Chapters Celestia's sun was just rising over Ponyville and while many ponies were just now getting up, one in particular had been up for a while now. Twilight Sparkle looked out the window at the rising sun with fatigued eyes. She had not been sleeping well ever since her problems started occurring. Spike on the other hoof had no problem sleeping all through the night and would probably sleep through most of the day if Twilight did not wake him. She rolled out of bed and walked over to where Spike was sleeping in his basket with all of his limbs sprawled, most hanging out of the basket. Twilight noticed how Spike had been growing and even doubted he would fit into the suit he wore to Shining Armor's wedding just a few months ago. It wasn't anything drastic but even the tiniest of details or changes never escaped Twilight's eye. She went in to nudge him while forcing herself to sound as cheery as possible, “Come on Spike wake up. It's a brand new day!” This was met with Spike's usual groan and detest for having to leave his comfy, albeit small, basket. Twilight considered putting more effort into waking him but decided on spending the effort on figuring out what she would do today. For you see, Twilight had been having some troubles with her studies recently, especially in her use of magic.
It had been three months since the wedding of her brother and the defeat of Queen Chrysalis and while life had returned to normal in Ponyville and her friends, the story was not so much the same with Princess Celestia and Canterlot. The city had been dealt a major blow by the invasion of the changelings and Celestia had decided that her knowledge on the enemies of Equestria was not up to par. Twilight guessed that sometimes even near immortal beings had to brush up on their studies. While she felt reassured that Princess Celestia was ensuring the safety of Equestria, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. She had not seen or heard from the Princess personally in some time and even though she continued sending letters about her lessons in friendship she had been learning in Ponyville, they were normally met with little or no response. The last she had seen or heard from her was weeks ago when Celestia made the announcement that she would be doing her best to protect Equestria from any threat including the changelings, whom Celestia admitted could be returning any day now from the defeat at Canterlot. Twilight never paid much attention to that notice though, she was letting the lack of attention from the Princess get to her. She knew better than to feel so jealous of Celestia's attention directed elsewhere. Twilight had seemingly been losing focus recently on her magical studies and wondered if that was to blame. Though she still flew through books and studied like no other pony in Equestria, it was in the physical use of her studies that she was having issues with. For unicorns practicing even the most simple of spells, there must be focus in the unicorn's mind. To get an item to levitate the unicorn must be able to focus and see the item clearly in their mind and envision it moving the way they want the item to move. Twilight however was having trouble focusing on items. Her vision seemed to get foggy every time she tried to envision something.
As Twilight walked into the library she felt downtrodden. Magic had been so easy for her after becoming the pupil of Celestia's. Ever since the incident at the entrance exam, she felt great comfort in Celestia's teachings and words of wisdom. Now was not the time to reminisce though. Twilight looked back towards her bedroom and at the sun and decided that today was a new day and that she would re-attain her focus! She glanced over at a book lying on the table from last night's reading. It would have to be put away anyway and with Spike still laying lackadaisically in his basket, it was up to her. The room was silent and it was the perfect time for Twilight to try to focus on the book to put it back on the shelves. She took deep breaths and envisioned the book in her mind. There it was! She could see it clear as could be! She thought to herself with a smile on her face, Well Twilight! Looks like it was all in your head after all! But her good mood did not last. As she tried to lift the book the fog had swarmed into her mind and obscured the book as soon as she had tried to lift it over to the bookshelf. She could barely manage to get it a few inches into the air and the book returned to the ground with a resounding thud. The feeling of panic was returning to her. If she wasn't able to perform even the simplest magic would her friends still be interested in her company or ask her for help? Would she become a pony with no use?! Her negative thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when Spike appeared behind her.
“Are you okay Twilight? You're sweating like Applejack in the middle of apple-bucking season!”
Twilight tried to put on her most non-panicked face possible before turning around, “Yes I am fine Spike, just had a bad night's sleep.”
Twilight could see the look of doubt on Spike's face. Of course Spike would be able to see through any visage that Twilight put on, he had been around her his whole life. Twilight used this thought to change topics. “You've been growing Spike! You hardly fit into your bed anymore! I'll have to talk to Rarity to see about getting you a new one.”
At the mere mention of Rarity's name, Spike loosened up and forgot all about Twilight's condition. “You really think she would do something like that for me!? Sleeping in a bed made by Rarity would be the best thing ever.” As Spike's eyes turned into beating pink hearts Twilight thought this would be the best time to try to get out of the house and do some reading. She even had a good cover for herself now.
“Hey Spike I'm going to go to Fluttershy's to try and see if there is any information on aging dragons so we can find out when you turn into a large monster and burn down the entire town with a simple sneeze.” Spike turned around and let out a simple and very sarcastic “ha-ha very funny Twilight.”
Twilight giggled to herself as she left the house and started walking towards Fluttershy's cottage. Although she truly was curious about Spike maturing, she also wanted to research her own problem. She wanted to see if maybe there was an illness related to her lack of focus or if this happened to other unicorns. She normally would ask Rarity or another unicorn about this problem but the thoughts of her friends finding her useless quickly scared her out of bringing it up to anypony. Her best hope would be to find a cause in one of Fluttershy's many books on sicknesses and cures for animals. Surely she would have some books on unicorns, right?
She was so deep in thought she hardly noticed that she walked through all of Ponyville without so much as a word to anypony before she could see Fluttershy's cottage coming into view. She was hoping she didn't offend somepony with her blank stare.
She walked up to Fluttershy's cottage and knocked on the door quietly. She was quickly greeted by the sight of her yellow pegasus friend.
“Oh hi Twilight. How are you today?” Fluttershy asked.
“I'm doing just fine Fluttershy!” Twilight lied.
“What brings you all the way over here?”
“Well you see, I noticed Spike had been growing a lot recently and I was wondering if you had any books on mythological creatures or magic to see what is going to be happening to Spike through adolescence?”
“Well I just don't know. I might have something on dragons but surely you would have more books to choose from in your library wouldn't you? And why magic?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“Yeah I looked through some of my books but nothing came up so I figured I would check with the number one animals expert in all of Ponyville! I'm just trying to cover all the possibilities to find out some information and you never know what will turn up when one is researching magic.”
“Well okay then, let's go see what I have.”
Fluttershy's collection was just a single bookcase but the books in there were of high quality. Twilight could see a lot of the books she had seen before in the Canterlot Library but also some she had never seen before. Finally she saw a book titled Mythological Creatures Through The Ages , and thought that would be a good place to start for information on Spike, though her own issues were still on her mind.
Fluttershy was quick to notice something. “Twilight is there any reason you went over and picked up that book instead of just bringing it over with magic?” She winced, “Unless of course you just felt like doing it, then that's fine too.” She let out in a low whisper.
“Oh.” Twilight said, not even noticing her error. “I sometimes don't feel comfortable waving my magic around in somepony's house, wouldn't want to wreck anything, you know?”
She glanced around to see if Fluttershy was right behind her and quickly also picked up The Common Ailments of Modern Unicorns when she was sure the coast was clear. Good timing too, Fluttershy walked in just moments later and said that her and Angel were going to head over to Applejack's to get some of the fresh carrots that had just been picked. Fluttershy was ready to go into more detail but Angel was quick to start pounding his paw to the ground in impatience. Fluttershy bid Twilight farewell and left. Not knowing if Fluttershy would burst in immediately after leaving, Twilight decided to start first with research on Spike.
What she first thought she would be using as an excuse to study up on her condition, she found truly interesting. Dragons surely were very foreign creatures to most ponies. The fact that she has one in her home is probably the only case of such in all of Equestria she figured. The book was able to describe some things about adult dragons and baby dragons, but not a lot of information was available on the aging. Twilight was confused at first but then realized that dragons age over hundreds of years and that having a full study on one of them would be rather difficult. Fully aged dragons were capable of so many things. They were able to fly and breathe fire obviously but Twilight also learned that fully matured dragons were immune to almost all negative or harmful magic. That certainly was news to Twilight. Dragons also eventually were able to harness far more control over their fire breath than Spike could manage in the present. One sneeze and an entire book could be destroyed in a burst of flames at his current stage. Fire control is certainly not Spike's specialty, Twilight thought to herself. Twilight knew that Spike would eventually grow massive naturally and not by pure power of greed as they had experienced once in the past but she had no idea at which rate he would grow. Although the book was lacking on information about the transition into adult phase, Twilight just figured all of that stuff would come over time. Twilight was deep into study about dragons when she suddenly remembered her real reason for being here.
She picked up the book on unicorns and dove straight into it. Trying to match up her symptom of foggy vision with anything in the book. She had flown through just about every page when suddenly she read something that described her condition. She was ecstatic and continued to read on only to be disappointed that this illness only affected elderly ponies and the first symptom was the inability to stop spontaneously dancing. She certainly wasn't an elder pony and definitely was not spontaneously dancing so she passed over that one just like the others. Finally she was greeted by the back cover of the book and no answers to be had. She was comforted by the fact she had gained knowledge on dragons but was still overall disappointed by the vacancy of answers in her head.
She slowly walked out of Fluttershy's cottage after putting the books back in their proper place. She was not accustomed to the void of answers for a problem, it had been what she was known for all her life. She was upset at the missing knowledge that modern books had on the subject. The light bulb burned bright in her head, That's it! She thought to herself. She needed something, rather somepony, more varied than modern books. The name escaped her mouth in a cheer that she was unable to control.
“Zecora!”
Chapter 2
Twilight felt a second wind as she briskly made her way to Zecora's hut inside the Everfree Forest. I've been going at this all the wrong way. This isn't something everypony goes through. Of course there wasn't going to be information on it in some book. Twilight had many thoughts like these trying to reassure herself that going to Zecora was the right idea. Though the skies were cloudy before going into the forest, it only got worse inside. She remembered back to a time where all of her friends were fearful of the forest (even she was afraid though she didn't care to admit it). Those times seemed so long ago as she walked into the forest almost carelessly. Zecora had been her friend for some time now and knew that she would try to help Twilight as best she could.
As she made her way to the hut she was hoping that Zecora wasn't off on one of her many escapades to find ingredients for her potion stock. She gently knocked on the door and was surprised when Zecora almost instantly swung the door open to greet her.
“My oh my what a surprise. Though I already detect gloom in your eyes.” Zecora said.
“Hello Zecora! How are yo-... how could you tell?”
Zecora extended her hoof as to invite Twilight in. “Come in come in and have a seat. It is my pleasure for me to err... greet you?”
Now THAT is unusual. Twilight thought. Zecora had never had trouble rhyming before. Her mind began racing, wondering if Zecora had something wrong with her as well. But she instead decided on getting to the problem at hand. After explaining to Zecora what had been happening, all the while met by nods of Zecora, she hopefully looked upon Zecora for a solution.
“Well Zecora, what do you think?” Asked Twilight with a glimmer of hope in her eye.
“Well thankfully for you my friend. This is not the day your magic will end!” Zecora exclaimed.
Twilight was ecstatic and began to beam with joy before even being explained what would be happening.
“Now now, slow down Twilight. This process will take us into the night. We must be careful with this ancient remedy or your next sunrise will not be met with glee.” Zecora said.
Twilight sensed that something wasn't quite right. She seemed to be trying harder than usual to come up with her rhymes. It appeared to come so naturally to her in the past. Again, Twilight brushed this aside as she instead focused on her issue.
“Right. Well then Zecora what will we be needing?”
The list of ingredients was not too long and most of the things were quite common. She could easily find 80% of the ingredients just in Zecora's garden alone. She certainly knew where to get a dragon's talon-nail too. But this list seemed to just take more time than anything else. She wondered why Zecora said it would take all night.
“So Zecora, this list doesn't look too difficult. I'd say we could have everything gathered and ready in just a couple hours!”
Zecora shook her head, “The most essential ingredient is far more rare, and the journey to acquire it we cannot share.”
Twilight figured it would be up to Zecora to gather that essential ingredient and she would be left to gather the others. It would be quite a bore, but to attain her focus there was no chore too tedious. She followed Zecora as they left the hut and they went their separate ways.
A Few Hours Later
After much searching and digging, Twilight finally acquired all the ingredients. The most interesting one being the talon-nail she acquired from Spike. She found it quite entertaining to watch Spike grumble to himself as Twilight oh-so-carefully snipped off the end of his talon. But with all that running around out of the way Twilight was excited to get back to Zecora's and get to work on making the potion. As she happily trotted towards Zecora's hut she was hoping that Zecora would be inside waiting for her. She opened the door though and was met by silence and an empty home. Oh well, she thought as she started to unload the ingredients on the table next to the cauldron. Then she heard the strangest noise. Well, it wasn't really strange, it was closer to eerie. If she listened carefully between the gusts of wind moving the hut around she could swear she could hear something. A knocking sound. It was extremely faint and she couldn't even be sure if it was really there or not. All of this worry disappeared when Zecora swung the door open in a hasty manner. Twilight's was beaming with excitement and she showed Zecora her haul. Everything on the list was gathered, that only left this mystery ingredient which Twilight was more than curious about.
“So Zecora, what took so long for you to gather? Was it pixie dust? Or a rare flower? A snail turned to stone by a cockatrice? YOU MUST TELL ME!” Twilight exclaimed, as it was clear her excitement and curiosity were getting the better of her.
“Settle down Twilight and ready your eyes, for what you see will be sure to surprise.”
Twilight could have exploded from anticipation right then and there. Her not-so-silent wishes were finally answered when Zecora reached into her saddlebag with her mouth and yanked out an odd looking vial.
“Uh Zecora, you spent all that time going to get a vial? You have dozens here on your shelves! Please tell me there is something special about this vial.”
“You see Twilight to restore your magic, we needed a vial that could handle a kick”
Twilight could almost groan at how poor that rhyme was but decided against starting any sort of aggression and began to be mesmerized by Zecora stirring all the ingredients together in the cauldron. Finally there was a bright blue stew brewing in the cauldron as Zecora lined it up with the special vial and began pouring. Almost immediately Twilight could sense something magical happening. Just as the brew filled up the vial to the top, the vial pulsed a ghastly green color followed by a flash. When Twilight looked upon the vial again, the entire brew inside of it had changed into a color of bright green.
Twilight's mouth was left agape. She had never seen anything like that. She assumed it was the vials doing but her questions were again dismissed by her excitement.
“So it's all ready Zecora?”
Zecora nodded and Twilight could sense that she was fatigued. The journey to get the vial may have been more treacherous than first thought and Twilight was sure to be very thankful.
Twilight loomed over the vial, staring down at it as if she felt intimidated by it. She glanced to Zecora for re-assurance that this was in fact safe to consume and Zecora answered with a simple nod. Getting the vial to her mouth without magic was more troublesome than she expected but finally she was able to get the angle correct and start drinking. This is REPULSIVE, Twilight thought as she used all of her willpower to refrain from vomiting over Zecora's hut wall. She was able to muster it down and took some deep breaths as to assure her taste buds that the assault was now over. She looked around the room and down at her hooves but noticed no real change. Zecora interrupted her thought process, “Let time fly to take care of the rest, in the meantime perhaps help me with a pest.”
Zecora explained that a rabbit has been devouring her lettuce supply non-stop and no matter what she tried to do, it always returned and filled his stomach with her valuable lettuce supply. Twilight explained that she couldn't feel her magic coming back to her but Zecora insisted she go outside and give it a shot. Twilight walked around to the garden and sure enough, there was a rabbit there going to town on her lettuce. Twilight tried shooing the creature away with her hooves but it quickly leaped back over to continue eating. Finally she decided to use some magic. She focuses on the rabbit and the place she wanted to move the rabbit to, just twenty feet away, let the magic flow and then...
Twilight squeed with joy as she watched the rabbit get teleported from it's position to exactly where she envisioned it going. She was too busy jumping and hollering that she failed to notice the rabbit hop right back over and continue eating. Fine then, let's see you get back from there! She focused on a hill well over 500 feet away and with a simple zap, there went the rabbit. To her amazement, she watched as the rabbit took just but five minutes to swiftly hop back to Zecora's precious lettuce. Twilight sighed in frustration. She just wanted to get on with her life and start using her magic again! She just wanted to get out of this forest and go enjoy the sunshine. She didn't want to have to deal with this annoying rabbit anymore! And with another zap, the rabbit was gone.
Twilight observed high and low but could not find the pest. She waited fifteen minutes before deciding she must have teleported it so far away that it must have been lost. She started to wonder further why her magic had acted without her thinking of exactly where the rabbit would go or even willing her magic to move it. Her thoughts began filling with ecstasy. She could finally cast magic again! She was so excited that she decided to immediately go say goodbye to Zecora. Zecora insisted that it was her pleasure to help out her friend and seemed just as excited to see Twilight's magic return. Twilight decided she had seen enough of the Everfree forest for a good long while and started galloping back to Ponyville at full speed.
She arrived in Ponyville just at sunrise. She really had taken all night just to get that concoction made. Her excitement began to wear off and she could feel fatigue creeping into her mind. All she wanted to do was spend all day casting magic but she knew that would not go well if she wasn't rested. She had the rest of her life to cast magic now! She opened the door to the library and was surprised to find Spike already awake and making breakfast for himself.
“There you are Twilight! I was starting to get worried. You only came home for a few minutes yesterday to get a piece of my talon and you were gone before I even turned back around! Where have you been all night?”
Twilight had forgotten all about this part. She hadn't told anypony other than Zecora about her problem. She really hated lying to Spike so instead she told a half-truth. “Well Zecora mentioned to Fluttershy that she had a problem with a rabbit but when Fluttershy said she wasn't sure if she could make it out to Zecora's to help her, I volunteered to go in her place and we needed the talon for an experimental zoning potion to use on Zecora's garden.” She was sure that would suffice.
“Well then why did it take all night?!” Spike questioned.
“You could say that the rabbit was more than stubborn.” Twilight let out a fatigued giggle. She really needed to get some sleep before coming up with any more falsehoods, lest they be left with holes. “I really need to get some sleep Spike but I'll wake up around midday and we will figure out what to do after that. Until then just spend the day however you would like since the library looks so clean.” She could see that did the trick as Spike perked up.
“That works out great! Rarity was asked me to help her tidy up the boutique but I wasn't sure if I would have any time but now I do! Thanks Twilight!”
As she left the room she could hear Spike hurrying through breakfast to get to Rarity's even faster.
She was more than happy to be back in her own room. She got into bed and turned to look at the lamp still beaming bright. She reached her hoof over and turned off the lamp leaving only the rising sunlight to fill the room. She stared up at the curtains and thought, go on, you've earned it. And with her horn aglow, the curtains closed themselves shut. Twilight dozed off into sleep with a smile that could rival Pinkie Pie's on her greatest of days.
Ten Miles Away.
The field on the other side of the Everfree forest gained a new occupant. It's been a while since an animal moved in to this field, though the new arrival wasn't there by choice. Lying in the middle of the field was a rabbit, or what was left of it. Its body completely maimed and distorted. It was still sparking and all of its hairs were either on end, or singed off. A gruesome sight to behold. But how did it get that way?
It's entire body and most of the cells in it was destroyed.
Chapter 3
Celestia's sun rose just as it did every morning before that, but it was an especially glorious morning for the lavender unicorn occupying Ponyville library. She exited her bed with an extra hop to each of her steps. She was still feeling a mixture of happiness and relief over the return of her magic to its normal state. Twilight couldn't wipe the smile off of her face even through the feeling of fatigue after her short, albeit well needed, sleep.
She decided to reward Spike's patience with her last night by allowing him to sleep in for a couple hours while she did some running around. She did still feel a smidgen of regret for lying to Spike last night about her true motives, but she still didn't feel comfortable telling everypony about her brief state of weakness. Maybe in due time , Twilight thought. As she closed the door to the library behind her, she started to make a list of things that needed to get done. First I'll have to thank Fluttershy properly for letting me use her library yesterday. Even though it didn't really help, I should still- Twilight's thoughts were cut short by a flash of pink racing past her, nearly knocking her to the ground. She gathered her head and saw Pinkie Pie racing back towards her.
"Oh my gosh Twilight I'm so sorry I was just in a hurry because I wanted to not be late to lunch with the girls and I thought if I walked then I wouldn't make it on time and galloping wouldn't do it either so I would have to race as fast as I possibly can to make it and now that I'm stopping I'll have to go even fast oh gosh I hope I don't knock into anypony else!"
"Pinkie Pie slow down, its okay. I'm in no rush. Just heading to Fluttersh-"
"Oh you're going to see Fluttershy?! She's going to the lunch I'm going to! We're meeting Rainbow Dash there before she heads off to the weather-something meeting-thingy!"
"Well then, mind if I join you guys?"
"Sure thing! Let's just hurry! I don't want to be late!"
"Can't we just walk? I'm sure they don't mind us being five minutes late."
"But, but, fine," Pinkie said with a slight frown.
As they walked across town, something finally crossed Twilight's mind.
"Hey Pinkie, why didn't anypony invite me to come? I would definitely have taken the time out to come eat with you girls."
"Well you see I suggested that we do just that yesterday but Rainbow said you would probably just be reading all day but I finally convinced her to at least try to find you to ask but everywhere we looked you were nowhere to be found! So eventually I just said okie-dokie-lokie and we left it at just us three!"
"Well that's fine then, I was quite busy yesterday but I'm glad you ran into me so that I could attend this lunch."
"What were you up to that made you so not available silly!"
"Oh it was nothing too important, just something that I had to get done." Another instance where Twilight wasn't exactly lying. She just hoped that neither Pinkie nor the other ponies pressed the issue any harder. She wasn't comfortable not telling everypony about what happened, but she felt it was for the best.
Thankfully for Twilight, the walk to the restaurant did not last much longer and soon they joined the company of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash seemed pleasantly surprised by the lavender unicorn joining them. "Hey Twilight! I wasn't expecting you to be here!"
"Well I ran into Pinkie on the way to Fluttershy's and kind of invited myself to tag along."
"No problem at all; I'm starving! Can we get to the grub?"
"Certainly. By the way Fluttershy, thanks so much for letting me look through your collection, I hope I returned everything to its proper place."
"Well yes, everything was where it belonged, but I still don't know where you were the rest of the day because you weren't in my cottage when I got back. Nothing bad happened to you, I hope?" Fluttershy whimpered.
Twilight flinched at the thought of having to lie to her friends again. "Well, you see I was-"
Twilight was relieved to find the waiter standing over them asking what they would be eating. This distraction was welcomed by Twilight and would hopefully derail the previous conversation they were having. After a few minutes of chatter about Fluttershy's adventure with Angel yesterday and tales of dangerous weather manipulation by Rainbow Dash, the food finally arrived. Rainbow Dash attacked her sandwich viciously, showing no mercy as she began devouring it as if to set record time. Fastest flier in all of Ponyville? Looks like fastest eater to me, thought Twilight.
"Stho Twilight, where were you yethterday?" Asked Rainbow Dash, her mouth stuffed with food.
"It was nothing really, I was just out doing some chores," responded Twilight.
Rainbow managed to swallow the remainder of food in her mouth before continuing, "Come on Twilight that's not all you did! Something interesting or awesome must have happened, you were gone all day! Spill the beans Twi."
"No really, nothing interesting happened at all!" Said Twilight a little bit louder than she intended it to come out.
Rainbow was taken aback by her outburst and she narrowed her eyes, "Okay now I know something is going on. Twilight. We're your friends, you really should tell us what's been going on."
"Listen Rainbow, it's not that I don't want to tell you it's that-"
Twilight was interrupted by yet another welcome distraction. This time in the form of a grey mare with a blonde colored mane holding a mailbag. She turned to face Twilight, "Mail delivery for Rainbow Dash!"
"Uh Derpy, Rainbow Dash is over there." Responded Twilight while pointing her hoof towards Rainbow Dash only to notice that both Rainbow's hooves and mouth were full of food. Twilight sighed, "Never mind, I'll give it to her." Twilight said as she grabbed the letters with her magic and had them hovering over the table. "Thanks Derpy." And with that they grey mare turned and (almost knocking the waiter to the ground) flew away.
Rainbow somehow managed to swallow the final part of her sandwich before turning again to Twilight. "Don't think I haven't forgotten Twilight! You need to tell us what's been going on! We just want to help."
Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who both nodded their head in unison. "Listen girls, it's really nothing of concern! I just don't want to trouble you with any of this."
"Twilight, enough of all that! Just tell us!" Rainbow said back to her in a raised tone of voice.
"I don't want to!"
"Just tell us!"
"NO!" Twilight yelled. At the same time, the letters that she had been holding with her magic started to tear and shred before bursting into a bright flame. Fluttershy let out a shriek while Pinkie's eyes widened.
"Gee Twilight, thanks," muttered Rainbow Dash as the remaining ashes floated down onto the table.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Rainbow! I don't know how that happened! I really didn't mean to I swear! You'll have to believe me, I would never do something like that on purpose!" Twilight pleaded.
"Yeah, well, maybe you should just get your sandwich to-go Twi." Sighed Rainbow.
Twilight began wrapping her sandwich up while being attacked by guilt. The table had gone silent and nopony had touched their food as Twilight finished preparing her sandwich while leaving a few bits on the table. "Sorry girls," she said as she turned to leave. She started her walk home with her head hung from embarrassment. Why would you do that Twilight? I obviously didn't want to do that, but why did it happen? I would never have done something like that to anypony. I don't even know if I could do that on purpose if I tried! All of these questions fluttered around in Twilight's head as she returned to the library. I know! I'll write to Celestia and see if she has any input on this matter. Twilight normally only wrote to Celestia about the lessons she learned about friendship but hopefully Celestia wouldn't be upset if Twilight came to her with a problem involving friendship and was seeking advice.
Twilight entered the library and called for Spike. He came flying from upstairs to greet his favorite librarian.
"Hey Twilight! Thanks for letting me sleep in today. I really needed it."
"No problem Spike, take a letter please."
Spike whipped out some parchment and a quill and began writing about Twilight's issue with her friends and her indescribable magic acts. Spike used to be concerned about what he was writing down for Twilight but then decided it was best not to think too deeply into it lest he take something the wrong way and end up confused. So he just took the note and signed it for Twilight before blasting it with his breath and watching it soar out the library's highest window.
Twilight was heading towards the kitchen to unwrap and finish her sandwich before a sound surprised her. It was the sound of Spike belching up a response letter from Celestia. That was fast! thought Twilight. Before Spike recovered from the recoil, Twilight was already in front of him snatching up the letter with her magic and reading it.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, I am sorry to hear about your happenings today. It is always tragic when disagreements arise between friends. But I trust you have the wisdom and strength to pull through this. The threads that keep friends together are constantly pulled and tested, but the bonds you and your friends have weaved can surely stand up to this test. As for your magic, I'm afraid I cannot tell exactly what is happening without being there to see for myself which, unfortunately, is just not possible right now. I have been studying changelings deeply recently: everything from their battle tactics to their society. Changelings have never been a species to forgive and forget, and I fear that another attack on Canterlot is not only possible, but coming soon. I have not yet detected any foreign activity from the changelings nor their queen, Chrysalis. I know my absence isn't something either of us prefer but for Ponyville, and all of Equestria, it's what needs to happen. I know that, even without me, you can make it through your troubling times Twilight. Stay strong my pupil. Princess Celestia
What was supposed to bring relief to Twilight only brought on waves of doubt and sadness. She remembers Celestia's words to stay strong and tries to put everything negative behind her. Trying to escape the negative feelings she does what she has been doing ever since she was just a filly, reading.
As she magically turned the pages of one of her oldest equestrian history books, her thoughts led back again to Princess Celestia and her letter. She felt abandoned and left out. Even if the Princess was embarking on these missions, Twilight wished she could at least accompany her. She was the Princess's star pupil. Her only personal student at the time. Twilight thought that it would mean more time with the Princess. The Princess could trust her, Twilight thought, but she wouldn't even ask Twilight for any help? As these thoughts of anger, envy, and doubt swirled in Twilight's mind she felt something strange happening. She looked towards the book she was reading just seconds ago and the pages started to change. The page she was just reading started to crumble and tear. She observed close and the page of the book looked as if it was being attacked, by her magic. She observed what looked to be thousands of extremely tiny magic needles piercing the page and slowly withering it away until finally the page had been completely destroyed.
Twilight lept back from her book and shut off the magical connection she had to it. What was going on? How did she do that? Is that the same thing that happened to Rainbow's letter? Twilight was too exhausted to think any further and dreadfully walked her way up to her bed.
Sleep was not going to come for Twilight Sparkle tonight. Now Twilight wasn't just alone, she was scared.
Author's Note
Yes Pinkie Pie's speaking lines are supposed to be run-ons and very hasty-like. Just like Pinkie doesn't take breaths between speaking nor should you during reading!
Chapter 4
Twilight stirred out of slumber for what must have been the 15th time since she tried falling asleep. This time the sun radiated through the top window as Twilight came to the realization she must get up for another day. Unlike any other day, she looked towards this one with a sense of fear. The last thing she wanted to do was bring harm to another pony and wasn't sure how her magic would react. From what she gathered, it seemed that her magic was reacting to stress but that could all just be coincidental.
She heard Owlowiscious' whoos downstairs reminding Spike that it was time to get up and started doing a quick brainstorm before dragging herself downstairs. There must be something I can do. Something in my power to counteract what is happening to me. But to do that, I have to figure out what caused this. Twilight's pacing was starting to cause a rhythmic beat as her hooves began to tread on the wooden floor. But nothing out of the ordinary has happened recen- ZECORA'S!
Her quick burst of adrenaline was suddenly met with another realization. No way. There is no way that Zecora would do something like this to her, atleast on purpose. She came to the decision that she should atleast go talk to Zecora and see if perhaps there was a complication with the potion or if this is one of the known side effects. She found this to be the most logical solution and found solace in the fact she was able to calmly make this decision. She put on her best happy face and hopped downstairs into the library main room where Spike was walking around in a wake-up haze.
"Hey Twiliiiiiiiiiiiiight," Spike yawned.
"Hello Spike!" Twilight said. She thought about what she would tell Spike about her activities today. She decided that lying to her assistant and to her friends were definitely not doing anypony any good. She would simply leave out some sensitive details. "I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I think I'm going to head to Zecora's to get a second diagnosis at this." She had been preparing for a counter argument but instead was met with a simple nod and yawn from Spike.
Well that went smoothly, Twilight thought to herself as she walked out of the library. She made a point to get to the Everfree Forest as quickly as possible to avoid any awkward encounters with any of her friends, especially Rainbow Dash. She still can't believe that she destroyed Rainbow's letter and was feeling particularly ashamed at how flagrant it looked. Try as she might, she was not able to convince Rainbow that it had been a complete accident before Rainbow sent her away. She had no choice but to comply lest she dig herself even further into this unknown maw that threatened to separate herself from her friends. She was so deep in thought that once again she failed to notice any potential pony trying to get her attention. She would have felt bad, but instead she just felt like breaking out into a sprint to make it to Zecora's hut.
She made it to Zecora's hut in near record time. Twilight was surprised to find herself not fatigued even the slightest. She was quick to conclude that it must be the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She couldn't help but analyze everything that popped into her mind and nothing brought a wave of relief quicker than testing her hypothesis and finding it correct. She found herself rambling even up to the front door of Zecora's tree-hut. She knocked gently at first. Then she brought the hoof down and said "Zecora! I need your help! It's Twilight, please answer the door!" Twilight was discouraged to find the door standing still. Maybe she is in meditation. I suppose I could just let myself in and wait for her to finish, Twilight thought. As she opened the door she found herself facing an all-to-familiar sight, nothing. She groaned out loud at the vacancy. Twilight bursted out, "Of course you're never here when I need you!" And after a stomp of her hoof, all was silent. Well, almost silent.
Twilight closed her eyes and focused and heard a ghastly yet familiar sound. Knocking. She had heard this before! Last time she was left alone in Zecora's she heard a faint knocking between the gusts of wind slamming into the tree. This time, there was no wind. Although weak, she was able to clearly hear knocking this time. She looked towards the door and went to open it, nothing outside. Twilight was now perplexed, perhaps it had been an animal thumping at the base of the tree. That thought was dismissed as the knocking continued and Twilight began to realize it was coming from inside the tree! Wait, not inside. Beneath. She followed the knocking sound to a large stand with an orb on top of it. She noticed that the stand had been recently moved and that the rug under the stand looked completely out of place. She levitated the incredibly heavy stand out the way (with ease Twilight noted) and began to curl the rug away from it's resting position. There she saw something that certainly didn't belong. A hatch that appeared to open a hole inside the floor. She leaned her head close to the hatch and heard the knock again and decided it was time to act. Twilight inhaled deeply and then focused on the hatch and with one swift action ripped the hatch from the floor as the earth moaned in protest. Twilight could see that the hole was quite deep, about 15 feet it seemed. It would take an extraneous amount of physical effort to dig a hole like that, or powerful magic. The perfect square shape of the hole lead Twilight to think it was the latter. She brought a light to the tip of her horn and peered down. What she saw made her sick to her stomach and knocked all of the wind out of her lungs.
There. At the bottom of the pit. Was Zecora.
Twilight gasped in horror as she stared down at Zecora. She had been bound and gagged with only one foreleg able to escape her binds. She peered down and noticed that the leg that had broke free had been causing the knocking sound. Wooden beams supported the sides of the hole leading all the way to the bottom to prevent the hole from collapsing in on itself. Zecora's foreleg had been knocking at the wood. Zecora was extremely weakened. Goddess knows how long she has been down there, her fatigue no doubt led to the quiet nature of the knocks. Twilight halted all this pointless analyzing and quickly levitated her friend out of the hole. Zecora looked incredibly frail and her injuries extended beyond what Twilight could observe in the hole. Not only did her friend look malnourished, she was also wearing a nasty gash across her forehead. Dried blood marked the side of her face in a line down past her mouth with an even fresher pool of blood that seemed to exit her mouth in large quantities at one point. She most likely hadn't eaten in days and her limbs looked shattered. Twilight looked into Zecora's eyes and Zecora stared back at hers. Zecora then glanced up at one of her shelves. Twilight followed her eyes to a potion on the top shelf that had light fumes pouring out of it. Zecora looked to be in no state to speak, nevertheless start conduct rhymes for Twilight so she only assumed that Zecora meant for her to go get the potion. Perhaps it was a healing potion , Twilight thought to herself. Or perhaps a revival potion to get her strength back! Twilight quickly brought the vial back to Zecora and was shocked at what she observed. Zecora brought her mouth back and quickly ripped out a tuft of hair from her mane with what looked to be the last of her strength. Zecora deposited her hair into the vial and the fumes became thicker and turned to the colors of black and white. Twilight looked on as Zecora glanced her eyes to Twilight, and then the vial, then back to Twilight before she finally got the message. She was supposed to drink it, not Zecora. But Twilight pieced something else together. No rhymes, fresh pool of blood around mouth, inability to talk. Oh Goddess! Twilight thought as she came to the realization that her zebra friend was now without a tongue.
"Wait a minute Zecora! This isn't for you!? I don't see how me drinking this will help you right now! I want to help you Zecora, tell me what I must do!" Twilight exclaimed.
Zecora simply darted her eyes back and forth again until Twilight conceded.
"Fine Zecora but after I drink this we are getting you immediate help."
Twilight levitated the bottle close to her mouth to begin drinking but before she was able to press her lips against the glass, the fumes from the bottle darted towards Twilight's nose and mouth and forced their way inside her. Twilight gasped as the bottle in her hooves seemed to melt away. She looked towards Zecora and it seemed that she was disfigured as well, melting into the background of the hut. She looked around and it was as the entire world was mutating. As the walls around her melted, she observed the clock on the wall. As primitive as it seemed, it had always been in working condition, until now. It seemed to be accelerating... backwards, and fast. Twilight's brain lit up as she recognized this shaman magic, Time reversal! She watched as the clock zipped counter clockwise and tried to keep track of the hours wizzing by. 36 hours went by and she observed as she zipped in and around the hut. This must be the actions of the other night when I came here searching for help. However, time kept on marching on. If this isn't what Zecora wanted me to see, then what is? After what appeared to be 3 days, the clock slowed down and she was able to focus once again on her surroundings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She saw Zecora looking clean and strong as ever in her hut. It seemed she was also sporting a rather festive feathered headdress, certainly of Zebra culture she noted. She was able to see, but when she opened her mouth to speak, nothing but her breath escaped. She wouldn't have even noticed her breath if she hadn't taken note of it, there was no sound whatsoever, an eerie silenced blanketed over her and she began to panic. The panic only furthered when she realized she didn't have a physical body, atleast not one she could see. She appeared to be ethereal. The creeping panic was quickly subdued when she noticed past-Zecora glance upwards from her table and set down the massive book she had been reading. She approached the door to let it open. The door was flung open and Twilight let out an inaudible gasp.
It was her! Twilight was struck with confusion. There was no doubt that was her. This potion didn't create hallucinations did it? She pushed aside her curiosity and simply observed. New-Twilight was mouthing something to Zecora, who in response, simply tilted her head seemingly out of bewilderment. Zecora eventually extended a hoof to let New-Twilight into her hut. New-Twilight was quick to hop into the hut. She embraced Zecora in an extremely awkward hug. Zecora was not very fond of sudden contact and Twilight knew that. She certainly wouldn't have done something like that. New-Twilight was smiling and finally seemed to remember why she, I? , was here. She extended a hoof and pointed it towards one of the small books on the top shelf of Zecora's hut. Zecora gave a smile and started walking towards the shelf when a movement out of Twilight's eye caught her attention. She stared on as the massive book that Zecora was reading suddenly was wrapped in magic. She saw New-Twilight's horn start to glow. This wasn't her magic though, she quickly figured out. The glow given off was light green in nature and seemed so, familiar. She didn't have time to think on it though as she gazed on in horror. She watched as the massive book was lifting toward the roof of the hut and Twilight could only picture what was coming next. Just before Zecora reached the shelving, the book started to plummet downwards. Twilight cringed and closed her eyes just before the inevitable happened. She could almost imagine the crunch of the book landing across Zecora's head and tears started to well in her eyes. She couldn't bare to watch but she also couldn't afford to miss anything happening. She thought she only closed her eyes for a brief few seconds, but when she opened her eyes what she observed quickly fought those thoughts. She observed the hatch on the floor closing firmly and looked upon the pony standing in front of her. No, not a pony. A zebra. Zecora?! Wait, what just happened? She observed the floor and noticed a fresh pool of blood expanding near the hatch. Is this where she lost her tongue? Wait, but how? She tried to go back in time but she had no control over time here. She watched as the New-New-Zecora's ??? face lit up in a grim. And just like that, Twilight understood.
She understood why Zecora had sent her back here. She understood everything. Anger rose up through her. Just as Twilight had completed the thought, the hut was slowly melting again. This time it was a much faster transformation forward through time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight panted in anger, she was beyond infuriated. How could she not notice! Suddenly, Twilight was back in the present time. She looked down on her Zebra friend and saw only a body. No life stirred within the corpse and Zecora's body held only an empty stare. She was gone.
"ZECORA! NO!"
Twilight felt rage brewing inside of her. With this rage came a tidal surge of magic. She was stronger than ever but felt anger and despair taking hold. She let out a scream loud enough to be heard as far as Ponyville. All around her, trinkets and vials started falling off the shelves and the scream carried on. The ground itself seemed to be tearing itself asunder as Twilight Sparkle continued to let out wails of despair. The tree threatened to collapse on itself when Twilight came to. She knew what needed to happen. She knew who was responsible. And with that she ran from Zecora's hut faster than she ever felt her hooves could carry her, towards Ponyville. Somehow she just knew she would find "Zecora" there. The town square of Ponyville was her destination and she reached there in unbelievable speed, drawing the attention of many of the townsfolk. She saw a familiar zebra chatting with an energetic pink mare bouncing in circles around her. NO! Twilight's mind screamed out.
She charged with all of her might. Applejack would be envious of the speed Twilight Sparkle now gained as she raced towards Zecora. Zecora didn't even have a second to realize what was happening before Twilight Sparkle slammed into her with a blinding speed. Ponies everywhere gasped as Zecora's body was sent flying through the air. Everypony was speechless. Pinkie Pie's mouth was left agape as she saw Zecora's body fly through the air seemingly through the actions of one of her other best friends.
A unicorn mare with a mint green mare wearing a grey hooded sweater was the first to say anything, "Twilight Sparkle! What are you doing to that zebra?! Isn't she your friend?!?"
"NO!" Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. Her voice carried with more strength than anypony anticipated as some were thrown on their flanks from the raw power.
Zecora hit the ground rolling and was unbelievably quick to recover from the hit, she opened her mouth to protest, "Twilight Sparkle why do you-"
"YOU DO NOT SPEAK MY NAME UNDER THAT GUISE! YOUR CHARADE IS UP YOUR MAJESTY!"
Everypony looked on in a mix between curiosity and horror. Your majesty?
"YOU WILL HARM MY FRIENDS NO LONGER, CHRYSALIS!"
Author's Note
As always, do leave a comment if you have any questions or you find some silly typo. As many times as I read my chapters I always seem to leave something or miss something obvious! Let me know what you guys think! <3
A special thanks to my only pre-reader, Christian. Thanks for getting me as pumped up about finishing this as you are about reading it.
Chapter 5
Several gasps can be heard from the ponies as they began to back away from the Zecora look-a-like.
"Changelings?! In Ponyville?" Twilight heard one of the ponies yell out.
Some of the ponies began to flee the area, most stuck around to watch things develop. Pinkie was quick to get her hooves going and escape towards the ring of ponies now encircling Twilight and Zecora. They were in one of the more open spots of Ponyville, which allowed for a large number of spectators. Twilight would prefer there be fewer onlookers but it was a thought far in the back of her mind as she continued towards Zecora. As she began to walk past the large fountain located at the center of the square, Zecora opened her mouth to reveal two large fangs.
"Well I guess this disguise is no longer needed," said Zecora's figure as she began to undergo a gruesome transformation. Limbs became fully black and began stretching upwards. Wings started to form at the sides as an eerie, yet familiar, buzzing sound began to fill the air. More gasps were heard from the observers and in one final green flash, the Queen of the changelings stood before them. This was the second time Twilight had seen this transformation and chills were sent down her spine that of which had no rival. Twilight looked around to see that her friends were sharing her uncomfortable feelings. Rainbow Dash, who would usually be found hovering above the ground, was now flightless as she stared onwards in awe. Fluttershy began to sink lower and lower towards the ground in her usual terrified manner. Pinkie Pie let out a shriek and jumped into the hooves of Applejack who was just barely able to capture her in her stunned state as she gazed upon one of the most formidable opponents the friends had ever faced. Spike kept his eyes on Twilight showing a state of worry. Rarity sat on her rump staring at the queen mumbling something along the lines of, "Why must her wings be all flaky? They look absolutely dreadful!"
"Hello my future subjects!" Chrysalis cried out. Her voice seemed like a drill boring into the ponies mind. Buzzing just as her wings did. Completely unforgettable and chilling to the bone. Chrysalis guided her green eyes across the crowd of ponies before finally ending on Twilight Sparkle.
"Very perceptive of you, student of Celestia!" this one line took Twilight aback. How exactly had Chrysalis known something like that? It wasn't exactly a secret, but she had doubted Chrysalis' knowledge extended that far. The questions brewing in her brain must have translated straight onto her face as Chrysalis went on to explain as she walked around the circle of ponies, knowing full well that nopony would dare attack her.
"You see Twilight Sparkle, none of this went exactly as I planned, not that I'm complaining! I realized that a full on attack on Canterlot was a foalish strategy. So I used deception to infiltrate those closest to the top of the throne and feed off of their love. It seems that you have a knack for seeing through my disguises though and because of it, you had ruined the plans I had in place for years! I considered trotting on down here to exact my revenge upon you, but that's not how you defeat an enemy. You must know your enemy before you can defeat it! And with that in mind I came to Ponyville to extract information. Which is how I came to know of your studies and your reasons for being here, through casual conversation with your friends and fellow ponies while under the guise of this 'Zecora' figure. Though honestly, you in particular weren't the objective I came to Ponyville for..." And with that Chrysalis darted a quick look over to Rainbow Dash before whipping her head around to glance again at Twilight. "But no matter! When you came to her hut that evening with your trivial magic issue, I couldn't help but whip up a plan that put my old one to shame. Though I really do despise rhyming..."
"So do you know what has been affecting me!?" Twilight bursted out, cutting off Chrysalis' speech.
"Well of course I do you moronic foal! Do not interrupt me again or you will be responsible for two hundred lifeless ponies being carried out of this town." Chrysalis said before continuing her bragging. "I was quick to learn about how obsessed you are about your magic and couldn't resist adding you as a pawn to assist my plan."
"What are you talking about Chrysalis!? These ponies here know that I would never help you!"
"Oh but Twilight you aren't helping me, your 'cure' is," she said with a wide grin.
"What, what did you do to me!" Twilight yelled out.
"It was nothing really! I just gave you the potion that would clear the problems up. Oh, but with one little variation, the Vile-
Twilight's mind raced back to that night and she remembered noting a strange glow coming from the vial though she quickly dismissed it as being some strange zebra remedy. She stared down at her hooves feeling racked with guilt. "What did you do!" She cried out again.
"Well it's simple really. Any potion added to the vile-vial will do what it normally does except it infects the consumer with a malicious magic. This magic will feed off of your negative actions and thoughts until it is strong enough to take control of the host by itself. So, Twilight Sparkle, been feeling anything sour lately?" The queen yelled as she grew another wicked grin on her face. She pulled out the Vile-Vial from underneath her wing and tossed it on the ground near Twilight where it landed with a thud.
Suddenly it was all coming back to Twilight in a flash. The rabbit, the mail, the letter. But one thing still itched at her brain.
"So then, since I am serving as your supposed pawn in this whole endeavor, care to enlighten me as to my original problem?"
Chrysalis let out a buzzing sigh, "Fine fine very well, it was the-"
"THE MIST!" said a cry from above as bright sunlight poured down into the town square and a being flew into view as she landed across from Twilight and Chrysalis, landing between them and the rest of the ponies.
"Princess!" Twilight cried out in joy.
"Well now this should be interesting." Chrysalis let out.
"I'm so thankful to see you right now Princess! What was it you said?" Twilight said, hopeful for an answer to sate her ever-curious mind.
Celestia began calmly all while keeping her eyes glaring at Chrysalis, "The mist my dear pupil. To put it simply it is a test of focus preformed by the magic within a unicorn. It happens when the magic within a unicorn is so vast that it begins to test the host in a variety of ways to ensure its host is worthy. It affects all great unicorns AND alicorns as long as time has been recorded. Myself, Luna, Starswirl the Bearded, and perhaps even her majesty here have experienced it. I'm sorry I wasn't able to realize this any sooner for you Twilight, but to leap to such a conclusion would be dangerous and I would have had to been here for myself to make sure."
All of this information was both a relief and yet overwhelming at the same time for Twilight. She had always been proud of her magical prowess but had no idea that something like this was possible. It turned out she still had a lot of learning to do.
" My studies on changelings brought me upon a revelation. Changelings have always been known to quickly counter-attack. With Canterlot suspicion-free, I suspected she might come after the one mare brave enough to stand up to her brother and her friends in order to reveal your sinister plot. Now then," Celestia said, "to remove you from the sight of my subjects once and for all!"
"Celestia, dear Celestia, do you really want to play this game again? I have been down here soaking up all the love and tolerance for not only this Zecora figure but also the love for your star pupil over there! Hearing stories of how helpful she is to her friends over here has been quite delicious to me," Chrysalis said as she licked her lips tauntingly.
"I won't let you harm my subjects. I will use whatever means I must to protect them!"
"Silly Celestia, I'm not even the worst of your problems right now. She is!" Chrysalis pointed a hole-filled hoof over to Twilight. "Well then Twilight, does it anger you that I used you and your friends to gain power?"
Celestia finally glanced over to Twilight and noticed the Vile-Vial on the floor. "TWILIGHT GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Celestia yelled to her pupil but Twilight was already glaring directly at Chrysalis.
"I won't be used by you! I won't let you use my friends again either! Your plan will never succeed!" Twilight yelled back to the changeling queen.
"And what about your zebra friend?" Chrysalis let out in a low tone.
Twilight's ears perked with sudden anger.
"Surely you must have found her earlier to finally come to this realization. She sure is, I mean was, resilient then huh?" Chrysalis said with a cackle.
Twilight let out a scream of unequal anger as she floated into the air and closed her eyes as she forcefully glanced upwards to the sky, unable to control her own body. When she re-opened her eyes they were glowing a brilliant white.
Other ponies began to slowly back away from the scene.
"Twilight NO! You must focus and maintain control!" Celestia yelled out, but to no avail.
The magic of Twilight Sparkle began to form long tendrils coming out of her body that crackled and snapped with magical energy. These tendrils were glaring white, mimicing her eyes, and gave off a loud static sound as they whipped about seemingly uncontrolled.
Chrysalis was enjoying the chaos and yelled out towards the sky, "YES TWILIGHT SPARKLE! LET THE ANGER MANIFEST WITHIN YOU! WREAK HAVOC ACROSS PONYVILLE!"
And with that, Twilight's neck snapped forward, directing her brilliant gaze upon Chrysalis and the tendrils stopped moving.
"No." Twilight said. But her voice was different. Calm. Deeper. And it seemed as if her voice had gained thousands of years of wisdom.
Chrysalis snaps back into the present, "Oh? What is this?"
Twilight eyes seem to focus on Chrysalis for a split second, and then the tendrils moved. They whip forward at nearly blinding speeds towards the queen. Chrysalis lets out a yelp and puts up a shield to protect herself. The tendrils blasted through the shield and latch onto her, preventing her from moving. One tendril wraps itself around her horn, seemingly preventing her from casting magic. All around, ponies began to back further and further away from the mayhem. Some, unable to avert their gaze stuck around, others turned their flanks and begin to flee. During all of this, Twilight's friends stood their ground and continued to be the closest ponies to the mayhem.
"WHAT IS THIS?! NO! THIS ISN'T PART...OF...THE PLAN!" Chrysalis howls out. Her voice becoming cut off by the tendrils grip on her neck and her voice becoming higher and more raspy.
"Your evil, ends now." Twilight said once again in her near-ascended voice.
Responding to Twilight's command, a massive surge of magic moved through her body and directed down the tendrils attached to her. The began to pulse as magic was being fed into Chrysalis. The holes in her legs began to crackle as white magic began leaping across the gaps. Her wings were wilted away in seconds as the tendrils began to feed more and more magic into her. She lets out blood curdling screams that would send even the most battle-hardened ponies fleeing. Her body begins to slowly evaporate from the ground up. Her hooves are the first to go as the magic that Twilight observed ripping apart the page in her library began to do the same to a full grown pony. Ponies watched on in horror as more and more of her body began to disappear from view. Finally the magic reached her head and suddenly there was silence as the queen of the changelings was gone.
Everypony who stuck around to watch was speechless. Nopony dared move, speak, some refused to take a deep breath as they tried to comprehend what just happened. Celestia showed a look of worry as she turned her head back towards her pupil. Twilight was changing.
From inside of her, Twilight could feel something else. She watched that entire scene unfold from inside her body but unable to act or move her body in any way. It was as if she was watching somepony act for her. Now she could feel something rising. Hatred. Despair. Anger. Malice. Evil. These feelings were quickly overwhelming Twilight as she watched on in horror.
The Vile-Vial's magic was now sated.
The pure white magic that once filled the square was now slowly turning a dark green hue. Slowly the green magic began seemingly infecting the white magic until even the furthest tendril had been turned green. Celestia notices this happening and flies up into the air to let down a ray of sunlight so bright and magnificent that no pony could bare to look towards it without covering their eyes. The tendrils of magic began to disappear from view when suddenly a tendril grabbed Celestia from behind and began to wrap itself around her horn. The sunlight began to fade and soon the tendrils shot out and grabbed Celestia. Ponies now began to panic and try to run away but more and more magic began to pour forth from Twilight's body. Soon there were tendrils grabbing every pony in sight.
Fluttershy was too stunned to move and was caught quickly. Rarity was the next to be grabbed as she was the slowest of the running bunch. Applejack threw Pinkie Pie on her back with the help of Rainbow Dash and began to run when tendrils latched on to her leg. She looked back at the tendril then looked at Rainbow Dash and quietly said, "Fly! Ya' foal!"
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings only three times before she was soaring through Ponyville as fast as she could without damaging the buildings. Tendrils soon chased her through the town as she quickly turned left and right trying to dodge them without flying too high in the air where it was easy to get surrounded. She had many close calls, flying at this speed gave her very little time to react to dead ends and obstacles. She could feel like magic on the hairs of her leg before she was grabbed by the tentacle of magic and quickly yanked back towards the town square.
Twilight gazed on in horror as the tendrils began to latch themselves on to the ponies that she cared for and tighten their grip. She could feel an enormous surge of magic being built up and knew that if she didn't act soon...
Twilight's train of thought was interrupted by an unlikely scene. She watched as dozens of tendrils began to flail wildly in the air. Nearby she watched as they were launched at a target but then deflected away. Her thoughts quickly turned to Celestia but she looked to her right and saw her struggling with about twelve of the tendrils, too constricted to act. The target seemed to be moving closer and closer to Twilight when she noticed a familiar figure. She wondered what pony would be stupid enough to get this close to her. But this figure didn't walk on four legs. He walked on two.
Spike! , Twilight yelped out inside her mind. But how?! . Twilight was awestruck as she watched Spike walking towards Twilight slowly. The tendrils of magic were bouncing off of his scales, being deflected away as quickly as they launched at him. OF COURSE! A MATURING DRAGON SLOWLY GAINS HIS HARMFUL MAGIC IMMUNITY!
Spike grew closer and closer now being almost within reach. Twilight felt another surge of hatred as the magic quickly began to materialize in front of her, expanding outwards creating a bubble of pure magic. Twilight feared for Spike, knowing he couldn't be completely immune to magic. Spike looked on at Twilight and began to push through the magic. He winced in obvious pain but bit his tongue to prevent from crying out. He walked as though he was walking directly into strong wind as he grew so close to Twilight she could have reached out and grabbed him. Spike raised his arms with his claws drawn. Was he going to? No, he couldn't! But he should... he has to. Twilight's mind wasn't ready for this. Was she going to force her number one assistant to kill her? To prevent the deaths of everypony there, he would have to. She closed her eyes inside of her head and prepared herself.
Instead of feeling a claw across her neck, she felt scaly arms around her body. Spike was hugging Twilight. Twilight could tell he was in a lot of pain from the unbelievable amount of magic assaulting him.
Spike slowly opened his mouth and managed to say, "Please Twilight. Please stop. We all love you so much."
Twilight began to cry. Atleast she felt that she would, if she could control her body. This sudden realization of care drove up a powerful feeling of love and confidence from inside her. She could feel the heartbeat of every pony within her grasp right now, trying desperately to survive and have their Twilight Sparkle back. This power rose up from within and started to take over the evil and malevolent that was controlling her. She knew it was her power and she was going to take it back and use it to defeat this evil that had manifested itself within. The vile feelings inside her began to fade as she let the love that each of the ponies feel wash over her.
Slowly the tendrils grew weaker and weaker. Slowly they began to retreat towards Twilight and the source of their power. Ponies everywhere began to let out gasps as they tried to bring air back into their lungs and get themselves back standing up. Celestia was released and dropped to the ground with a thump before slowly getting back up. Her friends began to recover as well, they got up and directed their gaze towards Twilight.
She felt in control, but she knew this wasn't over. She couldn't go on endangering her friends. She had to think of something. Her magic was still extremely dangerous and nearly uncontrollable. Nearly.
Her neck seemed to relax and once again, the magic turned into a brilliant white. The bubble of magic that was assaulting spike was now just an aura of faded white that encased Twilight and Spike, who continued to hold on tight. Twilight's eyes continued to glow white as she turned to face Spike and said, "Thank you." She gently backed away from Spike and turned her eyes to Celestia, who could only stare on. Twilight looked her right in the eyes and let out a soft, "I'm sorry."
And with that she rose again into the air. Magic cackling through the air as everypony's eyes began to stare up at her. Celestia realized what was happening before anypony else did but eventually they all came to realize. Twilight began to disappear from her hooves up. Magic taking away her body before their very eyes. She couldn't hear what the ponies were saying but she could see many mouths moving as tear-filled eyes looked up at her. She spared a glance for each of her friends, looking down on them and remembering her cherished moments with each of them. Finally there was silence all across Ponyville.
The ponies in the town square stared up into the sky, seemingly at nothing.
Author's Note
Don't worry I'm not gonna end it just like that! I'm not THAT cruel.
So with our story winding down to an end I would appreciate some feedback from anyone. Did you like it? Hate it? Anything in particular? Do let me know! I probably missed a few typos too cause I'm dumb. So please do rate this thumbs up or down depending on what you think so I have something to judge myself with! Thanks in advance! <3
Epilogue
Everypony remembered what happened that fateful day. The Event. The day Twilight Sparkle sacrificed herself to keep her friends and all of Ponyville safe. The day that good triumphed over evil in the most bittersweet of ways.
Without their Queen, the changelings were in complete shambles. Not very intelligent creatures on their own and without a leader, they were easy to keep track of and ensure the safety of Equestria.
The lessons of that day were not lost on anypony's mind. Everypony witnessed the power of love overcoming the negative feelings that brewed within each and every pony from time to time. There was no shortage of sadness in the days or even weeks following Twilight Sparkle's death. Time heals all wounds. That's how the saying goes anyway. For Twilight's friends, it seemed as if they would outlive the time it took to recover from this heartache. Each pony took it differently.
Pinkie Pie tried all she could to spread positivity and cheer in the wake of Twilight Sparkle's death. Surprising ponies when they seemed at their most down. Bringing out sweets and songs to any pony with a sad face on. To her credit, she did everything she could. But, even Pinkie Pie stayed silent and somber for the procession through Ponyville two weeks after the Event.
Rarity found herself now the odd pony out in the group. Twilight had been her unicorn friend. Of course she had meant more than that to her, more than words could describe. She felt especially shy about using magic around the rest of her friends. She feared the magic would instantly remind them of Twilight, and it would. She couldn't bare to see Fluttershy cry anymore.
Fluttershy took it harder than anypony. She had experienced loss before with her animal friends, but nothing could have prepared her for losing one of her closest friends. She began to spend more and more time in her hut following the procession held for Twilight. Even Rainbow Dash could rarely get her to come out and when she did, she was even more quiet than usual. Nopony troubled her about it though. They all understood and felt the same way in their own degree.
Rainbow Dash seemed a bit dialed back. Her loud and abrasive ways were almost non-existent after the eight seasons passing. Some ponies believed that Twilight's death brought out a more positive Rainbow Dash. Truly though, Rainbow Dash remembered the last time her and Twilight had spoken and it tore her to pieces night after night. She would give anything to take back their last encounter and replace her last conversation with Twilight. Something more peaceful would have been nice, perhaps about books. Rainbow found a great comfort in books after Twilight's passing, she never felt closer to Twilight than when she was reading another perilous tale of Daring Do.
To outside eyes, it would appear as though Applejack's life changed the least of the five. She continued to work her flank off at Sweet Apple Acres and provide for her family. She was always there for her friends when they needed help with something or just to talk when memories would pop up. She was everypony's steady shoulder to cry on. A foolish pony would say that Twilight's death meant the least to Applejack. But that pony would be horribly mistaken. For reasons only few knew, Applejack would always be seen walking out towards the Everfree Forest. No pony really felt like following her, she always seemed in a dreary mood during the walks and felt that accompanying her was unnecessary.
Spike's life on the other hand, was flipped completely upside down. At the procession, Princess Celestia made a point of talking to Spike to ask exactly what he wanted to do now. It was a sour topic, but one that needed to be discussed. He stressed his desire to stay in Ponyville, to look after the library that Twilight cared so deeply for. Over the years he was just as knowledgeable about his shelves as her star pupil, and would enjoy the company of his friends more than the crowds in Canterlot. The Princess thought this was a great idea as well. Spike still enjoyed seeing every pony around town and the few that swung in to the library to check out a book or just chatter. Try as though he might, he was never able to shake the feeling of emptiness that followed Twilight's death. She had been more to him than a friend, she was the closest thing he ever had to a parent. His heart had been shattered that day.
The fountain in the center of Ponyville was no longer. Instead, a large stone statue of Twilight Sparkle stood there. Twilight wore a confident and eager smile on her face as she would every time she was met with a challenge. She faced east, towards the sun. Daring the new day to bring another adventure forward for herself and her friends. On the statue base, a golden plaque was put into place,
Twilight Sparkle
Outside of Ponyville, on the hills just outside the Everfree Forest, lay Twilight's grave. Though her body was never recovered, the Princess and her friends decided to give her a more private resting place. That's the way Twilight would have wanted it. There she would be able to bask in Celestia's sun and enjoy the quieter side of Ponyville. The Princess decided that the friends deserved their own special place to pay their respects to Twilight whenever she was in their thoughts. And so they came to that spot from time to time. Most of the time just to think, believing that just being in the presence of Twilight would help their thoughts along. Sometimes just to lay down next to the grave and remember the times they shared together.
Once in a while, a pony stumbled upon the grave for the first time. Today was that day, just like any of the others. The pony's face was not covered in shock or sadness, but merely curiosity. Today's visitor's hoofsteps could be heard through the grass growing closer to the grave. Walking with a crutch wasn't the most silent of all approaches. The figure leaned closer to read the words that were etched into the grave. The crutch was let go in a silent shock and fell gently onto the grass.
"My... grave?"
Author's Note
Well that's all he wrote!
So yeah I have a bit of a sequel brewing up in my head about Twilight's adventure after The Event and about what happens before her return. And let me say, it's quite an adventure. I'm getting the basic storyline done now and some of the characters as well. There will be OC's! (Don't worry, not mine) :P
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the story!
Popinfresh
*** Hey there folks! This is chapter one of the sequel to What Lies Dormant. I realized that some of you that enjoyed the story may not have seen that the sequel is up on my page. It starts off where we left Twilight (or rather she left us) after the event in Ponyville Town Square. It's gearing up to be a pretty epic adventure filled with mystery, suspense, and awesome lore. There will be a link at the end of this chapter to the sequel which is titled: Getting Back. Enjoy!***
Chapter 1
A deep breath.
Twilight's mind was the first thing to return to her. She could tell she was laying down, but that was it. She decided to go through some basics in her mind.
She was alive. Check. She tried to bring some magic to her horn, but was not feeling anything flow through her. Magic, not working. Unfortunate, but check. She could feel a sharp pain in her front left leg. Wait a second, she was...alive?
The last thing she remembered was saying goodbye to her friends as she turned her uncontrollable magic on herself to keep the ponies she loved safe. Twilight really thought that was the end, she wasn't prepared to wake up, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to after what she caused. She took another inhale, it certainly didn't smell like Ponyville, or anywhere she had been before for that matter. She decided it was time for a visual to confirm.
She readied her eyes, ready to embrace the bright blue Equestrian sky with some rogue clouds here or there, perhaps even see a bird or two fly overhead. She opened her eyes only to be met with another pair of eyes staring directly back down at her.
"Yo," the other being said to her as soon as she opened her eyes.
"Ahhh!" Twilight yelled out as the other set of eyes stepped backwards in surprise. Her eyes shot over to the pony that was standing over her seconds ago. In her quick glance, she could see it was a dark yellow pegasus with a golden mane, most likely a male judging by the tone of voice from his rude introduction. And a cutie mark consisting of a rusted golden coin, not of Equestrian currency. It was lacking any sort of recognizable markings on it at all, strange, she thought.
"Jeez settle down! I'm not going to hurt you or anything. Just curious to see why you're napping in this field."
Twilight wasn't really in the mood for conversation. Her mind was still in overheat and here was a strange pony asking how she ended up in this field. She didn't even know the answer to that question, how could she answer him? As he stared quizzically at Twilight, she took the moment to sit up and observe her surroundings.
She was sitting in the middle of a field. A large circle of burnt ground around her. After the burnt circle, there seemed to be some dying foliage indicating there hadn't been rain in some time. She then took a moment to glance up at the sky. No clouds. Well, at least it looked like there were no clouds. The entire sky was a dark green that had the light soaking through it, but never full beams of sunlight. It was unlike anything she had ever seen in Equestria before. She wondered exactly where she was, and for that she would need to talk to her only source of possible information.
"Well I wasn't exactly napping, it was more of a spontaneous thing Mr. ?"
"Oh right, name's Avery!" The golden pony said with a smile. "And let us just complete the introduction with your name Ms. ?"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the head librarian of Ponyville," She said proudly. Her words were met only with a confused look on her companions face. "I'm the pupil of Princess Celestia. I've been studying magic under her for years, first in Canterlot, then just recently re-located to Ponyville to begin my study of friendship."
"Right, studying friendship? I've never heard of this Princess you speak of, so you'll have to excuse my confusion."
"You've never heard of Princess Celestia! How is that even possible!? Even the littlest of foals know who Princess Celestia is! She's the pony that raises the sun every morning and keeps peace through all of Equestria!"
Avery raises his eyebrow and shrugs, "Still not coming to me, sorry."
"So if you've never heard of Princess Celestia? I must be further from home than I thought," Twilight mumbled to herself, "So where exactly am I then?"
"What do you mean where are you? You brought yourself here, you should know."
"Well let's say I didn't bring myself here, what part of Equestria is this?"
"There's that Equestria word again, I'm guessing that's where you're from?"
"We're not even in Equestria!?! How did I get this far away to a place where a denizen has never even heard of Equestria!? I've never experienced this before!" Twilight's words were mixed with anger and worry. She had never been so far from home as to have somepony not know what Equestria is.
"Well," Avery said, "maybe we have some information on this 'Equestria' at the library. Maybe Ace there can -"
With the mention of the word library, Twilight's eyes light up and her tone gains obvious excitement. "You have a library here!?"
"Well of course we-"
"You must take me there!" Twilight said in a stern tone as bolts upwards towards Avery. This request fulfilled many desires that Twilight had. Not only would she learn more about where she was, but at the same time be able to see a library from a foreign land! How exciting this could be! Twilight goes to get on all fours but quickly returns to the ground with a gasp and a yelp of pain.
"Oh wow," Avery said, "are you alright? Your leg looks pretty torn up. I've never seen wounds like that," he said as he leans in closer to inspect. He notes that it seems as if tiny needles had stabbed through her whole leg. Though most of the holes have healed up a bit, there's no doubt that this leg cannot be walked on. "All right now Ms. Twilight Sparkle, I believe it's time you shared a bit of information about how you got here, cause this the strangest conversation I've had in my entire life"
Twilight lets out a sigh but decided it's best if she has someone here in this land that knows the whole story, or atleast as much of it as she knows. She filled him in about Chrysalis' attack on her town, her magic going wild, and how she sacrificed herself to try to save her friends. Avery did his best to pay close attention but his mind drifted elsewhere amongst the sea of facts being launched at him. She left out some trivial details simply to save time at the notice of this. Though she did get around to mentioning the Mist as the source of all this trouble, at this, Avery shot a glance over to her.
"Well I'll say that is quite a tale there miss. Now that Mist you spoke of, that's something I may know a bit about, or rather I know some people that may know about that."
Twilight gasped, "You know about the Mist?!"
"Well I don't know too much about it honestly. But there are plenty of intelligent unicorns and earth ponies in my town nearby, I'm sure we can gather up some information for you there."
"What about pegasi? Are there any intelligent pegasi or do the pegasi not find their way to the library very often?" Twilight joked.
"I think you're looking at the only pegasus for quite a way! Guess you'll have to figure out for yourself if I'm intelligent," Avery said with a chuckle. "Pegasi are a very rare sight around here, I haven't seen another one myself in years!"
"Now why's that?" Twilight asked.
"Look up." Avery beckoned with a hoof pointing upward. "Not too many clouds around here suitable for living. Most pegasi are far more comfortable living on clouds than living on the ground. It's just something we feel more natural doing. I've adapted pretty well towards ground life though so I don't mind living around here."
"I see. It's funny that you mention that, I have a pegasus friend at home that lives on the ground." Twilight's heart began to ache as she bowed her head in sorrow. She started thinking about all of her friends still in Ponyville. They must be devastated over the events that took place. They probably believe that she is dead and never coming back. Twilight then made a decree to herself that she would do whatever it takes to get back to Ponyville. She couldn't stand her friend's heart to burn one day more without knowing she was doing everything she could to get back to them.
"You okay?" Avery asked.
"Yeah sure," Twilight said with a sniff, "I guess I just miss home."
"I'm sorry to hear that, you'll have to tell me all about it while I get you to the doctor."
"But what about the library! I have so much I need to learn!"
"After we see a doctor, that's the first stop we'll make. Don't worry I know the town physician and she'll get ya fixed up. It's not too long of a walk either, so let's get moving Twilight Sparkle." Avery lends a hoof to Twilight and helps her on her feet. He stands to her right for her to lean on as he brings her injured leg over the back of his neck and they begin their slow walk towards the east.
"Thanks for helping me up, and it's just Twilight by the way, but wouldn't it be faster if you flew us there instead?"
"Ah well about that, I don't really like using my wings. I guess if just never felt really necessary to me. I'm more than comfortable on the ground. I'd rather just walk and it's not that far to town, I promise." Avery turned towards Twilight and smiled while Twilight let out an annoyed groan.
"Of course here I am stuck with the only pegasus that doesn't like to use their wings."
To this statement, Avery let out a laugh, "Well you know how the saying goes 'Wings that are swift to fly into mischief!'"
Twilight looked at him confused and slightly annoyed, "That doesn't even make sense."
Avery thought on it for a second, "Oh whatever it's just a saying," he said as he began to chuckle loudly. And with that, the two began their hobble towards civilization on the beginning of a journey Twilight Sparkle won't soon forget.
Author's Note
Be sure to check out the sequel here! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/86959/getting-back
Trust me when I say that if you liked this story, you're really gonna enjoy the sequel. I've done a lot of writing about the background and history of the new land Twilight is in. Pages upon pages of notes just covering background stuff. It's really interesting as a writer to try out this kind of stuff, it makes me feel like the writing is that much deeper when I'm developing some of the stuff on my own.
Thanks everyone for liking this story.
