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Twilight Sparkle was spending a day in her library home reading as she had yesterday and the day before that. Spike was still sleeping in the sunny afternoon light in his basket bed, while Twilight went about reading from her seemingly endless stack of books she chose out this morning. She wasn't expecting anypony to come and visit her, seeing how all her friends were busy with their own jobs, unlike yesterday when Pinkie Pie threw a party for all her friends. They all went home late and were probably too tired from the party to even do their jobs. Twilight was partially right; none of her friends did visit her, but somepony else did. As Twilight was studying, a knock on her door startled her, causing her to knock down her ink pot and splattering the black substance over her research papers.
“Aah! My papers! Who could be bothering me now...” grumbled Twilight as she sauntered over to see who was knocking. She grouchily opened the door with her magic and was greeted by a stallion with an almond coat, blue eyes, a spiky, chestnut mane, and an hourglass on his flank.
“Ms. Sparkle? I was told that you know some things about teleportation. Could you please come with me?” said the strange pony.
“I'm sorry? Do I know you? And how did you know that I know a teleportation spell?” replied the confused Twilight Sparkle, who had gone from irritated at the rude interruption to slightly scared at how this pony she had never seen before knew who she was and what she was capable of.
“Ah, I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. My companions call me the Doctor.” he answered proudly.
“Dr. who?” asked Twilight, even more confused than before.
“No, no, just the Doctor. Now, if you would please come with me--”
“Not until I know who you are and what you want from me.” interrupted Twilight getting annoyed once again.
“I already explained, I am the Doctor. Besides, I think what I have would be of high interest to you.”
“Color me interested.” sarcastically replied Twilight while rolling her eyes.
“I'm serious!” said the brown colt quickly. “Are you familiar with the theory of parallel universes? Well, I think with my technology combined with your magic, we can teleport an object from our world to the other universe!” the Doctor said, with a twinkle in his eye. “I saw what you did to that Ursa Minor. I'm more than sure your capable of such a task.”
Looking back at her ruined papers, she thought this couldn't be more than a coincidence, for she was reading a book on the subject of alternate and parallel dimensions. However, Twilight remembered what happened that one day with Pinkie Pie and her "Pinkie Sense".
“Your serious, aren't you?” said Twilight with a sigh, exhausted from this conversation. “Well, I guess it would help further my studies...” Twilight thought to herself out loud.
“I'm sure this experience would be very beneficial for you.” said the colt.
“All right, let me see this technology of yours. I'm fairly certain that no such thing exists. Even if it did, to teleport something from here the generator would have to be huge, so I have no idea where you would store such a device.” said the lavender unicorn with an air of finality.
“Ah, so you've read up on this before? Very well. Follow me! And keep lively now. I'm sure what I have will be very interesting.” replied the Doctor turning around towards the town square. “Oh, by the way, I live on the outskirts of the town, so it'll be about thirty minutes from here.” he added while walking away from Twilight Sparkle's library home.
“Wait!” cried out Twilight.
“What's the matter?” asked the Doctor with a worried tone.
“Nothing's wrong. I just want to grab a book and papers to take notes.” called out Twilight from the midst of her library. “And call a friend...” she said to herself, more quietly now.
Using her magic, Twilight Sparkle picked up her quill and dipped it in ink, jotting down a quick note for Spike explaining where she was. Making sure that the Doctor, if that was who he really was, wasn't in sight, she began to work on a new communication spell that allowed mental messages to be projected to any of the Elements of Harmony. She still had her doubts about the strange pony, and for insurance she wanted to have one of her friends follow her in case something happened. Immediately she thought of Rainbow Dash, the bravest pony she ever knew. She also carried the element of Loyalty, so she was the perfect candidate. Twilight focused all her mental and magic energy on Rainbow Dash, forming a picture of her. Concentrating on the picture, Twilight began to think, “ Rainbow Dash. There's a stranger that has something to show me, and I don't trust him. Could you secretly follow us in case something happens?” Hoping her message was conveyed, she grabbed her saddlebag and filled it with stacks of papers, her writing quill, and the only book in the whole library on the subject of alternate dimensions. Again hoping for the best, she headed towards the door, checking one last time that everything in her library was secure. Trotting out the door, she closed it behind her with her magic, and began the trek towards the strange Doctor's outskirt residence.
During the walk, the Doctor kept going on about how his new invention was the only one of it's kind, quite matter-of-factly. However, he was too busy to see how Twilight kept scanning the skies for any sign of her rainbow-maned friend. Getting more worried with every passing minute, and diverting her full attention to looking for Rainbow Dash, she didn't notice that the Doctor had stopped in front of a blue police box and was proceeding to open the door.
“Here we are!” he said.
“Huh?” said Twilight, snapping out of her trance looking for Rainbow Dash. “What are we doing at a phone booth?”
“It looks bigger on the inside.” replied the Doctor nonchalantly, as if he dealt with the question before.
“What are you talking about? The only way that could be possible would be through magic, and...well, no offense, but your an Earth pony.”
“Ah, but your forgetting that I'm the Doctor! Well, I also possess the technology that enables me to do so.Here, follow me.”
Hesitating at first, Twilight Sparkle reluctantly stepped inside the phone booth thinking that the floor would give way into an underground cavern like in the old spy movies that Spike enjoyed so much. However, to her surprise, it really was bigger on the inside. She couldn't help herself but to stare amazed at the interior, eyes wide open in amazement. "B-but this is surely an illusion!"
"Huh. Not usually what people say. You really are different, aren't you?" said the Doctor while flipping what appeared to be levers and switches. “Now, I've modified the TARDIE to teleport objects to different dimensions. What I need you to do is to cast a teleportation spell on the box in that frame...” he said, nodding his head towards a small metal box, full of Celestia knows what “...while the TARDIE provides the power to finish the job. Got it?” finished the Doctor's instructions.
“One quick question. What's this TARDIE your speaking of?” asked Twilight.
“Well, Tardie is just an acronym for Time and Relative Dimensions in Equestria.” replied the Doctor.
“But, what is the TARDIE?” asked Twilight again.
“Your standing inside of her. Brilliant, isn't it? The chameleon circuit allows 'er to disguise as anything on the outside.” answered the proud looking Doctor. “However, the circuit's busted and I'm stuck with this police box and...well, I can explain it to you later. I don't even know what a police box is.. Right now, I think we should take her out for a spin. Now, just focus a teleportation spell on the metal box and the TARDIE'll do the rest.”
“For a teleportation spell to work, I need to have a picture in my mind of what or where I'm teleporting this box to.” said Twilight.
“No worries! If my calculations are right, you just need to think of anywhere in all of Equestria. If where we're teleporting this to IS a parallel dimension, we should be fine.” replied the Doctor.
“All right, if you say so...” said Twilight, preparing for the spell. Tilting her horn towards the metal box, Twilight pictured her library home, when she suddenly remembered something, interrupting the process. “Wait! If I picture the place where I want this box to be teleported to, wouldn't it be teleported to that place instead of the parallel universe?”
“Well...” said the Doctor, “The TARDIE is capable of jumping dimensions, but that costs a lot of energy, SO I created this right here.” explained the Doctor. “It's more like...a big amplifier, really, because dimension hopping is just teleporting. This'll amplify your spell an' convert the coordinates to the place you choose and amplify the spell. Real easy stuff.”
“Um...okay.” Twilight said, busy writing the information down on her papers. “Okay, I understand now.” Twilight said, taking up the stance for her teleportation spell again. “Here we go...” she said doubtingly, still not believing a word that the Doctor was saying. Focusing all of her energy on imagining her library home in Ponyville, her horn began to glow. Feeling the usual rush of adrenaline kicking in while performing a spell, she started to imagine the box disappearing with the usual purple implosion of energy, and then exploding with a purple light in her library home. She kept picturing this thought in her mind, when she heard and felt something different.
“Keep it up! It's working! It's converting the coordinates to the alternate dimension now!” shouted the Doctor over a loud rush of wind. “Don't mind the wind, it's just opening a miniature black hole into the alternate dimension!” shouted the Doctor once again.
The teleportation spell didn't feel right, though. She felt multiple presences besides the box she was teleporting, her self, and the Doctor. “Somethings not right! I feel something else!” shouted Twilight, her full attention on keeping her eyes shut and teleporting the box.
“What?!” said the Doctor in his usual way. “What!?” he said again. “Somethings coming through the hole! Stop the spell! Stop the spell now!” he screamed, frantically flipping switches on the control panel of the amplifier.
Of course, she couldn't. She had to let the spell continue. If she broke the spell now, she knew there would be a massive feedback that would totally obliterate the TARDIE, in addition to the Doctor and herself. Plus the force that was teleporting through was getting stronger now. It was almost like it knew what the Doctor was saying, and it was rushing to get through the black hole that was now a bluish hue.
“Gah!” shouted the Doctor. “Control's are broke! I can't shut it down!” said the Doctor, as the sound of an nearby explosion shook Twilight out of her trance between the being and her spell. Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight saw the Doctor at the control panel with some kind of steel pen with a blue light at the end of it in his mouth. However, she quickly ignored this thought as she saw something emerging from the now purple black hole. The first thing that came out was the head of a pony with spiky brown hair, a brown, leather jacket on, and a cutie mark of a red circle with an “X” through the center. She couldn't see his face, because it was hidden behind a mask so that all you could see were his eyes. He looked directly at Twilight and the Doctor, and pushed Twilight out of the way as he ran towards the exit. The force of his tackle was extraordinary, as it knocked her into a wall behind her, almost incapacitating her.
“Oh, this is bad...” Twilight heard nearby her. She felt a hoof help her up and push her towards the direction of the door to the TARDIE. “Run! Run as fast as you can to Ponyville! And don't come back!” instructed the Doctor.
Stumbling towards the door, she looked behind herself to see the Doctor being attacked by a completely white creature, making a series of growling and snarling similar to Applejack's pet dog Winona. It crawled low on the floor and pounced on the Doctor, pinning him to the door as it started to rake him with long claws, one claw on the end three-jointed columns attached to where it's hooves should be. Finally making it to the door, Twilight glanced over at the Doctor who was laying still on the floor with the creature on top of him. Still too a bit groggy from the tackle from that strange pony in a mask, she took one last glance at the portal, to see one last creature emerging. The first thing she noticed was how tall and skinny this new pony was. It was wearing a completely black suit, which was a huge contrast to it's white skin that was similair to the creature that got the Doctor. Still, something was off about it, besides the white skin and how freakishly tall it was. Continuing to scan upwards, she saw it's head. It had absolutely no mane at all, but the most horrifying thing about it was that it had no face. There was no trace of eyes or a nose, ears or a mouth. Twilight stood horrified, her back to the door of the TARDIE, paralyzed with fear.
“Who are you?” Twilight whispered through tears. “What are you...” she said, this time more quietly and to herself. This new creature seemed to hear her, and it just stood there, looking at her. Black tentacles flared out of it's back as Twilight started coughing violently, even spitting up her own blood. Fear filled the purple pony as she suddenly doubled over in a coughing fit, snapping her out of her trance. Turning around, ran out the door of the TARDIE, never looking back to the horrible place where They first came to Ponyville. She just ran. She didn't know where she was running too, she just knew she had to get away from there. After running for what seemed like all eternity, Twilight saw the lights of Ponyville. It must have been somewhere around night time. Approaching the quiet town, she finally slowed down. She wasn't used to this kind of running, as she hasn't ran since last year's Running of the Leaves. She finally saw the door of her library home. Pushing the door in without any magic, she closed it behind her and saw that Rainbow Dash and Spike were talking in the middle of her library home.
“Geez, 'Twi, where've you been all day?” asked Spike as he got up. “You've been gone since, like, eleven this afternoon! And what happened to you? Looked like you just saw a ghost.”
“Spike...” weakly replied Twilight. “T-tea...please.” she continued in the same strained voice.
“Yes, ma'am!” said the purple baby dragon, snapping a salute and marching into the kitchen to fix her favorite tea.
Rainbow Dash just hovered silently, waiting until Spike was in the kitchen and out of hearing range to talk to Twilight. “Hey, 'Twi.” said the prismatic maned pony quietly.
“Rainbow...” said Twilight in the same weak voice. “Did you...did you get... m-my message?” she inquired, growing more and more tired.
“Yeah...what was that about?” answered Rainbow after a short while. “I'm sorry I couldn't be there.” she said. “I was sleeping at the time an' I've been having these weird dreams and I thought it was another one. I keep hearing this voice telling me to do horrible things and... I just don't know. I didn't know...”
“It's fine, Rainbow.” reassured Twilight, growing a bit of strength back for a moment, then collapsing on the floor.
“Twilight! Are you all right? Maybe you should go see nurse Redheart...” said Rainbow as she helped her friend up.
“It's fine! I'm fine.” quickly replied Twilight. “I just need to sleep, that's all.” she said.
“Are you sure? I could, uh, stay over for tonight and help.” offered Rainbow Dash.
“It's fine, Rainbow. You've got work tomorrow, anyways.” she replied to Rainbow.
“I could take the day off tomorrow! And I'm sure they'd understand if--”
“It's fine, Rainbow.” cut off Twilight.
“But--!”
“I'm absolutely fine. Besides, I feel better already. And I've also got studying to do, so...” cut off Twilight again, not wanting to argue anymore.
“Okay...” said Rainbow in a defeated tone. “But if you need any of us, Twilight, we're here for ya. Cya tomorrow, I guess.” she said as she walked to the front door.
As Rainbow walked out of the door, Spike walked into the room with a tray, two teacups and a pot. “Where'd Rainbow go, 'Twi?” he asked, setting down the tea tray on a nearby table.
“She went home.” Twilight replied.
“Well, you sound better. I guess talkin' to her helped a bit, huh?” said Spike as he poured a cup of tea for Twilight. Handing it to her, he announced he was going to go to bed and left Twilight by herself in the library. Looking around the big library and drinking her tea thoughtfully, Twilight began to plan on her how she would take care of this. She didn't want to research it, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. Finishing her tea, she decided to deal with it when morning came and went to bed.
That night was the first in many long nights to come.
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Messages
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“Huh? Where am I...” thought a confused Twilight Sparkle, waking up to see herself surrounded by trees. Slowly getting up from the leafy forest floor, she looked around in all directions to see nothing but trees. Not knowing what to do, she started walking in one direction.“I must be in the Everfree! But...I don't recognize this part.” She kept walking forward. Not getting anywhere, she looked up to the night sky to see it was getting dark. “Hello?!” she cried out in exasperation. “Is anyone out there? Hello!” Stumbling around the forest, hoping to find any form of life, she suddenly stopped. The air felt colder and she could feel another presence watching her. Looking around, she thought she caught something out of the corner of her left eye. Turning around and bracing herself in a battle stance, she saw nothing but trees. Resuming her previous direction, but still keeping an eye on her left, she eventually turned her head and saw a very tall pony. Twilight stopped again. This was the last creature from the portal. Twilight suddenly felt very sick and started to cough. She tried to get away, but passed out on the floor.
“Twilight?” called out a concerned voice. “Twilight!” the voice called out again. This voice continued to call out for some time, before starting to shake her awake. Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight quickly shut them to keep out the harsh light that was above her. Opening her eyes again, she saw a purple dragon standing at the foot of her bed looking up at her.
“You were coughing in your sleep, 'Twi.” said the purple dragon.
“Who...?” asked Twilight, still remembering the dream.
“It's me, Spike! Are you all right? Maybe you should go see a doctor.” he said as he went to get a scroll.
“No! It's fine. It's fine...” hastily replied Twilight.”What time is it?”
“It's already noon, and I'm starving.” answered Spike while cracking open a rock. “Mm, sapphires!” he said, chomping down on the blue gems.
“Well, I'm going to go visit Zecora and ask her advice on some things.” said Twilight. Grabbing her saddlebags and filling them with papers, she headed out the door and towards the Everfree Forrest.
She knew full well that she could teleport to the edge of the Everfree and cut the two hour walk in half, but she needed this time to think about her late encounters. Pulling out a piece of paper, she began to write while walking, levitating the piece of paper in front of her while writing with the inked feather.
A strange and horrible being from another dimension, presumably a parallel dimension, has entered through a portal that was created by the Doctor, a brown colt who asked me to help him to further the studies of parallel dimension travel. We did make contact thanks to my knowledge of teleportation and his “amplifier”, but this creature, along with two others still came through. The first creature to come out of the portal was a pony with a mask that momentarily incapacitated me, skewing my vision (via tackle). I couldn't get a clear view of the second or third creature, the former acting beast-like, while the latter I can't remember besides he was very tall for a pony.
Last night, I had a dream about the last creature. I was in the Everfree during the night time. The part of the Everfree Forest I'm not sure of. The trees were more spaced out and I could see the sky from below. I remember wandering around a bit, then feeling something wrong. The air grew colder and I felt eyes on me. I turned to my left and saw nothing but trees. However, when I turned back in the direction I was going, I saw the creature standing there, watching me. I started coughing and then woke up.
At this point, Twilight Sparkle could see the Everfree Forest. Putting her notes and writing supplies back in her saddlebags, she galloped the rest of the way to the edge of the Everfree, and started walking around it, looking for the familiar path that lead to Zecora's house. However, when she got there, she noticed something...off. Looking closely, she noticed that some trees had circles with crosses through them. “These new markings looked freshly carved by the look of them.” noted Twilight, again producing the note paper and writing a small addition to the previous notes. Something was still off about these symbols. This little nagging feeling at the back of her mind. She knew she saw these before, but couldn't put a hoof on it. Still trying to remember where she saw these symbols, she began the half hour walk to Zecora's hut in the Everfree. Lost in thought, she heard a snap behind her that jostled her out of her thoughts. She turned pale white and slowly turned around. Twilight wanted to turn around and make a run for it, but she just couldn't move. Another snapping of twigs, this time to her right. She again turned towards the source of the sounds. She couldn't see anything or anyone in the trees. Walking off the path, she saw a piece of paper taped to a tree.
Slowly walking towards it, she used her magic to take down the strange note and saw the same slashed circle on the front of the paper in black ink. Turning it over, there was another symbol, this time two eyes crossing over each other forming a four pointed star. On each corner of the note was one word in small print. Reading from the upper-left to bottom-right, a message was formed.
“We are always watching.” she read.
Looking at the note closer, there seemed to be a red stain on the lower-right corner. Analyzing the note for any further evidence, she didn't notice a pony in the trees far behind her, watching her every movement with cold, emotionless eyes.
“I don't know, it's just that I hear these horrible voices telling me to do things to my best friends. They're like family to me! They mean so much to me, but I want to do these things to them...”
Silence follows.
“Yeah, your right. Thanks!” said a satisfied cyan pony as she got out of her chair and headed off to work, like every morning for about a week.
The random note appearing out of thin air disturbed Twilight quite deeply. That wasn't the main reason, though. It was what's on the note. A combination of both symbols and the message. The first symbol seemed to be popping up everywhere in the Everfree. Looking into the farthest depths of her mind, she tried to remember where or when she first encountered the now recurring sign. Looking back at her notes for any help, she suddenly remembered where she first saw it.
“The pony in the mask...” she muttered to herself. His cutie mark was a red version of this symbol. Wandering along the path in the dark forest, she wondered how much longer until she got to Zecora's house, when it suddenly loomed into view. Her hut was still creepy as usual, but it seemed abandoned. Galloping up to a window, Twilight peered inside and saw nothing.
“All this time for just a note?!” she shouted. She quieted down immediately, remembering she was still in the Everfree and there were other creatures. As she started walking towards the entrance of the forest, she remembered the Zecora spent most of her afternoons gathering herbs and other ingredients for her potions. Of course, that didn't help much because Twilight still didn't know where Zecora was. The Everfree Forest was big, and Zecora could be anywhere. Walking back towards Zecora's hut, she noticed another note on her door, similair to the one before.
“Oh, no...” said Twilight as she took the note down. This time the note was a perfect square, unlike the torn up note she took down earlier. On the front was a symbol, this time the eye within a star symbol. There were no messages, but there was a picture on the back of the note. The Everfree was dark this deep in the forest, so Twilight had to cast a small illumination spell to see. Closing her eyes and concentrating on the light, a small purple glow shimmered at the tip of her horn.
“There we go! Now let's see what this picture is abou--”
Twilight stopped mid-sentence, mouth gaping wide. On the picture were two ponies, a blue stallion with a white mare. Their faces were crossed out, and the crossed circle symbol was over their cutie marks, but Twilight Sparkle could recognize the couple anywhere.
At the thought of a stranger lurking stealing and defiling her personal belongings, Twilight began to wonder what else that he or she wanted. Getting up from the ground, Twilight started the long walk back to her library home. Passing by one of Zecora's windows in the front, Twilight didn't notice a mask seemingly moving by itself, following her, watching.
A strangely silent Rainbow Dash could be seen clearing the skies and bucking clouds, if anypony cared to look up at the cyan pegasus. She was still thinking about her talk with Him today. She's been having the talk every morning for the past week or so. Their daily chats made her mind clear and put her mind to rest. Still, she needed more answers. Clearing the last cloud and finishing her work for the day, Rainbow Dash wondered who could help her and give her the answers she needed, and only one pony came into mind. Taking a deep breath, she flew off towards a certain ponies treehouse home. Her mind occupied on the thoughts of Him, she didn't notice that Twilight's treehouse was in front of her. Suddenly looking up, Rainbow Dash quickly turned a little to the left, aiming for the window she crashed through before so many times. Bracing herself and closing her eyes, Rainbow Dash waited for the sound of falling books and herself dropping to the floor. However, the feeling never came. At least she didn't feel it. When the reckless pegasus opened up her eyes, she saw darkness.
“Ha! Didja see yourself? You flew like ten feet!” shouted a laughing voice from around Rainbow Dash.
“Huh? Who?” said Rainbow getting up. All she could see around her was pitch black darkness.
“Aww, forgotten about me already?” replied the voice.
Trying to remember where she heard the familiar voice, Rainbow Dash suddenly perked her head up with recollection. “Your the voice I talk to in the morning!”
“Atta girl! For someone who has her head in the clouds, your a bright one.” said the voice with a bit of glee.
“W-what do you want from me?”
“What do I want from you? I want to see if your ready for somethin'” answered the voice.
“Ready for what?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“You'll see, you'll see. I need to get a few others first. You ponies...your somethin' different, I'll give ya that.” said the mysterious voice before the blackness faded out.
“Wait!” shouted Rainbow. “When will I know? And how will I know it when I see it?” she shouted again in vain. The black darkness faded away to gray, then white.
Walking on the worn dirt road back to Ponyville, Twilight thought about the strange messages again. She couldn't get them out of her head. It was like an itch, and the only way to scratch it was to find out how the masked pony knew so much about her. The only place she could think of finding him was somewhere in the Everfree forest, since that's where all the notes were located. Pondering over the logic of a hideout place in the forest, Twilight started to notice the sky getting darker. Twilight looked up and saw a giant black cloud of smoke rising over Ponyville. Panicking, Twilight kicked it into overdrive and galloped as fast as she could towards her home town, thinking that her library house could have caught on fire. After all, it was a giant tree.
Rainbow Dash didn't know exactly where she was. She was just drifting in a white, endless void. Not flying, but actually drifting in air. There was only silence. It was the first time she'd been calm and at rest since last month with her friends. “My friends...” Rainbow Dash thought to herself. “Where could they be? I'm sure Applejack and Rarity would love to relax for a while. And Twilight, too. She's always studying in that treehouse of hers.” she thought to herself. “Twilight's...treehouse?” she thought to herself again. Suddenly remembering what she was doing before the talk, Rainbow woke lying on a floor with books littered around her. When she sat up, she was surrounded by blackness again. This time, however, was entirely different. The blackness wasn't pitch black like before; it was more like when you stuck your head inside a cloud. Except it stung her eyes, making them water. Those weren't the only things either. The new blackness smelled like...smoke. Beginning to cough, she started flapping her wings, clearing away some of it with the breeze generated from her wings. Finding the open window, Rainbow looked outside and saw a fire near Twilight's house. As one of the pegasi chosen for clearing the skies, Rainbow Dash took off from inside the house, flying through the open window and into open air. Gliding on an air current above the rising smoke, she double checked that she wasn't high enough in the air to pull off a Sonic Rainboom. Folding both wings to the sides of her body, Rainbow Dash dived down towards the burning fire.
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HA HA
Diving down towards the now rising flames, Rainbow Dash could feel the immense amount of heat rushing towards her face.
“That's it.” cooed a voice in the back of her head. “You know what to do. Your Rainbow Dash, Equestria's fastest flier.”
“That's right...” she thought to herself. “I am the fastest flier! I can do this!” she said to herself. As the wind and heat kept rushing towards her, she stuck out a single wing and let herself start spinning around and around in a circle. Spiraling downwards, she stuck out her other wing and, with one strong push, made a complete circle. Continuing the circle, the air picked up around her and a mini tornado formed.
“No!” cried out a familiar voice. It sounded terrified. “Rainbow Dash! Don't! Your only feeding the fire!” it cried out again.
“That voice...” the cyan pegasus thought to herself. “That's Twilight's voice.”
“No!” cried out the voice from before. “Don't listen to that goody two-hooves! She thinks she's so smart and clever, but you, Rainbow Dash. You know what your doing. She's never flown before! She doesn't know the thrill of flying! She has the knowledge, but not the experience, and experience is power! You have that power, Rainbow Dash. Do it. Save Ponyville from the fires.” continued the voice with it's honey coated lies.
“But... but she's right!” Rainbow Dash thought back. Caught in the tornado, all that Rainbow Dash could do was keep spinning around. The momentum of the circular motion would still keep her going anyways. She was trapped.
“Never mind what she said!” the voice snarled menacingly. “She's just jealous! She could never achieve what you ever will.”
“But Twilight--”
“But nothing! She's just stopping you from reaching your goal! Remember? The Wonderbolts! Your a smart pegasus. Think about it. Saving a town with your amazing flying skills is a surefire way to get on the crew.” cut in the voice.
This new reasoning was enough to push her over the thin line between her friend and what she wanted. Still, Rainbow Dash hesitated as she was just about to take control of the tornado, now at a standstill. Down below, the fires raged on and grew taller as a ragtag group of ponies started getting buckets of water to douse the flames.
“This isn't right.” Rainbow Dash thought. “I'm the element of loyalty! I've turned down the Shadowbolts and I can turn down this chance, too.” she thought. With grim determination, Rainbow Dash concentrated all of her willpower into stopping the tornado. Hoping that she was wrong about her being trapped in the tornado, she prepared herself for one mighty push of her wings to freedom from the strong winds. Taking in a deep breath, the cyan pegasus started to tense up her wings when everything went...purple.
Twilight Sparkle was standing still, mouth agape, staring at the rampant tornado. If somepony was looking with as much intent as Twilight Sparkle was, they would see what she was staring at: a small figure with wings spinning around inside the raging cyclone. However, all the citizens of Ponyville were preoccupied with other tasks, from holding back the flames to rescuing any trapped citizens. There was even a pegasi weather team trying to contain the tornado, with no avail. Twilight knew that with all the work everypony was doing, it would all be in vain unless she did something. Looking around, she saw earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns trying to extinguish the flames, only to have them rise up again. “Okay...” started Twilight, mentally putting together a list. “First I've got to stop Rainbow Dash.”
Looking straight at the mini tornado her friend Rainbow Dash spun up, she closed her eyes and began trying to remember how to cast a containment spell. After a minute of thought, she recollected the spell procedure and promptly began the process. Digging her four hooves in the ground, she braced herself as she started to imagine the tornado being enveloped in purple. Closing her eyes and concentrating on the image even harder, she started to imagine the purple haze becoming more solid, finally forming bars to ensnare Rainbow Dash and her tornado. She could hear a few ponies around her shout out “look!”, but still she continued. Now, Twilight began to execute the second part of her plan. She read about a spell used to calm down raging winds, and what else is a tornado but wind whirling around in a circle? Resting for a quick second, Twilight took a deep breath in and began imagining a soft purple glow enveloping the tornado again, this time more cylindrical in shape. She “drew” it down with her magic, slowly bringing down the purple haze. With each inch she took down, the wind went away with it. About halfway through, a visible figure could be seen flung out of the tornado.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash didn't know what was going on, just that she was being freed from the winds. She felt herself getting rejected and flying out. She saw the ground raising up to meet her, and she quickly popped out her wings to try to slow her decent a little. It helped, but only enough so that she didn't hurt herself. The way she saw it, she was only twenty feet up in the air, and the air brake from her wings made the fall a little slower. The ground was now rising up to meet her, as the cyan pegasus braced herself for impact. Closing her eyes, Rainbow Dash expected to feel the ground meet her, but instead felt wind beneath her wings. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked behind and saw that she was now gliding about 5 feet off the ground. It took her a few seconds to realize what was going on, but then her mind kicked into gear and she started to slowly drive herself downwards. She did a little back flip in midair, and then landed gracefully, striking a pose.
“Very impressive.” said a voice in the back of her head.
Rainbow had forgotten about the voice in her head. She needed serious help. Maybe she was going crazy, and only Twilight would be able to help. Looking around, she tried to find any sign of Ponyville only to find a giant pillar of black smoke in the distance. Gasping at the raw shock of the image, she started running and took off, flying as fast as her tired body could take her.
“Tch.” said the voice in her head again. This time, Rainbow didn't hear it. “Feeble minds are much easier to manage...” it murmured as it began to plan dark schemes.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and looked all around her. Some had stopped and pointed at the tornado-free skies, while most others continued working. Pausing for a minute to rest from the medium level spell, she then breathed in deep and shouted out, “EVERYPONY LISTEN UP!” At this, everypony stopped to look with frightened and lost faces, hoping that she would know what to do. She did. “Now, this will only take a minute. I've taken care of the tornado, so this is what I need you all to do.” said Twilight as she had everyone's attention. As she explained her plan, the citizens of Ponyville started to execute the process. In an hour, the fires were put out and everypony was accounted for, except a few who lost their lives helping others.
The worn out purple unicorn looked around as people started to clean up and even began to rebuild some destroyed buildings. Looking at the school where the fire started, she saw a few unicorns putting out a few small fires with water buckets, while some pegasi flapped their wings to clear away the remaining smoke. Smiling to herself, she felt satisfied until her eyes happened upon something on the roof moving. Peering at the area closer, she saw a tall pony in a dark suit looking down on the school, which had strangely taken the least fire damage. Gasping, she frantically looked to see if anyone else could see it. The creature was on the other side of the roof, which was obscuring it's view from the pegasi trying to blow away the smoke on the other side.
“Twilight Sparkle?” said a gentle, yet firm voice. Jumping a bit, she turned around and saw the Mayor with a gray pegasus with bubbles for a cutie mark and yellow eyes, wearing a fire resistant uniform that the fireponies wore.
“Oh! Hello, mayor!” said Twilight after calming down.
“Twilight Sparkle, as Mayor of Ponyville, I would like to introduce you to the Head of the Fire Department, Ms. Ditzy Doo. We both would like to thank you for your contributions today with the tornado and bringing order out of chaos.”
“Oh!” replied Twilight, a little flustered. “It was no big problem, really.” she said, blushing a bit.
“I'm sure Ms. Doo would like to thank you too?” inquired the Mayor looking at her pegasus companion. But she didn't say anything. Instead, the blonde pegasus seemed to look past Twilight, and her eyes started going opposite directions.
“Um...is she okay?” asked Twilight.
“Oh, that's just Ditzy. Her eyes go cross-eyed when she gets agitated. Ditzy, is something wrong?” answered the mayor.
Twilight remembered that the school was behind her, and she turned around to see the tall, slender pony turn it's head from Twilight to Ditzy. It started at Ditzy and just stood there, silently. A moment after, the Pegasi team finally managed to clear away the last of the smoke. In one great flap of their wings, the smoke all blew away at once. When it went away, It was gone.
“What? On the roof of the school? I don't see anything.” said the mayor.
Ditzy Doo shook her head and blinked. Her eyes reverted to normal. “Oh, it's nothing.” she said. “And, like the mayor said, I do thank you deeply for the assistance. Now, if you'll excuse me...” Ditzy replied as she opened her wings and flied away.
“Thank you again, Twilight. We'll be holding a meeting tomorrow in the town square about this...incident. Go home. You deserve the rest.” the mayor said as she, too, went on her own way.
Voices.
“Did you do it?”
“What do you think?!”
“He's not going to be happy.”
“How the hell can you tell that!? He doesn't even have a damn face!”
“Calm down.”
“Don't tell me to calm down! It's not my fault that you picked this hellhole. There's no anger here! These stupid, bloody ponies and their princesses and friendship.”
“I have my reasons.”
“Well, you better be right.”
Twilight Sparkle trotted her way back home, taking in the sights of a very, very different Ponyville. Lingering a bit, she couldn't keep thinking of the pile of burnt wood awaited her. Seeing a last hill, she gritted her teeth and slowly walked over it, head down. When she looked up, she saw it, still there, without a burn mark at all. A smile spread over her face as she looked over and around it, peering intently for any sign of damage, with absolutely none at all. Looking up towards the leafy branches, she saw the window where Rainbow Dash crashed into so many times, and saw it was open. And looking down on her was the slender pony.
