra's astonished voice, "You really are a magician!“

That was the moment. The wind blew around them, lifting the little filly off the ground. She felt the warmth, she felt the peace, she felt the magic. It had engulfed her completely and the power that was moving through her made her feel more powerful than anything else she had ever experienced. With a surge she stomped her hooves on the ground and suddenly, rain was falling down on them.

"We're back,“ Lyra exclaimed loudly as the ghastly wind vanished. Twilight only heard her. She found herself touching the ground again, feeling the warmth one last time. It was a weird feeling, but so good. She almost regretted transporting away. Then she opened her eyes again and for a moment she saw the alley, she felt the blanket against her back, the rain ruining her mane, stinking of chemicals. She still took a deep breath and then opened her mouth to breathe out but something other than air came out. Suddenly she was thrown into another world. A hell of pain and hurt. She collapsed onto the ground, into the red and brown stuff she had just vomited out, twitching.

The last thing Twilight heard was Lyra shouting her name. The last thing she saw was an ugly, small piebald pony wearing a wizard attire, looking at her with a mixture of resentment and pity.