Starlight Glimmer was resting inside one of the castle’s quarters, slowly recovering from the effects of the amulet draining her magic. Though her long nap would soon be broken by an ear-shattering scream coming from the castle library by a very familiar pony.

Her eyes immediately went wide open. She hurriedly jolted from the bedsheets she was in and tried catching up as soon as she possibly could.

“Twilight? Twilight!”

The unicorn teleported over to the library. She was then met with the library’s doors and opened them quickly.

Once she opened the doors to the library, she couldn't see Twilight anywhere. She observed and looked through the room a little more to see if her mentor was hiding somewhere.

Suddenly, Starlight hears a sinister giggle from behind.

“Well now.”

The princess of friendship was standing right behind her, though there's a big notable difference in her appearance. Her scleras are now a bright teal color, her pupils have shrunken down and are a dull shade of purple. Her face made an ominous yet wicked expression.

“Twilight? Is that you?!”

“I'm gathering enough magic so that I can understand what it's capable of!”

Starlight’s eyes widened in fear. What in the world happened to Twilight?!

She looked at the amulet around Twilight's neck. She thinks it might have something to do with the princess’ brainwashed state, but there's also the possibility of a device designed to drain magic not having the ability to take control of one's being.

Despite her fears, she tries facing her own mentor head on. Memories of back when she messed around with time itself slowly flooded her mind. Whatever happened here that caused Twilight to be in this state must've been something of pure evil.

As Starlight rushes over to fight the alicorn, Twilight teleports behind her. Starlight charges up a devastating blast, but the possessed Twilight blocks it with a shield. Even with the magic drained from her, Starlight managed to put up a fight.

Twilight cackles maniacally before opening multiple rifts to a pocket dimension in front of Starlight. The unicorn is confused yet horrified at the sight. At this point, Starlight doesn't even know what the possessed alicorn is planning to do with those rifts, but in her mind, it can't be good.

She lights up her horn and charges a big blast. Twilight sees this and proceeds to do the same. They proceed to engage in a beam clash, with both sides being equal in terms of power. However, Starlight starts struggling to take hold of her beam. The brainwashed Twilight notices this and takes advantage of it by overpowering her.

Twilight’s beam rapidly approaches Starlight. The unicorn was terrified, stressed and her mind was scrambling, not knowing what to do in the moment. Her body was also getting weaker from the sheer strength she's putting into this blast, trying her best to counter her mentor’s beam. She couldn't give up, but Twilight's attack was too strong for her to handle.

“Nononono, this is not happening right now, IT'S TOO MUCH!”

Spike is sprinting to the library as fast as he can. Like Starlight, he heard Twilight's blood-curdling scream for help and got immediately worried.

Once he was getting close to the library doors, he was met with a jumpscare as Starlight was sent flying from a devastating magical blast. The unicorn’s body hit the wall behind Spike before hitting the ground.

“Starlight?!” The baby dragon ran over to Starlight to check on her. However, even in the bruised state she was in, she slowly picked herself up and tried moving forward.

“Starlight, what's going on?! Are you okay? What happened to Twilight?!”

“I'll tell you once we're safe. Just go! It's too dangerous here!”

Spike was still confused and worried, but he did what he was told and fled the scene.

Starlight lifted herself up using magic to be on the same playing field as her opponent, who was now airborne and causing a rampage inside the castle, opening more rifts to the same pocket dimension.

“Twilight, please listen to me! This isn't like you!”

The possessed alicorn’s head turned to look at Starlight. “So what? I can do whatever I desire.” She positioned herself to charge up another attack.

“And you're just getting in my way!”

She released another ray of magic, aiming it at Starlight. The hovering unicorn dodged the attack, which made a hole through the wall behind her.

Starlight fired back another attack, with the alicorn also quickly dodging it, damaging the castle’s interior. The two would continue this succession of attacks going back-and-forth between the two mares like a game of tennis. Twilight breaks this by firing a blast at Starlight, sending her straight to the library.

Starlight picked herself back up again and hovered straight to Twilight, charging another blow. Twilight blocked the attack with another shield.

The mind-controlled Twilight traps Starlight inside a crystal, one that she would easily break out of.

The two continued exchanging attacks, some that they would dodge and some that they would get hit by. At that moment, Starlight thought of something that might benefit them in the long run.

She closes one of the many rifts Twilight opened, which made the alicorn livid.

“NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

With the brainwashed princess now distracted, Starlight didn't have much time to make her next move. She lights up her horn, charging up a knock-out spell, something that will make Twilight go unconscious. As Twilight turns around to attack Starlight, she fires it directly at her target with hesitation. The possessed alicorn didn't react on time and the blast hit her head, knocking her out almost immediately. And in that moment, Starlight’s eyes opened wide with worry.

In a state of panic, Starlight let herself down and catched the now-unconscious Twilight to prevent her from getting hurt any further than she already was. The unicorn’s heart was beating rapidly, adrenaline still running through her whole body from the fight, hyperventilating like crazy. She took fast but short breaths, then slow, deep deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

Starlight moved Twilight's resting body to the library for the time being, removing the amulet from her neck and hiding it to make sure she doesn't use it, and so the amulet doesn't drain any more magic. She closed the rest of the rifts Twilight made while she was attacking her.

“I need to tell the others, and I also need to bring Spike along with me. I don't want him to get hurt just in case she wakes up still possessed by whatever got her in that state.”

Suddenly, her horn started to ache. It seems like all the strength she was exerting herself to was finally getting to her. The unicorn called Spike, who went up to her increasingly more worried.

“Is the commotion finally over? What happened to Twilight?”

Starlight sighed exhaustedly.

“It's okay. I've got the situation under control. She passed out and is sleeping for the time being. For now, we have to get the others to help.”

“..Are you still okay though?”

“...I'm fine, Spike.” -Starlight held her hoof over her head. Her hornache quickly turned into a headache.

“Nonono, it's okay. I can get you something-”

“No Spike, I'm good. Thanks for trying to help though.”

“I- is it okay if I tell Celestia about this?”

“Not now, but make sure you get prepared to tell her in case things do get worse.”

Starlight and Spike ran off to tell the rest of the Mane Six about what happened to Twilight. While they were on their way to Sugarcube Corner to tell Pinkie, a few concerned Ponyville residents who heard the attack from their homes asked Starlight about what happened and she answered with a shortened version of the events. She tried calming them down by assuring that they've got this under control.

However, as they were on their way, Pinkie suddenly appeared.

“Hey Starlight!”

The unicorn got frightened by the pink earth pony’s suddenness. She swiftly regained her composure and greeted Pinkie.

“I need to tell you something. It's in regards to Twilight, she-”

“No, you don't need to tell me. I already know! I was listening to the fight you two had in the castle!”

…

“Seriously though, what went into Twilight's mind that made her try to attack you?!”

“She's possessed, Pinkie. I don't exactly know the cause of this, but I'm thinking that it's the device she found. You probably don't know what that is.”

“Wait, what device?” -asked Spike.

Starlight sighed, having to explain the events that happened until now.

“It's a magic-draining artifact. Twilight found it in the castle and she showed it to me. The thing sucked the magic out of me. I'm assuming it can also take control of a pony’s mind considering that Twilight told me that she was going to the library to find out where the thing even comes from and now she came out of the library all crazy. I would show you the device if it weren't for the fact that it can.. you know.”

“Ohhhh.. that makes sense now!”

“Anyways, I need you to go tell Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash about this. Spike and I will go tell Rarity and Applejack. Then we'll reunite in the castle to check up on Twilight, okay?”

“And what about Twilight? Is she still out of her mind or…?” -asked Pinkie.

“She passed out so it's unlikely that she will do further harm. The best we can do is try to not let this get out of hoof. In case Twilight is still possessed even after passing out, we're ready to warn Celestia right away.”

“Alrighty then!”

“Oh, by the way, try warning them as soon as possible in case something does happen.”

“I will! See you later Starlight!”

“See ya!”

The two parted ways as Pinkie ran towards Fluttershy’s cottage near the Everfree Forest and Starlight and Spike headed towards the Carousel Boutique.

Twilight’s eyes slowly opened and closed as she was gaining consciousness. Her mind flickers between her possessed state and her original state. She couldn't move her body, but she was conscious either way.

Suddenly, she hears an unknown voice. The same voice she heard before the amulet took control of her mind and body. It pulls her in like a magnet, closer and closer to her mind-controlled state than ever. Just as her eyes were turning back to normal, they slowly turned back into the bright, glowing cyan scleras and those shrunken down, dull, soulless purple pupils.

In a battle of wills raging inside her, she didn't end up as herself, as Twilight Sparkle, but as something else. She didn't have a name for it, but it was something different from what Princess Twilight Sparkle represented.

She couldn't fight this being who took possession of her anyway, she was in sleep paralysis. It's as if she gave up and finally relinquished her body, her mind, everything about her to this entity she didn't know about. She couldn't see it, only hear it.

“You want to learn about magic? Then take it. You can take as much as you want. Heck, you can drain multiple ponies’ magic simultaneously!”

Her paralytic state screeches to a halt as she feels like she can finally move now. She twitches her hooves, trying to confirm if what she feels is true.

She slowly gets up, feeling weak, like she got the magic drained out of her. She felt so dead inside, but something inside her said otherwise. She also felt… alive?!

She wanted more magic, to understand it even more than what she already knows. And she was going to get that magic at all costs. She tried grabbing the amulet but noticed that it wasn't on her neck anymore. However, she sensed that the amulet was hidden around here somewhere.

Twilight roamed around the library, desperately trying to find the amulet to no avail. In her less than thorough search, she finds a messy pile of books in a corner and begins to remove them from the pile. That's where she finds her precious amulet underneath the rubble.

“...Maybe that unicorn is dumber than I thought.” -said the voice inside Twilight's head, mocking Starlight.

As she was walking away from the library, she noticed that the rifts she made are now gone. She was annoyed, but knew that something like that was gonna happen if she went unconscious.

Suddenly, her head starts pulsing. Her mind was switching between the real Twilight and the mind-controlled husk now in possession of her body. It's as if the real Twilight was desperately trying to break free, but the spell had her on a chokehold, how was she going to get out of this by herself?!

Then, “she” thought of what the voice in her head suggested. “Taking multiple ponies’ magic simultaneously?”

She grinned at the idea. Her laughter echoed throughout the castle walls. The mind control spell was now taking full effect on her.

The brainwashed princess, now twice as alive and tenfold more wicked, made her next move.

Author's Note

yes i sprinkled in a bunch of jekyll and hyde musical references in this because i was listening to the album on spotify while writing this 😭

also shout outs to definatelymrhyde for the chapter name inspo