Spellbound Existenceby ponyguy123ChaptersChapter 1: DoppelgängersChapter 2: Stolen IdentityChapter 3: Search PartyChapter 4: FightChapter 1: DoppelgängersThe brilliant sunshine beamed through Twilight Sparkle's window, basking onto her face. She groaned as the light began to wake her up, she was quite tired after Winter Wrap Up yesterday. Although she was still exhausted, she was eager to get out of bed. It was the first day of Spring, and she was excited. Not for the spirit of the season, but her friends had promised to assist her in spring cleaning. She wanted to get the job done as soon as possible to leave the rest of the month free. "Spike, wake up." she said, nudging his bed. "Uhhhh..." Spike groaned as he tried to ignore her. "It's still early, I want to sleep." "It's the first day of Spring, we have to take the books off the bookcases before the girls get here." "Uh, why don't you do that, I'll join you in a second." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm glad you could come over and help me." Twilight said to her friends as they entered the library. "Spring cleaning is no easy task." "No problem, sugarcube." Applejack replied cheerfully. "Yeah, if we all work together, it'll get done in no time." Pinkie added. They walked into the main area to find all of the bookcases bare, and the books all in neat piles around the room. "Spike and I have already taken the books off the shelves, now we just need to dust everything." Twilight said. Twilight gave each of the ponies a feather duster and assigned them to different sections of the library. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack were to clean the top half of the shelves, and Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Twilight all cleaned the rest of it. Applejack grabbed a duster in her mouth and climbed the ladder to the top of the bookcases near the stairs. She brushed along the shelves, as did everypony else. She leaned out to the side, attempting to dust the remaining area of the shelf, stretching her neck as far out as it would go. Despite leaning as far out as she could, she still couldn't quite reach the last bookcase without falling. "Do you need some help?" Twilight asked as Applejack continued to stretch out, determined to reach the shelf. "You're going to hurt yourself." "Nah, I got it." she replied, her voice barely understandable by the duster between her teeth. She tried to reach a slight bit further, but was once again unsuccessful. Her hoof that she was using to grasp onto the top rung slipped, causing Applejack to fall. "Ah!" Twilight yelled as Applejack toppled down on top of her. "What did I just tell you?" "Uh, sorry Twilight." Applejack said as she got up and dusted herself off. "Lemme try that again." Applejack once again began climbing the ladder, but was stopped as Twilight grabbed her with her magic. She levitated her over to the shelf that she was trying so desperately to reach. "There, now try." she said, a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. "Oh, uh, thanks." Applejack finally wiped the shelf down, before Twilight returned her to the floor. As Twilight was lowering her, she noticed something quite peculiar in the back of the shelf. She wasn't sure what it was, as she didn't quite get a decent look at it. "Twilight, I think I saw something up there." she said when her hooves landed on the ground again. "Really? Like what?" Twilight asked. "I'm not sure, take me back up." Twilight once again lifted Applejack into the air, the other five crowded around her, just as curious as them to know what she saw. Applejack took another look at what was up there. A part of the back of the shelf have been carved out, and a book was filling the gap. "Hey Twilight, check this out." she said, pulling the book out of the gap and tossing it onto the floor. Twilight walked over to the book, which was covered in dust, and picked it up. She dropped Applejack onto the floor, and wiped the dust off the cover. Everyone gathered around her, eager to find out what the hidden book was and what it contained. "Hmm...." Twilight said, examining the cover. "Lady Lucinda's Book of Secret and Rare Spells. That's odd. I wonder why I've never found this before. I've read every book at least once." "Yeah, and who's Lady Lucinda?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm not sure, I think I've heard that name before." Twilight walked over to a pile of books beside the door and began looking through them. She browsed through the stack, reading the titles in her head. She pulled a book out from the middle of the stack and opened it up. She flicked through a few pages, before stopping in the middle. "Here. This is Lady Lucinda." she said, reading the page. The other six gathered around her and looked at the picture of the amber unicorn. "Lucinda von Linz was a famous unicorn," Twilight read. "famous for her work in discovering new spells. Many of these spells were lost when she perished in an attack on Canterlot. It is often believed that she kept a journal containing her spells, but such an item has never been found." Twilight looked back up at her friends. "Don't you see, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie said, picking up the mysterious book. "This must be Lady Lucinda's magic journal, containing all of her secret spells." "Maybe, I guess we'll have to find out." Twilight said as she grabbed the book off Pinkie. She opened the book to a random page and looked inside. They were certainly spells, but what they did, she was unsure as none of them had titles. "Huh, that's odd." she said. "What is?" Spike asked. "None of these spells actually tell me what they do, so I have no idea what type of magic this is." "Can't you tell from the spells?" "I don't know, maybe we could take this to Princess Celestia? She might know what it is." "No way, Twilight. That'd take way too long." Rainbow Dash said. "Just try one out, what's the worst that could happen?" Rainbow Dash was quite eager, those spells could do anything. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash with a stern expression. "The worst that could happen? Anything could happen! That's why I think before I do things." she said. "Well, um..." Rainbow Dash said, trying to make up a reason for Twilight to try a spell. "You're an avid student, right?" "Yeah, so?" "Well, the more spells you try, the better you'll be at magic, the more impressed Celestia will be. You want her to be proud of you, right?" "Well, I guess so..." "Exactly! Come on, just one." "Well, I guess it can't hurt to try out just one spell." Twilight put her hoof down on a page in the middle of the book. She took a look at the spell, and began browsing through it. "Okay, I'll try one spell, but that's it." She recited the spell a few times in her head, before attempting it. Her horn glowed it's purple aura, a bright light forming at the tip. The light got brighter and brighter, until it retracted into her horn, and blasted out, filling the room with blinding light. Twilight and her friends all dropped to the floor as a shockwave blasted out from Twilight's horn, except for Spike who had taken cover behind the desk before she casted the spell. Twilight stood back up and shook her head. She looked around the room, but was only able to see the thick dust cloud that swarmed in the house. "Is everypony okay?" she coughed as she wandered through the dust. "Yeah, I'm fine." Rainbow Dash said. "I'm okay." Pinkie Pie said. "What happened?" Futtershy asked. "I'm not sure." Suddenly, the dust cloud settled, and they were able to see each other again. "Good, everyone's okay." Twilight said, being able to see the other six in the room. "Does anyone know what the spell did?" Her friends didn't answer. "Girls?" she asked, holding the spell book. The room remained silent, her friends still not saying anything. Rather, they were all staring behind Twilight, their mouths agape. "Girls, what's wrong?" Twilight said nervously. "What's behind me?" "Tha- That's not possible..." Rarity said. "What?" Twilight said, slowly turning around. Upon turning around, she found herself staring at a most curious sight. The moment she saw it, she gasped and dropped the book. She continued staring at the cluster of ponies which had suddenly appeared in the room. It took Twilight a moment to identify who they were, but even then, she still didn't believe it. Lying behind her, unconscious on the floor, was her and her friends, or more likely just duplicates made from the mysterious spell... "Err... My head..." Twilight groaned as she began to regain consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw her friends, also awakening. She rubbed her eyes and looked up, and screamed when she saw herself and her friends watching her. "Ah! What's going on?!" she exclaimed. "Uh, I think I just accidentally cloned us all." Twilight replied. "Cloned?" her duplicate said, starting calming down. "That's weird." Her friends also looked up and saw themselves, just as unsure as Twilight. "Twilight, what's going on?" Rarity's duplicate said. "Why is there two of everyone?" "She says she accidentally cloned herself and her friends." she replied, pointing at Twilight. Twilight picked the book up again and she and her duplicate began reading it as the others got into conversation with themselves. "So I used this spell." Twilight said to herself. "I can just use this other spell to send you six back to where you came from." "Okay, makes sense." her clone said. "We'll do that." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So you're the exact same as me?" Rainbow Dash asked her doppelgänger. "I guess so." she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not completely sure." "Well, you look the same as me. Do you have the same memories as me?" "Well, I think so." "What's the last thing you can remember?" "Uh, I remember going to bed last night..." she said as she thought to herself. "I remember I all went to Sugarcube Corner yesterday for Scootaloo's birthday." "Hey, I did that yesterday. I guess your memories are the same as mine, aside from today." The ten ponies continued chatting with each other like nothing was weird, until they were interrupted by the two Twilights. "Okay, girls. As much fun as this was, I'm afraid I have to reverse the spell." Twilight said. "Reverse the spell?" Rainbow Dash's duplicate said. "What do you mean?" "I mean that I'm going to send you back to where you came from." "You can't do that!" Twilight was a little unsure about that response. "What? You aren't meant to be here, you're just copies of us." "So? We're still ponies, aren't we?" "I... guess so." "Then we're worth keeping alive." Twilight could see where this was going, and was afraid of this. "Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight's clone said. "We aren't even meant to be here, we were just an accident." "But I don't want to be killed. I'm Rainbow Dash, I'm just as good as her." she said, pointing at the original Rainbow Dash. "As much as I'd hate to cause a fuss," Applejack's gänger said. "But I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. It just doesn't seem right to get rid of us. I mean, why are you any better than us? Why can't we get rid of you six?" "Yeah!" the other three clones agreed. Twilight and her friends all took a step backwards. "What are you saying?" Twilight asked. "Nothin'..." Applejack said. "All I'm sayin' is that we're just as good as y'all. Why should you send us back when we could just as easily do the same to you?" "Applejack, are you crazy?" the second Twilight said. "Twi, don't deny it. You don't want to die, do ya?" "Uh, of course not, but-" "Exactly. Don't let them, join us." Applejack pointed her hoof towards Twilight, offering her to take ahold of it. By this point, the original Twilight was beginning to suspect that they weren't exact copies. Rather, they were slightly darker in a way. Twilight looked down at Applejack's hoof, which was still outstretched towards her. She wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to start a fight against herself, but she didn't want to have to die. She gulped, before taking Applejack's hoof. "Alright, I'm with you." Twilight was shocked at herself for agreeing to something like that. The doppelgängers turned around to face the original six, making them take another step backwards. "Get them!" Rainbow Dash's duplicate ordered, before they all ran at them. They chased each other through the library, before chasing them out the door and making them run away. "And don't come back!" Applejack's clone yelled as they ran off. "You know what, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight said as they galloped through town. "I don't think they're exact copies of us." "You just realised that?" Chapter 2: Stolen IdentityTwilight rubbed her hooves over her eyes, she was tired. She looked up and saw her friends sitting alongside her in the grass, as they had been doing for three days now. "Want a sandwich, Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked Rainbow Dash. "No," she replied angrily, smacking the sandwich out of her hoof. "I wanna go home." "Well you can't, and you know why?" Twilight said. "Because now another Rainbow Dash is living there." "Well, you know, if you hadn't done that stupid spell, then none of this would have hadn't happened!" Rainbow Dash said. "Hey," Twilight snapped back. "You were the one who wanted to do the spell in the first place! You had as much to do with this as me!" "Well you didn't have to listen to me!" she snarled, walking towards Twilight. "Girls, girls!" Rarity said, pushing them away from each other. "What are you doing? You're acting capriciously." "Well, I'm just angry. I lost my home. I'm living in the park, for crying out loud." "We all lost our homes too!" Twilight said. "We need a plan to fix this." "I say we sneak up on them, get them when they're least expecting it." Rainbow Dash said, acting out her plan by sneaking towards Fluttershy and leaping at her. "We can't do that, Rainbow Dash." "And why not?" "Because. They aren't just some mess that simply needs to be cleaned up. These are real living ponies, we have to be sensible about this. They have a good point, not wanting to be killed." The ponies continued thinking, until Twilight stood up. "You know what? I'm gonna go." she said. "Be back soon." "Where are you going, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm going to go and talk to them. Maybe my copy will have wised up enough to see this situation for what it is, just an accident. Are going to come with me, or just stay here and mope?" "No, no." Rarity said. "We'll come. Better safe than sorry, right?" Twilight knocked on the door of her library, hoping that her duplicate and her would just come to some sort of agreement and everything would turn out fine. The door opened, and Twilight's clone was surprised to see herself and her friends. "Oh, it's you." she said. "I thought we ran you out of town." "Please, we've come to try and make peace with our copies." Twilight said pleadingly. "We can't go on living like this. We haven't got homes." "And what do you want me to do? I've got everything I need. Why would I help you?" "Because... I'm you, and I know I'd want to help." This remark only caused Twilight's duplicate to chuckle slightly as she shook her head. "Well guess what?" she said. "What?" Twilight asked, wondering where this was going. Twilight's clone used her magic to levitate the six ponies and Spike towards her. She moved Twilight right in front of her face. "I'm not you!" She rushed inside, carrying the other seven behind her. She dumped them into a pile in the centre of the room and quickly cast a spell on them before they could get up again. Twilight, who was at the bottom of the cluster of ponies, opened her eyes, and at first glance of her surroundings was quite confused. The library walls were all radiating a strange translucent purple glow, something she wasn't quite familiar with. She soon realised, however, that the purple glow wasn't coming from the walls, rather from the forcefield which had been cast over them. Twilight crawled out from under the stack of ponies and stood up. "What is this?" she asked the doppelgänger. "A forcefield, what did you expect? That I was just going to let you destroy my friends and I?" "I told you, we don't want it to come to that." "I know what you're up to. You're lying." Twilight slowly placed her hoof on the wall of the forcefield, just to be repelled by a burning sensation. "How'd you do this?" she asked. "I can't make a forcefield that can repel!" "Well that book Applejack found has some pretty interesting stuff in it. You can't even teleport out of there." "But you don't know what the spells do, how could you find a specific spell?" "Well, as it turns out, the stallion who owns the curio shop is very interested in Lady Lucinda. He explained some spells to me. He also offered me bits for the book, but I denied. It's much too powerful." "You can't do this! We're trying to help!" Rainbow Dash said. "Oh, shut up, you." she replied. "I've got to get going." "And where, pray tell, to?" Twilight asked worriedly. "My friends and I are going to go to Canterlot to visit the princess." "What are you going to do to Celestia?!" Twilight demanded. "Oh, I don't know, maybe I'll attack her... I'm not sure." "You can't do that, she's too powerful!" "Yes, but it's me. She won't expect me to attack her, will she? I'll catch her off guard, that spellbook has some pretty violent spells in there..." Despite the burning feeling on her hooves, Twilight pounded on the walls of the forcefield as she tried to release her and her friends from their imprisonment. "You're not just mean," she yelled. "You're pure evil!" "I know, fantastic isn't it?" her clone chuckled, before leaving the house, slamming the door behind her. The six ponies and Spike were stuck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Aw, this is hopeless!" Rainbow Dash said to Twilight who was still trying to escape after five minutes of failure. "I have to try, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed. "They're going to attack the princess!" "Well, how do we get out?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know!" Twilight said. Twilight turned back around and saw her desk, which was half was through the forcefield. The half which was inside the field had a stack of paper on it and a bottle of ink. "Hey, my desk!" she said, immediately forming a plan. "Yeah, what about it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I have an idea. We can use the ink and paper to send a letter to Princess Celestia." Twilight levitated a piece of paper and ink bottle over to her, which she set down on the ground. "But we don't have a quill." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight looked over at the desk, and saw that the quills were all outside of the enclosure. "Actually..." she said, turning back around. She quickly bit onto Rainbow Dash's wing, and plucked a single feather with her teeth. "Ow!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, before shooting Twilight a dirty look. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash." Twilight levitated the feather and dipped it into the ink. She began writing a letter to the princess, warning her of what was coming. "I hope this works." she said passing the rolled-up letter to Spike. Spike ignited the letter, causing it to fly away in the form of smoke. The smoke, however, hit the wall of the forcefield, returned to Spike, and caused him to spit it back out again. "Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed. "It didn't work, the forcefield's stopping it!" "Is that even possible?" Rarity asked. "I suppose it is... We have to find another way to get out!" The six ponies continued pondering over their diligent escape. "Hey, what about that?" Pinkie Pie said, pointing outside of the purple wall. "What is it?" Twilight said walking over and taking a look at whatever it was that she saw. Twilight looked at the book that lay on the floor. She smiled as she identified it, there was no doubt that it was Lucinda's spellbook. It was laying on the floor, open to a page. "The book!" she said. "We might be able to use a spell." Twilight read the titles of the spells on the double page, until she came across one that had been messily labelled:- Forcefield Disabling Spell "Hey, the right spell's on the page!" she said, reading through it. "I dunno, Twilight." Fluttershy said wearily. "Doesn't this seem a bit... too easy?" "Yeah, I know what you mean." she agreed. "I don't think I'd make a mistake like that, leaving the book on the floor, open to the right page..." Twilight looked down at the book, and then back up her friends. She thought about what was at stake, and whether she was willing to put her and her friends at risk to help Princess Celestia. "I don't know..." Twilight said. "I think it's a trick, but it's our only hope." "Twilight, you have to do it." Rarity said. "It's the only chance we have of escaping and saving the princess." "But, I don't know what it could do." "Twilight," she said, looking straight into her eyes. "Just do it!" Twilight hesitated, before casting the 'forcefield disabling' spell. Once the spell was complete, she opened one eye, and took a look at her surroundings. To her surprise, the spell had worked and the forcefield was now down. "Ha, it worked!" she cheered. "Twilight, we haven't got time for that." Rainbow Dash said. "We have to get to Canterlot!" "So, Twilight Sparkle, what brings you and your friends to Canterlot?" Princess Celestia asked as they walked through the throne room. "Oh, nothing in particular." Twilight's doppelgänger said. "Just a visit." "Well I'm very glad you could be here. I always enjoy seeing you." "Why thank you." Applejack's duplicate said with a tip of her hat, trying not to act suspicious. Twilight looked out at Canterlot through one of the windows. She was trying to hold back blasting Celestia across the room, but she had to hold back. She had a plan... "So tell me, Twilight, how have you been?" Celestia asked. "Okay, I guess. We haven't done anything too interesting." Twilight said. "Well, as long as you have your friends, there's always something fun to do." I hate it when she starts that touchy-feely crap... Twilight thought to herself. Twilight looked behind her, and saw Rainbow Dash, slyly signalling her to look out the window. Twilight nonchalantly walked towards the window again, and grinned her devilish grin. It was the real six ponies, along with Spike, galloping towards the palace at full speed. "Something the matter?" Princess Celestia asked when she saw the two ponies looking out the window. Twilight turned her head toward Celestia, and smiled. It was time to put her plan into action. Before the princess even had time to react, a large blue beam of light shot from the end of Twilight's horn. The spell was almost instantaneous, giving Celestia no proper warning of what was happening. The light shot into the princess, sending her crashing into the wall behind her. Princess Celestia opened her eyes as she struggled to get up off the floor. She looked over to Twilight, but she had already left the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, there they are!" Applejack said as their clones galloped past. Twilight's clone looked back and shot them a mischievous grin. She six ponies stopped galloping as their duplicates galloped down the hall and around the corner. "I don't get it." Twilight said. "Are we too late?" Suddenly, two royal guards burst out of the throne room, along with Princess Celestia. "There she is!" one of the guards exclaimed, galloping towards Twilight and tackling her to the ground. "Hey, hey, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Twilight Sparkle," he said, pinning her down. "You are under arrest for attacking the princess!" "Under arrest?!" Twilight yelped. "But- But I didn't do it!" Chapter 3: Search PartyTwilight walked nervously down one of the hallways of the royal palace, her legs tethered by two pairs of shackles. On one side of her was a royal guard, the one who had apprehended her. To her other side was Princess Celestia, who was quite concerned with the current state of affairs. Her friends were also there, following close behind. "Please," Twilight pleaded to Celestia, her voice full of sorrow. "You have to believe me. I didn't do it!" "Yes, I believe that you wouldn't do such a thing," the princess said. "However I am unable to release you from your sentence without proof." "Princess, we told you." Rainbow Dash argued. "She didn't do it, it was some evil clones!" "Yeah, likely story." the guard mumbled sarcastically. "How am I supposed to get proof that I'm innocent if I'm stuck in a cage?" The princess closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry Twilight, but your punishment is not imprisonment. It's something... much worse." "But I thought you said I was being put in prison?" "I'm giving you a reprieve." "Then what's my punishment?" Twilight asked, looking up at her. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but there's no euphemistic way to say this." Princess Celestia stopped walking at an intersection of another hallway. She looked both ways, before directing the group to the left. "What going to happen to me?" Twilight asked, a distraught tone in her voice. "Please, tell me." "I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm afraid the punishment for such an offence is..." Princess Celestia said, lowering her head in dolour. "Banishment from Equestria... for life." That was the last thing Twilight could remember before she fainted. ~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight lay wearily on the poorly maintained bed of her cell. By now, she was sobbing insanely after hearing what her punishment was for her wrongly-accused crime. "May I ask you a favour?" Princess Celestia asked, turning tomTwilight's friends. "Anything, princess." Rarity said. "I don't want to have to do this, but it is my duty as princess. Might I ask, before I have to banish Twilight, that you could please, try and turn in the real culprit, if there is one?" "You can count on us!" Rainbow Dash said with a salute. "Don't worry, Twilight. We won't let you down!" "We can't just sit here and wait for her to get here." Applejack said to her friends who were all sitting outside the library. It was morning, and they had been there all night, hoping Twilight's clone would arrive so they could turn her in. "We've been here all night! We don't even know if she's in Ponyville anymore." "Well what do you suggest?" Rainbow Dash said. "Do you have a better plan?" "No..." Rainbow Dash turned around, and as she did, she saw something across the street. It was Fluttershy's copy, most likely spying on them from behind a cart. "Hey, over there!" she yelled, pointing at the pegasus across the street. "Oh no..." Fluttershy said to herself, before galloping off. "Quick, after her!" The five ponies galloped as fast as they could as they closely chased Fluttershy. Despite her efforts, Fluttershy was still unable to keep ahead of her pursuers. Rainbow Dash leapt at Fluttershy, causing the two pegasi to crash onto the ground. "Where's Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she pinned her down. "Is she back in Ponyville?" "Of course she's in Ponyville." Fluttershy said as she strugled underneath Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Then where is she?" "Why would I tell you?" Rainbow Dash then raised a hoof up, as if she was going to punch her. "You'd better, otherwise I'll have to make you!" she said with a growl. "Rainbow Dash, calm yourself." Rarity advised. "You can't fool me." Fluttershy said with a grin. "You could never hit me, no matter how evil I am." "I will if I have to. Now tell me, where is she?!" Once again, Fluttershy just smiled a dark grin. "Rainbow Dash, you can't do it, I know you can't." "Tell me!" she demanded. "Never!" "Look," Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight's going to be banished from Equestria this afternoon!" "Yes, of course she is. That was the plan!" "Plan?" Rainbow Dash said, confused. "You mean... Twilight intentionally left the book open?" "Of course that was intentional!" Fluttershy said. "Twilight set you up so your Twilight would appear guilty!" Rainbow Dash cast Fluttershy a scornful look. "Tell me where she is, or I'll make you cry!" "Hmm, that's a bit vague." Rarity whispered to Applejack. "I told you, you can't do it!" Fluttershy said, provoking her more and more. "This is your last chance!" "Go ahead, I dare you." Fluttershy tempted. Rainbow Dash couldn't take her temptations any longer. She growled at Fluttershy, before drawing back her hoof slightly further. She swung forward, making Fluttershy flinch, and right before her hoof collided with Futtershy's face, she stopped. Fluttershy opened an eye, and saw Rainbow Dash's outstretched leg, hesitating to hit her. "I knew it." she said, giving the same sharp grin as before. "You could never hit me, no matter what the stakes are." Rainbow Dash stared down at Fluttershy's conceit face, and then at her hoof, which was still in mid-swing. "I- I can't..." she said to herself. "See? I told you." Fluttershy sneered. "Now if you'll excuse me," She pushed Rainbow Dash aside and stood up. "I'll be leaving now. I have a house full of animals to attend to." "You're just going to let her leave?" Rarity said to Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy walked away. "Yeah, let her go." she replied. "We have work to do." "Girls," she said, walking over to them. "I have a plan." "What is it?" Applejack asked. "Well, we each go to our houses and try to get some answers out of our copies." "Okay, that's a good plan, I suppose." Rarity said. "Except for you, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash advised. "You'd best come with me. You're not terribly intimidating." "Yeah, I know." she said. "We'll meet back here in half an hour. Let's go!" "Rainbow Dash, we know you're in there!" Rainbow Dash yelled from outside her door. "Go away!" she replied. "I'm not opening that door." "Don't make me buck it down!" Rainbow Dash's copy stood up from where she was sitting, and walked across the room and opened the door. Half a second later, she found herself pinned against a wall, being held by Rainbow Dash's hooves against her neck. "Tell me where Twilight's hiding!" she demanded. "What is this?" she replied. "I'm stronger than you. You can't hold me down." Rainbow Dash's clone then grabbed the hooves against her neck and began to push them back. Rainbow Dash persistently tried to keep her hooves down, however she was no match for her evil counterpart. "No..." Rainbow Dash grunted as she tried to push her hooves back against her neck. Suddenly, with no warning, Rainbow Dash's doppelgänger gave a sharp kick with one of her back legs, straight into Rainbow Dash's stomach, sending her across the room. She laid on the floor and grasped her stomach as she groaned in pain, Fluttershy still standing at the door and watching. "Now get out, you two!" Rainbow Dash's duplicate demanded. "Come on, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said, limping to the door. "Let's go meet up with the others. I wonder of they've found anything." "So," Rarity said to the other four. "Any luck with finding Twilight?" "Nope." Applejack said. "She didn't tell me." "But, aren't you the element of honesty?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Well, she didn't lie. She just didn't tell me." "We didn't get anything either." Rainbow Dash said. "What about you, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked her. "What about me?" she asked. "Did you find out anything?" "About what?" "Where Twilight is. Have you been paying attention?" "Oooohh... Twilight?" she said. "Yeah, she's in Applejack's barn." "Really?" Rainbow Dash asked. "How'd you get your evil clone to tell you that?" "Oh, we had some cake together. She wasn't that evil." Rainbow Dash looked at the other three and shrugged her shoulders. "Well then," she declared. "To Sweet Apple Acres!" ~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all galloped up the hill towards Applejack's barn. They were finally going to confront the evil Twilight, they had to prevail. Applejack swallowed nervously as she pushed open the large wooden door of her barn. Once the door was wide enough, she looked inside and saw Twilight at the other side of the barn, reading Lady Lucinda's spellbook. She lowered the book, and saw Applejack's face, but none of the other four as they were behind the door. "Hey, Applejack." she said, raising the book again. "What do you want?" "Twilight, we've come ta stop ya." Applejack said confidently. "We?" Twilight put the book down again and looked at Applejack, who began opening the barn door even more. Enough so that the other four ponies were also visible. "Oh no, not this again." Twilight mumbled to herself. "Twilight, this has to stop!" Rarity said. "You can't do this!" "You shouldn't try and fight me." She picked up the book once again. "This book has spells in it that could wipe out Ponyville in one shot. You don't stand a chance." The five ponies walked inside and arranged into a V-Formation, Rainbow Dash at the front, Rarity and Fluttershy next, and then Pinkie Pie and Applejack at the back. "We won't stop until we have you!" Rainbow Dash said fiercely. "I told Twilight we'd get her out!" "Well then, let me show you what you're fighting against." Twilight opened the book to a page and cast a spell from it. Rather than firing at the ponies, the spell enveloped Twilight in a purple glow. The five ponies watched in horror as the spell worked it's magic, the aura becoming more and more intense... Chapter 4: FightTwilight Sparkle lay in her cell, but not in her bed. Rather, she was lying in the corner on the concrete floor. She had almost lost her sanity, which the guard outside found surprising, considering she had only been there for a day. As he watched her, another guard came down the stone steps to the cell. "Uh, is she alright?" he asked when he saw Twilight stroking her tail, constantly mumbling nonsense. "She's lost it." the other guard replied, shaking his head. "Anyway, I bring a message from the princess. Twilight Sparkle?" he said, looking at her. She looked up, notifying him that she still had some sanity left in her head. "Your banishment will be at sundown, which is in three hours." Twilight looked back down sadly. "Please, hurry." she whispered, as if her friends could actually hear her. The guard looked at the other one and shrugged his shoulders. Meanwhile, at Sweet Apple Acres ~~~~~~~~~~ The five ponies watched in confusion as Twilight glowed bright purple, they were still unsure of what the spell was actually doing. Suddenly, Twilight opened her eyes, which were now glowing with a bright white. Her horn continued glow hypnotically, radiating a vortex around her. Then, to the ponies confusion, Twilight shot up, her legs becoming bigger, along with the rest of her body. The five ponies watched as she grew and grew, before smashing through the roof of the barn, shattering the structure. Once she had stopped growing, she gazed down at the ant-like ponies who still stood in the shattered remains of the barn, in shock. At this point, she was massive, big enough to crush a pony in one stomp. She lowered her head down towards the five little ponies and grinned. "See? How do you expect to stop me?" she asked. "But, you're a fifty foot unicorn. Isn't that a bit obvious?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight shrugged her shoulders, before swatting the five ponies out through the remains of the doorway. "Oh no, how do we turn her in now?" Rarity said, getting up off the ground. "We don't stand a chance!" "Uh, I don't know." Rainbow Dash began. "There's not much we can do." "Hang on a second," Pinkie Pie said, looking back into where Twilight was standing. "That book, I bet that if we got it, we could find some spell to reverse it." "But don't we need Twilight to cast the spell?" "Yeah, but if we have it, then the evil Twilight can't use it." Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight's face, attempting to create a distraction so Pinkie Pie could grab the book. "Hey, Twilight!" she yelled. "Hey, uh, over here!" Twilight directed her attention to Rainbow Dash, giving Pinkie a chance to go get the book. "Are you trying to get killed?" she asked, swatting at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash continuously tried to dodge the giant hooves which swung at her, which proved more difficult than she had expected. As it turned out, giant things didn't move in slow-motion, as movies had lead her to believe. In one final swing, Twilight batted Rainbow Dash to the ground, causing her to fall face-first into some mud. She looked up, spitting out the mouthful of dirt, and saw Pinkie Pie, holding the spellbook. Twilight looked down and saw the book in Pinkie's hoof. "Hey, give me that book!" she yelled. "Run!" ordered Applejack. ~~~~~~~~~~ The five ponies galloped away from the Apple Farm, Twilight quite far behind, but approaching quickly. They were heading towards Ponyville. "Wait, stop!" Applejack exclaimed, coming to a halt. "We can't lead Twilight into town, what about the townsponies?" "We have to." Rainbow Dash said. "It's the best chance we have." Applejack looked back at Twilight, who was now beginning to catch up, which she was doing effortlessly. Each one of Twilight's strides amounted to several of their own. All too soon, Twilight had caught up to them, and began trying to get Pinkie Pie, who was holding the spellbook in her mouth. "Stop moving!" Twilight demanded as her legs began to get tied up in her effort to stomp on the pink pony. After failing several times, her tangled legs caused her to fall flat onto her face. She lifted her head back up, slightly embarrassed from her failure, and saw the five ponies once again galloping away. Once they had arrived in Ponyville, they looked around, and saw the ponies as they had always been, unaware of the monstrous unicorn which was about to attack their usually calm town. As much as she didn't want to disrupt the peaceful day, Rainbow Dash had to warn them of the giant Twilight. "Uh, attention everyone!" she said, attempting to get their attention. "You all have to get out of town, now!" All of the ponies looked around in confusion. "But why?" one of the ponies asked. "Because there's a giant unicorn that's about to destroy half the town!" The townsponies were all still confused. "What unicorn?" another pony said out of the crowd. "That one!" Applejack said, pointing her hoof down the dirt road. Everypony turned there heads and looked down the path, to which they were quite surprised to find a giant Twilight. "But, why would Twilight want to destroy Ponyville?" Mayor Mare asked. "Because she's evil!" Rarity said, stomping her hoof. "Evil?" Before Rarity could respond, Twilight arrived in the town. She looked around at the crowd which was staring up at her in confusion. "Uh, Twilight?" Applebloom asked, who was standing at her right forehoof, along with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Are you really evil?" Twilight looked down at the three fillies, and grinned. Then, with almost no warning, she kicked out a back hoof into the building beside her, smashing it to pieces. The townsponies all gasped at Twilight's unexpected act, especially Berry Punch, as it was her house. "Twilight, don't do this!" Applejack yelled. "Leave 'em out of this!" "If they get in the way, it's not my fault." Twilight replied. "Attention, everypony!" Rainbow Dash ordered. "Evacuate to the park, we'll handle this!" Everypony swarmed out of town, flooding the street in the opposite direction of Twilight. "Okay, split up, and meet back at the library." Rainbow Dash said in the commotion. The five ponies joined the herd of ponies rushing out of town, each turning off to the side and going behind a building. When the disturbance cleared, Twilight looked around, and saw the town, empty. Rarity stood with her back against a wall. She breathed heavily as she looked across the street and saw her friends all doing the same thing. They were hiding behind buildings, all in different places except for Applejack, who was hiding with Pinkie Pie. "Oh, you're hiding from me?" Twilight yelled, her voice loud enough to cover the whole of Ponyville. "I will find you, and I'll tear this town apart if I have to!" "She really wants that book." Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie, who was still tightly grasping the spellbook. "Yeah, she's going to destroy Ponyville if she doesn't get it!" Pinkie agreed. "Come on, let's start headin' around to the library." They started creeping around the streets of Ponyville, weaving in and out of the buildings, and steering clear of the main street of which Twilight wandered on. They watched in distress as the giant unicorn smashed apart building after building, looking for the group. Once they arrived at the library, the other three were already there. Applejack bucked down the door, and they all went inside without Twilight noticing them. "So, what do we do?" Applejack asked as they all sat on the floor, the books still scattered around the room. "We attack." Rainbow Dash said, taking the book from Pinkie Pie and opening it. "We'll use this spell to bring her in." "But we don't have anypony to cast the spell." "We have one pony..." Rainbow Dash said, looking at Rarity. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash, her expression clearly showing her disapproval of the idea. "Are you joking?" she asked. "I can't do that, you might as well ask Fluttershy to do it." "Uh, I would try, but I'm not a unicorn." Fluttershy replied to Rarity's sarcastic comment. "Well maybe one of the townsponies can help?" Applejack asked. "So, we'll have to get through town without Twilight noticing, find a pony who can do magic spells, and bring Twilight to Canterlot before sundown?" Rarity asked. "Yeah?" "No, it's impossible. We'd have to go through the main street to get to the park, Twilight would see us in an instant." "Well, I have a idea." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the stack of books that she was sitting on. The four ponies watched as Rainbow Dash examined the pile, and then pulled a book out from the middle. "I'll use this as a distraction." Rainbow Dash held the book up for them to see, and they quickly understood what she meant. The book was purple with a gold binding, just the same as the spellbook. "I'll distract Twilight with this, while you go to the park and find a unicorn. Get them to cast the spell on Twilight, then we'll get her to Canterlot. We still have a few hours before sundown." "But Twilight has magic, you know you're putting your own life at risk?" "Yeah, I know." "Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash yelled, getting the unicorn's attention. She held the decoy book up. "Looking for this?" Twilight looked down at her, and slowly started approaching her, notifying Rainbow Dash that the decoy was working. She slyly waved to Applejack who then lead the other three towards the park. Rainbow Dash flew away from Twilight, who was now galloping towards her at full speed. Although Twilight was fast, Rainbow Dash's wings were able to keep her ahead. By now, they were on the outskirts of Ponyville, just outside of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash flew up as high as she could, but was stopped when she was caught in Twilight's magic. "Oh no!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she squirmed in the purple aura, rapidly beating her wings to try and escape, which she knew was impossible. "Are you going to give me that book, or am I going to have to take it from you?" she said as she pulled her closer. "Never! I have to turn you in to save my friend!" "Oh, really?" Twilight stopped pulling her closer, and began charging her horn up for an attack. Rainbow Dash's pupils dilated in fear when she saw Twilight's horn glowing. Whatever spell she was casting, she could tell it was going to hurt. "I'll give you one last chance." Twilight said, her horn now glowing intensely. "Give me the book, and I won't harm you." Rainbow Dash looked at the Twilight, then the book, and then back to the unicorn. "Never." "Huh. You really are loyal. Oh well, it doesn't matter to me. I've got another Rainbow Dash. She's way cooler than you, anyway." Rainbow Dash watched Twilight, and half a second passed before she saw a bright beam of orange light blast into her. She screamed as the magic surrounded her, causing her extreme pain. She writhed around in Twilight's magic as she tried to escape the pain. Eventually, she dropped the book onto the ground far below her. Twilight grinned as the book hit the ground, and stopped torturing the poor pegasus. She let her go, and smiled at the sight of her singed feathers. She gasped in the air as she lost her consciousness, and fell to the ground. ~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was waving to her. "Alright, that's the signal. Let's get to the park." she said to her friends "Attention everypony!" she announed. "We need help in defeatin' the evil Twilight!" "Is anyone here good at magic?" Rarity asked the crowd. "Anyone at all?" The crowd was silent, apart from the occasional comment between each other. "Please, anypony?" This was followed by more silence, not even a whisper. Applejack looked back, and saw Rainbow Dash still diverting Twilight's attention away from them and the real book. "Um, I'll do it." Applejack quickly jolted her head back towards the crowd, and looked down at a single azure hoof which was raised. The four ponies looked at the one who was volunteering, and were each equally as surprised. "Trixie?" The blue unicorn then began walking through the swarm of ponies towards the front where the four stood. "Trixie? Why do you want to help us?" Rarity asked. "Look, do you want my help or not?" Trixie said. "Yeah, sure, but..." Applejack said. "What are you doin' back in Ponyville?" "That's none of your business!" she snapped back. "Geez," Applejack whispered to Rarity. "Somethin's up with her." Fluttershy looked back and saw Rainbow Dash, who was now being held in Twilight's magic, yelling back and forth between each other. "Twilight's got Rainbow Dash!" she said. "I don't think she can hold her off for much longer." "Rarity, take this." Applejack said, passing the book to her. "I'm gonna go help Rainbow Dash." She galloped down the main street toward the giant unicorn, who was still holding Rainbow Dash and the decoy book. She continued galloping, but stopped for a moment in shock as Twilight fired her magic beam at the pegasus, who began screaming. "Oh no, Rainbow Dash!" She continued along her path at full speed, and watched as Rainbow Dash hung in the air, before falling. She watched as the lifeless pony fell from the sky alongside the book. A mere meter before hitting the ground, Rainbow Dash was caught by Applejack who leapt through the air. With the unconscious pegasus strung over her back, Applejack watched Twilight levitate the book up to her face, which quickly changed to an angry frown. "Hey, this is just the fourth Daring Do book!" she yelled, quickly shredding it to pieces. "Where's the spellbook?!" "Uh oh..." Applejack, without hesitation, turned back around and galloped back to the park, Rainbow Dash still on her back. "Trixie, get ready!" "Okay, Trixie. This is it." Rarity said to her. "Are you sure you're up for it?" "Yeah, I can do this. Easy." she replied, reading through the spell. "Remember, Trixie, we're all counting on you." Fluttershy said. "Yes, I know. I can do this." "Well you better do it soon," Pinkie Pie said. "Because Twilight's coming." "Trixie!" Applejack yelled as she galloped closer to them, Twilight close behind, and Rainbow Dash beginning to wake up. "Hmm..." Trixie looked at the spell one final time, before closing the book. "Okay, let's get this over with." She pointed her horn towards the giant unicorn, who was charging at them, and lowered her stance. She began casting the spell, her horn glowing a light magenta. Applejack tried to gallop faster as Twilight got closer to her. She could feel the ground shake with every step. "Trixie!" she yelled. "What are ya waitin' for?!" "A closer target!" she yelled back. "If I miss, you and Rainbow Dash are dead!" Applejack looked back at Twilight, whose hooves were getting closer and closer to crushing her. "Hurry up!" she screamed in fear. "Applejack," Trixie yelled. "Duck!" Applejack leapt to the ground, she and Rainbow Dash rolled along the street. Trixie's beam of magic fired over their heads and into Twilight. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and watched as Twilight shrieked under the pain of the spell. Twilight stumbled forward as Trixie finished the spell. She stopped right as she was in front of the townsponies, and fell to her side, crushing yet another two houses. She then began shrinking back to her normal size, much to everyone's relief. "Thanks a lot, Trixie." Applejack said as she and her friends walked over to the now regular-sized unicorn. "Yeah, don't mention it." she replied conceitedly. "Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, trying to ignore her scorched wings. "We're going to take you to Canterlot." She limply lifted up her head and titled it towards Rainbow Dash, and forced a slight yet notable nod. Suddenly, Twilight began groaning as she began writhing in pain. She wrapped her forelegs around her stomach as she coughed. "What?" Rarity asked confusedly. "Twilight, what's wrong?" "I'm... dying..." she groaned. "Dying? Why?" "Well, I probably should have told you." She looked back up at them. "We clones weren't going to last more than a few days in the first place. The others are probably gone by now." "Come on, Twilight. Hang in there." Rainbow Dash said, placing her on her back. "We're going to get you to Canterlot. You're gonna be fine." She turned to the other four. "Come on, girls. We're running out of time. Pinkie, let's take the book with us." "Twilight Sparkle?" the royal guard said. Twilight looked up at him, her eyes dour and woeful. "Y- Yes?" she stammered. "I'm afraid your time is up. The princess has summoned you to the throne room." "No!" Twilight cried as she backed up against the wall. "I didn't do it, I'm innocent!" "I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle, but the princess has requested you." "Uh, alright... I'll go..." Twilight marched down the hallway, the guard by her side, every step bringing her closer and closer to her horrible fate. They came to large double doors of the throne room, where Princess Celestia was waiting. Twilight and the guard walked in, and found the princess silently moping on her throne. "Excuse me, your majesty?" the guard said. "Yes, yes." she said, walking towards them. "You can leave now." Once the guard had left the room, the princess lowered her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Twilight." she said. "I don't want to do this, but I must." "No!" Twilight cried. "I'm innocent! My friends will be here soon, they'll prove it wasn't me." "I'm so very sorry, Twilight, but I mustn't wait any longer. It's sunset." Twilight fell to the ground and began sobbing. "Twilight, please don't cry." Celestia said. "You're making this even harder for me." "But I don't want to go." she sobbed. "Yes, I know, but there's nothing I can do." "But what about my friends?" she sniffled. "I didn't even get to say goodbye..." "Twilight, please. This is just as difficult for me as it is for you." "But how can you do this to me?" "I told you, it's my duty as princess. There's nothing I can do. But I will remember you, as I do all my students." Princess Celestia turned and looked out the window, just as her bright sun was lowering. Normally, she saw this as a beautiful sight; the orange and pink horizon merging beautifully with the darkening sky, but not today. This sunset only filled her with sorrow and remorse, even though it wasn't her fault, but she felt it was. "Twilight... It's time." "No..." Twilight took a few steps backwards as the princess approached her, trying to hold off her inevitable punishment. "Goodbye, Twilight." "No, please!" Once she was in front of her, princess kneeled down towards Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle." she said, a tear in her eye. "You are hereby banished from Eque-" "Stop!!" The princess stopped and she and Twilight turned to the source of the noise, and were quite relieved to find Twilight's friends, all standing in the doorway. "Twilight's innocent!" Rainbow Dash declared, lowering her head, allowing the dying clone to roll off onto the floor in front of her hooves. "You- You did it..." Twilight let out a short, nervous chuckle, before collapsing with relief. "Thank you." Princess Celestia said, walking over to them. "Another second and Twilight would have been banished forever." She looked down at the unicorn who was quietly groaning at her hooves. "Would you care to explain what she's doing here?" "Uh, yeah..." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "It was kinda my fault... We found this old spellbook in Twilight's library while spring cleaning," Pinkie Pie passed the book to her. "And well... I made Twilight try out a spell." "Oh..." Celestia said, examining the book. "I haven't seen this in centuries. How in Equestria did you find it?" "I dunno." she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Applejack found it while cleaning." "Well, you had best leave it with me then..." The princess returned her attention to the dying unicorn. "What's wrong with her?" "She's dyin'." Applejack said. "Dying? Why?" "Apparently these clones only live a few days." The evil Twilight limply lifted up her head and looked at the princess. "It's funny. The only reason I framed Twilight was so she couldn't kill us, but I wasn't even going to make it to the end of the week anyway-" She grunted in pain again. "I'm... sorry. Especially to you Twilight." She looked over towards Twilight, who had joined her friends. "But why are you being nice now?" she asked. "You're dying, why do you care?" "Well..." she started. "Why not?" Once again, Twilight's duplicate writhed in agony on the floor, groaning uncontrollably. "No, don't die." Twilight said, starting to feel sorrow for her once evil counterpart. "No, it's fine. I was made to die." she replied with a slight smile. "And don't worry, I'm not technically dying anyway. My existence is being reversed, that's all." And with one final breath, a lifeless body lay on the throne room floor. "That's was horrible." Futtershy said. "I can't believe I just saw somepony die..." Suddenly, the body began to glow, and then slowly disappear. "Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked once it had completely vanished. "What happened, where'd she go?" "She never existed." Twilight said with a sigh. "Her existence was reversed." "Hey, what happened to Ponyville?" Twilight said as they got off the train. "Some of the houses are smashed." "Oh, yeah... Long story." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "Some of the townsponies might not like you very much anymore..."
Chapter 1: DoppelgängersThe brilliant sunshine beamed through Twilight Sparkle's window, basking onto her face. She groaned as the light began to wake her up, she was quite tired after Winter Wrap Up yesterday. Although she was still exhausted, she was eager to get out of bed. It was the first day of Spring, and she was excited. Not for the spirit of the season, but her friends had promised to assist her in spring cleaning. She wanted to get the job done as soon as possible to leave the rest of the month free. "Spike, wake up." she said, nudging his bed. "Uhhhh..." Spike groaned as he tried to ignore her. "It's still early, I want to sleep." "It's the first day of Spring, we have to take the books off the bookcases before the girls get here." "Uh, why don't you do that, I'll join you in a second." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm glad you could come over and help me." Twilight said to her friends as they entered the library. "Spring cleaning is no easy task." "No problem, sugarcube." Applejack replied cheerfully. "Yeah, if we all work together, it'll get done in no time." Pinkie added. They walked into the main area to find all of the bookcases bare, and the books all in neat piles around the room. "Spike and I have already taken the books off the shelves, now we just need to dust everything." Twilight said. Twilight gave each of the ponies a feather duster and assigned them to different sections of the library. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack were to clean the top half of the shelves, and Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Twilight all cleaned the rest of it. Applejack grabbed a duster in her mouth and climbed the ladder to the top of the bookcases near the stairs. She brushed along the shelves, as did everypony else. She leaned out to the side, attempting to dust the remaining area of the shelf, stretching her neck as far out as it would go. Despite leaning as far out as she could, she still couldn't quite reach the last bookcase without falling. "Do you need some help?" Twilight asked as Applejack continued to stretch out, determined to reach the shelf. "You're going to hurt yourself." "Nah, I got it." she replied, her voice barely understandable by the duster between her teeth. She tried to reach a slight bit further, but was once again unsuccessful. Her hoof that she was using to grasp onto the top rung slipped, causing Applejack to fall. "Ah!" Twilight yelled as Applejack toppled down on top of her. "What did I just tell you?" "Uh, sorry Twilight." Applejack said as she got up and dusted herself off. "Lemme try that again." Applejack once again began climbing the ladder, but was stopped as Twilight grabbed her with her magic. She levitated her over to the shelf that she was trying so desperately to reach. "There, now try." she said, a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. "Oh, uh, thanks." Applejack finally wiped the shelf down, before Twilight returned her to the floor. As Twilight was lowering her, she noticed something quite peculiar in the back of the shelf. She wasn't sure what it was, as she didn't quite get a decent look at it. "Twilight, I think I saw something up there." she said when her hooves landed on the ground again. "Really? Like what?" Twilight asked. "I'm not sure, take me back up." Twilight once again lifted Applejack into the air, the other five crowded around her, just as curious as them to know what she saw. Applejack took another look at what was up there. A part of the back of the shelf have been carved out, and a book was filling the gap. "Hey Twilight, check this out." she said, pulling the book out of the gap and tossing it onto the floor. Twilight walked over to the book, which was covered in dust, and picked it up. She dropped Applejack onto the floor, and wiped the dust off the cover. Everyone gathered around her, eager to find out what the hidden book was and what it contained. "Hmm...." Twilight said, examining the cover. "Lady Lucinda's Book of Secret and Rare Spells. That's odd. I wonder why I've never found this before. I've read every book at least once." "Yeah, and who's Lady Lucinda?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I'm not sure, I think I've heard that name before." Twilight walked over to a pile of books beside the door and began looking through them. She browsed through the stack, reading the titles in her head. She pulled a book out from the middle of the stack and opened it up. She flicked through a few pages, before stopping in the middle. "Here. This is Lady Lucinda." she said, reading the page. The other six gathered around her and looked at the picture of the amber unicorn. "Lucinda von Linz was a famous unicorn," Twilight read. "famous for her work in discovering new spells. Many of these spells were lost when she perished in an attack on Canterlot. It is often believed that she kept a journal containing her spells, but such an item has never been found." Twilight looked back up at her friends. "Don't you see, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie said, picking up the mysterious book. "This must be Lady Lucinda's magic journal, containing all of her secret spells." "Maybe, I guess we'll have to find out." Twilight said as she grabbed the book off Pinkie. She opened the book to a random page and looked inside. They were certainly spells, but what they did, she was unsure as none of them had titles. "Huh, that's odd." she said. "What is?" Spike asked. "None of these spells actually tell me what they do, so I have no idea what type of magic this is." "Can't you tell from the spells?" "I don't know, maybe we could take this to Princess Celestia? She might know what it is." "No way, Twilight. That'd take way too long." Rainbow Dash said. "Just try one out, what's the worst that could happen?" Rainbow Dash was quite eager, those spells could do anything. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash with a stern expression. "The worst that could happen? Anything could happen! That's why I think before I do things." she said. "Well, um..." Rainbow Dash said, trying to make up a reason for Twilight to try a spell. "You're an avid student, right?" "Yeah, so?" "Well, the more spells you try, the better you'll be at magic, the more impressed Celestia will be. You want her to be proud of you, right?" "Well, I guess so..." "Exactly! Come on, just one." "Well, I guess it can't hurt to try out just one spell." Twilight put her hoof down on a page in the middle of the book. She took a look at the spell, and began browsing through it. "Okay, I'll try one spell, but that's it." She recited the spell a few times in her head, before attempting it. Her horn glowed it's purple aura, a bright light forming at the tip. The light got brighter and brighter, until it retracted into her horn, and blasted out, filling the room with blinding light. Twilight and her friends all dropped to the floor as a shockwave blasted out from Twilight's horn, except for Spike who had taken cover behind the desk before she casted the spell. Twilight stood back up and shook her head. She looked around the room, but was only able to see the thick dust cloud that swarmed in the house. "Is everypony okay?" she coughed as she wandered through the dust. "Yeah, I'm fine." Rainbow Dash said. "I'm okay." Pinkie Pie said. "What happened?" Futtershy asked. "I'm not sure." Suddenly, the dust cloud settled, and they were able to see each other again. "Good, everyone's okay." Twilight said, being able to see the other six in the room. "Does anyone know what the spell did?" Her friends didn't answer. "Girls?" she asked, holding the spell book. The room remained silent, her friends still not saying anything. Rather, they were all staring behind Twilight, their mouths agape. "Girls, what's wrong?" Twilight said nervously. "What's behind me?" "Tha- That's not possible..." Rarity said. "What?" Twilight said, slowly turning around. Upon turning around, she found herself staring at a most curious sight. The moment she saw it, she gasped and dropped the book. She continued staring at the cluster of ponies which had suddenly appeared in the room. It took Twilight a moment to identify who they were, but even then, she still didn't believe it. Lying behind her, unconscious on the floor, was her and her friends, or more likely just duplicates made from the mysterious spell... "Err... My head..." Twilight groaned as she began to regain consciousness. She opened her eyes and saw her friends, also awakening. She rubbed her eyes and looked up, and screamed when she saw herself and her friends watching her. "Ah! What's going on?!" she exclaimed. "Uh, I think I just accidentally cloned us all." Twilight replied. "Cloned?" her duplicate said, starting calming down. "That's weird." Her friends also looked up and saw themselves, just as unsure as Twilight. "Twilight, what's going on?" Rarity's duplicate said. "Why is there two of everyone?" "She says she accidentally cloned herself and her friends." she replied, pointing at Twilight. Twilight picked the book up again and she and her duplicate began reading it as the others got into conversation with themselves. "So I used this spell." Twilight said to herself. "I can just use this other spell to send you six back to where you came from." "Okay, makes sense." her clone said. "We'll do that." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So you're the exact same as me?" Rainbow Dash asked her doppelgänger. "I guess so." she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not completely sure." "Well, you look the same as me. Do you have the same memories as me?" "Well, I think so." "What's the last thing you can remember?" "Uh, I remember going to bed last night..." she said as she thought to herself. "I remember I all went to Sugarcube Corner yesterday for Scootaloo's birthday." "Hey, I did that yesterday. I guess your memories are the same as mine, aside from today." The ten ponies continued chatting with each other like nothing was weird, until they were interrupted by the two Twilights. "Okay, girls. As much fun as this was, I'm afraid I have to reverse the spell." Twilight said. "Reverse the spell?" Rainbow Dash's duplicate said. "What do you mean?" "I mean that I'm going to send you back to where you came from." "You can't do that!" Twilight was a little unsure about that response. "What? You aren't meant to be here, you're just copies of us." "So? We're still ponies, aren't we?" "I... guess so." "Then we're worth keeping alive." Twilight could see where this was going, and was afraid of this. "Rainbow Dash, calm down." Twilight's clone said. "We aren't even meant to be here, we were just an accident." "But I don't want to be killed. I'm Rainbow Dash, I'm just as good as her." she said, pointing at the original Rainbow Dash. "As much as I'd hate to cause a fuss," Applejack's gänger said. "But I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. It just doesn't seem right to get rid of us. I mean, why are you any better than us? Why can't we get rid of you six?" "Yeah!" the other three clones agreed. Twilight and her friends all took a step backwards. "What are you saying?" Twilight asked. "Nothin'..." Applejack said. "All I'm sayin' is that we're just as good as y'all. Why should you send us back when we could just as easily do the same to you?" "Applejack, are you crazy?" the second Twilight said. "Twi, don't deny it. You don't want to die, do ya?" "Uh, of course not, but-" "Exactly. Don't let them, join us." Applejack pointed her hoof towards Twilight, offering her to take ahold of it. By this point, the original Twilight was beginning to suspect that they weren't exact copies. Rather, they were slightly darker in a way. Twilight looked down at Applejack's hoof, which was still outstretched towards her. She wasn't sure what to do. She didn't want to start a fight against herself, but she didn't want to have to die. She gulped, before taking Applejack's hoof. "Alright, I'm with you." Twilight was shocked at herself for agreeing to something like that. The doppelgängers turned around to face the original six, making them take another step backwards. "Get them!" Rainbow Dash's duplicate ordered, before they all ran at them. They chased each other through the library, before chasing them out the door and making them run away. "And don't come back!" Applejack's clone yelled as they ran off. "You know what, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight said as they galloped through town. "I don't think they're exact copies of us." "You just realised that?"
Chapter 2: Stolen IdentityTwilight rubbed her hooves over her eyes, she was tired. She looked up and saw her friends sitting alongside her in the grass, as they had been doing for three days now. "Want a sandwich, Dashie?" Pinkie Pie asked Rainbow Dash. "No," she replied angrily, smacking the sandwich out of her hoof. "I wanna go home." "Well you can't, and you know why?" Twilight said. "Because now another Rainbow Dash is living there." "Well, you know, if you hadn't done that stupid spell, then none of this would have hadn't happened!" Rainbow Dash said. "Hey," Twilight snapped back. "You were the one who wanted to do the spell in the first place! You had as much to do with this as me!" "Well you didn't have to listen to me!" she snarled, walking towards Twilight. "Girls, girls!" Rarity said, pushing them away from each other. "What are you doing? You're acting capriciously." "Well, I'm just angry. I lost my home. I'm living in the park, for crying out loud." "We all lost our homes too!" Twilight said. "We need a plan to fix this." "I say we sneak up on them, get them when they're least expecting it." Rainbow Dash said, acting out her plan by sneaking towards Fluttershy and leaping at her. "We can't do that, Rainbow Dash." "And why not?" "Because. They aren't just some mess that simply needs to be cleaned up. These are real living ponies, we have to be sensible about this. They have a good point, not wanting to be killed." The ponies continued thinking, until Twilight stood up. "You know what? I'm gonna go." she said. "Be back soon." "Where are you going, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm going to go and talk to them. Maybe my copy will have wised up enough to see this situation for what it is, just an accident. Are going to come with me, or just stay here and mope?" "No, no." Rarity said. "We'll come. Better safe than sorry, right?" Twilight knocked on the door of her library, hoping that her duplicate and her would just come to some sort of agreement and everything would turn out fine. The door opened, and Twilight's clone was surprised to see herself and her friends. "Oh, it's you." she said. "I thought we ran you out of town." "Please, we've come to try and make peace with our copies." Twilight said pleadingly. "We can't go on living like this. We haven't got homes." "And what do you want me to do? I've got everything I need. Why would I help you?" "Because... I'm you, and I know I'd want to help." This remark only caused Twilight's duplicate to chuckle slightly as she shook her head. "Well guess what?" she said. "What?" Twilight asked, wondering where this was going. Twilight's clone used her magic to levitate the six ponies and Spike towards her. She moved Twilight right in front of her face. "I'm not you!" She rushed inside, carrying the other seven behind her. She dumped them into a pile in the centre of the room and quickly cast a spell on them before they could get up again. Twilight, who was at the bottom of the cluster of ponies, opened her eyes, and at first glance of her surroundings was quite confused. The library walls were all radiating a strange translucent purple glow, something she wasn't quite familiar with. She soon realised, however, that the purple glow wasn't coming from the walls, rather from the forcefield which had been cast over them. Twilight crawled out from under the stack of ponies and stood up. "What is this?" she asked the doppelgänger. "A forcefield, what did you expect? That I was just going to let you destroy my friends and I?" "I told you, we don't want it to come to that." "I know what you're up to. You're lying." Twilight slowly placed her hoof on the wall of the forcefield, just to be repelled by a burning sensation. "How'd you do this?" she asked. "I can't make a forcefield that can repel!" "Well that book Applejack found has some pretty interesting stuff in it. You can't even teleport out of there." "But you don't know what the spells do, how could you find a specific spell?" "Well, as it turns out, the stallion who owns the curio shop is very interested in Lady Lucinda. He explained some spells to me. He also offered me bits for the book, but I denied. It's much too powerful." "You can't do this! We're trying to help!" Rainbow Dash said. "Oh, shut up, you." she replied. "I've got to get going." "And where, pray tell, to?" Twilight asked worriedly. "My friends and I are going to go to Canterlot to visit the princess." "What are you going to do to Celestia?!" Twilight demanded. "Oh, I don't know, maybe I'll attack her... I'm not sure." "You can't do that, she's too powerful!" "Yes, but it's me. She won't expect me to attack her, will she? I'll catch her off guard, that spellbook has some pretty violent spells in there..." Despite the burning feeling on her hooves, Twilight pounded on the walls of the forcefield as she tried to release her and her friends from their imprisonment. "You're not just mean," she yelled. "You're pure evil!" "I know, fantastic isn't it?" her clone chuckled, before leaving the house, slamming the door behind her. The six ponies and Spike were stuck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Aw, this is hopeless!" Rainbow Dash said to Twilight who was still trying to escape after five minutes of failure. "I have to try, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed. "They're going to attack the princess!" "Well, how do we get out?" Fluttershy asked. "I don't know!" Twilight said. Twilight turned back around and saw her desk, which was half was through the forcefield. The half which was inside the field had a stack of paper on it and a bottle of ink. "Hey, my desk!" she said, immediately forming a plan. "Yeah, what about it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I have an idea. We can use the ink and paper to send a letter to Princess Celestia." Twilight levitated a piece of paper and ink bottle over to her, which she set down on the ground. "But we don't have a quill." Rainbow Dash said. Twilight looked over at the desk, and saw that the quills were all outside of the enclosure. "Actually..." she said, turning back around. She quickly bit onto Rainbow Dash's wing, and plucked a single feather with her teeth. "Ow!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, before shooting Twilight a dirty look. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash." Twilight levitated the feather and dipped it into the ink. She began writing a letter to the princess, warning her of what was coming. "I hope this works." she said passing the rolled-up letter to Spike. Spike ignited the letter, causing it to fly away in the form of smoke. The smoke, however, hit the wall of the forcefield, returned to Spike, and caused him to spit it back out again. "Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed. "It didn't work, the forcefield's stopping it!" "Is that even possible?" Rarity asked. "I suppose it is... We have to find another way to get out!" The six ponies continued pondering over their diligent escape. "Hey, what about that?" Pinkie Pie said, pointing outside of the purple wall. "What is it?" Twilight said walking over and taking a look at whatever it was that she saw. Twilight looked at the book that lay on the floor. She smiled as she identified it, there was no doubt that it was Lucinda's spellbook. It was laying on the floor, open to a page. "The book!" she said. "We might be able to use a spell." Twilight read the titles of the spells on the double page, until she came across one that had been messily labelled:- Forcefield Disabling Spell "Hey, the right spell's on the page!" she said, reading through it. "I dunno, Twilight." Fluttershy said wearily. "Doesn't this seem a bit... too easy?" "Yeah, I know what you mean." she agreed. "I don't think I'd make a mistake like that, leaving the book on the floor, open to the right page..." Twilight looked down at the book, and then back up her friends. She thought about what was at stake, and whether she was willing to put her and her friends at risk to help Princess Celestia. "I don't know..." Twilight said. "I think it's a trick, but it's our only hope." "Twilight, you have to do it." Rarity said. "It's the only chance we have of escaping and saving the princess." "But, I don't know what it could do." "Twilight," she said, looking straight into her eyes. "Just do it!" Twilight hesitated, before casting the 'forcefield disabling' spell. Once the spell was complete, she opened one eye, and took a look at her surroundings. To her surprise, the spell had worked and the forcefield was now down. "Ha, it worked!" she cheered. "Twilight, we haven't got time for that." Rainbow Dash said. "We have to get to Canterlot!" "So, Twilight Sparkle, what brings you and your friends to Canterlot?" Princess Celestia asked as they walked through the throne room. "Oh, nothing in particular." Twilight's doppelgänger said. "Just a visit." "Well I'm very glad you could be here. I always enjoy seeing you." "Why thank you." Applejack's duplicate said with a tip of her hat, trying not to act suspicious. Twilight looked out at Canterlot through one of the windows. She was trying to hold back blasting Celestia across the room, but she had to hold back. She had a plan... "So tell me, Twilight, how have you been?" Celestia asked. "Okay, I guess. We haven't done anything too interesting." Twilight said. "Well, as long as you have your friends, there's always something fun to do." I hate it when she starts that touchy-feely crap... Twilight thought to herself. Twilight looked behind her, and saw Rainbow Dash, slyly signalling her to look out the window. Twilight nonchalantly walked towards the window again, and grinned her devilish grin. It was the real six ponies, along with Spike, galloping towards the palace at full speed. "Something the matter?" Princess Celestia asked when she saw the two ponies looking out the window. Twilight turned her head toward Celestia, and smiled. It was time to put her plan into action. Before the princess even had time to react, a large blue beam of light shot from the end of Twilight's horn. The spell was almost instantaneous, giving Celestia no proper warning of what was happening. The light shot into the princess, sending her crashing into the wall behind her. Princess Celestia opened her eyes as she struggled to get up off the floor. She looked over to Twilight, but she had already left the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, there they are!" Applejack said as their clones galloped past. Twilight's clone looked back and shot them a mischievous grin. She six ponies stopped galloping as their duplicates galloped down the hall and around the corner. "I don't get it." Twilight said. "Are we too late?" Suddenly, two royal guards burst out of the throne room, along with Princess Celestia. "There she is!" one of the guards exclaimed, galloping towards Twilight and tackling her to the ground. "Hey, hey, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Twilight Sparkle," he said, pinning her down. "You are under arrest for attacking the princess!" "Under arrest?!" Twilight yelped. "But- But I didn't do it!"
Chapter 3: Search PartyTwilight walked nervously down one of the hallways of the royal palace, her legs tethered by two pairs of shackles. On one side of her was a royal guard, the one who had apprehended her. To her other side was Princess Celestia, who was quite concerned with the current state of affairs. Her friends were also there, following close behind. "Please," Twilight pleaded to Celestia, her voice full of sorrow. "You have to believe me. I didn't do it!" "Yes, I believe that you wouldn't do such a thing," the princess said. "However I am unable to release you from your sentence without proof." "Princess, we told you." Rainbow Dash argued. "She didn't do it, it was some evil clones!" "Yeah, likely story." the guard mumbled sarcastically. "How am I supposed to get proof that I'm innocent if I'm stuck in a cage?" The princess closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry Twilight, but your punishment is not imprisonment. It's something... much worse." "But I thought you said I was being put in prison?" "I'm giving you a reprieve." "Then what's my punishment?" Twilight asked, looking up at her. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but there's no euphemistic way to say this." Princess Celestia stopped walking at an intersection of another hallway. She looked both ways, before directing the group to the left. "What going to happen to me?" Twilight asked, a distraught tone in her voice. "Please, tell me." "I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm afraid the punishment for such an offence is..." Princess Celestia said, lowering her head in dolour. "Banishment from Equestria... for life." That was the last thing Twilight could remember before she fainted. ~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight lay wearily on the poorly maintained bed of her cell. By now, she was sobbing insanely after hearing what her punishment was for her wrongly-accused crime. "May I ask you a favour?" Princess Celestia asked, turning tomTwilight's friends. "Anything, princess." Rarity said. "I don't want to have to do this, but it is my duty as princess. Might I ask, before I have to banish Twilight, that you could please, try and turn in the real culprit, if there is one?" "You can count on us!" Rainbow Dash said with a salute. "Don't worry, Twilight. We won't let you down!" "We can't just sit here and wait for her to get here." Applejack said to her friends who were all sitting outside the library. It was morning, and they had been there all night, hoping Twilight's clone would arrive so they could turn her in. "We've been here all night! We don't even know if she's in Ponyville anymore." "Well what do you suggest?" Rainbow Dash said. "Do you have a better plan?" "No..." Rainbow Dash turned around, and as she did, she saw something across the street. It was Fluttershy's copy, most likely spying on them from behind a cart. "Hey, over there!" she yelled, pointing at the pegasus across the street. "Oh no..." Fluttershy said to herself, before galloping off. "Quick, after her!" The five ponies galloped as fast as they could as they closely chased Fluttershy. Despite her efforts, Fluttershy was still unable to keep ahead of her pursuers. Rainbow Dash leapt at Fluttershy, causing the two pegasi to crash onto the ground. "Where's Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she pinned her down. "Is she back in Ponyville?" "Of course she's in Ponyville." Fluttershy said as she strugled underneath Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Then where is she?" "Why would I tell you?" Rainbow Dash then raised a hoof up, as if she was going to punch her. "You'd better, otherwise I'll have to make you!" she said with a growl. "Rainbow Dash, calm yourself." Rarity advised. "You can't fool me." Fluttershy said with a grin. "You could never hit me, no matter how evil I am." "I will if I have to. Now tell me, where is she?!" Once again, Fluttershy just smiled a dark grin. "Rainbow Dash, you can't do it, I know you can't." "Tell me!" she demanded. "Never!" "Look," Rainbow Dash said. "Twilight's going to be banished from Equestria this afternoon!" "Yes, of course she is. That was the plan!" "Plan?" Rainbow Dash said, confused. "You mean... Twilight intentionally left the book open?" "Of course that was intentional!" Fluttershy said. "Twilight set you up so your Twilight would appear guilty!" Rainbow Dash cast Fluttershy a scornful look. "Tell me where she is, or I'll make you cry!" "Hmm, that's a bit vague." Rarity whispered to Applejack. "I told you, you can't do it!" Fluttershy said, provoking her more and more. "This is your last chance!" "Go ahead, I dare you." Fluttershy tempted. Rainbow Dash couldn't take her temptations any longer. She growled at Fluttershy, before drawing back her hoof slightly further. She swung forward, making Fluttershy flinch, and right before her hoof collided with Futtershy's face, she stopped. Fluttershy opened an eye, and saw Rainbow Dash's outstretched leg, hesitating to hit her. "I knew it." she said, giving the same sharp grin as before. "You could never hit me, no matter what the stakes are." Rainbow Dash stared down at Fluttershy's conceit face, and then at her hoof, which was still in mid-swing. "I- I can't..." she said to herself. "See? I told you." Fluttershy sneered. "Now if you'll excuse me," She pushed Rainbow Dash aside and stood up. "I'll be leaving now. I have a house full of animals to attend to." "You're just going to let her leave?" Rarity said to Rainbow Dash as Fluttershy walked away. "Yeah, let her go." she replied. "We have work to do." "Girls," she said, walking over to them. "I have a plan." "What is it?" Applejack asked. "Well, we each go to our houses and try to get some answers out of our copies." "Okay, that's a good plan, I suppose." Rarity said. "Except for you, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash advised. "You'd best come with me. You're not terribly intimidating." "Yeah, I know." she said. "We'll meet back here in half an hour. Let's go!" "Rainbow Dash, we know you're in there!" Rainbow Dash yelled from outside her door. "Go away!" she replied. "I'm not opening that door." "Don't make me buck it down!" Rainbow Dash's copy stood up from where she was sitting, and walked across the room and opened the door. Half a second later, she found herself pinned against a wall, being held by Rainbow Dash's hooves against her neck. "Tell me where Twilight's hiding!" she demanded. "What is this?" she replied. "I'm stronger than you. You can't hold me down." Rainbow Dash's clone then grabbed the hooves against her neck and began to push them back. Rainbow Dash persistently tried to keep her hooves down, however she was no match for her evil counterpart. "No..." Rainbow Dash grunted as she tried to push her hooves back against her neck. Suddenly, with no warning, Rainbow Dash's doppelgänger gave a sharp kick with one of her back legs, straight into Rainbow Dash's stomach, sending her across the room. She laid on the floor and grasped her stomach as she groaned in pain, Fluttershy still standing at the door and watching. "Now get out, you two!" Rainbow Dash's duplicate demanded. "Come on, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said, limping to the door. "Let's go meet up with the others. I wonder of they've found anything." "So," Rarity said to the other four. "Any luck with finding Twilight?" "Nope." Applejack said. "She didn't tell me." "But, aren't you the element of honesty?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Well, she didn't lie. She just didn't tell me." "We didn't get anything either." Rainbow Dash said. "What about you, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked her. "What about me?" she asked. "Did you find out anything?" "About what?" "Where Twilight is. Have you been paying attention?" "Oooohh... Twilight?" she said. "Yeah, she's in Applejack's barn." "Really?" Rainbow Dash asked. "How'd you get your evil clone to tell you that?" "Oh, we had some cake together. She wasn't that evil." Rainbow Dash looked at the other three and shrugged her shoulders. "Well then," she declared. "To Sweet Apple Acres!" ~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all galloped up the hill towards Applejack's barn. They were finally going to confront the evil Twilight, they had to prevail. Applejack swallowed nervously as she pushed open the large wooden door of her barn. Once the door was wide enough, she looked inside and saw Twilight at the other side of the barn, reading Lady Lucinda's spellbook. She lowered the book, and saw Applejack's face, but none of the other four as they were behind the door. "Hey, Applejack." she said, raising the book again. "What do you want?" "Twilight, we've come ta stop ya." Applejack said confidently. "We?" Twilight put the book down again and looked at Applejack, who began opening the barn door even more. Enough so that the other four ponies were also visible. "Oh no, not this again." Twilight mumbled to herself. "Twilight, this has to stop!" Rarity said. "You can't do this!" "You shouldn't try and fight me." She picked up the book once again. "This book has spells in it that could wipe out Ponyville in one shot. You don't stand a chance." The five ponies walked inside and arranged into a V-Formation, Rainbow Dash at the front, Rarity and Fluttershy next, and then Pinkie Pie and Applejack at the back. "We won't stop until we have you!" Rainbow Dash said fiercely. "I told Twilight we'd get her out!" "Well then, let me show you what you're fighting against." Twilight opened the book to a page and cast a spell from it. Rather than firing at the ponies, the spell enveloped Twilight in a purple glow. The five ponies watched in horror as the spell worked it's magic, the aura becoming more and more intense...
Chapter 4: FightTwilight Sparkle lay in her cell, but not in her bed. Rather, she was lying in the corner on the concrete floor. She had almost lost her sanity, which the guard outside found surprising, considering she had only been there for a day. As he watched her, another guard came down the stone steps to the cell. "Uh, is she alright?" he asked when he saw Twilight stroking her tail, constantly mumbling nonsense. "She's lost it." the other guard replied, shaking his head. "Anyway, I bring a message from the princess. Twilight Sparkle?" he said, looking at her. She looked up, notifying him that she still had some sanity left in her head. "Your banishment will be at sundown, which is in three hours." Twilight looked back down sadly. "Please, hurry." she whispered, as if her friends could actually hear her. The guard looked at the other one and shrugged his shoulders. Meanwhile, at Sweet Apple Acres ~~~~~~~~~~ The five ponies watched in confusion as Twilight glowed bright purple, they were still unsure of what the spell was actually doing. Suddenly, Twilight opened her eyes, which were now glowing with a bright white. Her horn continued glow hypnotically, radiating a vortex around her. Then, to the ponies confusion, Twilight shot up, her legs becoming bigger, along with the rest of her body. The five ponies watched as she grew and grew, before smashing through the roof of the barn, shattering the structure. Once she had stopped growing, she gazed down at the ant-like ponies who still stood in the shattered remains of the barn, in shock. At this point, she was massive, big enough to crush a pony in one stomp. She lowered her head down towards the five little ponies and grinned. "See? How do you expect to stop me?" she asked. "But, you're a fifty foot unicorn. Isn't that a bit obvious?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight shrugged her shoulders, before swatting the five ponies out through the remains of the doorway. "Oh no, how do we turn her in now?" Rarity said, getting up off the ground. "We don't stand a chance!" "Uh, I don't know." Rainbow Dash began. "There's not much we can do." "Hang on a second," Pinkie Pie said, looking back into where Twilight was standing. "That book, I bet that if we got it, we could find some spell to reverse it." "But don't we need Twilight to cast the spell?" "Yeah, but if we have it, then the evil Twilight can't use it." Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight's face, attempting to create a distraction so Pinkie Pie could grab the book. "Hey, Twilight!" she yelled. "Hey, uh, over here!" Twilight directed her attention to Rainbow Dash, giving Pinkie a chance to go get the book. "Are you trying to get killed?" she asked, swatting at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash continuously tried to dodge the giant hooves which swung at her, which proved more difficult than she had expected. As it turned out, giant things didn't move in slow-motion, as movies had lead her to believe. In one final swing, Twilight batted Rainbow Dash to the ground, causing her to fall face-first into some mud. She looked up, spitting out the mouthful of dirt, and saw Pinkie Pie, holding the spellbook. Twilight looked down and saw the book in Pinkie's hoof. "Hey, give me that book!" she yelled. "Run!" ordered Applejack. ~~~~~~~~~~ The five ponies galloped away from the Apple Farm, Twilight quite far behind, but approaching quickly. They were heading towards Ponyville. "Wait, stop!" Applejack exclaimed, coming to a halt. "We can't lead Twilight into town, what about the townsponies?" "We have to." Rainbow Dash said. "It's the best chance we have." Applejack looked back at Twilight, who was now beginning to catch up, which she was doing effortlessly. Each one of Twilight's strides amounted to several of their own. All too soon, Twilight had caught up to them, and began trying to get Pinkie Pie, who was holding the spellbook in her mouth. "Stop moving!" Twilight demanded as her legs began to get tied up in her effort to stomp on the pink pony. After failing several times, her tangled legs caused her to fall flat onto her face. She lifted her head back up, slightly embarrassed from her failure, and saw the five ponies once again galloping away. Once they had arrived in Ponyville, they looked around, and saw the ponies as they had always been, unaware of the monstrous unicorn which was about to attack their usually calm town. As much as she didn't want to disrupt the peaceful day, Rainbow Dash had to warn them of the giant Twilight. "Uh, attention everyone!" she said, attempting to get their attention. "You all have to get out of town, now!" All of the ponies looked around in confusion. "But why?" one of the ponies asked. "Because there's a giant unicorn that's about to destroy half the town!" The townsponies were all still confused. "What unicorn?" another pony said out of the crowd. "That one!" Applejack said, pointing her hoof down the dirt road. Everypony turned there heads and looked down the path, to which they were quite surprised to find a giant Twilight. "But, why would Twilight want to destroy Ponyville?" Mayor Mare asked. "Because she's evil!" Rarity said, stomping her hoof. "Evil?" Before Rarity could respond, Twilight arrived in the town. She looked around at the crowd which was staring up at her in confusion. "Uh, Twilight?" Applebloom asked, who was standing at her right forehoof, along with the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Are you really evil?" Twilight looked down at the three fillies, and grinned. Then, with almost no warning, she kicked out a back hoof into the building beside her, smashing it to pieces. The townsponies all gasped at Twilight's unexpected act, especially Berry Punch, as it was her house. "Twilight, don't do this!" Applejack yelled. "Leave 'em out of this!" "If they get in the way, it's not my fault." Twilight replied. "Attention, everypony!" Rainbow Dash ordered. "Evacuate to the park, we'll handle this!" Everypony swarmed out of town, flooding the street in the opposite direction of Twilight. "Okay, split up, and meet back at the library." Rainbow Dash said in the commotion. The five ponies joined the herd of ponies rushing out of town, each turning off to the side and going behind a building. When the disturbance cleared, Twilight looked around, and saw the town, empty. Rarity stood with her back against a wall. She breathed heavily as she looked across the street and saw her friends all doing the same thing. They were hiding behind buildings, all in different places except for Applejack, who was hiding with Pinkie Pie. "Oh, you're hiding from me?" Twilight yelled, her voice loud enough to cover the whole of Ponyville. "I will find you, and I'll tear this town apart if I have to!" "She really wants that book." Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie, who was still tightly grasping the spellbook. "Yeah, she's going to destroy Ponyville if she doesn't get it!" Pinkie agreed. "Come on, let's start headin' around to the library." They started creeping around the streets of Ponyville, weaving in and out of the buildings, and steering clear of the main street of which Twilight wandered on. They watched in distress as the giant unicorn smashed apart building after building, looking for the group. Once they arrived at the library, the other three were already there. Applejack bucked down the door, and they all went inside without Twilight noticing them. "So, what do we do?" Applejack asked as they all sat on the floor, the books still scattered around the room. "We attack." Rainbow Dash said, taking the book from Pinkie Pie and opening it. "We'll use this spell to bring her in." "But we don't have anypony to cast the spell." "We have one pony..." Rainbow Dash said, looking at Rarity. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash, her expression clearly showing her disapproval of the idea. "Are you joking?" she asked. "I can't do that, you might as well ask Fluttershy to do it." "Uh, I would try, but I'm not a unicorn." Fluttershy replied to Rarity's sarcastic comment. "Well maybe one of the townsponies can help?" Applejack asked. "So, we'll have to get through town without Twilight noticing, find a pony who can do magic spells, and bring Twilight to Canterlot before sundown?" Rarity asked. "Yeah?" "No, it's impossible. We'd have to go through the main street to get to the park, Twilight would see us in an instant." "Well, I have a idea." Rainbow Dash said, looking at the stack of books that she was sitting on. The four ponies watched as Rainbow Dash examined the pile, and then pulled a book out from the middle. "I'll use this as a distraction." Rainbow Dash held the book up for them to see, and they quickly understood what she meant. The book was purple with a gold binding, just the same as the spellbook. "I'll distract Twilight with this, while you go to the park and find a unicorn. Get them to cast the spell on Twilight, then we'll get her to Canterlot. We still have a few hours before sundown." "But Twilight has magic, you know you're putting your own life at risk?" "Yeah, I know." "Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash yelled, getting the unicorn's attention. She held the decoy book up. "Looking for this?" Twilight looked down at her, and slowly started approaching her, notifying Rainbow Dash that the decoy was working. She slyly waved to Applejack who then lead the other three towards the park. Rainbow Dash flew away from Twilight, who was now galloping towards her at full speed. Although Twilight was fast, Rainbow Dash's wings were able to keep her ahead. By now, they were on the outskirts of Ponyville, just outside of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash flew up as high as she could, but was stopped when she was caught in Twilight's magic. "Oh no!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she squirmed in the purple aura, rapidly beating her wings to try and escape, which she knew was impossible. "Are you going to give me that book, or am I going to have to take it from you?" she said as she pulled her closer. "Never! I have to turn you in to save my friend!" "Oh, really?" Twilight stopped pulling her closer, and began charging her horn up for an attack. Rainbow Dash's pupils dilated in fear when she saw Twilight's horn glowing. Whatever spell she was casting, she could tell it was going to hurt. "I'll give you one last chance." Twilight said, her horn now glowing intensely. "Give me the book, and I won't harm you." Rainbow Dash looked at the Twilight, then the book, and then back to the unicorn. "Never." "Huh. You really are loyal. Oh well, it doesn't matter to me. I've got another Rainbow Dash. She's way cooler than you, anyway." Rainbow Dash watched Twilight, and half a second passed before she saw a bright beam of orange light blast into her. She screamed as the magic surrounded her, causing her extreme pain. She writhed around in Twilight's magic as she tried to escape the pain. Eventually, she dropped the book onto the ground far below her. Twilight grinned as the book hit the ground, and stopped torturing the poor pegasus. She let her go, and smiled at the sight of her singed feathers. She gasped in the air as she lost her consciousness, and fell to the ground. ~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was waving to her. "Alright, that's the signal. Let's get to the park." she said to her friends "Attention everypony!" she announed. "We need help in defeatin' the evil Twilight!" "Is anyone here good at magic?" Rarity asked the crowd. "Anyone at all?" The crowd was silent, apart from the occasional comment between each other. "Please, anypony?" This was followed by more silence, not even a whisper. Applejack looked back, and saw Rainbow Dash still diverting Twilight's attention away from them and the real book. "Um, I'll do it." Applejack quickly jolted her head back towards the crowd, and looked down at a single azure hoof which was raised. The four ponies looked at the one who was volunteering, and were each equally as surprised. "Trixie?" The blue unicorn then began walking through the swarm of ponies towards the front where the four stood. "Trixie? Why do you want to help us?" Rarity asked. "Look, do you want my help or not?" Trixie said. "Yeah, sure, but..." Applejack said. "What are you doin' back in Ponyville?" "That's none of your business!" she snapped back. "Geez," Applejack whispered to Rarity. "Somethin's up with her." Fluttershy looked back and saw Rainbow Dash, who was now being held in Twilight's magic, yelling back and forth between each other. "Twilight's got Rainbow Dash!" she said. "I don't think she can hold her off for much longer." "Rarity, take this." Applejack said, passing the book to her. "I'm gonna go help Rainbow Dash." She galloped down the main street toward the giant unicorn, who was still holding Rainbow Dash and the decoy book. She continued galloping, but stopped for a moment in shock as Twilight fired her magic beam at the pegasus, who began screaming. "Oh no, Rainbow Dash!" She continued along her path at full speed, and watched as Rainbow Dash hung in the air, before falling. She watched as the lifeless pony fell from the sky alongside the book. A mere meter before hitting the ground, Rainbow Dash was caught by Applejack who leapt through the air. With the unconscious pegasus strung over her back, Applejack watched Twilight levitate the book up to her face, which quickly changed to an angry frown. "Hey, this is just the fourth Daring Do book!" she yelled, quickly shredding it to pieces. "Where's the spellbook?!" "Uh oh..." Applejack, without hesitation, turned back around and galloped back to the park, Rainbow Dash still on her back. "Trixie, get ready!" "Okay, Trixie. This is it." Rarity said to her. "Are you sure you're up for it?" "Yeah, I can do this. Easy." she replied, reading through the spell. "Remember, Trixie, we're all counting on you." Fluttershy said. "Yes, I know. I can do this." "Well you better do it soon," Pinkie Pie said. "Because Twilight's coming." "Trixie!" Applejack yelled as she galloped closer to them, Twilight close behind, and Rainbow Dash beginning to wake up. "Hmm..." Trixie looked at the spell one final time, before closing the book. "Okay, let's get this over with." She pointed her horn towards the giant unicorn, who was charging at them, and lowered her stance. She began casting the spell, her horn glowing a light magenta. Applejack tried to gallop faster as Twilight got closer to her. She could feel the ground shake with every step. "Trixie!" she yelled. "What are ya waitin' for?!" "A closer target!" she yelled back. "If I miss, you and Rainbow Dash are dead!" Applejack looked back at Twilight, whose hooves were getting closer and closer to crushing her. "Hurry up!" she screamed in fear. "Applejack," Trixie yelled. "Duck!" Applejack leapt to the ground, she and Rainbow Dash rolled along the street. Trixie's beam of magic fired over their heads and into Twilight. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and watched as Twilight shrieked under the pain of the spell. Twilight stumbled forward as Trixie finished the spell. She stopped right as she was in front of the townsponies, and fell to her side, crushing yet another two houses. She then began shrinking back to her normal size, much to everyone's relief. "Thanks a lot, Trixie." Applejack said as she and her friends walked over to the now regular-sized unicorn. "Yeah, don't mention it." she replied conceitedly. "Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, trying to ignore her scorched wings. "We're going to take you to Canterlot." She limply lifted up her head and titled it towards Rainbow Dash, and forced a slight yet notable nod. Suddenly, Twilight began groaning as she began writhing in pain. She wrapped her forelegs around her stomach as she coughed. "What?" Rarity asked confusedly. "Twilight, what's wrong?" "I'm... dying..." she groaned. "Dying? Why?" "Well, I probably should have told you." She looked back up at them. "We clones weren't going to last more than a few days in the first place. The others are probably gone by now." "Come on, Twilight. Hang in there." Rainbow Dash said, placing her on her back. "We're going to get you to Canterlot. You're gonna be fine." She turned to the other four. "Come on, girls. We're running out of time. Pinkie, let's take the book with us." "Twilight Sparkle?" the royal guard said. Twilight looked up at him, her eyes dour and woeful. "Y- Yes?" she stammered. "I'm afraid your time is up. The princess has summoned you to the throne room." "No!" Twilight cried as she backed up against the wall. "I didn't do it, I'm innocent!" "I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle, but the princess has requested you." "Uh, alright... I'll go..." Twilight marched down the hallway, the guard by her side, every step bringing her closer and closer to her horrible fate. They came to large double doors of the throne room, where Princess Celestia was waiting. Twilight and the guard walked in, and found the princess silently moping on her throne. "Excuse me, your majesty?" the guard said. "Yes, yes." she said, walking towards them. "You can leave now." Once the guard had left the room, the princess lowered her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Twilight." she said. "I don't want to do this, but I must." "No!" Twilight cried. "I'm innocent! My friends will be here soon, they'll prove it wasn't me." "I'm so very sorry, Twilight, but I mustn't wait any longer. It's sunset." Twilight fell to the ground and began sobbing. "Twilight, please don't cry." Celestia said. "You're making this even harder for me." "But I don't want to go." she sobbed. "Yes, I know, but there's nothing I can do." "But what about my friends?" she sniffled. "I didn't even get to say goodbye..." "Twilight, please. This is just as difficult for me as it is for you." "But how can you do this to me?" "I told you, it's my duty as princess. There's nothing I can do. But I will remember you, as I do all my students." Princess Celestia turned and looked out the window, just as her bright sun was lowering. Normally, she saw this as a beautiful sight; the orange and pink horizon merging beautifully with the darkening sky, but not today. This sunset only filled her with sorrow and remorse, even though it wasn't her fault, but she felt it was. "Twilight... It's time." "No..." Twilight took a few steps backwards as the princess approached her, trying to hold off her inevitable punishment. "Goodbye, Twilight." "No, please!" Once she was in front of her, princess kneeled down towards Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle." she said, a tear in her eye. "You are hereby banished from Eque-" "Stop!!" The princess stopped and she and Twilight turned to the source of the noise, and were quite relieved to find Twilight's friends, all standing in the doorway. "Twilight's innocent!" Rainbow Dash declared, lowering her head, allowing the dying clone to roll off onto the floor in front of her hooves. "You- You did it..." Twilight let out a short, nervous chuckle, before collapsing with relief. "Thank you." Princess Celestia said, walking over to them. "Another second and Twilight would have been banished forever." She looked down at the unicorn who was quietly groaning at her hooves. "Would you care to explain what she's doing here?" "Uh, yeah..." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "It was kinda my fault... We found this old spellbook in Twilight's library while spring cleaning," Pinkie Pie passed the book to her. "And well... I made Twilight try out a spell." "Oh..." Celestia said, examining the book. "I haven't seen this in centuries. How in Equestria did you find it?" "I dunno." she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Applejack found it while cleaning." "Well, you had best leave it with me then..." The princess returned her attention to the dying unicorn. "What's wrong with her?" "She's dyin'." Applejack said. "Dying? Why?" "Apparently these clones only live a few days." The evil Twilight limply lifted up her head and looked at the princess. "It's funny. The only reason I framed Twilight was so she couldn't kill us, but I wasn't even going to make it to the end of the week anyway-" She grunted in pain again. "I'm... sorry. Especially to you Twilight." She looked over towards Twilight, who had joined her friends. "But why are you being nice now?" she asked. "You're dying, why do you care?" "Well..." she started. "Why not?" Once again, Twilight's duplicate writhed in agony on the floor, groaning uncontrollably. "No, don't die." Twilight said, starting to feel sorrow for her once evil counterpart. "No, it's fine. I was made to die." she replied with a slight smile. "And don't worry, I'm not technically dying anyway. My existence is being reversed, that's all." And with one final breath, a lifeless body lay on the throne room floor. "That's was horrible." Futtershy said. "I can't believe I just saw somepony die..." Suddenly, the body began to glow, and then slowly disappear. "Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked once it had completely vanished. "What happened, where'd she go?" "She never existed." Twilight said with a sigh. "Her existence was reversed." "Hey, what happened to Ponyville?" Twilight said as they got off the train. "Some of the houses are smashed." "Oh, yeah... Long story." Rainbow Dash said nervously. "Some of the townsponies might not like you very much anymore..."
