Dear Princess Celestia

Fluttershy groaned softly, her eyes began to flutter as her hooves brushed against the soft surface of fabric resting around her, Fluttershy was momentarily confused before feeling the memories of her previous horrors rushing back into her mind that made her gasp and sit up in horror. "DISCORD!" Fluttershy cried out into the silent room, the scream startled Twilight and Applejack who were both talking around a nearby table, they both turned to look at Fluttershy who was panting softly as she climbed off the couch while trying to collect her thoughts. "Oh my gosh! Fluttershy! We didn't think you'd be awake already!" Twilight commented while standing on her hooves again, then she and Applejack walked up to the couch to prevent Fluttershy from trying to rush out from the castle without letting herself heal, Fluttershy tried to weakly move her wings only to discover they had been wrapped around her chest with bandages.

"Sorry, we needed to wrap 'em up to stop any other harm, Twi suggested the bandages cuz they're softer than something like rope" Applejack bluntly responded to Fluttershy's clearly confused expression, the honesty of the revelation left Fluttershy and Twilight both turning to look at Applejack with an almost appalled expression that she'd even imagine using rope to keep Fluttershy's wings down. "I wasn't plannin' to use any! I was just sayin'! Jeez..." Applejack immediately retorted before Twilight or Fluttershy could comment, Applejack glanced to the side leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to return to the seriousness of the situation, Twilight sighed softly in immediate disappointment then she raised her head to Fluttershy. "You've been unconscious for about an hour, we don't have any other safe places in the castle that also has medical supplies at a hoofs reach, I keep medical supplies in here considering this is basically the most dangerous place in the castle because of all the books" Twilight said with her eyes glancing around to look at the various bookshelves of books, Fluttershy briefly glanced around in much the same way for much the same reason before lowering her head towards the ground.

"Did...Did either of you see Discord? I...He sent me back through a portal before I could be hurt. I was hoping he would've been sent through as well?..." Fluttershy quietly questioned, the question left Twilight and Applejack stunned in concern that Discord was require casting Fluttershy back to the dangers of Equestria in order to protect her from whatever threat existed in whatever world he was inhabiting. "No? He didn't come through, we didn't even know where Discord was. I've tried contacting him and he's answered none of my calls. I've even tried screaming for him, nothing. It's been days since this outbreak started and we've been struggling with it while he's been Celestia knows where!" Twilight replied with an enraged tone, she turns around as she spoke then she kicks a nearby table over with her front right forehoof, then she tried to blast a nearby book with her magic only to immediately cease her enraged spell after feeling her head aching from her damaged horn.

"That's not true! He wasn't ignoring you! He was trying to keep me safe!" Fluttershy cried out, the comment made Twilight turn to glare at the yellow Pegasus with her own eyes slightly glowing from a spike of unreleased magical energy, Twilight stepped towards Fluttershy with her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean. How was he protecting you and how was he not ignoring me." Twilight coldly asked, her eyes were fuelled with a frightening amount of rage that both Applejack and Fluttershy could see, Applejack stepped between Twilight and Fluttershy to act as some kind of barrier between the two of them. "He was keeping me protected, he took me to his dimension. He kept me there after he began sensing some kind of cosmic magical imbalance. He tried curing Angel...Oh...Angel...But, his magic didn't understand why, so he took me in order to figure out some kind of plan" Fluttershy replied, her usually soft and compassionate eyes were narrow with anger as she noticed that Twilight was seemingly accusing Discord of willingly abandoning Equestria yet again.

"He kept saying his magic should be unstoppable. Only the magic of the Elements of Harmony could genuinely defeat him, but this infection. It was unique, it was resistant to anything he did" Fluttershy resumed her explanation, her eyes narrowed and lowered towards the ground as she recalled the events that transpired, the explanation left Applejack and Twilight quiet at the discovery of Discord truly being unable to cure the infection. "Discord. The Lord of Chaos and the one creature in existence capable of mangling reality itself. Totally incapable of reversing the effects of an infection like this?" Twilight questioned suspiciously, Twilight had seen the level of cosmic power that Discord had displayed with his godlike abilities, she couldn't even fathom the concept of something that wasn't the Elements of Harmony somehow managing to surpass or rival his natural godlike abilities. "I wasn't convinced about it either, I thought he was doing his usual Discord move and trying to run away. But I saw it. I saw his claws snapping, I felt the wave of Chaos Magic that was released. I felt the cosmic power and nothing happened. Nothing." Fluttershy replied sternly, her eyes narrowed to display how serious she was being, Twilight shut her mouth before she attempted to retort and lowered her head to sigh softly at her accusations.

"Alright, well. Discord didn't get through the portal you went through, and he wouldn't send you away unless the situation was dire. So, what the hay happened in there?" Twilight asked, her eyes widened slightly at the thoughts that began surging throughout her mind that could cause Discord to cast Fluttershy out, Twilight studied Fluttershy's expression as she glanced to the side briefly only to slowly look back at Twilight with tears in her eyes. "We were attacked. Some...Some pony appeared, they had the structure of a mare, but they sounded like a stallion, and they were an Alicorn. They had long flowing red hair, like the Princesses! And the same kind of tail, but their eyes...They were gray, with glowing red irises and slit pupils like Nightmare Moon. And they had a black body, their fur was the colour of the night sky without stars! I didn't see their cutie mark, but I saw their magic. And it was strong enough to hurt Discord. I don't know what they were. But it wasn't natural, not with the level of magic they could use. Not when they managed to hurt Discord." Fluttershy explained, the description left Applejack and Twilight stunned at the impossible description of another kind of Alicorn existing elsewhere in Equestria or outside the known realm of Equestria itself, Twilight glanced to the side and mentally pondered whether she was the only Alicorn Celestia created.

"Another Alicorn? And a princess?...Or a prince. I guess? I suppose we've never wondered why only mares have ever become Alicorns. But still, another Alicorn?!" Applejack blurts out, she was still reeling from the fact that another unknown Alicorn was existing somewhere outside the realm of Equestria, Twilight on the other hoof was just trying to understand why Celestia would grant somepony that kind of Alicorn level dark magic. "And why do they have such dark power. I've never heard of an Alicorn like that, that isn't somehow tainted by dark magic. Sombra kinda sounds like that, but he was a unicorn. This pony, they sound much more dangerous, especially if they have the power to rival and injure something as powerful as Discord!" Twilight replied in concern, her eyes were narrowed as the level of danger that was resonating in their approaching future, she couldn't truly understand why, but something about the description of the Alicorn sounded unnaturally familiar. "I know! That's why I was so scared. I didn't want to leave him, I wanted to stay and keep him safe. I was hoping maybe my stare could work, but he kept saying to run. And then he opened a portal to send me here..." Fluttershy also replied with worry, she had hoped that Discord and herself could battle back this new foe only to be proven swiftly incorrect, part of her brain was hoping that Discord was somehow capable of escaping from the dark alicorn.

"Alright. Before we get over distracted, let's try and lessen the load. Ponyville is the main group for a massive sized outbreak, countless ponies are infected and the rest are in their homes, the infection rate is large and the time frame of infection seems to depend on the pony, Applejack said Apple Bloom was infected, and it sounds like she was only infected for a few minutes or hours before she turned, not to mention it only took four hours for Granny Smith to start turning, so I'm starting to get a clearer picture of this infection." Twilight explained with a sudden level of authority and confidence, then she turns and conjures herself a black board only to conjure a chalk piece so she could start writing down the various thoughts running through her mind. "I've noticed a few noticeable symptoms. I informed Celestia in my first letter to her after this started." Twilight continued explaining as she wrote down the various symptoms that she remembered cataloguing on the first letter, Applejack and Fluttershy were left in confused states of processing as they just watched Twilight mentally calculating her thoughts.

"Spike was the best subject I had, he was one of the first creatures I noticed that began acting...Abnormal, he was suddenly more aggressive than usual, even more so than when he began transforming into a larger dragon, then he began experiencing rapid mood swings, he'd suddenly switch from angry to sad to happy, even for a baby dragon that's handling hormones...Even I noticed it was weird." Twilight resumed her surprisingly detailed explanation, her eyes darting around the board to fix any issues or errors that she made in her writing, then she placed the chalk down onto the nearby table as her horn lost the aura of magic she was using. "Strange wetness that formed in his eyes, kinda like irritation from dust, but nothing seemed to be causing it. His bodily temperature began skyrocketing. I mean he's usually pretty hot because of his dragon physiology, but he was overly hot whenever I felt his scales. Speaking of scales, just like ponies, like me. He began losing his scales, they just started as one and two, then he began losing five, until eventually it seemed like he was molting, then...Something supernatural happened." Twilight resumed her almost bizarre description of Spike's supernatural affliction, Fluttershy and Applejack noticed that Twilight's demeanour began to rapidly deteriorate as she finished.

"He just...Shut down, and then I noticed some...Horrific growths on his back, they kinda looked like warts, but they were completely black. And the veins. Oh Celestia. The veins...They looked like black lines on his skin! They didn't look normal. The growths seemed like some kind of consequence of his draconic heritage because nopony I've seen that's gotten to this stage of infection has suffered anything similar, I think...It's causing his body to rapidly accelerate, so he's trying to grow wings." Twilight said to finish her explanation, Applejack and Fluttershy were left stunned at the mere concept of some infection causing Spike to begin rapidly aging whether biologically or psychologically, Fluttershy looks to the side hoping to think of a virus or infection capable of such things. "And that isn't even the weirdest thing. Spike scratched me about an hour or two ago, and it started causing my body to deteriorate. Vinegar helped in negating it temporarily, so I tried using my magic to combat the infection. And when my magic connected with the infection point. I felt pure evil. Malice. Hatred. Feelings that shot through my mind like ocean water. And then, I felt a voice screaming out like a stallion. Until it all stopped and I disconnected myself. In those few seconds. I felt Dark Magic inside me. Powerful. Ancient." Twilight said with her eyes aching from fear, Applejack and Fluttershy were suffering from much the same until the trio was startled by something only describable as a fiery explosion out in the hall, the trio glanced towards the door where they could hear something skittering and approaching the room rapidly.