> The L Words
>  by Colour Coded Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Layabout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia's sun skittered across the floor of the bedroom like a kitten on a wet floor and alighted gently upon Twilight's eyes. It didn't do very much. It certainly couldn't stop the thrashing of her legs and the grinding of her teeth. Nothing Spike had tried could, and he'd even begged Zecora in perfect Zanzebranean for super-strength sleeping potions; there wasn't a pharmacist in Canterlot and Ponyville alike who would serve him.

They hadn't worked.

Twilight's head snapped back in the bed and she screamed, screamed as loud as her sleeping lungs could manage. Spike burst into the room and tried his best to calm her down, even to hold his oldest friend as she frothed at the mouth and shrieked like the world was ending. His face was soaking wet after but ten minutes of it, half from it from flecks of Twilight's foaming spit as he held her down to try and stop her from hurting herself even more than she had already.

Finally, after what was the longest two hours of Spike's life since the previous Tuesday, Twilight's sleeping form calmed down enough for him to stop worrying quite so much. There was blood on the sheets again. He'd got much better at washing it out these days, but it was still awkward when he missed a spot and somepony noticed it on the line. Celestia's name, he'd had to think on his feet there.

He went downstairs to start on breakfast for the two of them; Twilight's right eye was twitching in the sun, which meant she'd be awake soon. Hopefully. He stifled a sob and remembered when she hadn't had tortured nights... he just wanted her to be well again.

*******

Twilight let out a miserable, pained bleat where somepony else would yawn. She scratched at her ear and turned to the dresser and the mirror, looking at the night's damage. On the little wooden table was a slim, padlocked leather book; the key was blank, but the lock was attuned to Twilight's magical field. She summoned them both in a flash of purple magic, wincing slightly as she did so, and opened the lock. Another flash, and she had a quill.

Day 146
Injury count:- She cast a quick diagnostic spell she'd got from one of the innumerable medical magic books she had in the library and, as the numbers flashed up in front of her, winced again.

Bruises (new): 48
Bruises (total): 205
Cuts (new): 2
Cuts (reopened): 2
Cuts (total): 83
NB: 6 healed overnight! :)
Abrasions (new): 9
Abrasions (bleeding): 3
Abrasions (total): 40
Spiderweb Horn Core Fracture: +1.2%
SHCF (total): 17.1%
Fractures (new): 0
Fractures (total): 5 (of which 4 rib, 1 horn)
Muscle Tissue Damage: manageable
Nerve Tissue Damage: serious but largely stable
Ocular Damage: minor (down from manageable! :D)
Damage to Legs: severe

Twilight remained dispassionate throughout. By treating it like a slightly dull scientific study, as she'd trained her brain to do, it made everywhere... hurt less. She didn't write about the nightmares, though. To have anypony find the diary and crack the wards would be bad enough, but if they talked about what she saw...

She shook the thought from her head, eliciting another wince, and began to apply her makeup. After twenty minutes of concealer time, she slipped her bedroom door open and teleported to the foot of the stairs; it hurt her hooves less than just walking everywhere. She then made for the kitchen.

"Um... hi, Spike." Her tone was weary and her voice cracked beyond recognition. "It's okay, I can make-"

"No, Twilight." Spike rounded on her. "It is not okay. YOU are not okay! Can't you see you're killing yourself? See a doctor. See somepony. ANYPONY! Just... get help with this, Twilight. We, we can't do this on our own."

"Oh, Spike, it's not so bad. There's no need to see a doctor, or a psychiatrist-" Twilight visibly shivered and Spike took the opportunity to intervene.

"You feel it, Twilight, but you don't see it! You don't see you, you don't have to hold you down, you don't worry that every single bucking night might be the one where something... s-something really bad happens! You don't realise that what you try and do is never enough to stop the pain, never ever enough-"

"Spike!" yelled Twilight. The little dragon clammed up. "I am not, repeat, I AM NOT, going back to Sunnygarden. Do. You. Understand."

"I, I didn't mean-" Spike gulped.

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO BACK TO THEM!"

Spike nearly fell off his stool and flailed to keep his balance. He succeeded, barely. "Twilight, you can't ever go back. The Princess closed them down, remember? She punished Dr. Caducea for what she did to everypony, for what she m-m-made..." He could get no further into the sentence; Twilight had collapsed into tears.

"I... it's every night. Every night I go through it all over again, but after Discord it just got so much worse... I see her face and her smile and her, her, oh, Spike..." The last word was a plaintive yelp that descended into sobbing, and the dragon put his arm around her shoulders.

"You're safe here, Twilight. She can't hurt you any more."

They stayed like that for a long time, until the smell of cinnamon filled the air. "Oh, uh, muffins are done."

"I'll go get them, Spike. I'm sorry for shouting, it's just-"

"I know." Spike slipped off Twilight's back and made to get the extra makeup from the box while she dealt with the breakfast. Just then, a knock came from the door.

"I'm just doing breakfast, but come in!"

"Breakfast? It's ten-thirty in tha mornin', ya li'l ol' layabout!" Applejack's voice could've carried over a mountain range. Twilight Sparkle smiled wanly, touched up the make-up on her flank, and brought the muffins into the parlour. Today was going to be a long day.
> The Liar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was bright, lighting the clear blue sky with an intensity unseasonable in winter, and it shone happily down on Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. They were to pay a visit to Fluttershy's cottage at the yellow mare's request; she had several dozen extremely ill hedgehogs to deal with and could not leave their side, even to get the research books she needed to combat their sickness. Twilight had offered to teleport her and Applejack straight there with the books but she was talked out of it; Applejack said that the bookworm looked as though she was about to fall asleep and cut her off, saying that she'd bring a cart round for the books. Besides, she opined, the walk would do her good.

Twilight had rocked back on her hooves slightly, feeling the blast of pain from them, and giggled to herself. She was pressed, and her lie was not found wanting by the farm pony, which was good; she'd had a very long time to prepare and had consulted a lot of books on psychology and cold reading to do so. That had been a bad night, according to the after-action report from her medical spells and from an exhausted, red-eyed Spike, and she'd vowed to make sure that the pain had been worth it.

She was challenged on the matter this morning when Applejack accused her of drifting off.

"Huh, wha? Sorry, Applejack. I was just, um... I was miles away." Twilight immediately cursed herself. The books had said that a lot depended on intonation and she'd let a little wobble of pain through. Applejack looked singularly unimpressed.

"Mah eye you wuz. Twilight Sparkle, Ah doan' appreciate bein' lied to, especially by one o' mah friends. Y'all were swayin' as yer walked an' ya didn't stop when Ah trod on yer hoof. Somethin' ain't right, missy, an' yer gonna tell me wh- HEY!" It was too late; the flash from the teleport had already begun to fade. "S-stupid gosh-darn Element of Magic... oh well, bes' be, be up an' doin'. Twilight'll sort hersel' out... Ah hope... Aw, horsefeathers, Ah'm gonna hafta tell the girls about this." She hitched up the cart on her back legs and set off again.

*******

"SPIIIIIKE!"

The aforementioned dragon nearly choked on an emerald and slid off of his chair, landing on the floor with an almighty crash. He picked himself up and scurried into the room. "Twilight, what's wrong?"

The mare had landed awkwardly after the teleport - an ankle, according to Spike's untrained but increasingly experienced eye, looked like it had twisted again - but that wasn't the source of Twilight's tears. She was sobbing again, for the second time in as many hours. As bad as it was now, he had a feeling that tonight would be worse.

"It's... i-i-it's Apple-*snff* Applejack. She's... she..." Once again, Twilight couldn't finish the sentence, her mind just crumbling into the flood and trailing down her face. Even the presence of a thin arm at her neck could not reassure her, nor the constant murmurs of support that blurred into one incoherent mass after a while. There was nothing to do but wait it out.

Just like they'd always done.

*******

"Who is it- oh, hey Applejack!" Rainbow Dash's disposition was perky but tired-looking; Fluttershy had apparently been having her fly to Zecora's hut and back for potion ingredients again. "I thought Twilight'd be with you. Trouble keeping up?"

"Uh... not exactly. Rainbow, can Ah come inside? Ah've still got all tha books fer-"

"Of course. Fluttershy's in the living room... boy, I need a nap. Fluttershy," the rainbow mare called, "AJ's here with the books you want- WHOA!"

A pink and yellow blur like a comet made of Battenburg cake snapped off the harnesses of the cart and dragged it into the living room, which had a crudely-made sign on it saying "Sick Bay" after a couple of abortive attempts at correctly spelling isolation.

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack.

This went on for just enough time for things to get really awkward.

"She's a little... intense right now," mumbled Rainbow Dash, breaking the silence much more quietly than was her usual wont. Applejack nodded, still rendered speechless from the speed Fluttershy had moved at. Her flank had a friction burn on it. "Whaddaya say we go into the kitchen and I'll fix us up a snack. Egg and cress sandwich okay?"

"Uh... sure. Sorry, Rainbow, it's jes' a shock ter see 'er like that. Firs' Twilight hidin', uh..." Applejack looked around warily. "Hidin' stuff, an' now Fluttershy's movin like you do and busy as a beehive... it's kinda creepy." The farmpony trotted into the kitchen, wherein her friend was unwrapping some egg and cress sandwiches from the tiny shop on the high street. She raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Asked Rainbow Dash. "You know how bad of a cook I am, I'm not going to put Fluttershy through it too. She's too delicate, so I've been letting her live the Rainbow Dash Diet."

Applejack's eyebrow twitched higher. "Takeout pizza, sandwiches courtesy of one Off License, a whole mess o' cans of... wait, you gave Fluttershy this?" She grabbed a large blue and silver can with a large red bull on it. "Have y'all actually got a brain in that thar head o' yours?"

"It's not my fault! I like the taste, she found it, it's sugar-free so I thought it'd be alright! I didn't expect her to burn through my stash overnight!" Rainbow's voice was a keening wail now, and Applejack covered her friend with a forearm.

"Hey now, sugarcube, it's alright. Ah ain't mad, Ah know how hard it is when somepony's workin' 'emselves to the bone an' they doan' see it." She shuddered at the memory of last applebuck season. Rainbow Dash smiled.

"It's hard, that's all," she said, some of her old swagger back, the way Applejack remembered her before... before. "I'm not used to Fluttershy in full-on doctor mode."

"Ah reckon as we'll all feel a mite better with some o' them dandy-lookin' sandwiches. We're gonna need our strength, Ah reckon." Applejack's mood darkened slightly as she sat at Fluttershy's table.

"How do you mean?" Rainbow returned with the plated sandwiches and a large bottle of dangerously-green drink, which Applejack sensibly declined. "Is this that thing about Twilight?"

Applejack looked at her hooves. Somewhere, a clock ticked. Fluttershy could be heard reading in the sitting room, shouting garbled instructions to ponies who weren't there and then bemoaning the incompetence of her non-existent staff. The clock still ticked. Rainbow Dash considered putting a wing around her ex, but though better of it.

"Well," Applejack said after fidgeting in her chair for a few minutes more, "Ah don't mean ter sound like a gossip or somethin', but... ain'tcha noticed how distant she's been gettin' ever since that scuffle we had with Discord? How she don't ever talk about herself?"

"That's gotta be a good thing, right? I mean, after that whole Mare Do Well-" Rainbow Dash's confused tone was cut off almost instantly.

"Not like this. You ask her how she is, you press her, you get nothin'. An' Ah reckon she's..." Applejack padded across the kitchen and eased shut the door, then dropped her voice to a whisper. "She's on somethin'."

"On something? Twilight? Please. She's too big of an egghead to be a Trank addict on the side, AJ, you're imagining it-"

"Am Ah, Rainbow Dash? Jes' this morning, Ah turns up at her house at ten thirty, she's only jes' got up."

"Uh, I do that. Like, all the time. And I'm not on Trank."

"Well, that's true, ah guess. Anyway, though, we were takin' the books up here when Ah trod on 'er hoof by accident. No sale. She jes' kept walkin', swayin' a li'l bit an' keepin' 'er steps light. So Ah does it agin. Not a darned thing. An'... gosh, Ah ain't proud ta say this... Ah bucked 'er solid, right in the gut. She wheezes a little an' coughs up... somethin' weird-lookin'... but she don't even say a word about it ta me. That ain't right, Rainbow. That ain't right at all." There had been a little hairline fracture running through the orange pony's voice throughout proceedings, and now it was beginning to widen. "An', an' when Ah finally got 'er to wake up, she tries ter tell me she was jes' daydreamin', an' that's a lie, Rainbow, she's lyin' to her friend, an' Ah says so an' Ah says what Ah thinks of it an' she jes' up an' teleports outta there like Ah'm the Nightmare come back, an'... a-an' that hurt, right here. Ah'm worried sick an' Ah don' know what ta do."

After a few minutes, a deathly pale Rainbow let the plate slide out of her hooves and shatter on the polished floor.

*******

"Here, Twilight, drink this. Are you sure you didn't fall down? You look like you went five rounds with Ditzy Doo when the winner gets the keys to the muffin shop..." Spike was checking the pony over, his claws delicately tracing the outlines of some new bruises and tentatively checking for bone fragments. He had in his free hand a sippy cup full of Zecora's strongest painkiller potions, which he was proffering to the prone pony.

"don't wanna." Twilight's voice was almost inaudible, her throat worn out from an hour of tears.

"Please, Twilight... I made it. There's nothing that'll hurt you in here, I promise. You trust me, right? I'm your number one assistant..."

"... don't wanna. hurts."

"No, no, Twilight, look. It's painkillers. See?" Spike took a sip, despite his better judgement. "It's safe. I'm not hurt."

"promise?"

"I promise." Spike offered the cup again and Twilight took it, her magic still shaky as it brought the cup to her lips. Eventually, she forced the potion down - it tasted weirdly of grapes - and she got to her hooves.

"... okay... that, that's better. thank you spike." Practically every word was punctuated with a little rasping sniff. Twilight teleported up the stairs and settled down in the ancient corduroy-covered armchair she kept in her private study. Her dragon followed her and sat on the chair's arm, stroking her mane while she read quietly. Just like the old days, thought Spike. They were comfortable, and they sat there in each other's company just reading and being together.

Finally, Twilight broke the silence. "I... I think Applejack knows, Spike. Or at least suspects."

"Um... wow. That'd explain the new bruising on the ribs. What, um, what did she say?"

"She called me a liar when I gave the standard excuse... I don't know how I ever thought I'd convince her it was nothing. She said she trod on my hoof and I did nothing."

"That's probably a side effect of the-" Spike stopped himself and fished around in his mind for an adequate lie. "The pain you're in. C'mon, let's get some lunch. Or possibly dinner, seeing as how it's getting dark."

"Yes, Spike. I think... I think I can survive cooking." Twilight walked out of the door and-

WHAM

Spike sprinted after her, yelling her name. When he got to the landing, he paled in shock.

Applejack had Twilight pinned to the wall, the purple unicorn wheezing like a broken bellows. Beside her, Fluttershy was hovering with a stony expression and a slim torch, checking to see how Twilight's eyes moved. Spike turned and saw Rainbow Dash and Rarity looking on with utter disapproval. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

"Would somepony tell me what the HAY this is?" The dragon erupted, rounding on Rainbow Dash and rolling up some non-existent sleeves. She sighed and brushed one hoof through her mane.

"Listen, Spike... Applejack told me what happened. I've seen this before, back at Junior Speedster's camp; one of my- one of the older teachers was an addict too."

"Addict? What do you mean, addict? Twilight's not on drugs, I'm her assistant, she wouldn't keep something like that from me!"

"I'm sorry, Spike. I'm really, really sorry. But we have to intervene. Painkiller addiction... it can destroy somepony. I saw it happen, and I won't let one of my friends go down that road."

Spike reeled backwards, color fading even further. "No. No no no no no, you guys have this wrong. This is my fault... this is all my fault..."

Rarity trotted over and put a hoof around his shoulders. "It's not, Spike. My... our friend did this of her own volition-"

"Except she didn't, because the first painkiller I've taken in years I took was today! Check the sippy cup on the sink." Twilight had recovered from the initial shock long enough to say her piece. "Tell her, Spike, tell them they're wrong-"

"STOP! LYIN'!"

The only sound for the next few moments was the echoes of Applejack slamming Twilight against the wall again. Then Applejack spoke, her eyes teary and voice crackling like an old radio.

"Ah hate this, Twilight. Don't y'all see? Ah don' wanna make ya sad, but yer, yer lyin' to me. Ah..." She sniffed, and collected herself. "Yer sick, Twilight. Yer on this stuff, alla those potions, an'... an'... an' we wan' our Twi back. Ah want mah friend back. So... look, Fluttershy, hurry it up already, will ya? This is hard."

Spike finally came round to the situation and leapt out of Rarity's hooves. If he could just get to the syringe she'd produced from a bag on the floor, maybe he could-

There was a rush of air and whiteness, which faded into dark.

*******

Fluttershy administered the sedative and watched her friend fall bonelessly against Applejack. As she blurred out of the door to get back to the hedgehogs, Rarity trotted up to the orange pony's side. "You didn't have to knock him out, Applejack" she said reproachfully.

"No... no Ah didn't. Come on, Nurse Tenderheart ain't gonna wait much longer." With that, the farm pony lugged the unconscious librarian down the stairs and onto the waiting pegasus ambulance. They clambered on board, saying subdued hellos to the slim, pretty nurse, and they were off.

"Hey, what gives? This isn't the way to Ponyville Gen!" Rainbow Dash had noticed that they were flying entirely the wrong way; instead of heading north, they were going west, towards Trottingham's Chalk Downs. She rounded on Tenderheart. "Where are you talking her?"

"Please, Miss Dash, calm down. Ponyville doesn't have the pastoral care requirements for someone with Miss Sparkle's... needs. We're taking her - and all of you - to a state-of-the-art center for just such ponies. It's only been open for two years; Princess Luna cut the ribbon herself. It won't take more than an hour, but it might be uncomfortable to stand still for that long. You might care to sit back down." The effect of her voice, which sounded like Fluttershy if she'd ever grown a spine, was profound. Rainbow Dash had gone pale again and slumped down next to Rarity. Applejack was on the unicorn's other shoulder, eyes invisible behind her mane and hat held before her in her hooves.

The hour passed, and the ambulance touched down. The sun was setting, but despite that the gardens seemed full of life and beauty. A little brook babbled gently underneath a handsome wrought-iron bridge. Flowers that glowed like phantasms coiled themselves around great trees, and the three conscious Elements felt more at peace, and up ahead they could see the hospital, a great stately home in the style of noted 18th-century architects Regent and Bath Stone. It seemed like Tenderheart had picked a good one.

Rarity leaned in towards Tenderheart. "Listen, I'm wealthy, very wealthy, and Twilight Sparkle is a personal friend. Send the bills to my-"

"That won't be necessary, Miss... Rarity, yes?" Rarity nodded and opened her mouth to protest, but Tenderheart cut her off. "Trottingham operates a free healthcare system paid for by taxes. It's enlightened; they don't leave anypony behind simply because they don't have insurance. It's been extremely successful so far. Ah, Doctor. I'm sorry to have dragged you out like this. This is the one I wrote to you about via dragonfire, Twilight Spar - oh..."

The Ponyville mares had stopped dead. This doctor was beautiful, her mane still perfectly ramrod-straight gold and her coat the very brightest silver. Even her cutie mark, a pale pink outline of an ouroboros with blue lightning bolts emanating from the centre of it, seemed to compliment her. Applejack's jaw hung open. Rarity's eyes widened. Dash's wings didn't pop open, but only by dint of considerable effort on her part.

"Dreadfully sorry about that, Tenderheart, happens all the time. My name's Shining Light, I'm the deputy treatment manager here at Moon River Hospice. I take it our latest arrival is on your back, Miss..."

"Uh, Applejack. Jes' that, Ah'm," she gulped, which caused a little giggle of nervousness to escape from her lips afterwards, "Ah'm afraid Ah ain't no great beauty - Ah mean, Ah, um... Ah ain't got a lot o' fancy titles, but Ah looks out fer mah friends. Please... help her."

Shining Light smiled. "I'll do my very best, Applejack. Depend upon it. Now, I think I should take Twilight Sparkle to her room. It wouldn't do to keep her out here much longer, after all, there's a cold night scheduled again. Associates!" She clapped her hooves and five burly-looking orderly stallions trotted into view, their muscles working languidly beneath their tight white uniforms in a manner that made Rarity feel the need to have a very long lie down with a cheap romantic potboiler. "Take Ms. Sparkle to her apartment. She's obviously had a very difficult day... as have her friends. May I press you to supper here?"

"I'm afraid we need to get back to Ponyville. See you soon, Shining Light!"

"Indeed. Farewell." Shining Light waved goodbye, smiling brightly. Once they'd disappeared out of sight, the wards around the doors flared and jabbed the minds of all the Elements present. Once they arrived home, they'd never remember having been here... or the pony they'd dropped off. With a smile, she cantered back into the hospital and dragged her boss down to Processing.

"Twilight Sparkle," said the doctor in question as her orderlies began busily locking her in a straitjacket, "I told you before. Nopony escapes Aklespia Caducea."
> The Lapse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had just risen over the horizon beyond Ponyville, and Applejack awoke with it. A smile set itself upon her face; the order of the day was bucking down the last of the summer crop for the market. There was, she reasoned, no better use for your legs - at least, not in public - and if they got it done in time, she might have enough light left to get Big Macintosh and the other colts wasted enough on scrumpy to break out into song. That was always hilarious, especially since her brother was the only one among them with any talent in that regard. She'd just have to be careful not to join in on the love songs-

Now wait jes' one apple-buckin' minute, she thought, why would Ah not need ta do that? Ah've never met a stallion Ah've been interested in that way, so why's it matter? Or mare, fer that matter, not since Rainbow - aw, dangit, now Ah've got mahself all flustered. Best git out buckin' afore Ah do sump'n the Princesses wouldn't like.

Her hat jammed firmly on her head, AJ walked downstairs to grab something to eat. A photograph on her dresser sat in its usual place.

It showed all four of her best friends.

*******

Rainbow Dash was lazing atop a cloud above the orchards, as per her schedule. Naps were her second-favourite activity (and definitely her favourite inactivity), especially when they annoyed her more industrious friends.

"Rainbow Dash, y'all git that raincloud out from over mah head right now! So help me, Ah will buck yer until yer eatin' through a straw, ya good-fer-noth-" The rest of the tirade was cut off by the aforementioned good-for-noth as she jumped on the cloud. Undaunted by the sudden localised monsoon, Applejack continued bellowing at her friend until the cloud finally dissipated. "-with mah biggest, rustiest plough!" Dash guffawed at the sodden earth pony and blazed off into the distance, still chuckling by the time she got to the Mandala mountains several leagues away. She knew they were called that after some bigwig unicorn nerd who'd mapped the whole lot via teleportation, and it had reminded her of a friend like that-

"Wait," she said to herself whilst landing delicately on a snow-bearing cumulus, "why would I know somepony like that, or even call them a friend? I don't. Not even Fluttershy's that lame... aw, stop it, Rainbow, you're being mean. Almost as mean as that grouchy little guy who lives in the old treehouse in the centre of town. Hey, I don't think anypony's using this cloud... maybe I can make Pinkie Pie look like she's gone nuts again." With a cackle that was only moderately evil, she tore off back to Ponyville, pushing the cloud back with her as she went. She thought about her friends idly as she flew to prank them, about how she'd never leave even one of them behind. Even Fluttershy, without a doubt the most uncool of the sive of them.

Sive? What the hay kind of a number's sive? Meh. Maybe I shoulda paid more attention in school...

*******

Rarity knew the sun was up in the same general way that she knew Cranes existed; they were very far away and didn't affect her very much. She simply had to get these dresses done on time, and inspiration was proving difficult to find; the client had said something about a star-themed dress that had shown up at the previous year's Grand Galloping Gala, and though she dimly remembered seeing a dress like that - dim was the right word for it, the memories of the dress and its intended recipient twisting out of her reach like mist on a moor - she could not fathom how the thing was cut or even the gems shey'd used.

She bridled immediately at the strange, unusual word. I must have been socialising with Applejack too much; I've picked up her habit of butchering the Equestrian language. Perhaps... oh, why do keep thinking pale blues? Ms. Fairy Cakes is green, for goodness' sake! Subconscious, have you not heard of colour co-ordination? She sighed, gave finding out up for a lost cause, and decided to go for a walk through town to clear her mind. Sweetie Belle was out with the Crusaders trying to get dragon-slaying cutie marks for the third time that week; she didn't exactly approve, but the dragon in the abandoned library was very ungentlecoltly. The first time they'd met, he'd got down on his knees and begged her to bring back somepony... the name escaped her, and after she'd backed off and said she didn't know what he was talking about, he'd got violent. In the end, the Mayor had involved herself in proceedings and had a quiet word with the poor lamb. For his assault, he'd been put under house arrest. She idly wondered what had been done about the painkiller addiction, and then immediately forgot why.

The walk did indeed do her good; a few minutes into her walk through the marketplace, inspiration arrived in the form of a dust-covered tome of magic, of all things. In a flash, she knew exactly how to cut and colour the slim, flank-clinging dress she knew Fairy Cakes would love. Inspiration struck in the very oddest ways sometimes...

An hour after blitzing through some preliminary cut work and fabric choices, a very happy Rarity bounced out into the street to celebrate. Fluttershy was still treating the hedgehogs, so that ruled a spa visit out, and the others, well... she loved them dearly, but they were too much sometimes. Sugarcube Corner, therefore, seemed just the ticket. Something nice and sugary to fire her up for later. She trotted into the bakery, saw the long, iron-flat mane of her friend, and smiled. Today had been very good indeed.

*******

"Hello there, Pinkie darling! Isn't it just the loveliest day outside today?" Rarity sashayed through the door of Sugarcube Corner and planting herself at a nearby table.

"Yeah, I guess... I guess it is," called Pinkie from the kitchen. Her voice was monotone, almost drab; the spark had gone as much from it as it had from her voice and mane. Nopony out of her friends seemed to have noticed, even though it had been three weeks since she'd been like that. Since they stole her friend.

"Quite so, darling. Now then, what to have, what to have... oh, the chocolate muffins look divine!"

"There's a present for Ditzy Doo, she's really cut up about the whole thing. Or did you forget her too," Pinky snapped, her voice cracking slightly. Rarity looked shocked for a moment, then put on the face Pinkie had come to loathe. The forgetting face.

"Alright, Pinkie, there's no need for that. I don't know why you insist on indulging that dragon's fantasies, darling; there's no such mare as Twilight Sparkle. You remember what happened when you shouted at that dragon's guards." The pair of them shivered, one more than the other. "Now then, let's just... talk about something else. Those pies smell lovely, are they a new recipe?"

As if a light bulb had been switched off in whatever fractal mess counted for her brain, Pinkie walked back out to Rarity to talk shop for a while. Those were moments she'd treasured, over the weeks and months since Twilight's incarceration. It felt like everything was normal again, but then she'd say something about an adventure they'd had and Rarity would give her a really weird look and the energy would drift away before it could land properly. She missed it.

She missed everything that her friends had taken away.

And so, once the beautiful white unicorn had been packed off back to her studio with a bag of apple strudels and a Pinkie Pie grin as forced as a vault door in a bank robbery, Pinkie Pie trotted into the kitchen, watched snow falling outside the bakery window, hummed the Winter Wrap Up song and shook with the effort of not crying.

*******

The flight to the mountains had done Rainbow Dash a power of good, and now she was as raring to go as she'd always been. Her trick hadn't really been worth it; Pinkie hadn't run out to proclaim the coming of winter like last time, so she'd simply bucked the cloud into nothingness and given it up for a dead loss. She wondered for a while about what it was she ought to do.

"Hey, you know who I haven't seen in a while? Fluttershy. I know, I know, she's not very awesome, but it's nice to watch her work sometimes. Aw, horsefeathers, I'm monologuing out loud again." With that peculiar aside over with, she sped off to the cottage to find the dustbin overflowing with energy drink cans. Something wasn't right here, it reminded her of something but she couldn't pin down what, and that bothered her. Not as much as Fluttershy's appearance did, though.

"Um... Fluttershy? Are you okay? You're, uh, you're vibrating."

"vvzvvzzzv? vvvzvvzvvvzzzsdzvzv." Fluttershy looked like she'd survived a train crash only to be dragged through an entire forest backwards by an angry bear. Her mane was completely ragged, her pupils had massively dilated, she hadn't been brushed in forever (and curing that was an extremely pleasant thought for the blue pegasus for the nanosecond she allowed herself to think it) and there was this overpowering smell about her, like every bad thing about a hospital rolled into one, including the bedpans. Rainbow reeled backwards slightly.

"Uh... Shy, I didn't get any of that. Is that even Equestrian? You need to take a br-" Before she could finish, Fluttershy began to shout at her. Rainbow immediately remembered the massive arguments she'd had with AJ before they'd broken up and cringed, though the Southern-fried farmpony had never spoken so quickly.

"I'mgonnasaythisslowlysoyouunderstandyoubigdumblunkofmeanmeanieness! Icannottakeabreakfromthisevenforasecondbecausewhenyoudraggedmeawaysodarnedslowlytwobabyhedgehogsdied!
AndIstilldontknowwhybecausetheonlyponywithevenatenthasmuchveterinaryandmedicalknowledgeasmeyoutookaway!
HowthehayamIsupposedtotakeabreakwhenlittleanimalsdieifIturnmybackonthemforsomuchasasinglesecond!
Icantsleeportheywilldie! Icantletthemdie!
Andanywaywhoareyoutolecturemeonwhethersomeponyisalrightwhenyouforgetyourfriendentirelyafterdroppingherinahospital!
Stopbeingsoslowandletmegetbacktomyjob!" With that, the door slammed in Rainbow's face and there was a small sonic boom from inside the house.

Rainbow Dash's ears were ringing, which didn't go well at all with her spinning vision. She walked back down the track towards Ponyville, noticing after a while that her muzzle was wet. But what did that matter.

*******

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

It never ceased to amaze Ditzy Doo how perceptive her daughter was. She'd got good at hiding her emotions; they had been a sign of weakness during her foalhood, one she'd been careful to eliminate.

"Oh, nothing really, little muffin. It's just... Mommy had a bad day at work today. How was school?"

"Really fun, it was Home Ec last period so I brought you back some muffins. Oh, and Miss Cheerilee gave my project 134%, I didn't even know you could get tha- oof!" Dinky tried to force some air back into her lungs as her mother hugged her tight.

"Best. Daughter. Ever. Let's try those muffins!"

They did, and they were good. After a few hours of quiet reading, Sparkler came home from the after-school jeweller's club. "Hi Mom, hi Dinky! Got everyone some flapjacks from Sweet Apple Acres, hope you don't mind..."

"Why would we mind, sweetie?"

"Yeah, big sister, why?" Sparkler still got a kick out of Dinky calling her that, even after all their years together. She grinned and hugged the grey mares, then broke out a book on DIY ballistics and joined the comfortable, happy silence.

After a while, the little pudgy unicorn broke it. "Mom, do you remember a mare called Twilight Sparkle? Used to run the library?"

Ditzy swallowed hard. "Of course, dear. She was... is a friend. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was talking to Applebloom-"

"That'll be your girlfriend Applebloom, then," said Sparkler. It was a running gag in their family, and it was funny because it was true, for given values of true.

"-Shuddup, Sparkler. Anyway, I was talking to Applebloom about how I missed going to the library and talking to her about books, learning magic with her, stuff like that. And Applebloom said the weirdest thing."

"Oh yes, little muffin?"

"She said there was no such mare. Now, we're not crazy. So something's happened - Mommy? You're all pale. Do you want me to get your snuggie?" A hint of worry crept into Dinky's voice as her mother sat and stared wide-eyed at nothing in particular.

"It affects blood relations..." Ditzy mumbled. "But she's in prison, I know she is, I watched the Princess put her there... this is a dream," she continued, her voice now oddly bright and brittle, like a sunny day in the depths of winter. "That's all it can be. Just a dream. A horrible, horrible dream." She rubbed the silver chain at her neck, remembering an old adventure, and gathered her children up in a big hug. "Except it isn't, is it. It just isn't."

She straightened up. "Mommy has to go and speak to your Uncle Spike. Sparkler, you're in charge. I might be gone for a few days, but you know where my bits are. Dinky, don't stay up too late reading. You too, Sparkler. And... remember that I love you both. Always." With that, she flew out into the night.

Sparkler turned to look at Dinky. "Now, what do you suppose is eating her?"

*******

dark

dark going to light lots of light can see a white room too bright too bright hurts hurts so bad help please no

dark

hurts

hear them talking hear them laughing hear them hear them no light please no hurts fire burning burning help me help me help me please help me hurts

dark

sick again

thrash again try to move have to leave hear snap bone gone hurts stop bleed sick again stop stop please no no no light bright hurts im sorry im sorry im sorry im

dark

burns

hurts

dark

light

darklightdarklightdarklightdarklight

im sorry

Caducea and Shining Light watched on as the little purple unicorn had yet another seizure. They smiled at each other, the latter's eyes oddly warm in the brushed-steel control room, and they took a few desultory attempts at notes. The thought of scientific endeavour had long since been swept aside in the pursuit of pain. After a few minutes, punctuated by silenced screaming from the unicorn lashed to the table with her eyes wired open, Shining Light turned to her boss and spoke, her presentation cut-glass accent long gone.

"Hey, Aki... tell me why we do what we do again. I mean, it's fun, but-"

"Then there you are. Pain, Miss Light, is an art as much as it is a science. We are artists, my dear, experimental and bold, seeking new media to work in and crafting symphonies from screams. Ponies who will not be missed, or should not be missed, will be made into art for everypony to enjoy. And please... you will address me with some measure of respect. I think... Mistress will suffice for now."

A familiar rush of blood ran through Light at the thought of that. "Y'know," she said, batting her long eyelashes, "I really love hearing you say that, Mistress. I really do." A brief grunt from the aforementioned Mistress told the golden-maned unicorn everything she needed to know.

Foolish child, thought Caducea as she made her aide lick her again - making people do things was, after all, something of a talent. Another simpleton lured by promises and trinkets and pretty little strung-together lies. You were bought as easily as a whore under a dockside lamp. You're even worse than me... except at doing that. Yes. Buck me yes. I'll have to try that move on dear little Twilight later. Not so little any more though... there's less point to it. Perhaps I'll have to counterbalance it with more pain. That reminds me, I've got to spend some quality time with my little filly later. Bring back all her favourite toys... oh, sweet Nightmare bucking Moon, Light's got some talent... because I've got my second chance, courtesy of the world's dippiest princess. Honestly, ponies are so easy to manipulate. I wonder why nopony really does it? Turn on the waterworks, talk incessantly about remorse like a foal up past its bedtime, and you're free. Not everypony deserves a second chance, or even a first, but I've got mine.

And this time... this time, I will not fail.

*******

Spike heard the door open, yelled the usual "We're closed, go away," and was surprised to hear continued hoofsteps on the hard wooden floor.

"Spike? It's me, it's Ditzy... I think I know what happened."

"Uh huh, you and everyone else. Twilight was crazy and on drugs so they took her away. That's their story and they're sticking to it. Even though they've disowned her."

"Drug addiction? Spike, she's not on drugs-"

Spike let out a short sigh that cut the pegasus off with the efficacy of a sniper's bullet and half as much warmth. "The others think she is. And it's my fault. They think she's addicted to p-painkillers... they took her away and I can't find her and it's all my fault..." His legs couldn't support him, and so they didn't try. Ditzy rushed over to him and wrapped her wings over his hard, newly-bony frame.

"It's okay, muffin... it's not your fault, it really-"

"I dosed her with them!" Ditzy reeled back in shock, eyes widening as they spun in her head. "I poured them down her throat because she was in so much pain! And now they've taken her away from me and I want her back because I love her, D-Ditzy, I love her so much..." He was incomprehensible after that, emitting nothing save a stream of snivelling grunts. The grey mare couldn't speak for some time after that.

"You were helping her, Spike. You were helping her. Nothing can take that away from you."

"Except her friends. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash... they even g-got Fluttershy in to do the analysis. I tried to tell them... they wouldn't listen. And now they're acting like she doesn't even exist! It hurts, Ditzy, it hurts so bad..."

"I know, little muffin, I know... Spike, please tell me if I'm out of line, but doesn't this whole thing seem a little... you know... familiar?"

"What?" Spike paled. "No. You're wrong. Twilight's just been taken away somewhere. The doctor's in prison, there's no way-"

"That, my little dragon," said a voice that trembled with hidden regret, "is what we need to talk about. Come, sit... there's a story you both must hear. It seems that once again I've failed my most faithful student and closest friend. For what it may be worth, Spike... I am so, so sorry."
> The Leader
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun, or rather its mistress, stood before Spike and Ditzy, resplendent in white and gold. Her long, flowing mane fell down around her, only the most cursory magic keeping it flicking in its usual manner. Spike stared. Ditzy tried to, but one eye simply spun gently in the breeze.

"Princess..." Ditzy stood stock still at the intruder's voice, then dropped into a curtsey. "I'm sorry, I should've brushed my mane before coming here, it's just I was so worried about her-"

"Hush, my little pony... I understand. I'm just sorry that you have to." Celestia's voice was back to its usual regality, the slight wobble long since gone in the name of preserving her image to her subjects. Power does that to you. "This will take some time, so it's best that I start now. And it begins back in Canterlot."

*******

"Twilight Sparkle, I know you're in here!" The Sun Princess's boomed out across the library, earning her an acid look from the chief librarian and a small squeak of fear from the very back of the room. A snapping sound later, Celestia was stood beside a fortress made entirely of thick treatises on tax law and the semiotics of fifth-century Zebraramaic, all held together by tough-looking magic that set the air shimmering. Sighing to herself, the princess located the capstone rune set and tapped it with her magic, sending the whole edifice into a cascade failure. The net result was that her student shot out of the collapsing fort like a shot bolt and a book fell on her hoof.

Celestia was not pleased.

A flash of magic later, a purple filly who seemed largely composed of gigantic eyes and even bigger fringe was floating along behind the princess like a terrified duck-on-a-string toy. She was shaking slightly, and eventually the Princess set her down in a chair across the room from her in her private quarters.

"Twilight... this has to stop. You've been in my care for two years now and you've not been out to play with the other foals once. There's nothing scary about going outside-"

"Yes there is." Twilight's forceful demeanour vanished like blossom in the north wind when Celestia gave a small, polite, utterly displeased cough. "Um, I mean... yes there is, Princess."

"Pray tell," the Princess said with a raised eyebrow that definitely didn't make her think about her sister, thank you for asking.

Twilight gulped. "It's... it's the bigness going out, Princess. Seeing the sky, it just, it just doesn't ever end, Princess, it goes on forever and that's... I can't take it. I just can't." Her gaze flicked away to her hooves, shame boiling off her. She continued in a much smaller voice, "If you want me to leave, Princess-" She got no further. Alicorns are very strong creatures and perfectly capable of silencing a filly with a well-placed cuddle.

"Oh, my little pony... I will never send you from my side. Never." A swell of motherly affection ran through the Princess' whole being as Twilight nuzzled at her breast.

She almost regretted how easily the lie had come.

*******

"Wait, wait, back up. What do you mean, the lie came easily?" Spike's small face was curling up with rage, his fists having gone that way some time before. "What did you think was going to happen to her-"

"Spike, have you ever had a hunch?" Celestia's tone was as measured as it had been throughout her anecdote, something that infuriated Spike even more. She seemed to show only mild boredom when talking about such things. Ditzy, being sensible in spite of her reputation, had seen through it some time ago.

"Well, yeah, of course I have-"

"When you're a - when you're an alicorn, your hunches... tend to be on the mark. It's not exactly foresight, but it's not something that can be explained away by sheer coincidence. If I may continue..."

*******

Celestia blew the candle out by Twilight's bed and flew gently out of the room, not wanting to wake the filly with hoofsteps or the harsh crack of teleportation. She still had to go away, though; it would not be seemly for Twilight to see her teacher's distress should she wake during the night. The Princess was utterly shaken and took to her private study to read and reflect upon the nature of her most beloved pupil's sickness.

Agoraphobia, it transpired, had many root causes, and the treatment was like antivenom; pick the wrong one and you damage the patient even further. Celestia's eyes had widened upon reading that, and her cocoa had left a large stain on the carpet before she recovered her senses. Her choice was clear; send for the best psychiatrists in the land to sort this out. Then, maybe, she'd be able to get some sleep.

The following morning, after raising the sun and listening to self-important stallions in bad suits talk about new tax laws to the point where she wanted to just banish them to a scorpion pit and be the despot people sometimes accused her of being, she arranged an appointment with a psychiatrist. Wakeup Call was a highly respected pony who loved to work with foals, and his track record was truly incredible.

Halfway through the first session, Twilight Sparkle apparently turned him into a small painted wooden duck.

A month later, Celestia was at her wit's end. Not content with inflicting this mess on her, the powers that be had elected to send a fresh shipment of diplomatic crises, hot off the presses. The Gryphon King was going through one of his soapbox phases and harping on about how unnatural ponykind's weather manipulation was again, there was a drought and the inevitable resultant food shortage in Zanzebrar and the Caesar needed help to keep his country in order, and to top it all off the infernal blasted Serene Crane Highness was launching ever more punitive raids on the Ibis Hegemony's land and the equally unhelpful Great-House Rasetra had executed the Crane ambassador. Everything seemed to be kicking off at once and she had no idea why. Not for the first time, she wished Luna was here. Maybe Twilight would've taken a shine to her and not tried to transmogrify her on sight. Perhaps, she thought, I've trained her too well-

There was a loud bang. Celestia sighed. That had to have been Dr. Chalky.

*******

"What happened to him," asked Ditzy in a surprised tone.

"Well, you see, Twilight didn't have much of a handle on her magic in those days. If you got her spooked or angry it lashed out of its own accord-"

"Short version, please," said Spike tersely.

"... He burst."

*******

Celestia was trembling now. The sheer amount of magic needed to do that to somepony... she had no choice. With six psychologists having needed compensation and danger money, and this latest one a post-mortem after being turned into a balloon in the desert section of the arboretum, Twilight needed to be taken somewhere safe where she could be protected from herself. She'd seen what it could do to everypony else, so the Princess shuddered to think how it was ravaging the poor little mite's system. She'd given up on getting her to go outside for now; it was probably best that she be kept indoors.

The problem with that idea was that word had got out about Twilight Sparkle's effect on the health, well-being and minds of even the most bull-headedly determined mental health professionals. Even the ones specifically dedicated to handling unicorns that could be charitably described as totally bananas had flat-out told her, even when she dragged out the Royal Canterlot Voice, that the little filly would have to go elsewhere, preferably very far elsewhere so that they all had time to pick a solid-looking mountain to hide behind. Celestia was not a pony given to despair, but it was looking more and more attractive. And so, the most astute of her hoofmaidens noticed a shiver running constantly up and down Celestia's spine as they brushed her.

At court that day, a blue earth pony with an unfortunate green mane strode purposefully to the front of the Great Hall. "Your Highness, Princess Celestia, I come from Trottingham bearing my plea. Willst thou answer?"

Celestia was thoroughly impressed; this mare remembered the old protocol even though her grandparents couldn't have been born when it was last used. "Speak ye now, for the ears of the Princess turn for you."

"My Princess, I work at the Sunnygarden Institute, a hospice dedicated to pastoral care for... challenging ponies. We would have royal assent, if thou werest willing to grant it."

"Pray tell," said Celestia, an almost imperceptible twitch upward forming at the corners of her mouth, "the reason We would give it, and the reason you would have it."

"Why wouldst thou give it, your Majesty? Because we seek to help ponies in need, a core value of us as ponies. In turn, we seek it because with that assent and that prestige, we can help ever more ponies who are worse off than we or thou would like. Our hearts are as pure as thine own, Majesty... we seek only to aid those less fortunate."

"Very well," said the Princess, who was letting a warm and maternal smile cross her face while inwardly she bounced happily around like a space hopper made of Prozac. "We shall grant royal assent to the Sunnygarden Institute. Long may you prosper and bring help to all who need it." The young nurse bowed and gave thanks, but before she could leave Celestia beckoned her closer.

"Your Majesty?"

"We would have a private conference with you after court. There is a matter of some delicacy that your institution may be able to help me with."

"Your Majesty, I... Of course. I can guarantee secrecy in all Sunnygarden's dealings. After all, you can always trust a Tenderheart."

*******

"TENDERHEART?" Spike screamed, the shock of it sending Ditzy skywards and slamming her into the ceiling of the library. "But she works here, in Ponyville! Her and Redheart run the nursing station on the outskirts!"

"Then it is exactly as I feared. Sweetness Tenderheart is a silver-tongued mare, and I fancy she's been watching my faithful student for some time. Her painkiller addiction must have been a golden opportunity for-" Celestia couldn't finish her sentence; her mouth hung open and refused to work.

Spike had collapsed to the floor and curled up into a small, tight ball. Ditzy Doo struggled down from the ceiling, taking a not inconsiderable amount of plaster with her, and put a wing over his quivering form. She then turned what would have been a withering glare on the Princess had not one eye wandered off halfway through it.

"He gave them to her. The painkillers, I mean. He gave them to her because of the nightmares." Her voice was strangely calm, but in her wandering eyes there could be seen the rage of a demon begging with the grey mare to be set loose.

Celestia looked at the baby dragon with widening eyes. "Is this true, Spike?"

The purple dragon gave no response save a sniff and a barely perceptible nod.

"You know how bad this looks, Spike. I believe you," Celestia added that point hastily as Ditzy let out an animal growl, "but we're going to need proof. It's not an addiction if it's treatment."

"... okay," came a miniscule voice from the dragon, as rasping and subdued as he had been loud earlier. "there's a diary. small, black. twi's room. i picked the lock. it took me weeks. that's why i shut the library, to, to work on it... i'm sorry, princess, i couldn't get it open because of the magic..."

Two whipcrack noises later, Celestia had it levitating in front of her. "Twilight's ward work has improved," she said brittlely, "but she still places too much emphasis on down-stroke runes, the up-stroke combination work is highly underrated, in my opinion... aha." The diary glowed purple, the same colour as Twilight's magic, and fell open. Spike and Ditzy walked around and peered over the Princess' shoulders, then wished they hadn't.

"I never knew... I... my Twilight... how was I so blind..." Celestia's magic wobbled and failed entirely. The book fell to the floor, accompanied after a few moments by hot, salt water.

Then Celestia stood up, and her horn began to shine. "Spike, Ditzy Doo, attend me. We've a Princess to contact, some friends to round up, and an interrogation to conduct." The pair rushed to the Princess' side and with a burst of magic they were gone.

*******

Day 31. Though you know that, because you're me.

It's been a month since I was rescued from my prison. The Mistress has helped so much... I was scared at first. Apparently that's natural after cases like mine. Mistress calls what happened to me Satanism, though I've never heard of it. It wasn't in either Ponyville or... her library. I can't say her name. Think her name. Whatever. What she did was evil.

My injuries aren't healing. Every time I have another fit, the treatment plan opens up old wounds. Wounds that that horrible, horrible mare inflicted on me in the name of darkness. She even... I can't think about it. Not again. The Mistress says that I have to go through intimacy relearning - which is weird, and it feels wrong, and I have a lot of blackouts in it, but the Mistress says it has to be done - because of what that demon did.

The Mistress says that, if I respond to treatment and stay in line, she'll teach me magic to defend myself from her. Only theory, though; my magic's too unstable at present, so I have to wear an inmanipulon collar at all times, for my own good. This just seems weird too, because I remember using magic a whole lot and it never seemed like a problem, but now when I try to remember it everything's all fuzzy and besides, Mistress wouldn't lie.

Mistress keeps me tied to my bed when she visits. That was after the first night, when I was so scared of her coming back to hurt me again that I lashed out and hurt her pretty bad, which was horrible of me. After that, I was kept under sedation for a few days. But that's weird, because when I woke up everywhere hurt, especially my... well, you know where it hurt. Because you're me. Hah. Talking to yourself. First sign of madness. You'd think the hospital would be a clue.

The orderlies are nice. Big, strong unicorn stallions. The Mistress says I have to obey them and give them everything they ask for, which is weird because they don't ask for anything. I just black out around them a lot and I wake up and there's pain, but the Mistress says that that's normal and I should keep doing what I do. Sometimes they take me to treatment and I see the Mistress and another doctor who's really pretty and they give me something to drink, and that's nice, but sometimes I get flashbacks to the cult. Her cult. I don't remember much of it, and what's left is... grainy. Like a zoetrope that's spun too quick. I remember red lighting and all these horrible things, weird faces, red light everywhere, stuff like that. I cry a lot after those happen, because the memories make places hurt that shouldn't hurt.

Sometimes, though, I remember other things. They're strange. Fuzzy, like the memories of... of her, but kind of like they're from the other way, if that makes any sense. Which it doesn't. I know it doesn't, because, well, you know by now. I know. Whatever. Point is, they seem... nice. There's me and these five other girls, and we laugh and play and have a lot of cool adventures, but those can't be real because Mistress says I was locked in a library by that... that evil... No. Mustn't cry. Mistress doesn't like it.

Besides, I know they're not real, because those fillies are... they're nice. They act like friends.

And the Mistress says I never had any friends.

*******

The Princess had teleported across Ponyville, a growing band of followers in tow, until finally she contacted Luna via telepathy and bade her travel to the manse of Tenderheart. The Moon Princess' eyes had flashed wide, then hardened, and she landed in front of her sister and her entourage as they arrived.

The Tenderhearts were a noble line that had largely died out, the ancestors losing money left, right and centre to landlords, conponies and mares of negotiable affection - and it wasn't just the patriarchs. The current Tenderheart still lived in the hall, but the lack of funding was beginning to show in the rusted door studs and the smell of age and dust.

Those doors burst inward easily under a magical onslaught, and the two alicorn sisters stepped purposefully inside.

"SWEETNESS TENDERHEART," bellowed Luna, the Royal Canterlot Voice doing alarming things to the masonry, "YOU SHALL COME FORTH FROM YOUR HIDING PLACE AND FACE THE JUDGEMENT OF EQUESTRIA'S PRINCESSES! KNOW THAT WE ARE MERCIFUL SAVE IF YOU RESIST! OUT, OUT, TO THE GREAT HALL WITH YOU TO PRODUCE AN EXPLANATION! WE LISTEN FOR YOUR REPLY!"

Applejack looked at Rarity askance. "Uh, do y'all think that she's, um... puttin' it a li'l theatrical, like?"

"I just don't understand why Celestia of all people is supporting these rumours about Twilight Sparkle," said Rarity, before two and a half glares shut her up. Ditzy sighed afterwards and cursed her spinning vision.

Eventually, Nurse Tenderheart trotted down the stairs, looking like a foal caught ransacking the biscuit tin. "Ugh, I guess you want to take me away, then-"

"HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS US IN SUCH AN IMPUDENT MANNER, CREATURE OF FLESH AND MALICE? YOU WILL TREAT US WITH THE PROPER RESPECT FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THIS CONVERSATION OR YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!" Luna had somehow managed to increase the volume, and a fine cloud of dust was spewing forth worryingly from a chandelier fitting. Tenderheart dropped to the ground and covered her ears, but there was no escaping the tremendous pressure of the noise. It was almost as if the Princess was shouting at her very soul.

What remained of it, anyway.

Celestia stepped forward. "You will tell me where Twilight Sparkle is being imprisoned. You have five seconds, and then Luna will ask you. Again. And again. And again." Someone watching her would have seen that her eyes were rimmed with tear-forged redness; a careful listener would have detected a note of huskiness in her voice. Tenderheart cringed. The Elements just looked on, shocked to their cores save for Pinkie Pie. She was smiling, really smiling... she could feel the energy beginning to come back to her.

Tenderheart quivered. "Please... Princess mine, I-"

"Four seconds."

"I can't tell you where she is, please, you have to believe me!" An edge of desperation crept into the nurse's voice.

"I don't have to and I don't intend to. Three seconds."

"But, but I'm just a poor nurse, I don't-"

"Two. Seconds."

"ALRIGHT! Alright. Please... She's at Moon River Hospice, please don't hurt me!"

"We are merciful, my little pony," said Luna, who appeared to be shaking violently. "Be thankful for this as you run from here and never return to Our sight." Tenderheart galloped off at pace, the ponies watching events unfold too dumbfounded to stop her.

"Well, that settles it. Luna, prepare for mass teleport-"

"Princess Celestia, that was... that was some of the worst manners I have ever seen!" Rarity marched up to her and bored into the alicorn's brain with deep blue eyes. "That was horrid, what you did to her. You could have just asked! She would not have dared lie to you-"

"Rarity," murmured Fluttershy in one of those peculiar whispered tones that cuts across a room louder than any magically-enhanced shout, "shut up. Until you remember, you don't get to speak. I read Twilight's journal. You do not get to speak, at all."

The white unicorn was taken completely aback. "Really, Fluttershy," she began, but a butter-yellow hoof that smelled of soap and lingering medicine was jammed into her mouth.

"No speaking." And Rarity simply let it go at that.

The teleport was quick, as they are wont to be, and the Elements found themselves in a strangely familiar garden - at least, three of them did. The other just thought it was a nice-looking hospital.

Celestia shut her eyes and concentrated for a moment. "Hmm... lots of different capstone runes... taking one down leaves another in place... however..." Her horn pulsed and bright-white light burst out of the garden wall, blinding everypony in the party for a minute and leaving oddly-shaped afterimages.

It was when Applejack slumped to the floor in utter, furious disbelief that Celestia knew her ponies were remembering. It was when they'd got to their hooves and growled with rage and pain that she knew they were back.

Now, though, it was time to fight.
> The Loss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was just beginning to drag itself above the Trottinghamshire downlands when the alarm bells sounded. The orderlies in the place knew it meant a catastrophic ward failure and they rushed to their various defensive emplacements, charging their horns for battle. This was it. They were probably going to die here, but they'd go out fighting for what they believed, or at least what their dark-hearted Mistress believed.

Twilight's rescuers heard the clamour and steeled themselves for the fight, and Luna sidled up to her sister to offer reassurance.

"You know, sister mine, they might have realised we're coming."

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes."

"So, technically, we've given them their one warning." The smile on Luna's face was like her moonlight; cold and silvery, with a distinctly sinister edge to it. "We - I love her too, you know. Though we haven't spoken much since my... bad time, I still do. And nopony deceives a princess of the realm."

Celestia said nothing for what felt like a very long time. Then, slowly, she charged her horn. "Rarity, Ditzy Doo, you're with Luna. If we split up we'll have a better chance of finding Twilight quickly, and we need a unicorn to support Luna's spellwork, the counterwards in particular. You'll pick it up in no time... I have faith in you. Fluttershy, Spike, your job is to deal with the wounded that come out of here. Head for the nearest town and get help from any doctors there. The rest of you, you're with me. Luna, dear, get the door."

Luna's smile somehow got even more dangerous. "My pleasure, sister." She sucked in a breath, trotted at the door, and let loose... something from her mouth. It wasn't sound. It couldn't be sound. Sound didn't create light out of nowhere or cause everypony's stomachs to wobble dangerously or blow huge oak doors into burning splinters.

"Why... why did you say 'force, balance, push?'" Spike murmured from the floor.

"Oh, is that what it means?"

"If we could focus? Ahem..." Celestia's magic touched off and a fireball burst through a painting on the other side of the hall, revealing a steel-walled corridor lit by a flickering striplight. "So predictable. Sun team, with me." A moment later, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie joined their Princess and leapt down the hole.

Luna smiled nastily and marshalled her own group. "Moon team, there's an antechamber to the left that's big enough for a lot of circles. Tell Us, Rarity... did Twilight ever show you what Loss Leader's Incantation of Fire and Screaming can do?"

"I'm afraid I don't recall it, Princess."

In retrospect, thought a thoroughly shaken Rarity about a minute later, the answer should have been obvious.

*******

Through one of the many crystal balls floating in her fortified reading room, Caducea watched the battle unfold. Her security teams had set up choke points at every conceivable location, hundreds upon hundreds of unicorns and innumerable wards both modern and... less so. She'd built up a private army in the years since her release, luring the most twisted in with the promise of unmitigated cruelty and the most intelligent in with that of total, true power.

Honestly, manipulating this species was almost unfair.

Still, Celestia and her force - some creature, to give that kind of power to ponies barely out of their foalhoods - were making headway. It was time to show them old magic, ordered in a way that the creature could not comprehend. She stamped a hoof upon a sigil and her runes flared, her beloved and benighted runes, coursing with power and the desire to kill her princess-

And then her precious wards failed and died, shattering like a dropped wine glass and dissipating into the ether.

Caducea let out a grunt of disbelief. As if in reply, she felt new wards flare, wards imbued with the monstrous power of their alicorn creator. The doctor could hear those new wards echo through the hospital walls and rain down blue-tinged fire upon her orderlies. Sirens wailed and the sprinkler system went off, but the volley of runic magic had done its job. Twenty lay dead at the crossroads and Celestia strode through unimpeded, her lackeys breaking down the doors and setting the terrified prisoners free.

"The other one," Caducea muttered, before tapping her hooves across a medley of wicked brands burned into her steel-plated floor. The runes fired and magic shrieked in the air, yearning to be set loose and steal the very souls of those who would defy their mistress.

"Shining Light!"

The tall unicorn appeared in a billow of sulphurous smoke a few paces behind her. "You summoned me, Mistress?"

"Take whatever you need and find the Dark Princess. Kill her and any of her followers. Slowness would be appreciated but is not vital."

"Oh, thank you, Mistress," Shining Light almost shouted, her face twisted in some parody of happiness. She spent a few minutes hastily attiring herself in warded barding, then a flash of malignantly pink energy sent her to where she needed to go.

*******

"Do you know, that one's actually quite lovely to look at," said Rarity as her magic drew another glittering purple rune in the air. "What does it do again?"

"The rune, Miss Rarity, is called Ur-Jepheth-Nartizeth. It is an ancient sigil from the Ibisite magical tradition, and it causes ponies' blood to boil in their very hearts." Luna's face was a mask of concentration, patterns dancing around her traced in the blue flame of her magic. "It is an instrument of slow and agonizing death. It is not lovely."

"Uh-huh... so, not the perfect motif for my spring collection, then?"

"Indeed not."

"Alright then. Let's just keep doing what we're WAHAHAHA!" The white unicorn shrieked and leapt out of her skin, jumping over a spell-bolt that would have made the metaphor much more literal. Clouds of brackish green smoke followed it and from them emerged a tall, very beautiful pony. But the beauty was off, like a record played at the wrong speed; her smile was bright, but glinted with the promise of murder, and her deep blue eyes held no more life than the chips of lapis lazuli whose colour they had taken. A slim, slender, far-too-perfect smile spread across the pony's lips and kept on spreading like oil on a headland until it showed glinting, vicious-looking teeth. Ditzy scampered off up into the rafters and curled up in a tight ball, whimpering and clutching between her legs.

"Well, well, well... the little blue princess came back. Love your new mane, that pale turquoise was getting to be so tacky."

"THOU SHOULDST NOT TREAT THE ROYAL PONY SISTERS WITH SUCH DISRESPECT, TRAITOR!"

Shining Light (now Rarity could place the name, and it set her teeth grinding) giggled in the face of the Royal Canterlot Voice, the runes on her barding glowing a diseased-looking mustard yellow. "Why break the habit of a lifetime, little one? And let's face it, you are the little one... not as good as Big Sister, not as good at magic or politics or self-control... you're just less."

Luna growled and stepped out of her warding pentacle. "I HAVE STRENGTH ENOUGH FOR THIS!" Her horn shone with a piercing light that forced Rarity to shield her eyes, and the magic touched off with a hideous shriek of pure power. The tall unicorn dived out of the way as Puppy Smiles' Invocation of Horrible Magenta Death smacked into the wall behind her, rolling and firing off a string of hexes in a truly ancient tongue. Ditzy screamed and shot from the room, Rarity chasing after her as fast as she could.

Luna paid them no heed. She let her turquoise glare focus on Shining Light and bellowed a challenge, the pulse of sound knocking the cackling unicorn clean off her hooves; the ensuing barrage of spells and swearing forced the princess to throw up a hasty shield and remark how much behavioural standards had slipped these days. Shining Light roared back and shot bolt after multicoloured bolt at Luna's head, ancient spells with incantations in the tongue of the Precursors' mad, dead gods exploding on the crack-strewn shell of magic.

The princess had no choice; she flared her wings and took off, letting the shield dissipate and blasting her foe with a vicious green bolt the mare barely avoided. She had much greater difficulty avoiding the swarm of venom-dripping spiders that erupted from the impact crater and expended a great deal of fire magic and profanity tearing them apart; the flames roared up almost to the ceiling before Luna's magic froze them into great pillars of glassy-faced obsidian. At a pulse of hornlight, the stone shattered into razor-sharp fragments that flew like a swarm of hornets at the unicorn. One sliver of rock slipped by unnoticed and caught the berserk unicorn amidships, scoring a thin red line across her flank before it bounced off of the barding and embedded itself into the wall alongside its peers. As Luna landed, charging her horn, the unicorn ran her hoof along the cut and gently lapped up the blood.

"Mmmm, lovely... not quite as delectable as your big sister's little squeeze, but we can't have everything, can we..." Luna's spell sputtered for a moment before dying outright; Shining Light let out a little shivering gasp as she cleaned her hoof. "You know the best part, little one?

"We made certain that she likes it."

Luna's eyes narrowed, and she charged.

*******

After chasing her quarry through what felt like an eternity of samey-looking corridors, Rarity finally had her quarry cornered in a dead end. Ditzy dropped to the floor, an utterly defeated look on her face.

"Darling, what are you doing? We have to go back and help Luna!"

"And get killed, Rarity? Really?" Ditzy's voice was high and cracked to the point where you could hear the tears she was trying to hold back. "I'm not about to die and leave my children behind - we're not rich like you. You don't understand what I have to lose-"

"Who does Dinky play with the most, Ditzy Doo?" murmured Rarity, the low hum of her voice cutting through the explosions of magic echoing off the walls. "When she goes out to play, who does she play with?"

"That club with the silly name, the Cutie Mark Something-or-others," said Ditzy after a little thought.

"Crusaders, darling. Sweetie Belle is my little sister, Applebloom is Applejack's, and for all her protestations to the contrary Rainbow Dash loves Scootaloo as if she was family. We've all got somepony to lose here. That's why we're all fighting..." the white unicorn paused, and then her expression hardened. "But that's not why you're running, is it." It wasn't a question. Ditzy Doo just looked at the floor for a minute, the crash of breaking stone coming from farther up the corridor.

"She hurt me, Rarity... when I was a filly she hurt me bad, r-real bad. I was one of the older girls, and... Celestia tried, but by the time she'd rescued us all from that, that evil place, it would have been too dangerous. I love Sparkler with all my heart, but-" The grey mare got no further, her already-rasping voice fading and dying like leaves on a fire. Rarity did nothing, could do nothing, save listen and hold her tight, the sounds of Luna's duel ringing in both ponies' ears.

After what felt like an eternity, Rarity spoke again. "Ditzy Doo, I need you to do something for me."

The grey mare snuffled a little and looked up into rich blue eyes. "Y-you do?"

"I do." The unicorn nodded and gave Ditzy a reassuring stroke along her back. "I need you to find me a tapestry, darling, as fast as you can manage." Her tone was down-soft and reassuring, like a mother telling a beloved child that it would be all right in the end. Ditzy smiled and stood up, nuzzling her friend and bringing a blush to both their faces once she'd stopped.

"Okay. Do you want any other cloth as well?" Confidence was slowly seeping back into the pegasus' voice.

"Anything you can get me, dear heart."

Ditzy gave some approximation of a salute, rose into the air and blurred off. Rarity sighed slightly and fished around in her memory for what Luna had told her about runic magic. This was almost certainly not going to work.

But she had to try, for the sake of her friend.

*******

Deep in the bowels of Moon River Hospice, a group of toned, muscular unicorn stallions were sat behind an armoured, spike-fronted barricade that closed off the hallway. It was warded to the best of their not-inconsiderable abilities, and Trottinghamshire steel was the finest in Equestria bar none. They were confident ponies, steeped in dark, strange magic that made ancient Zanzebranean voodoo rites look like flower-growing spells and levitation. They were convinced they could take care of the single pink earth pony that came bouncing towards them.

Even from two corridors away, Princess Celestia could hear their screams.

Pinkie Pie came back after a few minutes, her hooves leaving a little trail of sparks behind her despite her flattened mane. "So, Princess, that place up ahead looks like it's not got any of the bad ponies in it! I mean, I had a look and there was a big sharp thing made of metal, so I threw everypony behind it a party but I don't think they liked it because usually people who like them don't fall down unless we're doing limbo dancing do you think Twilight would like it if we went limbo dancing because it's really really fun and I just thought it'd be nice for her to have a party once it's all over down here!"

The princess tried not to look at the too-wide smile and the strange, slightly deadened eyes. "Of course, my faithful subject," she eventually summoned up, "I think that a party would be good for her after this is over and once she's better."

"Yay!" Pinkie yelled, and bounced off down another corridor. Celestia heard the gentle clank of hooves on aluminium grating and spun round, her horn flaring in the darkness. Almost immediately, her rage and magic subsided. It was just Applejack.

"Uh, yer Majesty, we really oughta be gettin' a lick on. Rainbow an' Ah jes' checked every cell up here an' they were all real new, they said. Seems ta me that if she's here she's right at the bottom o' this dog pile." The brim of the mare's hat was trembling slightly; she'd never seen just how powerful Celestia was in full-on combat, and she was only knocking the ponies out. Luna's spells were more vicious, yes, but still...

"I see. Pinkie Pie, come on. We're going to go straight to the bottom and fight our way back up."

"But we're not fighting, are we Princess? We're just throwing them a party and sometimes we party so hard that we make them fall asleep, it's not our fault that they're not used to this sort of thing, is it? They're just silly ponies who need to lighten up." Pinkie giggled, the sound far too high to be considered normal.

Celestia opened her mouth, thought for a moment, and shut it again. "If you insist, my little pony. Come, Pinkie Pie. We have a bat- a party to throw." Goodness, she thought, my language is all over the place. Stay calm. Be purposeful. Be perfect. Be a princess of the realm.

The four of them trotted down a long and now-deserted corridor, their eyes unwillingly drawn to rank upon rank of white-walled holding cells. The smell of the place, now that the fighting had died down a little and they had time to concentrate on it, was unbearable, an almost chewable reek of industrial bleach and dried blood. A scent of ozone hung around too, and nopony could really figure out why.

"This should burn," said Celestia. She was trembling slightly. "All of it should burn."

The four went on in silence.

C'mon, girl. Every step brings us closer ta Twi, thought Applejack as she rounded a corner, her posture a discarded love letter, crumpled and defeated. One hoof in front o' the other. Land's sakes, why was it so much easier when Ah was gonna explode?

The thought proved oddly prescient as she crashed into the princess's outstretched wing. She rubbed at her head - it had been like walking into an iron bar - and looked up at the Princess' hard-edged face. The little earth pony followed her ruler's gaze with mounting dread, and her jaw dropped open in horror once they were both looking at the same thing.

"Hehe, uh... I didn't do it?"

Rainbow Dash was hovering in midair, suspended by a thin beam of wine-red light disrupted only by her back left hoof. The beam pulsed eerily, a peculiar counterpoint to the stark, disinfected white light of the corridor. In the distance, Applejack could hear yet another alarm going off. Land's sakes, she thought, how many ponies work in this hellhole anyways?

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to do something for me." Celestia's voice was as calm as she could make it, but it was still shot through with worry. "Can you move your hoof?"

"Well, if I could do that then I wouldn't be stuck here, would - oh, uh... sorry, Princess."

"It's quite alright, my little pony." Celestia stepped forward delicately, light shining forth from her horn to check for any more traps. "This looks to be... how strange. This is Narwhalese magic, and unpleasant at - well," she checked her speech as Rainbow's eyes widened in fear, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Luna loves to figure out this sort of puzzle; I'll send her a message now."

"Uh, Princess, could you hurry that thar message up a bit?" Applejack's eyes were fixed dead ahead. "Ah don' mean ter be rude, only, we got company." Indeed they did; a group of steroidal unicorns had rounded the corner and fired a volley of spells off before dropping behind heavy-looking steel barricades. More alarms sounded, the clang of heavy iron bells mixing with the fizzing whine of nasty-looking spells, one of which caught Celestia full in the chest and burned off a good layer of skin. She grimaced, spread her wings, and to Applejack became the sun.

Everypony seemed to forget that the Princesses were as powerful as they were. They saw an image of maternal care on one hoof and either a slightly diffident intellectual or a villainous fairytale monster on the other, depending on whether the speaker listened to the gutter press or not. What very few ponies saw was when they got angry.

That was when you got Nightmares.

Celestia's current state wasn't quite a Nightmare, in the same way that Batman doesn't technically have grounds to be sectioned. Her mane was ablaze with colours and flaring out behind her head as if she'd been struck by lightning rather than rage. Her eyes glowed white-hot and her horn spat great fat drops of energy that left smoking craters in the floor. She had become the spirit of the purifying flame, and this hospital was ready to burn.

Her horn glowed white, then a pale, almost pastel blue, and ponies burned. Their end came from a great crescent of searing fire that hurt to look at, and their passage was marked only by blackened, bubbling patches on the sheet-metal floor. The Princess' - you couldn't call her Celestia now, this was the idea of royalty personified - eyes had gone completely white and glowed from the inside, and her mane danced with solar magic. Blast after blast of fire came from her, shredding the walls even as the prisoners inside them scampered off to safety, and slowly the floor began to melt. The Princess could hear dim cries, as if from the other side of a crowded room, but all she knew was the avenging, purifying flame-

"Princess?"

A little pony's voice is a powerful thing to an alicorn. As if a light had been turned off inside her head, Celestia came back into herself and saw the devastation she'd wreaked upon the wards, the floor spotted with cherry-red steel and stains of carbon. 

I will not cry, she thought. However much it hurts, however much control I've lost, let me keep this one shred of dignity. Let me be perfect again.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that, my little ponies. I..."

"It's okay," said Applejack, face shiny with sweat, not all of it from the heat. "Y'all jes' want Twilight back."

"Yes," murmured Celestia after a little time had passed. "I need her. We need her."

"Then, uh, perhaps ya might wanna see ter Rainbow, yer Majesty? Only, that leg's gone awful pale..."

*******

Luna, sister, are you there?

"What ails thee, Celestia?" Luna said tersely as she ducked behind a gigantic oak tree she'd grown from an armchair moments before.

Rainbow Dash has been caught in a very nasty trap. It looks like a Fifteenth Dark Edda ward, and a vicious one at that.

"Narwhal magic? That explains... much." A fireball from the alicorn's deranged opponent smashed the tree into pieces; Luna's horn flared and the pieces stopped in mid-flight, transformed into shards of silvery-looking metal, and sped towards Shining Light. A few put long scrapes on her barding, but that was it. "Hast thou tried the standard Greater Spirals?"

They just seemed to make it worse. And why didn't you dispel the wards in the process? I thought we agreed on a creeping barrage.

"Sister dear, our enemy has more than one captain at her command. Can We... can We call thee back?" A sickly-pink Curse of Entrail-Expelling bounced off of Luna's hastily-constructed shielding charms and hit a picture, which burst.

How hard can they be to defeat, Luna? If I am capable of burning them, then you - what was that? I heard a scream! Are you alright?

"We would be considerably more alright and possessed of more flesh in Our left hindquarters were it not for thine infernal babble, thou prating knave of a Princess! We shall attend thee in good time, now let Us be!"

Oh. Right. Is it really that-

"YES!"

... I'll... leave you to it, then

"See that you do." The gout of evil-looking black fire washed over Luna's hiding place, forcing her to rush the healing spell she'd been preparing and forgo several unpleasant ones that would cause her foe to be splattered across the landscape. By any sane right, she should be dead a thousand times over, Luna thought. What in Equestria is this pony?

What Shining Light was right now was laughing, as hard and cold as the blade of ice she'd conjured to hack down the Princess' flank. Luna threw up another duelling shield and countered with a volley of greenish spheres that careened off of Light's warded barding, impacted on the hospital's walls and slowly began melting through them. She then decided to try a different tack - a Narwhal White Spiral of the Seventh Edda, a powerful wardbreaker and (though it irked her slightly to admit it for some reason) Celestia's idea. The magic caught and sped forth, a spinning ball with twin white plumes coming from either side that caught a glancing hit on the mare's left side.

Luna concentrated on that side now, summoning spell after terrible spell from her too-long, too-full memory. Every race that possessed a horn possessed magic, and Shining Light was subjected to a barrage seemingly from every citizen of the world.

And she still wouldn't stop bloody laughing.

*******

Rarity was sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor, her eyes rolled back in her head and her horn on fire. She was surrounded by flowing colours, which on closer inspect turned out to be a maelstrom of bolts of cloth, needles and other assorted sewing and embroidery paraphernalia. Where Ditzy had managed to dig it up from was a total mystery, but the little seamstress was beyond caring. Her magic flowed through her, crafting a strong, thick dress, full on the flank and well-suited to Ditzy's colours. It also happened to be embroidered with every single rune Rarity could remember the pattern of, as many times as she could fit it onto the fabric. The result was a twisting morass of colours, shapes and letters that hurt slightly to look at.

Eventually, the magic died down and Ditzy was able to look at the creation. "Darling," her friend called, "I think it's ready now! Actually, wait, hold on..." Rarity's horn focused yet more light onto the hood of the gown. "There. I just had a few scraps left over and it was enough for one more of those peculiar orange glowing runes that her Majesty said had something to do with solar flares. What do you think?"

"I think you're making me wear a bomb."

"Well, there is that aspect to it, yes, but you should be perfectly safe."

"I'm gonna be perfectly safe at the centre of a magical explosion triggered by a Sonic Muffboom - and stop that giggling, it's just as good a name as any other."

Rarity dabbed at her eye with a handkerchief, thought for a moment, and sewed it swiftly onto the hem and covered it with even more runes. "I'm sorry, Ditzy, it's just... you're right. You're absolutely right. Anyway, aren't you going to try it on?"

"Try on the bomb."

"You'll be fine, darling. I promise." Rarity's magic floated the dress gently onto Ditzy's body; it was pretty good work, given the circumstances. "Now, do you think you can get up to speed?"

"... I'll try, Rarity, but I still don't think this is a very good idea."

"It's also our only idea." Rarity winced as a huge crash came from far away in the lobby. "She's fighting the Princess to a standstill, Celestia knows how, so we're no use in a straight-up fight. We're going to have to use as many force multipliers as we can, which means all our magic going into a pegasus-guided missile."

"Rarity, how do you know all that stuff? That's, uh, that seems a little outside your remit, you know."

"Twilight taught me," she said, her voice soft as a low tide, and Ditzy couldn't help but bundle her up in a bone-crushing hug.

"I'll do it."

"Okay then, darling. Your run-up, as it were, is along this hall here... it's about the longest straight I can find. If you need more, go outside and-"

"Rarity, I do know how to fly."

Rarity sighed and rubbed her forehooves together awkwardly. "Sorry, Ditzy. I do worry so."

"I can do this," the mailmare said, largely for her own benefit. "I can do this. Hold on, how are we going to stop her from simply blowing me out of the sky?"

"I... er... I'll just be a minute. I do have an idea, it's just... why don't you take off and let me handle it?" A little bead of sweat trickled down her brow. "Don't you worry about a thing except doing your Sonic Rainboom."

"Okay then!" Ditzy's voice had an odd, bright quality to it, like the first frost of winter, and she took to the air and zoomed off on the flight-path they'd arranged. Rarity galloped along a slightly different and much shorter route, dragging a heavy-looking armchair behind her with her magic.

Rarity's route got to the battleground first, and she flung the chair with the strongest magic she could muster. It shattered on Shining Light's shield and sent the crazed unicorn stumbling at just the right moment. Her head hit the floor as Ditzy flew through the rafters, dodging the transfigured debris and dripping acid that were the scars of a true mage's duel, and burst out of the front doorway.

*******

Luna was just preparing another barrage of Narwhalese ward-breakers and a couple of really interesting examples of Ibisite fire magic when her target stumbled and fell, bits of chair rebounding all over the room. Behind the falling mare, the Princess could see Rarity screaming "LOOK AT ME, I'M A TARGET!" and jumping through a doorway. In addition, a little tinkly noise sounded in her head as a scrying spell went off. Something had left the building through the front door - what remained of it - and had probably done so on the wing since neither her nor her adversary had caught them in the crossfire. Luna smiled; her little ponies had a plan.

She fired off the most complete set of spells at the laughing mare - and how she was still laughing, Luna would never know - and concentrated on building up the biggest array of shields she could get up in time.

Shining Light caught this, but simply giggled in amusement. "Oh, is baby all tuckered out?" She paused as if remembering something and tossed a few sulphur-yellow bolts of malicious magic at the wall where Rarity was hiding, which exploded. "You can let Auntie Light send you off to the last sleep you'll ever need... just a shame I don't get to taste you before." She began to bombard Luna with every evil spell she could think of, even as the Princess cocooned herself in her bright blue shields. "You know, I'd love to get to know you better, little Woona. You tied down, me in my uniform, my teeth sucking the blood from your neck, my magic making you hurt like you've never hurt before," the madmare's slasher smile widened further and her horn spat vicious grey-coloured crescents that bit deep into the forcefield but didn't quite get through, "and healing you to do it all again but never take the pain, never ever take your precious pain away until I've broken you.

"I bet you taste real good, little one. Kinda like blueberry pie. I'd put money on it." Red-tinged fire spewed from the floor, lapping at Luna's shields as she took to the air. "Of course, who needs money when you've got friends, right? And I'd make sure you and I were the very best of friends. Friends share everything, Luna... especially their bodies. Oooh, mercy me, I can almost hear the little noise your wings'll make when I snap 'em! You ever done that? Break somepony's bones just 'cause you can? It's so hot. Almost as good as breaking a horn..." Multicoloured lightning rained down on the shields, but still they held. "Aw, now you've got me thinking about little Twilight Sparkle again! Isn't she just the cutest? Especially her dumb-flank expression when we mess around with her memory. We don't use magic for that, of course. No fun. We only use it to heal up her bits when we're done playing with her. That can take a heck of a long time, Woona. Gosh, I'm wet right now."

Luna's eyes finally opened at Shining Light's last sentence.

"We studied the concept of Pony Hell, Shining Light. We studied it for no little time." Furious spells lashed at the Princess' shields but still they held, still she kept adding to them with everything she could muster. Her ears were just beginning to detect the rush of speed from the outside. "Dost thou know it? 'Tis evil itself, Shining Light." It was loud now, the charge in the air making her mane buzz. She gave it a few seconds more before fixing the unicorn with the deadliest of her death glares.

"Hie. Thee. Hence."

And just as Shining Light stopped laughing, just as she turned towards the whooshing noise coming from the doorway, Ditzy's Sonic Rainboom touched off and the world went white.

*******

Applejack was rubbing an increasingly pale Rainbow Dash's mane when the shockwave hit.

There was a great creaking noise that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Tiles shook themselves from the walls, the striplights in the ceiling failed or fell out altogether and shattered on the floor, and even the sheet metal floor began to vibrate - emitting a humming noise in E flat. She felt Rainbow Dash's forelegs wrap around her body, tight enough to remember better days, and let herself enjoy it while bits of loose plaster rained down on the Princess' shield.

Rainbow was pretty out of it, the ward pulsing slowly in time with (the ponies had worked out) her heartbeat. She'd slowed it right down - it was slow anyway thanks to her athletic nature - but the blood still drained from her, vanishing into some unknown, evil place not even the most inquisitive research sorcerers of the Narwhals felt any pressing need to explore. Her vision fuzzy and her head feeling like it was full of dancing lights, all she saw was Applejack next to her. She nuzzled the mare's neck gently as the shockwave made itself felt, sending a huge blush to the farm pony's face.

A few minutes later, it subsided. A few eternities later, so did the burning in Applejack's cheeks. Rainbow mumbled something incoherent and her eyelids fluttered, though her face was too deep in the crook of Applejack's shoulder for anypony besides the two of them to notice.

"What was that, sugarcube?"

"M'tired, AJ... 'm sssssso tired... I think I'm gonna take a nap, lover girl."

Applejack glanced at the Princess worriedly, despite the rock-melting heat pouring from her cheeks. Celestia shook her head once.

"Ah'm sorry, Rainbow, y'all gotta stay awake fer now. Jes' a li'l bit longer."

"Awwww..." Rainbow attempted to yawn and pout at the same time, which under any other circumstances would have been hilarious to watch. "You... you got plans for me, huh, AJ? That why you're being mean an' k-k-" Another yawn, another scared glance at the Princess from Applejack. "Keeping me up? Isn't like I ain't used to it or, or anything..."

"Rainbow, please, Ah-"

"LOOK OUT!" Celestia bellowed as she threw up a shield. The ceiling, already shorn of plaster, gave way altogether and cascaded down, along with - 

"Ugh," said a pegasus rising slowly from the huge hole, her coat and the remains of a dress red from layers of brick dust. She looked around, and then up. The ponies followed her gaze and saw, to general amazement, open sky. "Did I do that?"

*******

"Okay, um, Mrs. Needlepoint, I'm just going to check your dressings and oh my goodness. Dr. Happy Home, could you take this lady to your emergency room, um, it's just that those have gone septic and - don't worry, you'll be just fine, you're safe now, it doesn't have to hurt any more. Um, next please."

Needlepoint got a blast of medical anaesthetic before she was carted off by Happy Home's ambulanceponies - he couldn't do it himself because of a leg injury he'd picked up in his youth. Spike pushed past the doctor and brought in a small metal cart. Atop it was a short, ramrod-thin colt with what might have been a pink coat underneath all the filth and what looked like four knees in one of his back legs.

"Valley, this is Fluttershy. She isn't going to hurt you, I promise. You're safe here, okay? Now, she's gonna come a little closer but she's just gonna look at your leg."

Fluttershy came closer, bearing a warm smile and a lollipop from a jar. Valley squeaked and tried to move away, shuffling towards the edge of the gurney.

"Hello, little guy," she said regardless. "I'm not going to hurt you at all. Now, let's have a look at that leg, huh?" Valley squeaked again, and Fluttershy saw huge bruises under his chin and right down his neck. "You poor, poor dear... here." She unwrapped the lollipop and proffered it. "You've been so brave, Valley, really. It's all alright now, it's all alright..." The little colt gently took the lollipop with some stuttering magic and made a face like someone was pulling his teeth out. It was only when that happened that Fluttershy realised what had been done to him and her eyes ran over his thick, straggly mane until they alighted on the broken stump of a horn. Spike's claws gently ran over the colt's shattered leg while he was occupied with the lollipop; the dragon's eyes widened as he came across break after break. Fluttershy looked at him, and he just looked away.

"Okay, Valley, I'm going to go get Doctor Blossom, and she's gonna make your leg all better. I promise." Fluttershy knew that she couldn't make that promise, not really. Every single break was professionally bad - whoever had done this wanted this colt, and he couldn't have been more than seven, to go through hell every single time he moved that leg.

A few seconds later, Quince Blossom showed up with a light sleeping/pain relief potion. Fluttershy sank to her knees and Spike ran to her side, yelling for somepony else to take her spot in triage.

"He was a foal, Spike... he was just a foal, I, oh, Spike." Whatever speech Fluttershy had planned to make disappeared into Spike's underbelly, mixing gently with her tears. The little dragon ran a clawed hand through her mane and hugged her as best he could.

Time passed, not long enough for somepony else to become overworked. With a snort that still managed to sound demure, Fluttershy got to her hooves and looked at the dawn. It was just dark enough that you could still see the stars, like some bizarre, reversed twi-

She couldn't think it. Not right now.

The triage went on for about an hour, with floods of ponies being carried down by the townsponies of Coltchester on whatever was to hand. The nursing station in the town was already stuffed to overflowing, though, so the local EHS hospital over in Flankaster was showing up to get everypony into its own much larger emergency space. Fluttershy found herself with less and less to do now that actual doctors were running the show, so she trotted out of the gazebo where she and Spike had been working a sat on the grass, a pack of squirrels slowly collecting around her before the dragon showed up.

"It's kinda beautiful up there, isn't it," he said quietly.

Fluttershy's shoulders sagged slightly. "It makes me think of her."

"Me too," said Spike. They were silent for a while, watching the world change.

"Fluttershy, look, a shooting star!" The dragon pointed a claw at a fast-moving blob in the sky

"Oh my... that's so pretty, Spike. But, aren't they usually just white?"

"Huh? Well, uh, maybe it's special! You know, for... for somepony special!"

"I guess, Spike, but it looks like it's headed straight for the top of the hill."

"Yeah. Maybe it wants to bomb it!" Spike chuckled. "Makes, uh... hold on, hold on, I got this... four down, carry the two-"

His musings were cut short with a flash of magic from the top of the hill. It had to be magic, because there wasn't anything else that could cause that kind of light show and quite so deafening an explosion. Fluttershy gave a "YEEEEEEK!" and shot off towards the triage tent, but Spike just sat there like he'd been nailed there. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"Y'know, I wasn't exactly being serious."

*******

Slowly, blinking the grey out of her vision, Luna got to her hooves. Her ears were still ringing from the... whatever it was. She dimly remembered magic, and lots of it; so much that even the background magic left over was making her horn start to hurt. She stepped gingerly over towards where Rarity had gone, retracted a hoof as it touched nothing but air, and gave her wings an experimental flap. Nothing seemed particularly broken, so she took off and flew over to the wreckage-strewn office room. She couldn't see anything, but the Princess could hear, just on the edge of her hearing, the sound of someone crying. Instantly, she boosted her hearing with a few spells and homed in on the noise, tossing aside the rubble as though it was nothing until she caught a glimpse of white and purple and stains of red. Trembling slightly, the Princess continued to dig Rarity out of the stonework, and once it had been cleared she laid the crying pony out on a bench with almost reverential care.

A quick diagnostic spell revealed a brace of fractures in Rarity's back legs and a boatload of bruises along her back. Upon closer inspection, Luna could see fragments of broken brick sticking out of some of them, and whisked them out as gently and as quickly as she could. The yowl of pain still forced a few streaks of salt water down her muzzle to drip gently onto the floor. Paying no mind to the floodgates opening (to say nothing of her own pain - the flesh Shining Light's curse had gouged out of her flank needed replacing), Luna worked quickly and methodically, healing as many bruises as she could find and setting her legs with a couple of conjured splints. Afterwards, it was time to simply calm the mare down. Luna bent down and dried Rarity's tears with a patch of velvet cloth, stroked her mane, and told her, her voice as gentle as her words archaic, that it'd all be alright, that she'd be okay.

It was only after the mare had drifted off to sleep that Luna noticed her sister's voice screaming at her telepathically. "Apologies, sister mine. There was a... We're not sure what it was, but it went bang and seems to have opened up the ceiling. How fare thine charges?"

Luna, I've told you who knows how many times now! I can't break the rune trap Rainbow Dash is caught in and she's bleeding out. Everything I've done is just making it worse and I'm not killing anyone else today! I'm just not!

"... Grave tidings indeed. Is there room for me to teleport?"

Yes, plenty. Please, Luna, hurry!

Luna picked up Rarity and concentrated for a moment. A brief flash later, and she was... in the same place?

"God's wounds... sister, the scurvy curs have locked the building down. I'm coming by hoof. Which floor are you on?"

There was a slight pause. B3.

Luna set Rarity on her back and flew back to the hole in the floor. She counted the levels under her breath, steeled herself, and jumped down it, floating gently with the aid of a little magic here and there. Even so, her descent wasn't the most elegant; Luna had never found flying all that appealing, and her landing could have been charitably described as akin to a concussed elephant being shoved off a roof. The thump shook the floor and another tile fell from the walls, and Luna's eyes widened as she took in Rainbow's situation. Sweeping imperiously past the other ponies as she floated Rarity's sleeping form down onto a safe-looking patch of floor, her eyes hard and narrow as a spear point, she began unpicking the wards nailing Rainbow Dash in place.

"Hmmm..." she mumbled, her mane pulling itself out of her eyes as she worked. "Narwhal but not, most intriguing... there's everything in these wards, sister, no wonder thou hadst such trouble with it. Cranese, Corvidian, Ibisite, Ibexite... there's even aspects of adapted Precursor rituals in here. But I think... goodness, that's the capstone? Something so simple... mayhap hidden in plain sight, as 't'were. Hold fast, Celestia, subjects... there may yet be noise."

"Uh, noise how, exactly?" Applejack piped up.

"Noise like-" Luna's horn flashed for a moment and the rest of the sentence was drowned out by a great keening wail that tore into their eardrums like a sword of frozen acid. It was followed by a splat as burgundy goo plastered itself to Luna's shield. "That."

"Did someone shout? I was having the most wonderful dream..."

"Nah, Rarity, jes' some magic goin' off. What happened to yer legs?" A look of concern washed over Applejack.

"Oh, that was the plan to deal with Shining Light."

"Plan, my little pony?" Celestia looked at her slightly askance. "What would that be, exactly?"

Ditzy gave a little grin. "I exploded!"

"I... see. No, wait, no I don't, but neither do I overmuch - I mean, I'm sure you had your reasons. Come now. Working hypothesis is that Twilight is on the lowest level, so we need to find an elevator-"

"Nay, sister, we do not," said Luna absently as she topped up Rainbow Dash's blood supply and closed up the hole running through her hoof. The device itself would be too slow, and why seek out a shaft when friend Ditzy Doo hath made a most satisfactory one? Pray tell how deep thine endeavour doth go, my dear."

"Uh... I don't know the floor plan, Princess, but it looked like I went pretty low down. And I think I chipped a tooth or six. And what happened to Shining Light?"

"We know not and care less. Come, ponies; those not blessed with flight We shall bear upon Our back." At that, everypony with wings spread them and those who didn't hopped onto the nearest princess. Rainbow Dash prepared for takeoff but got a hard look from Celestia.

"Rainbow Dash, you've been so brave, but you've lost a lot of blood. Get on my back and no argument."

Rainbow sighed and clambered onto the Princess' back. Just as they were about to take off, a bevy of tiny, furry faces looked down on them from on high, joined shortly thereafter by a yellow one hiding behind an avalanche of pink hair and a purple one covered in scales.

"Is everypony okay? The little critters and I were running triage in town when Spike said something about an explosion - oh my goodness, what happened to Rarity?" That last part was practically shrieked by Fluttershy, and she sped down to join the group, Spike sitting atop her back. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, that's an awful lot of cuts and bruises, and your poor horn, what in Equestria happened to you?"

"Heh," Rarity snorted, "you should see the other mare."

"If we could progress, my subjects, We would like to get this over and done with." Luna said with a hint of indignation.

Fluttershy turned to look at Spike. "Are... are you sure you want to be here, Spike? This could be really-"

"It's Twilight, Fluttershy. Twilight. You shouldn't have to even ask." The little dragon shifted his weight and got a better grip on his friend's mane. With that, they took off, floating gently down on air currents as Celestia melted a path through the floor and Luna took care of any lingering wards and alarms. Finally, the Princesses pulled up and their subjects disembarked.

"Have we hit bedrock already, sister?"

"No, Luna, we haven't; the layout of this place is exactly the same as the layout of Caducea's first asylum. There should be a records office down this way, and I know they keep extensive records of who's housed where." Celestia turned away from the rest of the group, marching off down a corridor, horn spitting sparks. "You could see the flame from Hoofington, so I heard."

Nopony really said anything as they cantered after Celestia. Nopony really could. Sure enough, they came to an office rammed full of scrolls and charts and ancient, evil-looking spellbooks. Luna picked one up and flicked through it for a few moments, then gently set it down on the desk and incinerated it with a single spell. As she looked away, she caught sight of movement behind a glass door along with the glow of magic. Snarling, she summoned her magic and dragged a pale green unicorn mare out of the room, the door breaking into shards.

"WHERE. IS. TWILIGHT. SPARKLE."

"I-I-I don't know who that is!" The mare's voice was thin and reedy, exactly what one would expect a bookkeeper to have. "I - wait, are you h-here to get us out? Oh, thank you, thank you-"

"We are here only to bring you and your kind to justice, creature of filth."

"N-no, Princess Luna, I'm, I'm one of the inmates! My name's Winter Harvest, I'm a farm pony f-from near Hoofington, please! I'm in the book! You gotta believe me!"

"We do not have to believe a word you say, vile spawn of-"

"Mmm, Mmmhm? Mmm mmhmm mm," said Applejack before rolling her eyes and spitting out a huge, red-covered logbook. "Sorry. Ah meant ter say, Ah think we do. Winter Harvest, unicorn, admitted fer alcohol dependency an' paranoid delusions on Treatment Plan C, whatever the hay that means."

"See! See! They make us do the work here so they've got someone to blame! Please, you gotta let me out of her, please!"

"This..." Luna gave a great sigh and lowered the terrified unicorn to the floor. "We are sorry for that. Today has been trying for Us and Our subjects here. Ms Sparkle is Our sister's protégé and we fear for her life. If thou hast seen her, please tell Us. She is small and as stocky as one may get in such a place as this. She is purple of coat, with a stripe through her mane."

"A, uh, pink stripe - YAAAAH!"

"TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW OF HER!"

"Luna, stop that this instant," Celestia bellowed. Luna fixed a glare on the shivering wreck of a unicorn and dropped her to the ground. In turn, the Sun Princess trotted forward. "Now, Winter Harvest, please. I... I want my student back."

"Uh, um..." Winter gave Luna a scared glance and shrank back when she snorted and pawed the ground. "I... if she's got that weird pink star cutie mark," she said, taking heart when Celestia nodded, "then she's in Max. That's where they put us when we're bad. I think they put her under a different name... could I see the ledger?" Applejack passed it to her. "Thanks. Uh, that's her here." Her hoof tapped a line of print. "Wind Singer. Maximum security wing, admitted - oh, no..."

"What is it, what's wrong?" Rarity said, blanching under her white coat.

"She's been in Max for more'n a month now... they do horrible things there. I... I'm sorry, but she might be-"

"She isn't."

"Sister?" Luna asked.

"I'd know," Celestia said as she tapped her chest, "I'd know if she was. Right here."

"I really hope you're right, Princess."

"Fluttershy will take you to the triage centre in town-"

"It's okay, I can walk, Princess. It'd... it'd be nice to. Show them I can, you know?"

"I understand." Celestia gave the most maternal smile she could muster. "Go, and be at peace."

The mare trotted out of the door and out of sight. If somepony with the very keenest of ears had been straining for all they were worth, they might have heard a soft tinkling noise as a glamour faded and died, followed by the slightly louder crack of teleportation, but there were none in the hospital.

*******

Celestia mustered her little group and marched back towards the hole they'd been digging. According to a building plan Rarity had dredged out of the office, the maximum security wing was, as predicted, right at the bottom, but they were close. Twilight had been ensconced in Cell 4, Block H, and the ward coverage there was almost non-existent - nopony was expected to be there, apparently. Something about that struck Luna as at odds with the notion of Maximum Security, until she looked at the poor unfortunates in there.

And they were unfortunates. Drooling, deranged, broken ponies, sitting in straitjackets chained to the walls of their cells or lashed to their cots, mewling pathetically in the darkness. As they passed, Applejack and Rarity began the task of getting them out, bucking the thick oak doors off their hinges and picking the locks on their shackles. Fluttershy flew them out to the nursing station in town after some quick diagnostic work by Spike. Celestia just strode on, only occasionally glancing from side to side to check the numbers on the cells. It was all she dared do, for the sake of decorum.

Luna turned and trotted to her sister's side. "She'll be okay, Tia. She's strong."

Celestia only sighed, her breath making a noise that was soft and sad and impossibly old.

They turned the corner into Block H and there it was. In the middle of a steel courtyard was a huge machine, studded with tiny spikes and with attachments meant for shackles. Rainbow Dash looked around the back and saw the source of the strange ozone smell, and her voice shook almost as much as she did.

"It's a thunderhead. They've... they must hook somepony to that an'... just break it, anypony, please just break it!"

Luna obliged, blasting it to atoms with a single spell. When the dust cleared, they saw their goal. Cell number four, closest to the lightning bed and the thankfully-empty orderly barracks.

Celestia looked at the steel door for a little while. After that, her horn burst into life and the metal melted in the face of solar fire. The rest of the Elements and their friends galloped after the Princesses to see their friend. When they got there, the scene broke their heart.

The Princess of the Sun moved towards Twilight's prone, unbrushed, too-thin body and gently woke her up, with a huge smile on her face and promise after promise that everything would be alright.

Twilight only stopped screaming when Luna's sleep spell hit.