“Now, I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out,” Twilight began. The stone inside the golden chest continued its steady pulsing, its mysterious glow eerily resembling the beating of a heart.
“Really?!” Applejack replied, her voice rising swiftly. “‘Cause what I’m thinkin’ is, great, we didn’t have enough problems, you and me. Why not bring Cardinal into the mix!”
“I understand,” Twilight said. She maintained eye contact with Applejack and kept her voice low, trying to project as much sincerity as she could manage. She knew that of all her friends, Applejack was always going to be the hardest one to convince. She resented Tom as much as Rarity did, and she could be much more hard-headed about it.
Cautiously, Twilight said, “I know you’re worried, and I share your concerns. It’s why I’m taking every possible precaution, but you have to understand that this is an opportunity we may never find again. I can explain more when everypony else arrives, but please, if nothing else, I’m asking you to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
Applejack hesitated as though uncertain of what to say, and for a moment, Twilight thought that perhaps she’d gotten through. Lowering her voice, Applejack asserted, “Discord made that thing to get at us. It ain’t a tool, it ain’t a pony, it’s a weapon and it’s pointed right at each of us. Us, Twilight. The six of us, personally. Y’can’t think settin’ it up and lettin’ it take another shot is a good idea.”
“I understand the risks, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Please, Applejack.”
“Some roads ain’t meant to be taken, Twi, even if you find a way. You mark my word, there ain’t nothin’ good can come of us messin’ with that thing. Now I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t smart,” Applejack said, reaching a hoof up to brush the side of Twilight’s face. “You got the biggest brain in Equestria and I love you for it, but sometimes you get to outsmartin’ yourself.”
Despite herself, Twilight found her head moving to nuzzle against Applejack’s hoof. The contact felt like a void inside her beginning to fill in, and yet her heart still railed against it. After a few seconds, she pulled herself away. Applejack was trying to distract her, and she couldn’t let herself get pulled away from this, not now.
“Applejack, please, for once, I need you to support me!” The words were out of Twilight’s snout before she even realized she was considering saying them. She lifted a hoof to her lips, but she was too late to stop the hurtful words from escaping, and the damage was already done.
Applejack took a step back as though physically struck by Twilight’s statement. “Twilight…is that how you see us?” she asked, her voice shaking from the impact.
“Well….” Twilight sighed. There was no taking that statement back. Instead, she looked Applejack in the eyes and asked, “What else would I see?”
Despite her best efforts, none of Twilight’s friends seemed to understand the problem. Here they were enjoying their picnic without a care in the world while her entire life came crashing down around her.
Trying once again to explain it, she told them, “If I don’t turn in a letter on time, I’ll be tardy. TARDY!!!” She grabbed Applejack with her hooves, hoping she’d understand. Her of all ponies, she had to--
“No offense, sugarcube,” Applejack said, pushing her hooves back to her. Applejack held her own hooves on Twilight’s trying to console her as she spoke. “But it looks like somepony’s gettin’ themselves all worked up over nothin’.”
Twilight swatted Applejack’s hooves away. “This is not nothing! This is everything!” Racing back and forth between her friends, Twilight shouted, “I need you guys to help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown! MY WHOLE LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!”
Pinkie Pie laughed in her face. “Oh, Twilight, you’re such a crack-up!”
Before Twilight could respond, Applejack called out to her, “Come on now, have a seat and stop sweatin’ the small stuff.” This was the last straw. It was clear to Twilight that her friends neither understood nor cared. With nothing but a pair of frustrated sighs to give them, Twilight gave up on them and teleported home.
Despite the hours of preparation put into Applejack’s surprise homecoming, the only pony at the door was the mailpony. He had a single letter written in Applejack’s halfway decent jawwriting.
“Who’s it from, Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked curiously. The family, Twilight’s friends, and the other ponies of Ponyville who had come to welcome Applejack home from the rodeo all gathered around her. “What’s it say?”
“It’s from Applejack,” Twilight answered cheerfully before moving on to read. “Family and friends, not coming back to Ponyville. Don’t worry, will send money soon.” Twilight took a second to process the message, then quickly turned it around to see if Applejack had written any more. “That’s all there is,” she reported.
“Applejack’s not comin’ back?” Apple Bloom asked, her voice quivering as she spoke. The sorrow in her voice echoed the feeling in Twilight’s heart as the message started to sink in. She heard her friends talking, heard discussion of what to do, but the only thing she could think of was that Applejack had left. For no reason, with no warning, Applejack was gone from her life.
It wasn’t until Rainbow Dash shouted, “What are we waiting for?! Let’s go find her!” that Twilight shook from her stupor.
“Don’t worry,” she assured the family before following Rainbow Dash out the door. Her friend was right; now wasn’t the time for sorrow, it was the time for action. “We’ll search all of Equestria if we have to.”
“Please,” Twilight begged Applejack, standing in the dim of night outside the farmhouse. “I came over here to talk to you. I wanted to--"
“Walk with me.” Applejack didn’t even let her finish. She started walking, heading towards the front gate. Twilight knew instantly where this was going, and her fears were made certain by the words, “We don’t need to do this in front of the house. Apple Bloom’s probably listenin’ at the door already.”
“Applejack, you need to know that I would never do anything to endanger your family. Please, you know how much I care about them,” Twilight pleaded, hoping against hope that Applejack wouldn’t say what she knew was coming.
How had it even gotten like this? It wasn’t so long ago that she’d decided to ask Applejack to become her Special Somepony. How did one even get from there to here so quickly?
“I want to believe that,” Applejack said. She wouldn’t even give Twilight the dignity of looking at her. What had happened to them? With a quiver in her voice, she continued, “I want to believe you came out here ‘cause you wanted to make things right with me. I want that more than anythin’, Twi. For the last couple days, all I could think about was makin’ things right with you.”
“Then do,” Twilight said. “It’s the truth. I came here to--”
“But I remember how you get when your reports ain’t goin’ well. Big Macintosh still has that doll y’cursed. He tries to hide it but we all know it’s there. So I want to believe you, but….” Twilight was certain that she could see Applejack crying, but the farm pony still refused to turn and face her.
“Applejack, please,” Twilight begged.
“I just don’t know. I have to think about my family right now. I don’t know if you’re close enough to your family to get it, but they come first. I don’t get to have what I want until I make sure they’re taken care of, and they do the same for me.”
“Applejack, what are you saying?”
Finally, Applejack turned and faced Twilight, allowing her to see the tears streaming down her face as she spoke. “I told you when this all started that I’d always be your friend. I meant that, Twi, and I will be. Bein’ with you has made me happier than I ever knew I could be, but I think we both know this trial of yours has gone cross-eyed.”
“Don’t do this.”
“I have to. This ain’t easy for me, Twi. Just about the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I reckon. But it’s over. I need to ask you not to come back to the farm for a while. I need….” Applejack’s breath hitched. Her voice had abandoned her for a moment, futilely protesting against her own statement. She took a deep breath, then finished. “I need time to figure out how to stop lovin’ you.”
“Bet I can guess what you’re all thinking!” Twilight announced, joining her friends at a set of tables. Everypony sat on a small pink cushion save for Spike, who was merrily comfortable on three to boost him to eye level. “Cadance is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever.”
Despite all odds, Twilight’s assertion was met with alarmed stares from her friends. Spike raised the bride figurine from the wedding cake, pantomiming Cadance as he asked, “Who, me?”
“Spike!” Applejack chastised him. “That goes on the cake.”
Rarity demanded, “Twilight, whatever are you talking about? Cadance is an absolute gem!”
Twilight met Rarity’s question with much confusion. Did she not meet the same Cadance? Had she somehow managed to ignore this behavior? “Rarity, she was so demanding!”
“Of course, she was. Why shouldn’t she expect the very best on her wedding day?”
Rarity was obviously not seeing things clearly. There was something very wrong here. Turning to her Special Somepony for support, Twilight asked, “Applejack, did you know that after she told how much she just ‘love-love-loved’ your hors-d’oeuvres, she threw them in the trash?!”
Applejack smiled warmly. “Aww, she was probably just tryin’ to spare my feelin’s.”
So Applejack was a writeoff as well. That’s okay, somepony here had to have noticed Cadance’s behavior. Twilight went around to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash in turn, but each one let her down. It seemed there wasn’t a single pony among her friends that would even entertain the thought, not even the one pony who was supposed to have her back.
“The Princess is about to get married,” Rarity reasoned. “I’m sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves.”
That was the last straw. Twilight stood up from the table, slamming her hoof down and retorting, “And I’m sure it’s the result of her being an awful pony who doesn’t deserve to even know Shining Armor, let alone marry him!”
A second passed and Twilight felt better for getting that off of her chest. Her friends had to understand, they had to--
Applejack chimed in, answering Twilight’s frustrations with, “Think maybe you’re bein’ just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?”
“I am not being possessive!” Twilight insisted. “And I am not taking it out on Cadance. You’re all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn’t even be a wedding!” Twilight slammed her hoof down on the table, spilling everypony’s drinks before storming off to fume alone.
“Alright,” Applejack admitted. “I reckon I ain’t always been the best Special Somepony, but--”
Not letting up, Twilight continued. “Whenever you and Sweet Apple Acres needed help, I’ve always been there for you. But when have you ever been there for me? Do you remember this? ‘Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for Twilight to go back to Ponyville and let us look for the Tree of Harmony without her’!”
“Sugar, you were almost eaten by a cragadilly. I wanted you to be safe. I couldn’t….”
“Well, it’s a good thing for everypony’s sake that I came back, isn’t it? I needed you to--”
“I can’t lose you,” Applejack said suddenly, cutting off Twilight’s argument. “I came within two shakes of a dog’s tail from losin’ you. I can’t go through that, Twilight, not again, not you….” Her breath caught in her throat and she choked on what Twilight could swear sounded like a sob.
The sincerity in Applejack’s eyes touched Twilight’s heart. She wanted to say something to reassure her, wanted to comfort the pony she loved, but one question stuck in her heart and kept her from moving. With more bitterness than she intended, Twilight asked, “Then why did you push me away?”
Applejack erupted in response to the question, her voice still choked with sorrow, “I can’t apologize harder than I already have! You want to take it slow and Celestia help me, I’m tryin’, but y’can’t keep hangin’ that over my head the rest of our lives!”
“Rainbow Dash?” Approaching the library, Fluttershy was caught by the bizarre sight of her friend sitting just under its window. “Why are you waiting outside? Is the door locked?”
“Mom and dad are fighting again,” Rainbow Dash said dryly.
“Oh, my.”
Twilight took a step back, stunned by Applejack’s outburst. She realized quickly that she’d pushed too far. She watched Applejack’s face soften as she, too, seemed to realize she’d gone too far.
Before Twilight could organize her thoughts, Applejack said, “I’m sorry for yellin’, Twilight. I just want us to be like we were.”
“I want that too,” Twilight admitted. “I’m trying. I am. But what you did to me hurt every part of who I am. Even so, I can’t do this without you.” Twilight closed her eyes, sighing. “Well, yes, I could do this without you. I absolutely could. But I don’t want to. I need you to be here. I need to know that you’re with me on this.”
After a few seconds, Applejack nodded. “You’re right. I ain’t been a great Special Somepony. Lots of times you’ve needed me, I ain’t been there. I kept things from you, even turned on you. I ain’t never been no good for you, Twilight, and I don’t for the life of me know why you took me back.”
“Because I want us to work,” Twilight answered honestly.
Applejack smiled. “I want us to work too, sugar. I don’t like this one bit, but I’ll listen. I can do that for you. If nothin’ else, I still love you.”
“Thank you,” Twilight said simply. “I--
“Are you guys done yet?!” Rainbow Dash called from outside the window. “You’re fighting about nothing and we’ve been waiting out here forever! I have some really important napping to get done today!”
Twilight blushed, glancing sheepishly at Applejack. “I’m sorry, everypony!” she called, opening the door with her magic to let her friends in. “How much of that did you--”
“Discord’s a jerk, you both suck at romance, and something about--oh.” Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence, staring at the stone on the table.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to everypony about.”
Pinkie Pie filed in after Rainbow Dash, giggling, “You don’t need to talk to us about being bad at love, silly. We already know!”
Twilight shook her head. “No, that’s not what I—wait, what?!”
Rarity and Fluttershy entered behind the others. With a sigh, Rarity said, “Darling, when you’re fighting about—” Her eyes fell on the stone on the table and her mood instantly darkened. “No,” she said firmly.
Twilight swept to the side quickly, putting herself between the stone and Rarity. “Rarity, listen to me--”
“Absolutely not!” Rarity shouted. “Whatever you’re planning here, Twilight, if it involves that thing then I want no part of it, and you shouldn’t either. What it did to me is--”
“I know,” Twilight said. “But--”
“No, you don’t! You have no idea how it felt to be used and betrayed and--”
“Yes, I do,” Twilight said pointedly. With an edge of bitterness in her voice, she looked Rarity in the eyes and told her, “I know exactly how that feels.”
“Twilight,” Rarity whispered, shrinking back from her. “I’m sorry. That was dreadfully insensitive of me.”
Applejack sidled up beside Twilight, appealing, “Look, Rares, I get where you’re coming from, I truly do. I don’t like it none either, but I think we owe it to Twilight to hear her out.”
Twilight hesitated, looking over at Applejack. Despite her earlier appeal, she hadn’t actually expected this. It felt strange to hear Applejack say those words, and she felt a pang of guilt strike her for having browbeat her into it.
Am I really any better?
Well, there was a thought she didn’t want any part of. Shoving it to the back of her mind, Twilight refocused herself on the matter at hand. “Please, can I have everypony’s attention?” She called out over the group, not waiting for Rarity’s answer.
Twilight stepped over to the table, turning to address the group. “Yes, this is exactly what you think it is. You’re looking at Tom’s magic core. This, right here, is the beating heart of Discord’s enchantment. All of the magic Discord put into creating the illusion we met as Cardinal is centralized right here. Well, what’s left of it, anyways.”
The stone continued its repetitive pulsing, and even Twilight had to admit to being at least a little creeped out by it. “This is a conversation that we’ve been needing to have, but I could never decide how to approach it. What we have on our hooves is the potential for incredible disaster to befall Equestria, and that disaster’s name is Discord.”
Fluttershy stepped forward, raising a hoof. “That’s not fair, Twilight,” she argued. “Discord has been very well-behaved at our get-togethers.”
“Sure, now he’s fine. That’s great for him, but what happens when he’s not? What do we do if Discord ever decides that maybe he doesn’t care as much about friendship as he thought he did? What happens if he gets bored? We agreed to give him this chance because we could imprison him with the Elements of Harmony if he acted up, but that option isn’t on the table anymore.”
“It kinda is,” Rainbow Dash said. “The Elements are still there. We just have to go get them, right?”
Twilight nodded. “Sure. In the event that Discord turns on us, all we have to do is make the perilous trek across the Everfree Forest while an unstoppable draconequus uses his incredibly powerful chaos magic to stop us.”
Rainbow Dash winced. “When you put it that way….”
“This is where we are right now,” Twilight insisted. “As long as we have no way to understand Discord’s magic, we have nothing that can counter him. The moment he turns on us, we all lose. The safety of Equestria is hanging on the thin hope that a thousand-year-old trickster will be content with tea parties forever.”
Twilight looked to her friends, waiting for them to make up their minds on her assertion. Applejack was the first to recognize what Twilight was saying and nod. Comprehension spread to Rarity and Rainbow Dash from there. In the middle, Pinkie Pie stuck close to Fluttershy and seemed reluctant to agree.
Fluttershy, alone, wore an unconvinced scowl at what Twilight was saying.
Addressing Fluttershy directly, Twilight said, “I’m not talking about doing anything to Discord. He deserves the same chance that anypony else would get. I just want to be ready in case something happens.”
“So, Tom?” Applejack asked.
“Tom.” Twilight nodded. “The problem with trying to understand Discord’s magic is that it’s not like any form of Equestrian magic that I’ve ever seen. It’s there and then it’s gone, leaving no trace. We can’t exactly ask Discord for samples of it, not without tipping him off to what we’re doing here.”
“You could give him the chance,” Fluttershy grumbled.
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “It’s not a safety net if he knows it’s there.” Clearing her throat, she continued. “The point is, Tom is an opportunity we aren’t going to have again. We have a sample of Discord’s chaos magic that we can study and analyze. Through Tom, we can find a way to understand and maybe even neutralize Discord’s magic!”
“Yay,” Fluttershy said unenthusiastically. Twilight shot a sharp glance at her but bit her tongue.
Applejack spoke up before Twilight could say something she might regret. “Sugar, I don’t mean to be rude or nothin’, but ain’t this more your cup of tea than anypony’s here? What do you need us for?”
Twilight took a deep breath, pushing her growing agitation towards Fluttershy to the back of her mind. “I know you all have concerns about the risk of reactivating Tom. You should. I have the same fears, which is why I’ve taken the precautions that I have here.” Twilight gestured to the golden chest holding the core.
She placed a hoof over the runes inscribed along the box. “If everything works according to plan, these warding runes should keep the stone in its dormant state. If at any time we think that Tom’s turning on, we close the chest over him and the wards will seal away the enchantment. At least, that’s how it should work in theory.”
“In theory?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Ooh, ooh, I know this one!” Pinkie Pie shouted, leaping to the front of the room. “You’re studying Tom because you don’t know chaos magic and you made a spell to bind him but the spell won’t really work because you don’t know chaos magic and you can’t make an anti-chaos binding spell without knowing how to bind chaos so you have to study Tom so that you can bind chaos which you need to do to study Tom!”
Twilight withdrew slightly from Pinkie Pie, watching her draw in a deep breath at the end of her pronouncement. “That’s not wrong,” she started.
“Wow,” Pinkie Pie said suddenly. “This is a really bad idea, Twilight.”
“That’s why I wanted the rest of you here,” Twilight asserted. “If anything goes wrong, we’re the first line of defense for shutting down Tom. There’s no telling what could happen if he activates, so I’ll need all of you to help keep him busy while I work the counterspell to shut him down. We know the counterspell works, so no matter what happens, we can stop him before this gets out of control.”
Twilight looked at her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack seemed unconvinced, but neither were saying anything against her. Rarity hadn’t looked away from Tom, and Twilight realized that she’d been eerily quiet throughout this conversation. Fluttershy still looked angry that they were even considering this, and Pinkie Pie…there was no reading Pinkie Pie some days.
“I know we’re all scared,” Twilight said. “Cardinal messed with our memories and our minds. But we’ve faced far worse dangers than him and we can deal with whatever Tom throws at us. He only got where he did by taking away our power and making it his own. We’re all stronger now and wiser than we were before; we won’t let--"
“Why don’t we just get on with it?” Rarity asked bluntly, finally speaking up.
“I’m sorry?”
Rarity looked to Twilight, telling her plainly, “Nopony’s going to argue with you about it, Twilight. You seem very excited and we’re happy for you.” It wasn’t the answer she’d hoped for, but it wasn’t a rejection either.
“I…thank you,” Twilight said hesitantly. In an instant, the turmoil of recent months came tumbling back, threatening to spill across the room. She got what she wanted, but it didn’t feel right. She looked to her friends, each one avoiding her gaze. Were they ashamed or mad? She couldn’t tell, and as silence began to roll through the room, Twilight felt more bothered than ever.
Deep down, she’d hoped that maybe having something like this to do together would help bridge the gap between her and her friends, but having them all here seemed only to make it all more unbearable. She felt empty when she was near them, as though the connections she’d long valued with them now lay frayed and broken across the floor.
Twilight stepped around the table, standing with her tail to the stairs. She watched the stone carefully; she almost wished she hadn’t convinced the others to do this. The tip of her horn sparked with magic, but she stopped, thinking twice of the spell she would use. This was dangerous magic she was working with, after all. The slightest miscast could mean disaster.
“Thank you, everypony, for agreeing to help me with this,” Twilight said, but when she looked around the room, all she saw were worried faces and dim spirits. Sighing to herself, she wondered if maybe this was a mistake after all.
Just as Twilight opened her mouth to address her friends again, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Applejack stood beside her, giving her the strongest attempt at a smile she seemed able to muster. “Go on, sugarcube. We’re all with you.” They weren’t and Twilight knew it, but she appreciated the gesture all the same.
Twilight nodded. “Here we go.” Summoning her magic to her, she began to weave her spell. The room filled with a blue light, blanketing everypony in its glow. The pulsing stone turned a sickly yellow and purple mesh, each color flowing over its surface, with each somehow seeming to entirely cover it at once without ever melding into the other.
Under the effect of the analysis spell, visible cracks could be seen all over the surface, spraying light into the room in a color that defied explanation. It was at once every color on the visible spectrum, and yet no color that Twilight had ever seen before. Her head ached to stare for too long at any of the cracks and she was forced to keep her focus moving.
“Woooow! It’s pretty!” Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, seemed to be having no trouble staring intensely at the rock, which Twilight could best be described as fractured on a spatial level.
“This is what’s left of Tom’s enchantment,” Twilight explained to her friends in the room. “As you can see, the damage caused by the Elements of Harmony is severe.”
Rarity raised a hoof to shield her eyes. “Ugh, what is that eerie illumination?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “It’s chaos, duh.”
Rarity opened her snout to retort, but Twilight cut her off. “Rainbow Dash is right. I have no doubt that what we’re seeing inside the stone is Discord’s chaos magic.” She took a deep breath. “This is exactly what we’ve been missing. The question is, how do we remove it from its case?”
Applejack glanced over at Twilight. “Uh, sugar, do we really need to? Y’can’t do your fancy whatchamacallit like this?”
Twilight shook her head. “No. I need to go deeper.” Her horn began to shine brighter, with orange lights streaking out towards the stone. It levitated upwards from the chest and turned over, pointing one of its fractures in Twilight’s direction. The lights crossed through the fracture and gently pulled at its sides, allowing Twilight the chance to peer inside, but she couldn’t make out anything meaningful. She sent a jolt of magic into the shell, probing it for--
Blinding light of every color flared into Twilight’s vision. She shut her eyes tightly against it but impossible shapes batted at the inside of her eyelids. A cornucopia of screams echoed through her mind. She reached her hooves to her ears only to discover that she was no longer standing on solid ground at all, but plummeting through a cascade of sight and sounds divorced of meaning and intent.
Twilight opened her six mouths to scream and out poured birdsong that split the sky. Six pillars of light shone down upon Equestria far below, each thumping in rhythm to the beating of her heart. They landed in the heart of Ponyville, pulsing and undulating faster and faster until Twilight felt it could erupt from her chest.
Before Twilight could do anything, she was as liquid floating through a vast ocean. Her tail, red and scaled, swept out behind her and pushed through the water, pushing her massive jaws in the direction of prey. She swept into a crevasse, hunting, searching, and it was there that she saw.
Twilight stood before a mirror in an infinite hallway, gleaming white and lined with glass on hundreds of walls. Gazing through the mirror, she saw Twilight Sparkle standing before her, curiously inspecting the surfaces of her world. Twilight stepped forward and raised a hoof, and the other Twilight did the same. She tapped the surface and it rippled like water, and before she knew it, Twilight plunged forward into the liquid and found herself falling through reality once more.
“Oh my,” boomed the deafening voice of the universe around her. “What do we have here?” She folded her ears down against her head, but nothing further spoke. A blinding flash of light abruptly severed her connection and before she knew what was happening, she felt herself thrown to the hard wooden floor of the library.
“Twilight?!” She felt the familiar sensation of Spike’s claws in her hide, pushing against her shoulders. “Come on, wake up!”
Pressing down against the floor with her hoof, Twilight pushed herself up, blinking her eyes open to the blurry sight of a purple dragon before her. “Spike?” she asked hesitantly, blinking a few more times to clear her vision. She could still see impossible geometries and color patterns in her eyelids. She felt like in an instant, she’d learned so much and yet it was all nearly impossible to retain.
Seeing her rise, Spike embraced Twilight immediately. “You’re okay!” he shouted. “The others still haven’t woken up. What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted. “I…Applejack!” Finding more strength in her than she’d previously known was possible, Twilight pushed herself to her hooves and leapt across the room to where the subject of her affections lay splayed out on the ground.
Twilight opened her snout to speak but her heart caught in her throat. She stared down at Applejack’s golden mane, liberated from the confines of hat and hairband, spread out across her face. Applejack’s jaw hung open and her tongue lolled onto the ground, but her rigid jawline and powerful shoulders made Twilight’s heart flutter to look at.
Twilight reached out slowly for Applejack, as much because she craved her touch as because she feared for her safety. “Applejack?” she asked, reaching out hesitantly. Twilight laid her hoof on Applejack’s neck, holding it there as she tried again. “Applejack, get up.”
Her worry struggled to compete with the sheer exuberance of being so close to her Special Somepony. She felt as though the sun had come up and shone its brightness down upon her life. She put another hoof on Applejack’s side and pushed her, urging, “You have to get up, Applejack!” As she spoke, she couldn’t mask the excitement in her voice, nor could she do anything to hide the grin upon her face.
“Whuzza….” Applejack’s head lifted and her tongue rolled back into her snout where it belonged. She barely had her eyes open before Twilight’s hooves wrapped around her, squeezing her head into the alicorn’s neck.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Twilight whispered to her.
“What happened?” Applejack asked. Her eyes shot open suddenly and she threw herself to her hooves. “The others, are they--”
“Spike’s checking on them,” Twilight said quickly. “They’ll be fine, I’m sure. Are you hurt? Do you need any help?” Twilight lifted Applejack’s chin to inspect, searching for any signs of bruising in her skin.
Applejack reached a hoof up to Twilight’s, delicately removing it from her head. “I’m fine, sugar. What’s got into you?”
“Your hat!” She leaned down and gripped it in her teeth, picking it up for Applejack. With a quick gesture, Twilight threw it over her Special Somepony’s head, using a hoof to adjust it.
Applejack smiled. “Mighty kind of you, but that don’t answer my question,” she said as Twilight brushed the golden strands of hair out from in front of her emerald eyes.
“I should find your hairband,” Twilight said.
She tried to pull away, but Applejack stopped her with one hoof gently placed on the side of her face. “Twilight,” she said sternly.
“I….” Twilight hesitated. It was a fair question, she had to admit. Just looking at Applejack, she felt overcome by wave after wave of urging, of need. She wanted to cancel everything, to get her friends out the door as quickly as she could because she needed to feel her partner’s embrace, to bury her head in Applejack’s chest and--
“Ugh, what hit me?” The voice of Rainbow Dash called across the room, interrupting Twilight’s train of thought, which was likely for the best given that she could feel the blush spreading across her cheeks and knew that nothing good would have likely come of continuing down it.
“Is everypony okay?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “What was th--”
“Can we do that again?!” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, bouncing onto the library table. “It was so fun. There were colors and screaming and rainbows and then a big boom at the end! It was the best roller coaster ever.”
Curiosity abruptly overcame desire as Twilight’s attention snapped to Pinkie. “You saw all that too?! Did you hear the voice while you were falling? What did it say?”
“I wasn’t falling,” Pinkie answered in confusion. “A bunch of colors and lights were spilling out of the rock.”
Applejack stepped forward, pressing a hoof to Twilight’s side. “Y’started glowin’ and your eyes shot open and then you were screamin’. I tried to reach you but some kinda lightnin’ shot out at me. I don’t know that it’s a good idea to try this again.”
“Tell her about the boom!” Pinkie insisted.
“Honestly,” Rarity muttered, climbing to her hooves. “The less I have to think about that dreadful thing, the better off I’ll be.”
Twilight turned her attention to Rarity. “What happened? Please, I need to know. This is important for my research.”
Before Rarity could speak, Rainbow Dash filled the space. “There was this huge cloud that showed up over the table. It was like the death of color. Looking at it made my head hurt. Fluttershy screamed and scrambled behind Applejack.”
Twilight lifted a hoof to stroke her chin as she thought. “Fascinating. That sounds like some kind of temporal storm, the kind that only forms around ruptures in the causality chain. Did it do anything else?”
“It exploded,” Fluttershy whispered.
So that’s where the blast had come from. That could mean that--
“Darling, is it strictly necessary for us to continue doing this?” Rarity asked. “This magic seems to be rather temperamental, and I’m not certain it’s a good idea to risk another incident like this.”
Twilight took a moment to think. She’d always trusted Rarity’s judgment in the past, but she also really wanted to learn more about Discord’s magic, which made it difficult to agree entirely. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Give me some time to think about it. With a little time, I might be able to devise a safer way of studying the core now that we understand more of the risks associated with it.”
“That would be appreciated,” Rarity answered.
“We’re with you,” Applejack said wearily. It was a simple sentiment but it still brought a wide smile to Twilight’s face.
Leaning into Applejack’s side, Twilight nuzzled against her ear. “Thank you,” she said gently. After a few seconds, she lifted her head to address the rest of their friends. “Thank all of you. I couldn’t have done this without each and every one of you here.”
“I’m not sure we did anything,” Fluttershy admitted.
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, this was all on you, Twilight. We were just…I don’t know, moral support?”
Applejack laid a hoof on Twilight’s spine, sending chills through the alicorn’s body as it gently rolled forward. “Don’t reckon I really get what came of it, but it’s your victory, sugarcube. Ain’t nopony else’s.”
Twilight glanced around the room, seeing the weak smiles of her friends. “But you’re wr--” She stopped, shivering at the feeling Applejack was giving her. “Please don’t stop doing that,” she murmured quickly, before returning her attention to her friends.
Clearing her throat, Twilight said, “You’re wrong. I couldn’t have done this without you – any of you. You’re all my dearest friends and it means so much to me to have you here, standing by my side and helping me through. It warms my heart to know that no matter what happens, whatever we go through, I’ll always have you here.”
A single tear rolled down Twilight’s cheek, and she reached up to wipe it away. “Our focus today may be Discord’s magic, but there’s one more important magic that we must never lose sight of: the magic of friendship.”
Twilight watched her friends’ smiles grow stronger and wider as she spoke, and she knew that she was getting through. “We are, each and every one of us, connected by an invisible thread that binds our lives together. Our journeys through life may be perilous, but as long as we stay together and face those challenges as friends, I know that we can overcome anything.”
Twilight smiled, glancing at Applejack beside her, then back to the group. “I love you all, each and every one of you. Together, we can overcome anything that comes our way.” Twilight watched her friends’ faces brighten, but then slowly dim. Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchanged glances while Fluttershy sidled up beside Rainbow Dash.
Beside her, Applejack asked, “You sure you’re okay, hon?”
“Of course I am,” Twilight answered shortly. She’d thought it was a pretty good speech for something she had to make up on the spot; her friends were supposed to like it and be happy with her. That’s how this works. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked, probing for advice.
“Nothing of the sort,” Rarity said, stepping forward. “That was lovely, truly it was, but I can’t help but feel something’s amiss. You seem….”
“Why aren’t you mad anymore?” Rainbow Dash blurted. “You were pretty peeved with us earlier.”
Twilight took a step back, absorbing Rainbow Dash’s question. “I’m sorry,” she said, reflecting on recent events. “I know I’ve been pretty short with all of you, but there’s been a lot on my mind of late.”
Applejack stepped forward, addressing the group. “Twi’s goin’ through a lot right now and if she’s a mite testy, that’s her right. But she loves us; she wouldn’t have come back if that weren’t true.”
Thank you, Applejack.
Twilight smiled, giving her partner a rewarding nuzzle for defending her. “I love you,” she whispered so that only Applejack would hear.
Rarity sighed. “You’re absolutely right, darling. Twilight, if you’re ready to put our troubles behind us, then I am too.”
“Thank you, everypony.” Twilight approached Rarity, embracing her with her right hoof. With her left, she gestured to the group, encouraging them to come in around her. Applejack grabbed Twilight from behind, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy crowded in from the sides. Rainbow Dash embraced her head from above, and together, Twilight sat there with her friends, soaking in the warmth of being with ponies who loved her.
After what felt like a couple of minutes, the group dispersed from around Twilight. “I should let you go,” she told them. “We’ll get together tomorrow for brunch and plan what to do next with the core. Does that sound good for everypony?”
“That sounds lovely, darling,” Rarity told her.
Twilight smiled. “I’ll get the door,” she said. She approached the door and flicked her horn, releasing a burst of magic to open it as she always did. Looking back at her friends, she smiled, but they just stared past her.
“You gonna open it?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight glanced back at the door, which remained stubbornly shut. That was unusual. Conjuring her magic again, she cast the spell to pull the door open, but once more it refused to so much as budge. Twilight narrowed her eyes; this was getting irritating.
Unicorn telekinesis was the most basic of basic spells. Even foals could learn to cast it in short order. Twilight flicked her horn again, but once more, nothing happened. She concentrated, pushing all of her magic into the casting, but the door would not budge. She focused harder, shutting her eyes tight and commanding it to just move, to just--
Twilight suddenly felt very dizzy. She opened her eyes, but there was nothing to greet her. She felt as though she was drifting in a great black abyss, and she felt her mind fade. In an instant, she was terrified, aware only of reality abandoning her and her brain shutting down. In seconds, she felt as though she would be no more.
Am I dead?
The question came unbidden and it terrified her to her core. But then reality snapped back into place and she blinked against the harsh light of the library. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly to her friends, trying to shake off the strange funk. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Did she just--” Fluttershy whispered behind her.
“I’m on it,” Rainbow Dash hissed back.
Applejack came up beside Twilight, asking, “You okay, sugarcube?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “I don’t feel good. I think there might be something wrong--”
“Yeah, there’s something wrong, alright,” Rainbow Dash said quickly, storming up on Twilight. “Look, I get that you’re sorry and everything, but you’ve been a real jerk to us lately.”
“Rainbow,” Applejack started, but Rainbow Dash marched right past her, getting up in Twilight’s face.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said quickly.
“You should be! It’s like you don’t even respect us anymore. You know, when we all went through that mirror to the other world to get your crown back, we could have been stranded on the other side for thirty moons!”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “That ain’t how it--” Her protest was promptly silenced by Rainbow Dash’s hoof.
“We took a big risk helping you,” Rainbow Dash accused, “And you didn’t even thank us for it. It’s like you didn’t care.”
Twilight stepped back from Rainbow Dash. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you felt that way.” Glancing around the room at the others, she told them, “Thank you, everypony, for coming with me to--”
In that instant, Twilight was cut off by Rainbow Dash’s hind legs landing against her neck. Her body exploded into triangular shards, perfectly cut and dyed like stained glass. These shards flew from the impact in every direction, fading out of existence as they travelled.
As everypony stared stunned at the image of Twilight breaking into pieces before them, Rainbow Dash shouted, “THE BOX!!! Somepony close the box!”
Rarity snapped out of the funk first, using her magic to grip the chest Twilight had built for the core and slam the lid shut. The sound of a latch could be heard as it closed, followed by a golden ray of light that emerged from the front and traveled a circle around the rim. Once the light had completed its circle, the runes on the front of the box began to glow green.
Rainbow Dash approached the chest on the table, examining the lettering. “Does that mean it’s working?” she asked, looking to Rarity.
Rarity caught Rainbow Dash’s glance and glared at her. “Why ever do you think I would know?”
Rainbow Dash looked away quickly. “Uh, no reason.”
Pinkie Pie blinked her eyes, looking away from the space in the library that Twilight had once occupied. “How did you know it wasn’t her?”
Fluttershy approached the group, explaining, “She flickered. It was like she was gone and then she was there again.”
“Is that what that was?” Rarity asked. “I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It’s been quite a long day.”
“It’s about to get longer,” Pinkie Pie warned the others.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Something’s happened to Twilight. We gotta figure out what or…what to do with the box or…or something!” She sighed. “Twilight was supposed to be here for this!”
Pinkie tapped Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, turning her attention away from the table. “I meant because of that.”
Following Pinkie’s gaze, Rainbow Dash saw Applejack standing stock still by the door. She wouldn’t move, she wouldn’t look away. She remained transfixed on the space where Twilight’s illusion had been smashed.
“Applejack?” Rarity asked carefully, approaching slowly from the side. Applejack made no response. She didn’t even turn her head to acknowledge that she’d heard. She seemed lost in her own world.
“Hey, AJ?” Rainbow Dash said, stepping forward behind Rarity.
Still there came no answer. Instead, Applejack simply reached a hoof forward, touching the floor where Twilight had been standing. When her hoof reached it, she began to tremble. Her body shook and her breathing started to speed up. She looked up and her eyes refused to lock onto anything in front of her, instead focusing on whatever was flashing in her mind.
With a broken voice, Applejack asked only one word of the gathered assembly. “Twilight?”