Act I: Chapter One:
Lost in the Darkness
One month ago . . .
Canterlot's Triple Crown Hospital was considered a busy workplace for doctors and patients alike. As the primary hospital of Equestria's capital, it was unavoidable for code black to be initiated at least twice a year. On a daily basis did many ponies of many walks of life come and go; whether it be those of the noble class, or those just trying to get by with their lives, or the rare case of celebrities who needed the medical attention. It was enough for the employees there to keep them on the tips of their hooves.
Which was why they were knocked clear off when their next visitor wasn't a celebrity, but a princess. As she trotted into the room, surrounding nurses gasped and ran off, presumably to spread the word that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had come.
The alicorn princess, though she went by her preferred name of Cadence, stared at the doors they'd retreated through curiously. They shouldn't have been surprised by now; her visits were frequent enough that such a reaction shouldn't occur. Even if she was just crowned as the Crystal Princess, she didn't take this attention as a sign that she should've been exalted.
She felt her father-in-law, Night Light, set a hoof on her shoulder. "It's alright, Cadence. They'll get over you in time."
"I know," she sniffed. "But would it be too much to ask they treat me like one of them, and to tell me where they moved her?"
He was quiet, leading her ahead through the narrow hallway of the east wing, until coming to a door and opening it for her. "The equine mind is a befuddling thing. I'll bet not even your aunt could figure out its workings."
"I'll bet Twilight could."
He laughed at her quip. "True. Very true, she could."
Both smiled, but the moment was quickly sucked away by the grim atmosphere engulfing them. It didn't help that the second hallway they'd entered was just as empty of life and light.
The rectangular lights overhead flickered and buzzed - the doctors had been cutting back on funding again by keeping old lights that clearly needed replacement. All the doors leading to offices to their left and right were closed shut, save for the set of double doors at the end that led to the waiting area. Had it not been for Cadence's presence, she would bet that this hall would be its exact opposite.
Taking her mind off the emptiness, she took a scroll from her saddlebag and read its hastily-written words for the hundredth time since receiving it just hours ago:
Cadence,
Please get our father - and Shining Armor, if possible - and come to Canterlot. There's something I need to show all of you.
~Twilight
Tucking the letter away, she let out a wispy sigh. What could be so urgent to have written such a short letter? But by such haste - and whatever this 'something' that she forgot to elaborate on was - she knew that she wanted to meet at the hospital; the same place they always met at whenever she made a breakthrough. But whatever the news was, she'd convey it back to her brother once she knew.
Her husband, although wanted by his little sister, was needed far more in the newly-discovered Crystal Empire. Having just overcome the threat of King Sombra's return, the crystal ponies, who were once the enslaved denizens of the kingdom, were still restless in the fears of a second return. They needed at least one of their two rulers to reassure them that the shadow usurper was never coming back.
Exiting the hallway, Cadence swept her eyes around. A small, simple room with several autographed portraits of celebrities, the waiting room had less chairs than ponies waiting to see their loved ones. Most saw her at once and started whispering. Three fillies and two colts were unaware of her entrance, their focus on the evening landscape through the window in the back.
Cadence approached the desk in front of her, where an earth pony with a blue coat was seated. Although occupied with a puzzle book, the commotion drew her out of her trance. "Oh! Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" she exclaimed, brushing a strand of her sea-green mane off her face. "How may I help you?"
The princess smiled, driving back her dislike of the title. "Just 'Cadence' is fine." She paused, taking in the ponies around her, who were still gawking and whispering. However, after her glance, they all looked away. "I, erm, my father-in-law and I are here to see Twilight. Miss Velvet, I mean. I was told she was transferred to a different room?"
The nurse adjusted her cap and nodded. "Yes. You'll find her room at the fifth door to the left, after a right turn." She pointed to a new set of doors.
"Thank you very much." Walking on, she held the door for Night Light and followed after him.
As they were approaching the door, the concern of Twilight's letter started to nag at her again. "So . . . what do you think happened to Twilight? Could it be that she found it?"
He blinked, whatever train of thought he had dissipating. Despite the question, he conjured a smile, though a hint of sadness was there. "I'm sure everything is quite fine, my dear."
Cadence smiled. He had reserved that title, 'my dear', only for his closest loved ones, such as his wife, using it for her was a sure sign that she belonged in this family.
"But," he asserted, narrowing his amber eyes, "I don't thing it's wise to raise one's hopes just yet."
"But supposing really she did - " she stopped as they got to the indicated door "- she could finally achieve what many have failed to do."
"I understand that," his voice turning sober, "But I won't feed myself false promises until I see it for myself. I've lost too much from letting my imagination run rampant."
She dropped the subject, opening the door for him. He didn't need nor deserve to relieve that night.
Stepping inside changed the atmosphere significantly. Save for the steady beeping of a heart monitor, the room was deathly silent. Dust particles swayed over their heads along the current of the air conditioning's breeze and touched down on the machines in the back corners. One was the heart monitor, the other, a device with feeding tubes latched onto the chest and neck of the room's occupant.
Cadence felt her pulse jump to a rate that would send doctors in a panic. Never once did the sight of her mother-in-law sit well in her psyche.
Twilight Velvet laid on her back, unconscious, with the bed in a semi-upright position. Six large scars were painted on her porcelain coat. Three crossing incisions on her chest, one running across her forehead, where the remains of her shattered horn was, and two on her forelegs. A section of her purple and white mane was tied off in a bun, split ends jagging out.
Sitting by her side was her daughter, Doctor Twilight Sparkle. Her head resting on the edge of the bed, her fetlocks were intertwined with her mother's. She drew deep breaths, as though in a trance, as she looked for a form of response. Underneath her, in the small pocket between her four legs, sat her saddlebag, embroidered with her starburst cutie mark.
Her father stepped towards her, placing his hoof on her shoulder. She gasped, breaking from her trance and turned her head to face him. A wisp of her mane briefly covered her face from the sudden movement. But whatever surprise her felt instantly melted from her face.
"You came," she whispered, transferring her forelegs from her mother to her father in an embrace. She greeted Cadence similarly. "Doctor Stable told me that Blueblood was waiting outside for you. I was afraid he'd -"
"It's okay, Twilight," said Cadence. "He wouldn't have stopped us, not even with an army of his own." Eyeing Velvet again, she continued, "Did Stable say anything about her condition?"
She lowered her eyes. "They say her condition remains stable. She's fully healed, for the most part -" she took a brief glance at the broken horn "- but they're still positive that her comatose state is permanent."
Returning to her side, she brushed a strand of Velvet's mane off her face. Her expression alone said that it was the same as every other time they checked on her. Eight years of waiting had nothing to offer on the fortuity of her waking up on her own.
Twilight had been very young when Fate's hooves played a tragic card in her life. She was just accepted under the wing of Princess Celestia, as her personal protégé, and her entire family had come to celebrate the achievement with her. Magic was a powerful trait that ran in their blood, but being taken as an Alicorn princess' student was an honor reserved only for those with the greatest potential.
Velvet, however, left the house, presumably to catch a break from the thick of the party.
Less than an hour later, the Canterlot guards her macabre form on the mountain's scenic path. Her main relatives, Night Light, Shining Armor his then-marefriend, Cadence, and of course Twilight, all were brought to the hospital and found out that she was safely delivered to a life-support system. Her injuries presumed the result of a manticore attack, she was pronounced comatose.
Though Night Light had lost a companion, and Cadence, a future mother-in-law, Twilight took the loss the worst. She had resigned from her curriculum the next morning with the ambition not to learn how to control magic, but medical science. If her craving for knowledge was as raw as Celestia predicted, she believed it was possible to find a cure for her mother; not just for comatose states, but for the entirety of mental illnesses.
Twilight never knew, but Cadence was told by her aunt that she had a much-greater destiny, beyond her current understanding, meant for her; and pursing the scientific world yielded the risk of derailing it.
So after the time spent arguing and discussing, they reached an agreement: Twilight would take up her studies in magic, yet also study medical science to fulfil both purposes; if one as determined as her could find a way to cure mental illnesses, then it was a chance that Celestia was willing to take.
Three doctorates and six years later, at the age of fifteen, Twilight was armed with the knowledge she needed to start searching for a cure. With both magic and science at her side - the latter of which Celestia had told her was a substitutionary, advanced form of magic - her magical capabilities reached a new level. She was nowhere near as powerful as Star Swirl the Bearded, Alicorns forbid, but she had quickly bloomed into an honorable doctor of science.
Yet it wasn't until she moved to the small town of Ponyville and met five other ponies and a zebra witch doctor that her work truly started to progress. These ponies were nowhere near her level of dedication, yet supported her all the way as she spent two more years studying under the zebra, Zecora, who taught her about the magical plants and herbs of the Everfree Forest, which would help get her closer and closer to the cure, however distant it was.
Unless . . .
Cadence looked back to the saddlebag that Twilight guarded so fiercely. She coughed forcefully, getting her attention, and made note of her letter.
Her eyes sparked. She wordlessly withdrew from the saddlebag a small, triangular vial filled to the neck with a clear white liquid. As Cadence carefully took it from her, she saw dozens of tiny, prismatic bubbles dancing around; they glinted so independently that she guessed the liquid had its own luminescence.
She passed it to Night Light, who eyed the bubbles, a wave of disbelief masking his face. "I-is this . . ."
Twilight stepped closer to her father. "Yes, father. I f-finally did it. I named it the TS8 Formula." She swallowed tightly, watching the vial as it was passed back to her.
"But I thought Zecora's ingredients weren't enough," pondered Cadence. "You found a different concoction that worked?"
"Not quite. I was missing something to support the formula's intended effects. Something not in the scientific range, but magical. The Mirror Pool. Pinkie Pie found and cloned herself by walking through it. But she made too many clones, so the girls and I had them all watch paint dry to -"
She stopped, realizing she yammering again. "Ahem. What I mean is, the pool Pinkie found has the ability to separate oneself by body and create a clone. But through careful analysis, I predict that when consumed, it can make the separation in mind instead."
Cadence thought for a moment. "But your previous works with Zecora only made your test subjects go mad. So if you have a liquid that can separate oneself mentally -"
She gasped, simultaneously saying with Twilight, "You can separate madness from sanity!"
"Yes! And since my formula is concocted by both magic and science, our understanding of how magic works could increase tenfold! Instant healing spells, long-distance teleportation, even easy access time travel! No, scratch that last one. My stories have proved time and time again that playing with time travel is anything but good."
"A-re you sure?" Night Light questioned. "Absolutely positive that this theory is correct? You are saying that you've only just discovered this . . . Mirror Pool . . . today, after all."
"There's no doubt about it, father. I even consulted Princess Celestia before summoning you here, and I've conducted precisely thirty-five tests on various animals to prove it. It's flawless!"
"Erm . . ." Night Light looked to his daughter-in-law for help.
Tell her, she said with her eyes.
"Twilight," he began, taking her hoof in his. "You should know, about Blueblood," he felt her stiffen, "We did run into him on our way here. But, uh, he just wanted to express his concerns of your work."
"And . . . what . . . did he say?" Her voice became tightly strained.
Night Light hesitated again, but sighed and decided to speak bluntly. "I'm only quoting. That your experiments are 'equally as dangerous as a rampant madmare, and do nothing but commit sacrilege to the Alicorns for how you toy with an equine's mind'."
Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes. "That's not an expression of concern. He's just trying to turn you against me while hiding behind all his wealth and fame, again. Him and the other governors, they all say stuff like that just because they're afraid of what we could learn from my work. The only one who isn't against me is Sir Fancy Pants. All that stuff he told you is just spiteful hogwash!
"Um, no offence, Moonshine."
Doctor Stable walked by their room, the hospital pet pig trotting with him.
Once they passed, she cleared her throat. "But with my formula, I can prove that Equine's nature can be cleansed of their insane selves. Blueblood and the others will have no choice but to see things my way after tomorrow."
"Excuse me. I'm afraid visiting hours are over," said a nurse, poking her head in the door. She wore a badge with the name Sweetheart sewn on it.
"Very well," said Cadence, "We'll be leaving in just a moment." Turning to Twilight, she said, "I do believe in you, Twilight. Even if the Governors don't think so. And you have the support of myself, your brother, and our subjects at your side." True, she was showering her with well-needed support, but it help the crystal ponies more; why think about Sombra when they were too busy cheering on and talking about their princess' sister-in-law?
"Thank you, Cadence," Twilight bowed her head, "And give my regards to my brother as well."
After she and her father embraced one last time, Twilight strapped on her saddlebag went to her mother's side once more.
Cadence waited patiently at the doorframe; this was just her giving a final goodbye for the night. The unicorn whispered something in Velvet's ear, tears building up in her eye. "'Till the day I die . . ." she caught at the end. Her message given, she rejoined Cadence and walked out with her and Night Light.
"Goodnight, mother."