Spellbound Existence

Twilight 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...