A new day was dawning. As the sun rose over Canterlot, having just been set on its course for the morning, Celestia headed inside with a skip in her step.
"Good morrow, Tia. Still excited, are you?"
"Good morning Lulu!" She jumped up and fluttered to her place at the table.
As Luna snickered, Celestia continued, "and why shouldn't I be? Twilight's ascended! She's finally ascended!"
Luna laughed again. "I'm glad for you, Tia, but it's been a week. I thought you would have calmed down by now."
As the two sisters were about to begin their breakfast, what could best be described as a boom echoed across the thaumic plane.
Most of the city would have missed such a thing, as even unicorns were not in tune enough with that plane to feel its vibrations. For the two sisters, though, it came as a headache that dissipated as quickly as it had come.
It wasn't the right frequency to have been another ascension. It was a different frequency, one with which they were much more intimately familiar.
Everything stopped.
"Lulu, did you feel that?"
"Yes. And it felt like...?"
Celestia nodded. "And the direction...?"
Luna looked off in the direction from which the ripple had come.
"Ponyville... It came from Ponyville."
The two sisters looked at each other with gradually increasing dread.
The white alicorn looked into the mirror and telekinetically picked up a notepad.
It immediately burned away to ash.
"Darn."
She levitated another one, this time keeping it as far away as possible, and lifted a pen.
She looked in the mirror again, then jotted down what she saw.
"Let's see...
Eye color: red
Pupil type: none
Body color: white
Mane color: none, replaced with flames
Tail color: same as mane
Wing color: translucent orange flames
Body temperature..."
She stuck a thermometer in her mouth and waited a moment.
A few seconds later she gagged, spraying molten glass across the floor.
"Hmm... good thing that wasn't a mercury thermometer."
She looked at the ruined alcohol thermometer again before throwing it away and adding a couple more notes.
"Where did I put those thermocouples I use for taking Spike's temperature?"
As she dug through the drawers, she heard two visitors teleporting in.
"Twilight? Are you in here? Are you okay?"
Twilight grinned, not even noticing the concern in the other voice.
"I'm up here. I'll be right down."
She bounded down the steps to the main floor.
"Hi Celestia! Hi Luna! What brings you here?"
"Twilight... you're on fire..."
She looked back at her burning wings. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry. I put a fireproofing spell on everything in the library."
Celestia looked around at the wooden walls, floors, and shelving, all covered with numerous books. To be honest, she hadn't even considered that issue.
"Twilight. Why are you in your nightmare form?"
Twilight tilted her head. "My what?"
"Your nightmare form. Your rage state... Superpowered evil side..." She turned to Luna. "How would you describe it?"
Luna rolled her eyes, then transformed into Nightmare Moon. "This?"
She noticed the look on Celestia's face.
"Don't worry about me. This is just my Nightmare Night costume."
As Luna turned back into herself, Twilight finally understood.
"Oh, that's what it's called?"
She summoned her notebook and jotted down the name.
"Thanks. I was wondering what to call it."
Celestia summoned the notepad to herself and looked it over.
"Twilight, please don't tell me you entered your nightmare form, just so you could take notes on it."
Twilight averted her eyes. "Maaaaybe... Okay, fine. I did."
"Why would you do that?"
Twilight shrugged and glanced away.
"Well, it started out when the stove broke. Spike really wanted pancakes, and I started getting frustrated trying to fix it. Then that reminded me of that time I got frustrated studying Pinkie Pie and burst into flames, and I figured if I could burst into flames again, he could just set the pan on my back and cook them that way.
"Then I started wondering what else I could do in this form, and I realized that there was no existing data on anything like this in any of my books, so I got out my notepad..."
Celestia facehooved while slowly shaking her head.
Luna, meanwhile, stepped closer and examined Twilight. "On the bright side, your form does not seem to be controlling you. Have you had any unusual emotions? Unexpected anger? Jealousy? Anything like that?"
"Other than triggering it, no. Once I got it triggered, I made notes on what types of magic took place so that I could maintain it without remaining angry. I could probably now trigger it without becoming angry too, now that I have an idea how it works."
"And how exactly did you trigger your form?"
"I asked Pinkie to come over so I could study her extra sense again."
Celestia leaned in closer to her student. "You're absolutely sure you're controlling it, right? There is no way it's controlling you?"
For the first time that morning, Twilight became nervous.
"It can do that?"
Luna sighed. "How did you think I got banished? In my anger, I allowed it to control me." She looked straight into Twilight's eyes.
"Do not allow it to control you."
Twilight gulped, and her flames died down until her coat was purple again.
"Okay. I'll be careful.