Prologue - Return to Sender
Spike dragged his feet. He did not feel like doing much, or anything at all, but he still moved.
His path cut right through the middle of the park it all had began. He could still hear it.
"Twilight, dear!" Rarity had said. "Oh, thank you so much for keeping me company; a trip to the spa just isn't the same when I am all by myself."
Spike sighed, remembering that Fluttershy had been too busy taking care of a few sick critters to go to their weekly spa date.
"Thank you Rarity." Twilight had replied. "Spike is right, I've been too tense lately; an afternoon to relax is just what I need!"
Spike had smiled, knowing that he had successfully prevented Twilight from absorbing every tome in the huge stack until she couldn't function any more and he had to drag her flank to the couch.
That had been the last time he smiled, now that he thought about it.
"Oh, I bet you do!" Another voice then said. Even the memory still chilled him to the bone.
They would turn around and there would it be, a familiar figure made of smoke holding a curved red horn and something that looked like a metallic golf ball.
Discord.
"I tried embedding pieces of me in several places, but the Elements were too thorough." He said. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so I guess I'll just see if this makes my kind of fun."
Spike remembered. He remembered too well. The horn was surrounded by a black aura, which also appeared around the sphere. Twilight then tossed him to the side and jumped in front of Rarity, who had tripped trying to turn around and run away.
"I tried to feed and enlarge the pieces, but I can't any more." Discord prepared his throw. "This thing I 'found' reacts strangely to magic, what will it do with dark magic?"
"Stay away from 'em yah filthy varmint!" Applejack yelled, then jumped as Discord lobbed the thing at Twilight.
Not that it mattered, Rarity and Twilight were swallowed within the black and orange sphere of energy just as well. Even the grass was gone, leaving behind a bare patch of dirt.
Well, not any more. It crept back even as the Canterlot scientists and wizards tried to keep the space as free of contamination as possible; the white tent did keep out the insects, though. They tried to study the half-melted piece of slag right where it had fallen, since Spike recounted everything he had seen - after he managed to calm down from his panic attack, that is. They still did not know why the ground was left behind, but the grass vanished like the sphere had cut it and... teleported it away.
Teleport, not any of those other dark, dangerous, and depression-causing words the scientists feared would be the alternatives.
He spied the tall, regal form of princess Celestia among them, as well as Shining Armor and Cadence... wait, it was like, six in the morning -or as he used to say, stupid o'clock early- did Celestia raise the sun from Ponyville again?
She was taking it hard as well.
But... Pinkie swore time and time again that they were fine, that they would see them again. It kept him going. If... if Twilight was still out there, he had to keep the library clean and properly shelved. He had to. When Twilight came back he wanted her to see their home and feel like she could just plop down on the couch and do nothing, or pick up a book and study, or just read it for fun, or fall asleep at the desk trying to complete some report or other assignment, or invite Rarity and Fluttershy over for tea that would run out so quickly in topics so enthralling for them that he would end up making three out of every five pots.
Spike wiped away his tears... where did they come from? Wasn't Twilight coming back? Wasn't she likely to return unexpectedly? Didn't she scold him thousands of times for sleeping in and delaying the schedule she so carefully constructed? He couldn't just stand there crying, he had a library to organize! He didn't want Twilight to come back to a messy home! It would ruin her return! He didn't want her to be upset with him...
He wiped away more tears. He couldn't be seen like this. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were visiting the library more often now, just to see him, and he could tell that it comforted them a little. He was older than them, too, and in every story ever the eldest took care of the younger ones, so it was his responsibility to look out for them. He had almost smiled the last time they were together - for real, not the fake ones that don't count.
He resumed his ambling towards the tree. Fluttershy tried to insist on walking him there, but he could see quite plainly that she still needed some time for herself. In the end, he was walking alone.
Relatively speaking, of course, Peewee was perched on his largest spine.
He straightened his back; he was almost out of the park now, and that meant he was halfway to the library.
A few minutes later, just as he was about to open the door, he heard something and froze. It was the sound of a unicorn's teleport, followed by that sound. It was nowhere near as loud, nor as twisted, but he could still make out the sound that sent the three ponies away.
"Ballpark my tail." He heard a voice, and now his heart leapt inside his chest.
He slammed the door open, and saw a purple pony, wearing something white and red, sprawled on the wooden floor.
"Twilight!" He yelled, and at the top of his lungs, too. He was next to her in a flash, but he was too surprised -and just a little scared- to touch her. She was breathing deeply, as if she was exhausted. Peewee took off and perched next to Owlowiscious, watching the library intently.
"Spike..." Twilight said, barely audible and smiling weakly. "I missed you."
"I- me too!" He blinked, trying to get rid of the moisture clouding his vision. He felt the corners of his mouth turning up. "Y-you've been gone for two weeks and I-"
"Two weeks?" That voice... Rarity?! "Goodness, I kept hearing 'Absolute' this and that, but to think..."
She trailed off. Spike glanced around, finding the fabulous white unicorn also resting on the floor; she wore something similar to Twilight and with a strange device on her back. The baby dragon noticed just now a large, spiked green orb haphazardly covered in metal.
"Even my hoof is alright..." Twilight said, snapping him out of his trance and making him turn around to see her. She was inspecting her hoof, and Spike gently took it in his claws, but no matter how he turned it he couldn't find anything wrong with it.
"It was just a scratch, Spike." She said, looking at him with droopy eyes as if she were about to fall asleep. "I was clumsy and nicked my hoof on a pipe. Hehe. Figures I'd trip two minutes before coming back."
Twilight also had a strange thing on her back, kind of wing-like in appearance.
By now, he began to hear a murmur coming from outside. He was so relieved, that he somehow missed the fact that a crowd was gathering outside the library.
"Make way!" Somepony outside said, and the crowd parted to reveal Shining Armor, Cadence and Celestia closing the formation.
"Twilight..." Shining Armor breathed the word, stopping as soon as his eyes met hers, as if he were afraid that disturbing the scene would cause her to vanish like a figure of smoke.
"Hey everypony." Twilight said from her position on the floor.
"Ahg, mah head." Applejack drawled from somewhere else. "Not ta be rude or nuthin', but we gotta collect sum' crystals."
"You're right." Twilight tried pushing herself up, but with the way her legs were shaking, the trio by the door wasted no time in surrounding her.
"Please, Twilight, you need rest." Celestia said, a thousand questions forming in the back of her head, but she managed to push them back as she took her student's head and rested it against her body.
Cadence, too, wanted nothing more than to know. What happened to her? Why was she so tired? Why were all of them so tired? What was that about crystals? Where had they been? Were they going to be fine? What was that thing? What was inside their saddlebags? Why was she wearing fake wings?
"Bu-but we need to move." Twilight tried to stand, but couldn't even fight back her own wish to sink deeper in the warmth of the princess's embrace, in the safety of her library. "Dextera doesn't know the way."
"Who?"
"Explanations later." Rarity said, still struggling to stand up. "We need to collect her crystal as soon as possible."
"What are you talking about?" Shining Armor asked, the amount of unknowns starting to grate on his nerves. "What crystal? Whose?"
Twilight looked at him and gave him a small groan of exasperation.
"The essence, the core of Nightmare Moon."
Author's Note
This has been inspired by a multitude of Fanfics, where one of the mane cast -usually Twilight- is flung out of their corner of reality and lands... elsewhere.
I decided to go for one of the less known games... well, not that I own, since I have quite a few obscure games in my collection... but it's still not very known.
Baroque is a dark game that starts entirely In Media Res, and you have to piece the plot together. I took some liberties with the gameplay elements to make it easier to understand to non-players, and hopefully I won't mess it up too badly.
I decided to use three ponies because the protagonist is mute (even that has a lengthy explanation behind it) and sending AJ completely alone as was my original intention would have been way too hard for me to make it work.
Dextera watched the orange projection with a deep sadness in his heart. The first few times, it had been with a sort of confused semi-acceptance, given his initial amnesia, then mild contempt once the lies were revealed... now? Well, he couldn't help but feel bad for the Archangel.
The short human boy ran his hand through his dull blue hair. The bandages around his forearms itched a little this time around, and he found it hard to pay attention to the hologram of the much larger man in front of him. The man who blamed the world for his loss; it may have been the world who was at fault, but to make such an insane plan?
"... now go, atone for your sin." Oh, he was finishing with the same lie as always. The man, rather, the projection of the red-eyed man wearing the largest Fake Wings he'd ever seen extended his arm and...
Dextera had to concentrate very hard to avoid making a grimace as the Archangel transferred that horrible device. The 'Angelic Rifle' was very uniquely shaped, it was large, long, unwieldy, held too few shots, and was something that he would never ever dream of using.
EVER.
Even the first time, when he didn't know even the color of his own eyes, he knew there was something weird about it; learning the truth... it sent a shudder through him.
He still had to pick it up, but, as always, he hesitated. She was waiting for him, though, and he would not disappoint Her.
Still, Her desire to know everything about... well, everything, meant he had to go back and do things differently - perhaps in another order, or skipping them altogether. He still tried to argue against it, seeing as how She had to go through a period of near-insanity before he could restore Her properly... but every bit of comprehension helped in the long run. She understood, and as such, he did as well; every piece of conversation, every event, every thought that was voiced helped them make a little more sense of the world after the cataclysmic Blaze that left it twisted and scarred.
Wait, what was that feeling? He hadn't felt anything like it before... well, it was kind of similar to...
*****
"What!?" The others said; even Celestia could not hold back her cry of surprise.
"Let me in!" A voice yelled from outside. "If Twilight is in there, I'm going in!"
Celestia snapped back to reality. If swift action was needed, then she had to make sure it would be swift. She turned back to where the royal guards she had brought were holding off a certain cerulean pegasus.
"Let the Bearers in!" She ordered. "Otherwise, ensure privacy!"
The guard released Rainbow Dash, who sped by them and through the door in the blink of an eye, followed by Fluttershy at a more sedate pace.
Pinkie Pie was already in. Somehow.
Celestia closed the door with magic, as to not move and disturb her student, and surrounded the tree with a golden bubble shield. Then, she gently levitated the other two mares over to her.
"What happened? Where were you?" Dash began to ask, but a stern look from Shining Armor silenced her.
"There is no time..." Rarity said, wiggling a white cloth worn as a blindfold out of her face. Her hair, while still stylishly curled, was no longer as silky nor as shiny as it had once been. "We- wait, where is Dextera?"
Two hoofstomps answered her, and everypony turned to face an earth pony coming from the other side of the plate-covered green orb.
He had a mane that was a dulled cobalt blue, as if it were lifeless; his coat hair was very pale yellow, and also slightly neglected; his eyes... his eyes were a vibrant forest green, and princess Celestia could not help but compare them to those of the Bearers - hopeful, determined... but they also seemed to carry a heavy burden, similar to what she had seen in them as of late.
He was wearing a pair of saddlebags and a grey coat with yellow outlines over a torn shirt, his forelegs were bandaged from pastern to knee, he also wore black pants and a pair of boots on his hind legs. On his back, though, was a set of wings with spikes of glass apparently modeled after those of a bat; the whole thing was glass, and while it seemed attached to the collar of his coat, the base clung to his back like it was magically attached.
"Clever." Twilight said. "You were putting them on?"
The colt nodded. He looked more alive than the other three mares.
"Who are you?" Shining Armor asked, a hint of distrust in his voice and gaze. Rainbow Dash was also scowling at him, but didn't say anything.
"Dex. He's mute." Applejack said, and he nodded again. "But he's good folk. He agreed to helpin' us see if Equestria's in danger of turnin' like his home."
"Not to mention prevent those awful monsters from coming over." Rarity said, and he looked downcast as he nodded again.
"He needs to go to the ancient castle in the Everfree. Right now." Twilight said, trying to twist out of Celestia's embrace.
"I'll assemble a division of guards-"
"No!" The three mares said as loud as they could, and Dextera shook his head vigorously. The other ponies gasped at seeing such an adverse reaction to Celestia's suggestion.
"If anyone who isn't a Bearer or myself so much as looks at that crystal... the consequences could be dire." The voice of a stallion called out.
He came into view shortly afterwards. He was a tall, thin earth pony. His mane was a dark, ashen gray, and what little of his coat could be seen was a pale, peach color. The rest was either covered by his clothes, a dusty, black light jacket with blue decorations and a pair of dirty white pants, or covered in thin white bandages, leaving only the very end of his front hooves and the bridge of his muzzle uncovered - right above his nose and below his eyes. He also had a sleeve or something covering his left foreleg, it had some little blue plates decorating it. He had a sort of... instrument? Something with strings kind of like a couple of lyres put together strangely rested on his back, held there by a blue belt.
Princess Cadence found it just a little eerie that, despite having his eyes covered, he was still able to look at everypony directly.
Just a little, and totally not panic-inducing-ly scary. Honest.
"Only Dextera, myself, those who are, or were a Bearer are guaranteed to be protected from the distortion." He said, calmly as always. "Unless you are sure your own burden is heavier, or that your heart is strong enough to defeat Nightmare Moon's delusions, you should stay clear of the crystal."
"G-gah!" Rarity grunted with effort, her horn shimmered blue and the wings she wore before were replaced with a copy of Dextera's. Her head thumped on the floor, hooves around it in a futile effort to diminish the splitting headache.
The others tried to tell her that she should not overexert herself, but she just shushed them, as they certainly were not helping her pain.
Dextera sighed sadly, but only Celestia noticed that he had done anything... he had lifted his coat and shirt to look at a terrible scar on his hip. Nopony but her had noticed, and even then it was barely out of the corner of her eye.
The white unicorn stood up with remarkable ease, considering she had not been able to sit up a few moments before. "Well, since I am yet unable to read crystals with too heavy a distortion, I shall be your guide."
"R-Rarity, are you sure it's a good idea?" Spike asked, not understanding much aside from how dangerous everything sounded.
"I'll be fine, dear, the wings are magic." She replied, kissing his forehead affectionately, then placing a hoof on Dex's shoulders and turning around. "Twilight and Applejack will need some food in them, though."
"I-I'll go with you!" Fluttershy said, with surprising force too, despite her trembling. "I-I mean, i-if you don't mind. I wanted to say I'm sorry and I should have gone with you and-"
"Darling, there is nothing to be sorry for." Rarity looked at the teary-eyed pegasus, herself getting misty eyes. "I missed you all so much... but you should stay."
Rarity squeezed her tears and trotted over to the door.
"I'm going." Fluttershy said, no longer shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"I'll go too!" Rainbow Dash said, flying to them.
Pinkie was about to bounce over, but Rarity's stern gaze gave her pause. It also caused Shining Armor's planned offer to go, danger or no, to die in his throat.
"As much as I appreciate the offer, I think you should stay with Twilight and help here. There are too many things to do, Twilight could use the extra magic help to set up things, and since we need to inspect the road through the forest we can't look over three ponies as well."
Rainbow Dash was about to complain, but something in Rarity's eyes made her hesitate.
Fear.
Rarity was afraid. But not for herself.
Instead of complaining, Dash said something else. "She's right, both of you should stay here. I can fly, and I am the fastest out of all of us. I'm no unicorn, so I can't help with whatever it is you need to do, and if there is something bad, I'm gonna want to buck in the face myself."
"I still think we should go alone, but if you are with both of us it should be fine." Rarity smiled and opened the door. With her hooves, though, since she figured using magic again so soon might not be wise. "I'll fill you in on the way."
The crowd of ponies still outside was silenced when they saw Rarity, only for them to resume their murmurs... which quickly escalated in volume.
"Rarity!" Somepony shouted.
"It is her! They're back!" Somepony else said.
"What is she wearing?" "What's that thing on her back?" "What is Princess Celestia doing in there?"
The message spread quickly to the back of the crowd, and they tried to get a view too, pressing forward. The poor guards were trapped between the multitude of ponies and the princess's forcefield.
Celestia hated the feeling of uselessness the whole situation had instilled in her, and she was not about to let it continue! If Twilight was going to need magic, then it would be good to let the Canterlot team in, but if time was so critical for the Everfree team...
She rose, gently letting Twilight's head rest against Cadence's waiting form. Then, she stepped outside.
Her presence alone quieted the assembled ponies, and with a single gesture, both guards and ponies allowed the trio to pass unimpeded.
*****
A short gallop later, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Dextera found themselves at the mouth of the forest... the same from the first time. Daylight did very little to make the sight any more comforting - if anything, it made it worse! To Dash, it now looked like a hungry beast trying to get the sunlight itself into its massive insides. That night, it had only looked like a blob of black and green.
"Alright Rainbow Dash." Rarity's voice called her back to the matter at hoof. "We are going to treat this like always - we are going to run at any sign of the regular creatures of the forest."
Rainbow felt there was something more to it, so she nodded.
"If... if... there might be some other creatures, twisted and deranged... beings; I'll let you know if we see them, and those?" Rarity opened her saddlebags and reached for something inside. She took out a small... stick? Something wrapped in bandages, with a handle on it. With a small burst of magic, the object shed its cover and began to grow.
It was a sword.
"Those we fight." She held the knife-like blade, about the length of her leg, steadily with her magic.
*****
The scientists and wizards had to bite their own lips to prevent the barrage of questions bubbling right behind their tongues.
Just what was the orb? It was so large, four ponies could physically fit inside of it! Why was she being so specific about the resonance effects of magic? Was this object similar to the one that caused their disappearance? Just what were they doing?
Twilight was directing their movements, calling for a cable of certain caliber, or demanding a specific kind of connector; she instructed them to hook the orb up to the computer in the basement and gave them a very specific set of parameters to input. It turned out that the metal covering of the orb wasn't so random. Actually, most of it was, but there were some sockets for control.
Twilight knew her computer wouldn't be able to deal with the full capacities of the orb, but it would at least detect activity and either prevent it or allow it.
Until Dextera returned (and everypony thought it was strange that she spoke specifically of him) they were to monitor the readings.
Celestia, having read about the exploits of the Cutie Mark Crusaders (particularly enjoying their foray in cheerleading), decided to prevent them from going after Rarity by assigning them the' important royal task' of retrieving food from Sugarcube Corner and Sweet Apple Acres. Of course, the library's kitchen was still stocked regularly, but what they didn't know wouldn't make them got after the group of ponies hunting for an apparently dangerous object in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Once they were out of the way, Celestia managed to get the crowd to disperse with a warm smile and the knowledge that the missing ponies were, indeed, back, and would most likely answer their questions themselves once they recovered from their ordeal.
The slight emphasis had the desired effect, even making some blush sheepishly.
Now with time to relax, at least until Rarity and the others returned, Shining Armor looked at the returned ponies more closely. While Applejack was wearing a nearly-black coat with red trimmings, Twilight's was white with just a few red accents, including a symbol... a cross-shaped mark with an additional arm going in a diagonal direction. The apple farmer was also wearing fake wings, theses ones being bat-like like the framework of that hang-glider Cadence kept begging him to try out 'at least once, so that you can see the joys of flight'.
Twilight's were... strange. Shaped and colored like those of a butterfly, encrusted with a few gems, Shining felt like it was Rarity's design with a touch of Twilight.
"What is that thing?" One of the scientists mumbled absentmindedly as he tuned one of the instruments they had brought from Canterlot to assist in the investigation.
"That there sphere is called 'Consciousness Orb'." Applejack said, finishing a cupcake Pinkie gave her.
"It transmits information back and forth, and it also has matter-transferring capabilities." Twilight said, and those who heard stared at it wide-eyed, with newfound curiosity. "Discord overloaded a smaller model with magic and negative feelings; I don't think I can quite explain the phenomenon without explaining all of the events that gave rise to the circumstances, but I can say that it caused a self-defensive reaction and absorbed us - only to severely exceed the bandwidth limit and likely over-heating it to self-destruction."
"Indeed, Miss Sparkle." One of the wizards that helped set up a small barrier around the orb said. "We could trace the magic, but we could not detect anything beyond the fact that the sphere had been connected to... somewhere else."
"Our world." The bandaged stallion said; until that point, he seemed content with staring -if it could be called that- at others. "Perhaps you should tell them..."
"... what happened after you disappeared, Rarity?" Dash said, looking at the grim-faced mare. "Where did you go, and why fight those things?"
*****
... like that time he entered a consciousness orb for the first time. An odd feeling on the air around him, and the tell-tale sound of a transfer. However, there was a sickly black haze along the orange glow linked to the transport - and that was another thing, it was a very bright flash coming over from somewhere else.
He heard a scream. Or, rather, the tail end of a scream; whoever screamed had started to do so before whatever it was it happened to... her? The voice was certainly girly.
No matter, he was going to inspect this strange, new event.
...
There was a patch of... grass... and... three colorful creatures... shoot! The type of creature has a name, but he forgot! Confounded Fusion!
The white one was still screaming, the purple one was standing tense as if it were waiting to get struck, and the orange one picked itself up and looked around.
"What in tarnation?!" She said... she could speak! Was she a Twisted One? She surely wasn't a Meta-Being, since she was lucid.
She spotted him, though, and adopted a stance that told him she was ready to pounce. Not good.
He held up his arms, showing his palms in what was hopefully recognized as a placating gesture.
"W-what are yah?!" She asked, either afraid or very confused, perhaps both.
He pointed to his throat, then shook his head. He hoped this could transmit the message. 'I can't speak... it never bothered me before, why am I starting to feel upset about it?'
"Wh-where are we?" The purple... no, lavender one... she asked while looking all around her. The sky was reddened and stormy, and the remains of a ruined city were all that was around-
"Eeek! What are those?!" The white one shrieked, pointing at a group of fish-like creatures that floated towards them.
'Moons.' Dextera frowned at the unexpected arrival. The scaly, silver fish didn't venture into these parts unless he managed to draw them near. For some reason, though, the gravity-defying creatures were showing their inch-long, quite sharp, teeth at the group of... equines! That was the word, kind of.
Pondering that was for later, though. He saw that those things would really attack the three girls, with nothing but hunger in their eyes. One of them lunged to cross the distance more quickly. The white one screamed. He sprinted past the three new arrivals and punched the approaching monster in the middle of the face.
*****
"We arrived at a world where delusions and insanity have twisted and corrupted the world unto a mockery of itself; the dark, empty feelings of its inhabitants changed them on the outside as well. Many became monsters and the world suffered for it; even those that retained something more solid from their previous lives did so just barely, going so far as to lose their memory of themselves or even the entirety of their 'Self'... tell me, Rainbow... doesn't it sound familiar to you?"
All eyes were looking at Celestia, her own glazed over in fear.
"Baroques are the idiosyncrasies and delusions of an individual." The bandaged stallion, the reader of crystals and collector of Baroques, spoke in a way that made everypony believe he was absolutely unflappable. "They can be helpful - it is hard to survive in our world without some sort of a Baroque- but those who use it as their only tether to the world promptly lose themselves to it."
The sun princess's mouth tried to work, to say something - deny, agree, start to anger, something, anything.
"You may refer to me as The Baroquemonger, and I can tell you two things; the tale of Nightmare Moon is too similar to be just a coincidence, and that there is a chance that it could happen to more than a single mare."
Author's Note
Yes, looking -or even carrying- a heavily-distorted crystal can overcome the minds of others and make them do... wierd things. The player discovers this with the crystal of 'Longneck', who carries one of the only crystals the Twisted Ones on the outside of the tower would have any reason to look at instead of just bouncing it back to you (Save for a very special case).
The PC is protected by his own burden, his power of purification, and (in a case of me being Meta) being the PC, thus isolating the player from the madness-inducing whispers of the crystal's core.
In my mind, this translates as the Element Bearers, who purified Nightmare Moon, as having the same ability of purification as the PC in the game, and thus the same resistance.
The Baroquemonger is just that boss. 
Internet Cookies to anyone who catches the correct meaning of the chapter title.
