Crawling From The Wreckage Part 1
"I had the dream again... It's before we used the Elements, I see myself and my friends. Then Discord is there, Celestia is beside us, she tells him our intentions and he smiles. He says "I'm so proud of you Celestia, you've come so far." Then there's the rainbow, it flies down towards Discord and he turns to stone, then the stone explodes into dust. The elements vibrate on our necks and shatter. the others collapse to the ground, almost unconscious and rolling in pain. Celestia is panicking she tries casting spells and nothing happens. The others are screaming and my skin is burning a peeling away, Celestia has tears in her eyes and she lowers her horn to my head and everything goes black."
Twilight Sparkle lowered her head into her hooves and tried to cry but she could manage no tears, she was sitting on a therapist couch and across from her was the therapist himself. The room around her was decorated with several pictures of the therapists family playing happily together, the pictures were interrupted by large mahogany bookshelves filled with books of worn oranges and reds.
"Now Twilight," the therapist said "If the princess hadn't saved you like she did you'd be dead, she told me that because you were the most powerful of the elements, that's why you felt the effect the most."
Twilight glared at him, if any form of expression still remained with her she would have scowled, but alas her body had been destroyed, replaced with one composed of solid magic. She would look in the mirror and to herself look like a purple jelly unicorn with a brain floating in it's head. "Saved me? The princess should have put me out of my damned misery!" The furious pony stood from the couch and trotted out of the room, making sure to slam the door behind her. "At least I still have my magic..." She thought aloud to herself.
Twilight trotted quickly down the corridors of the Canterlot mental hospital, she watched as doctors and nurses passed by an tended to patients wearing dull green robes. These halls weren't quite as well decorated as the hospital therapist's room. The walls were bright blue and the only decorations were signs indicating which way she was going. As she reached the end of the hallway she saw a pale blue door with a plaque on it bearing her name. She walked inside sat on her stiff hospital bead and wished she had eyes and tear-ducts.
Applejack sat quietly on her haunches as she watched movers crate up everything in the room. A gentle clip-clopping of hooves alerted her that somepony was beside her. She turned to face the newcomer and found Celestia at her side.
"Ah, it's you. Howdy princess." The farm pony's voice was monotone and her gaze turned back to a speck on the floor. In the years leading up to the incident the princess had become more social with the elements, becoming closer to each of them individually. "I figure ya'll had a reason fer callin' me to Twilight's old room in the castle. Got somethin' to say."
The princess smiled sweetly. Applejack had become more bitter after the incident, she was the only one who was entirely unharmed after the initial pain and had been racked with a case of survivors guilt.
"I'm here to make an offer Applejack,"
"Ah don't want to here it."
"I'm trying to get the elements back together."
Applejack glared at the ruler of Equestria with a gaze that could shoot daggers. "The elements?" hatred dripped from the word elements like honey from a beehive. "Don't ya'll talk to me about the elements. The elements destroyed us! Fluttershy is in ah coma she may never wake from, Twilight and Pinkie checked themselves into a nuthouse, an' don' even get me started on what happened to Rainbow and Rarity! Ah still have nahtmares regard that... thing."
Rainbow Dash and Rarity had become a much discussion in Ponyville. Exactly what had happened to them after the incident was entirely unique. The two of them had somehow become melded together. Into one creature, an alicorn to be exact.the creature would act as either it's own personality whom it referred to as Rebis, or sometimes either Rainbow Dash and Rarity's. It often would cover itself in an overcoat and black mirrored sunglasses when it went out on account of it's scared and twisted form, part of it was Rainbow Dash, and the other part Rarity. Ponies backed away from the creature as it wandered the streets, although it didn't show any intent of harming them.
"I understand that you have some... contempt against the elements," Said the whit Alicorn slowly. "but Equestria needs somepony to look out for it. I may raise the sun but I'm not nearly as powerful as the six of you or... five if we take Fluttershy into account."
"The elements were destroyed in the initial blast. We're powerless now."
"You still have your friendship, with that you can overcome any obstacle!"
Applejack glared at the princess again, huffed, and turned back to the spot on the floor. "Why are ya'll packin' up Twilight's room anyhow?"
"It seems... unlikely to me that she'll return. Yet, I've sent someone to the hospital she resides in. Maybe he can convince her otherwise."
"Ah see, you think she'll want to help you rejoin the elements?"
"Perhaps, I think that given time she'll understand the importance of you six, elements or no."
With that Celestia turned and clip-clopped back down the hall from where she came. Soon afterwards Applejack followed, instead heading for the castle exit.
Crawling From the Wreckage Part 2
A brown coated and maned earth pony stallion knocked on Twilight's door before opening slowly. "Twilight?" He spoke slowly with a Canterlot accent. "It's me, Time Turner. You remember me don't you? I helped Celestia make your body, I was your neighbor back in Ponyville."
Twilight turned to him from where she lay in the bed, face buried in a pillow, she stared with an eyeless face. "Right," She grumbled. "I figured I recognized that patronizing tone from somewhere."
"There's no need for that Twilight, I get what you're going through."
"You have no idea what I'm going through."
"I think we can get through this depression together."
"You're a nice guy Time Turner. You don't want to hurt any body, you just take care of clocks and in your spare time you invent new magical formulas. In fact you're the only earth pony who really understands magic better than most unicorns."
The earth pony smiled and raised a hoof to pat Twilight on the back but she shoved his hoof off she "And, Time Turner, if I could I would spit in your face!"
"Come now Twilight, there was no need for that."
"Hmmph, follow me Time, it's time for my walk."
Outside in the mental hospital's courtyard the pair continued the conversation they started inside.
"Twilight, I get your resent towards me I just-"
"I will forever despise you Time for what you did to me! I cannot change that! I just feel trapped all the time, I'm stuck in a body that isn't mine!"
"Twilight, I'm a friend, I had no intention of hurting you when I was helping Celestia, please I don't want to stand by and watch you destroy yourself."
"Destroy myself?" Twilight trotted forward a few paces and began shouting. "How can I destroy myself!"
She turned to the brick wall of the hospital and bashed her head against it repeatedly screamin as she did "I can't feel anything! Nothing at all! I can't feel!" She sunk to her knees. "Just... make it stop."
Back inside once more Twilight and Time Turner plodded the hallways down towards the main hall of the hospital.
"I can't stand it in here Time."
"You checked yourself in, you can leave whenever you want."
"Not the hospital, this body."
The time-talented earth pony finally had enough. "Look Twilight, I'm sick of your self-indulgent crap! You know there are people who have it worse than you right?"
"Show me one."
Time Turner scowled at the gel like mare. "Fine." Then he stormed of through the front doors. Twilight, her curiosity roused followed behind."
The pair ended up in the asylum courtyard again. this time they were next to an altogether familiar pink mare who was busying herself with a painting she was creating.
"Twilight, you remember Pinkie don't you? You've been to wrapped up in your own self pity that you haven't even spent time around one of your own friends."
"I... didn't even know she was here."
"Exactly. Pinkie here suffered almost as badly as you."
"She looks fine."
"Looks can be deceiving. Pinkie is cursed with a shifting cutie mark."
"What do you mean by that."
The pink pony looked up from her painting and her eyes widened into a smile when she saw Twilight, she bounced around her magic-bodied friend giggling and laughing.
"Oh Twilight you noticed me! This is GREAT! I was going to talk to you but I figured that with your wibbly wobbly glowy body you'd want some time alone but now you're here and you remember me and it's great and we can have a big old ASYLUM PARTY."
Twilight couldn't help but let loose a small chuckle at her friends silly antics. Although her expressions soon hardened again "Pinkie... Time Turner says you have a shifting cutie mark, what does that mean?"
Pinkie stopped her bouncing and came to face Twilight. "It started after... Discord. My cutie mark changed from the balloons into three music notes and I found that I could sing really well, but... I forgot all my friends. Every time my cutie mark shifts I read this big book in my room with information that balloon Pinkie wrote down so I or... we can remember our friends. I'm painter Pinkie see?"
Pinkie waggled her rump in Twilight's face showing her three paintbrushes the two on the side were blue and the center one was yellow, much like her old cutie mark. Time Turner glanced at his wrist watch. and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Twilight shouted. "Where are you going." Her attitude had obviously been brightened by Pinkie."
"I have a job remember? I figure you know something about unwanted power, maybe you could help Pinkie out."
The brown earth pony turned and trotted from the courtyard.
In downtown Canterlot two police officers were speaking to the royal guard. The first police officer was a chubby fellow with a grey coat and a dark grey mane, he was explaining something to the guards.
"He just... I dunno jumped from the building, he was burnin' and screamin' and stuff. I gotta tell you, I almost puked. You ever smell burning flesh?"
The guards glanced over at the cordoned off area to their side, a blackened burnt skeleton was there, to his side was a large black book.
"Oh... uh yeah," The gray stallion continued. "He was carryin' that book. Look inside there ain't no writing in it, the pages are black, it's weird."
"Did the... victim say anything?"
"Uh, yeah he said somethin' about Scissormares."
"Scissor-mares?"
"Yep."
"Do you mind if we take the book with us?"
"Course not. Thing gives me the heeby-jeebies."
As the pair of Guards walked away, one suspended the black book in a green aura. The second one a young rookie wondered aloud what they would do with it.
"We take it to the captain, then he takes it to the princess, and she... well she takes it to the elements of harmony."