Everypony in the room gaped at her in shock.
"WHAAAAAT?!" Rarity shrieked, looking like she didn't know whether to faint or have a royal fit. "You cannot be serious!!! You want to ask Sweetie Belle to...to...NO! I will not stand by and allow it! Twilight, you simply must not do it!!!"
"Rarity, I understand how you feel, and believe me, I wouldn't even suggest putting put her through this if I had another option." Twilight informed her soberly. "But I don't. If this is going to work at all, it has to be Sweetie Belle."
"Well, I am afraid you are just going to have to find somepony else! I simply will not allow you to put my sister through this!"
"If there was another pony, I would, but she's the only one I can use that will make this work."
"You are not going to use her as a...a catalyst in this plan!"
"Rarity..."
"No, Twilight! I will not stand by and let you do it!!"
Twilight sighed. Why did every choice today have to be so Celestia-darned difficult? The way she saw it, if she did this anyway, Rarity would be very angry with her. If she didn't, the spell couldn't be used, and Dash would be the angry one. She looked at the Crusaders.
"Sweetie Belle? What's your opinion? Are you willing to do it?" She inquired, quietly.
The young mare in question sat with mouth agape, still trying to wrap her mind around Twilight's statement. Part of her wanted to refuse cooperation entirely; another part of her wanted to do whatever she could to help. It took a few minutes before she recovered enough to speak.
"It's the only way to heal them both?" She asked, eyes locked on Twilight.
"Yes, it is." Twilight replied quietly. "Only through your cooperation can we cast the spell required to heal them."
"But...but that means..." Sweetie Belle didn't finish, but Twilight nodded in understanding.
It meant that Sweetie Belle was now the main one to make the decision final. She was now the one who held the wellbeing of her best friends in her hooves. It was her call right now as to whether they both had a chance of living normal lives again...or whether one did while the other didn't. Not only that, but to bear the disability herself...to have to trust that Twilight and Dark Magic could pull off the spell and eventually heal her...it was overwhelming to think about.
She looked sideways at her friends, who were watching her intently. Their expressions were understanding, sympathetic, and almost pleading...as if they truly felt the weight of her decision themselves and felt bad for her, and were also pleading silently with her to make the right choice. And suddenly she knew deep down what the answer had to be. Her eyes met Twilight's once more.
"I'll do it."
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity gasped out. "No! I can't let you do it! It is far too risky to-"
"Rarity, stop." Sweetie Belle interrupted. "You said a short time ago that Twilight should do this, no matter what the risks."
"But...but that was before you were going to be involved!" Rarity sputtered. "I do not want you to get hurt!"
"But it's ok if my friends do?"
"No, of course not!"
"Then, I have to do this, Rarity. For them. I want them both to be whole, not just one of them, and if my cooperation is the only way, I'll do it."
"I can't let you do it, Sweetie!"
"Actually, you can't stop me any more. I'm grown up now. I can make my own choices. And I choose to help my friends."
Rarity knew from her sister's determined green eyes that it would do no good to argue further, so she sighed heavily.
"Very well. I can't stop you. I do not approve of this, but...I can't stop you."
Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight.
"Will this hurt?" She asked. "Any of us?"
"It should be completely painless." Twilight assured her...not wanting to add she honestly wasn't sure it would be.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah. We don't want ya to do it unless you really want to." Apple Bloom added.
"No, I want to." Sweetie Belle replied softly. "I want both of you to go back to your normal lives, instead of only one of you. Scootaloo, you showed your greatest act of friendship already by taking on Apple Bloom's injuries so she could have her freedom back. It's my turn."
The three best friends hugged each other tightly for a long moment, before Twilight cleared her throat and told them they should begin. They broke apart and waited.
Twilight had the three of them move to a spot away from the others and stand together. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo flung their forelegs around Sweetie Belle, sandwiching herself between them. Dark Magic stood by, ready to work the spell alongside Twilight and feed her whatever extra magic he could provide when called upon.
"Are you ready?" Twilight asked.
At the three nods, she lowered her head, braced herself and lit her horn. Dark Magic followed suit. A second later, a stream of violet and a stream of blue surrounded the Crusaders, then a ray of white flashed through the room, blinding everypony in it. There was a soft explosion of sorts, then silence. When the others could see again, the spell had been completed.
Dark Magic and Twilight were panting from the drain of energy the spell had taken from them, but they focused their gazes on the three young mares.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stood on their own legs, while Sweetie Belle was now wearing the wheeled frame. All three looked a bit worn out from the amount of magic poured into them to transfer the injuries to the unicorn.
"Stage one is complete." Twilight managed, somewhat breathlessly.
Rarity stared at her sister, a mix of emotions playing across her face. She had experience around a crippled pony with a wheeled frame, due to Apple Bloom and then Scootaloo, and she thought she could handle it. But seeing the frame on her sister was a sight she really wasn't as prepared for as she thought, and with a groan, she promptly fainted. This was noticed only by Fluttershy, who moved to her side immediately to help.
"Are you ok?" Scootaloo asked anxiously, watching Sweetie Belle carefully.
Sweetie Belle smiled a little. "As well as can be expected." She answered, quietly.
Dash rushed at Scootaloo, grabbing her and twirling her around in excitement.
"You can fly now, Scoots! Go on, show me you still remember how!"
She spun her away from her, and Scootaloo managed to right herself.
"Not now, Rainbow Dash!" She snapped. "I can't just fly off and leave Sweetie Belle! I gotta stay with her til this is all over."
She returned to her friends, leaving Dash to stare in astonishment. Deep down, Dash knew Scootaloo was right. Friends came before almost everything else, especially ones you considered family. She found herself feeling proud of the loyalty the orange pegasus displayed.
"Scootaloo, you should go out and fly." Sweetie Belle said. "You haven't been able to in quite a while. I'll be ok."
"Nothing doing!" Scootaloo retorted. "I'm not leaving your side, Sweetie Belle! I'll fly another time! Right now, you're more important!"
"Yeah! What she said!" Apple Bloom stated emphatically. "Minus the flyin'."
Sweetie Belle managed a small smile as her friends gathered close. She knew her choice to help had been the right one.
Twilight turned to Dark Magic.
"This was not the hardest part." She spoke with conviction. "This part was easy. It will also be easy to purge Scootaloo and Apple Bloom."
He nodded. "The hardest one will be the final stage. That one, I am afraid, will test all of our limits of endurance and drain us almost completely of our combined energy."
Twilight rubbed her head. "That's what I'm afraid of too. More than that, though, I'm afraid it will be too powerful for the girls, and cause harm."
"Well then, we will just have to pay attention and hope for the best."
Twilight nodded. He was right. But the final stage was two weeks away, and there was no point in panicking over it now. The important thing now was to give the girls a week to recover from what had just transpired, then move on to the second stage.
Dark Magic took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. He was tired from the amount of energy he'd just used. And more than that, he was craving sweets.
"Princess," he said. "If you don't mind, I would like to go to the bakery. I shouldn't be gone long, and when I return we can begin studying the next stage of this to be sure we get it right."
Before Twilight could answer, Dash butted in.
"I'll go along. I'm craving a milkshake, anyway." She announced, though her expression clearly stated that it was something else entirely.
Dark Magic was aware they wanted to keep an eye on him, and he honestly didn't mind. He was safe from other ponies as long as he was under their watch. He nodded.
"Of course, Miss Dash."
It was merely politeness. He knew he had no real choice in the matter.
She eyed him with even more suspicion at that, but said nothing, and accompanied him from the room.
**********************************
The two of them made their way to Sugarcube Corner, Dash hovering just above Dark Magic. But before they got there, he suddenly halted in his tracks, body tensing. This was not lost on Dash, who frowned and followed his line of vision.
Two stallions had just approached the bakery. They glanced at Dash and Dark Magic, then away, then froze and looked back. Their gazes locked on Dark Magic, their expressions growing hard and angry, as their dark eyes grew darker. They gave identical sneers and started towards the two.
"Uh oh." Dark Magic muttered.
He grabbed Dash roughly with one hoof as his horn lit up.
"Hey! What the-?!" was all Dash got out before Dark Magic teleported them back to the castle.
He dropped his hold on the somewhat disoriented Dash, who swayed a bit before glaring at him.
"Hey! Nopony teleports me without a word of warning except Twilight!!" She shouted angrily.
"We need to go inside...NOW!" He barked out, before dragging her inside behind him.
What followed their entrance was almost amusing. Dark Magic bolted the castle door, then grabbed Dash and teleported into the library, bolting that door as well.
"What the hay is wrong with you?!" Dash demanded.
"Rainbow Dash, what's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Why are you so mad? And why does Dark Magic look like he's scared to death? What is going on??"
"That's what I want to know!" Dash growled. "We were going along, and all of a sudden, he stops, and these two guys give him the stink eye and start towards him. Next thing I know he teleports us both back here...without a word of warning! Then he locks the front door and this one."
Twilight looked at Dark Magic. "What in Equestria did you do that for??"
Dark Magic looked around at all the suspicious glares (including from the now conscious Rarity) and sat down heavily by the door, rubbing his head and sighing.
"Since I might have unintentionally put you in danger, I think I should tell you the real reason behind my hesitancy to stay in your town."