Twilight only having two friends left to consult with, so she had decided to head off to Sweet Apple Acres. She could not shake the despair that was creeping up on her. With most of her friends out of the picture and little hope in the rest she could only imagine what would happen next.
Then there were those eyes. The eyes became more vivid with every passing moment. The hate that they radiated began to tickle at Twilight’s heart. But that was it; she would not allow those eyes to consume her either. She pushed the feeling out of her mind, though with a bit of needed force.
She had come to Sweet Apple Acres only to find a vaguely familiar site. Applejack sitting in a ditch, and rainbow dash charging for the barn. Twilight had learned her lesson form last time about jumping to conclusions.
Twilight trotted over to Applejack and sat down next to her. “Is Rainbow helping you with the barn again?”
“I would say she was,” Applejack shot, “Though this time I didn’t ask her to.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight said, hoping that there was a good explanation for all this.
“Just that,” Applejack said with a bit of sharp sarcasm, “I heard a crash outside of the house and when I came out to check, there Rainbow dash was tearing down my barn”
At that moment they both looked up to see Rainbow dash crash into the barn leaving not one splinter standing. Then Rainbow trotted over to where we had ducked from the flying derby.
“There that took care of that problem.” Rainbow Dash said with a grin.
“Feel better.” Applejack snapped, “Now what the hay did you do that for?”
“I just felt like tarring something down, and your barn was perfect,” Rainbow dash said with a smirked, “Though I don’t feel any better. Maybe I’ll go after your house next.”
Twilight could not believe what she was hearing, “Wait, this isn’t you. Don’t you see what is happening? Something is taking over Ponyville, and turning everyone against each other.”
“Twilight, stay out of this.” Applejack insisted.
“Ya,” Rainbow Dash agreed, “This isn’t your problem”
“But it’s everyponies’ problem; can’t you see?” Twilight yelled.
“All I see is you butting in where you don’t belong, again,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Back to this,” Applejack snapped pointing at her barn, which was now nothing more than a pile of splinters.
“Good point,” Rainbow dash said, “I should get to tearing down your house too.”
“Not happening,” Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash’s tail and slammed her on the ground. There they just brawled until they had become tuckered out, and yet still kept going as if driven by a rage implanted from an external source.
Twilight could not take it anymore. She closed her eyes, and focused her magic like she had never focused before. She cast the memory spell on them trying to remind them of the friendship they were forgetting. As each scene flipped through each of their eyes each one began to slow down, but only for a second. Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack shook off the memory spell and went back to fighting.
Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, “Stop!” but they did not listen. She could only slump where she sat not knowing what to do next.
Then from nowhere she heard a dark unrecognizable voice, “You seem to only see what you want to. Your friends hate you, they hate themselves, and most of all they hate everything. You have nothing left. All your friends are gone, and there is nothing you can do to get them back.”
Then Twilight saw them again. Those eyes were as dark and evil as ever. She still could not place them but at this point she did not care. All her hopes where lost. Her library could not tell her anything, and all her friends have been consumed by hatred of one kind or another. The only one left to talk to was Celestia herself.
So Twilight headed back to the library to compose a letter to her mentor. But when she got there she was in for a surprise though by this time she should have been expecting it. Spike was no longer the baby dragon. He had begun to grow again. Twilight know instantly what was happening. Spike had been infected to. How could she not expect it? She focused her power into her horn and let out another sleep spell. She could not let spike get out of control. This was not something Ponyville could handle at this time.
Well the only other option was to go to Canterlot in person. She then picked up Spike and took him to his bed, and gathered her stuff for a day’s journey and headed outside. As she stepped outside she looked up toward Canterlot to find something she was not expecting. The shields had been raised without any kind of notice from Celestia. This began to worry her.
She walked over to the train station. The more she thought about the problems around her the more depressed she got, and the eyes kept coming back no matter how hard she tried to push them away. The eyes only got stronger as she lost more and more of her hope.
She reached the train station with plenty on time for the next train. Glad to be over punctual she went over to the ticket line, only to find that it was closed. There was a sign on the counter that said, “Sorry of the inconvenience, but all trains leading to Cantorlot has been canceled until further notice.”
This was very disappointing to Twilight. She sat for a second and thought about what she had to do next. She could not let this stop her from seeing the princess. All of Equestria counted on her getting to the princess, but with all the Elements of Harmony out of the picture, she only had one choice. She was going to have to walk to Canterlot on her own four hooves.
She picked herself up, pointed toward Canterlot and started walking. She followed the Trains rout for the most part, only deviating from it when she had to. This would take her about a day to accomplish on hoof, but she had to do it. She would stop only for a few breaks to rest her hooves, for she had never had to take a walk like that before. In the end she would make it.
As she closed in on the front gates of Canterlot, she saw the expected sight of two guards on the gate. It was what happed next that she didn’t expect.
Twilight approached the guards and greeted then, “Hello I am Twilight Sparkle and it is urgent. I need to see the princess.”
“Sorry, but we are on strict orders by the princess not to let anyone in or out of the city.”
“But you know how I am,” Twilight pleaded, “I’m her student, and the sister to Shining Armor, Captain of the royal guard.”
“Yes we know,” said the guard, “But we are on strict orders not to let anypony in or out, and that includes those who are close to the princess, that was our orders, and we are sticking to them whether you like it or not.”
Twilight would not hear this though, and with a flash of her horn she tried to teleport through the barrier. She quickly regretted it though, for just as she appeared on the other side of the barrier, she was shot like a sling shot back out. She flew a few feet and landed on her back.
“Look,” one of the guards said with a stern look, “If you do that again we will have to arrest you and then you won’t ever get to see the princess, You just going to have to waited until all this dies down.”
Twilight spirit sank six feet under. All hope had finally become lost to her. She had nothing else she could do. She got up and ran as far away as she could; only collapsing when she was about a mile away from the city.
Then a voice, just as the one before, called to her, “See, you have no one. Even Celestia has abandoned you. Now what will you do but give up? You friends are gone; your life has no meaning anymore. Look and see what has befallen your precious Equestria.”
Twilight looked, and above the city of Canterlot were dark swirling clouds, and in those clouds were the ancient spirits Twilight recognized as the Windigos, and she then know that without her friends she could never fix this problem.
She ran the rest of the way home forgetting of such things a fatigue, until she was safely in her library where she collapsed on the floor and left herself to her own pity and cried until she could no longer shed another tear, and then cried some more.