//------------------------------//
// VI 
// Story: The Influence 
// by GMBlackjack 
//------------------------------//

Twilight regained control of everything - and had a panic attack. The entity was standing right in front of her, as if it was curious. 

"You all seem to have a serious case of mistaken identity."

"Uh..." Twilight said.

"Disappointing. While this 'primary' is fascinating, I was hoping my efforts would find something more... knowledgeable."

"Your... Efforts?"

"I am curious if any of you would bother to explain the name 'Sweeper' at a later date. Prove yourselves at least somewhat worthwhile. 

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill your vessel. More time is all you need."

"Would you at least respond to me!?" Twilight screamed. 

The entity floated away from her. "You are The Influence, but you woefully misunderstand your own nature. Maybe with time you will mature, and take the place you were meant to."

Twilight gritted her teeth. "I am Twilight Sparkle and you are in my dream - the least you could do is respond!"

The aura became shrouded in a torrent of sand. The entire dream soon became nothing but a super dense sandstorm - and Twilight could feel herself waking up. "Oh come on!"

She sat bolt upright in her bed - it was early morning. The sun hadn't even crested the horizon. She sighed, rubbing her temples... It was probably time to go over what they had said. ...She supposed they were The Influence, if what the entity said was anything to go by. Zen was apparently the only one who was right about the entity - it had been addressing them. The rest had thought it was some avatar of the primary or talking to him... What did it mean?

It meant they were all confused - her, the Influence, all of them. They were trying to figure it out just as much as she was. She was going to go look at the edge of town after talking with Diorite and some elders... To see if she did find anything. Though... "Egghead of Ponyville? Really? You couldn't think of a different title?" 

She took a moment to think about Key - he was making her nervous. He seemed wrong, so wrong, about everything, but he seemed so terrified. "You... Key, I'm sorry, but you've said lots of things that don't seem to matter or make sense. Could you... Calm down and try to explain why you're so agitated in such a way that me and the others can understand? Just... Here's some advice, take some deep breaths, count to ten, and think. I know you have time to think about what you're going to say, to make use of it. Please just... I want to know what's gotten you all scared. Because it's scaring me. And something tells me that isn't good."

"And as for those of you who are deliberately trying to freak me out... What's the point of that? Why give me songs? Why try to upload things into my brain? Why talk about food? What is the point?" She shook her head. "I just... I'm trying to figure my way out of this. Zen, Duke? Thanks. You too Akumakuma, even if you are a little weird. Nice to have some people I can trust."

She got out of bed. "Okay... Talk to Diorite... Talk to some elders... then go check out the forest and maybe get Prancey those plants. And..." She paused for a moment, turning to look at the place the sun should rise any minute. Could... Could she contact Celestia through it? She was an alicorn after all...

She took a deep breath. She didn't have the power of four alicorns in her anymore... But she would try. She spread her wings and lit her horn with intense magics. She forged a connection to the sun and strained herself. She wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to fully raise the sun into the sky - but she moved it above the horizon. She probably freaked a few ponies out by doing it a little earlier than expected, but it did move. 

Then something moved it back. 

Twilight smiled. Celestia. Now... ...How was she going to communicate by moving the sun? She didn't have enough power to draw pictures with it... She would try Moose code. She shifted the sun back and forth four times - but she quickly realized she didn't have enough power for this. It was... far, far too much of a tax on her. She stopped, letting out a breath. Then she walked down the stairs and out into the town. 

The town was in a mild panic, scurrying left and right, holding their heads and yelling. 

Diorite was up in the air, waving his arms. "Now now, calm down... The sun has stopped moving. Everything's back to normal. There's nothing to worry about."

Twilight gulped. Oh... 

Feckless screamed. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Diorite facepalmed. "Feckless, you know you have to keep your citizens calm right?"

"But what if I'm not calm!?"

"Oh for the..." Diorite sighed. "You know what, I'm just going to let them panic until they all get too tired to continue. Hello Twilight, sorry about this, a cosmological trouble has scared the ponies."

"I... noticed," Twilight said, looking a bit sheepish. 

Diorite narrowed his eyes a little, as if he saw something in her face, but shook his head. "Anyway, what is it you wish to know?"

"You... Well a few things actually, but first off, what kind of dragon are you? You look different from the ones I know."

"Lung," Diorite answered, "there are many dragon tribes, ranging from the common, to the amphithere, to those mysterious sky serpents. Some of us even have feathers. But we're all big lizards. Your turn - what are alicorns like?"

"Oh, uh, we're a rare breed - I only know of five, myself included - and we're essentially a combination of all three pony races. We have internal unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony magic. Admittedly I've only really used my unicorn aspect to any significant degree, but I've been working on the other two."

Diorite nodded. "Did you get a cloak yet?"

"Oh! No." She looked down at the Witch's Eye. "...Forgot about that." She looked at her wings. "...That's going to make flying even more annoying. The Witch's Eye is a little heavy."

"...The Witch's Eye?"

"It's what I call this thing." She tapped the artifact. "Not sure if that's its real name, but I have to call it something, you know?"

"Ah. I can direct you to the tailor - an old mare by the name of Malty - though you may wish to wait until the chaos has died down."

"Guess I'll get it when I get back from the forest..."

Diorite blinked. "...Heading into the Bluemish?"

"I feel like there's probably something in there." She looked around at the stressed ponies. "...I suppose asking an elder about things is pointless now..."

"I'm over a hundred years old."

"Oh, right, sorry. Er, have you heard of a creature called Discord?"

Diorite nodded slowly. "Indeed I have. The reign of weirdness extended to your lands as well?"

"Yeah, actually," Twilight confirmed. "But that was a long time ago..."

"Indeed it was. It was from the ashes of that apparently worldwide terror that Peran was formed. The weirdness forced dragons and ponies to put aside their differences. In much... we have to thank him."

"Nothing more recent though?" Twilight asked. 

"No. He just showed up one day, threw everything into chaos, and then vanished without a trace."

Twilight nodded. "He's in Equestria now, if you're curious. Not changing the world into chaos or anything - just living among us. Though to be perfectly honest he is a little annoying."

Diorite blinked slowly. "...Interesting."

Twilight shrugged. "It is, I suppose. Now, uh, excuse me, I'm going to walk around the edge of town because... reasons."

"Suit yourself."

Twilight walked around the edge of town, looking for anything that Akumakami had suggested - there were no swords, ravens, apple trees, or timberwolves. Twilight shrugged. "Well, there's your answer. Doesn't look like you can change much. It would've been nice if you figured that out though, I could really go for a 'Twilight Sparkle finds herself back in Ponyville without explanation' right about now." She frowned, looking towards the Bluemish. She spread her wings and took off into the air - it wasn't much harder to fly, though the Witch's Eye was rather heavy. She flew over the grass and into the woods. 

She stopped just inside the treeline, looking around, nodding to herself. There were a few of the glowing blue flowers, but otherwise, all she could see was densely packed green trees. They were the greenest trees she had ever seen - the leaves were a deep green, the trunks were even darker, and the few that were flowering had lighter green buds. She saw no bugs, animals, or anything - just the plants. 

She sensed some kinds of odd magic in the place, but there was no path or trail to follow. She shivered - creepy forest indeed. She took a breath and set out. 

Three minutes later the Witch's Eye started glowing again. She softly sat down and entered a safe meditation pose...