Barking. It came from the background and got ever louder. Just as it came closer, it slowly drifted back into a distance. The screeching and rumbling sounds remained constant.
A voice approached. “Nothing works here. Medications don’t work here. I’ve been here for seven years! Nothing works here. Medications don’t work here…” The voice drifted out in the distance. The surrounding rumble and clopping of hooves persisted. The back of my head hurt. It throbbed with pain.
Twilight’s voice broke through the rest of the sounds. “I don’t think the muzzle restraint is really necessary, you already have her tied to the bed. She’s not a monster, you know?”
“You just keep her magic in check and we’ll do the rest, Twi. And yes, the gag is necessary. I’ve seen ponies attempt to chew through their own legs when they tried to break free.”
I remembered that voice. It belonged to the gray Earth pony who had come for me in Twilight’s castle. Binder Strap!
When I opened my eyes, I saw ceiling lights rushing by. A white corridor branched into new ones every few moments. I felt as if I was being dragged deeper into a maze. There was an aura around my horn, even though, I wasn’t pushing any flow through it. I tried to sit up, but my limbs seemed to be stuck.
“She’s coming to, hold her down!” I felt hooves on my chest, pushing me against the moving bed.
I shook all my body, but my legs still wouldn’t budge. My breathing was hindered by the hooves on my chest. They belonged to Binder Strap. He walked alongside my bed with hind legs while supporting himself upwards by leaning on me with both forelegs. I could see his clenched teeth behind the wide grin. His half-closed eyes fixated on me.
I released my inner flow through my horn, launching my charged channels. Instead of pushing him away, like I wanted them to, they disintegrated as soon as they touched the bright purple aura.
“No magic is better than bad magic,” said Cast Achiever as he followed my moving bed.
“Please master Binder Strap, let her breathe,” Twilight spoke. “I don’t think it’s necessary that you stand on her with your forelegs.” She trotted by the bed. Her horn was alight. “The restraints would hold a bear, and she won’t be using any magic as long as I’m around.”
“And what in Tartarus is your problem?” She turned to Cast Achiever “You think you’re a zebra or something? Stop with the dogmatic quotes already. You’re not helping; you’re just freaking her out! Jeez!”
He bowed his head and whispered, “sorry…”
“The way I heard it, this out of control Unicorn”—Binder Strap said with disdain in his voice—“almost killed two defenseless Earth ponies.” He leaned even more weight on me as he pushed my bed further along the white hallway. “Just because we tolerate the witchcraft of you magic-weapon-headed ponies, doesn’t mean you can abuse us with your undeserved powers. I, for one, don’t intend to just stand around while this wildcard”—his eyes pierced me—“wreaks havoc and endangers my kind. Basic percussions are well in order; for everypony’s sake.”
“It was two fillies and they didn’t get hurt that bad.”
“Whatever; just let us do our job, Twi!”
“I wish there was some other way.” Twilight sighed.
“This is the only treatment that is one hundred percent reliable,” Binder Strap cheered. “Doctor Stable is on his way, so this shouldn’t take long.”
Cast Achiever lowered his hornless head as he turned to me. “You abuse it; you lose it.”
Violently, I shook my body, but all four legs were firmly tied and held me in place. I couldn’t do much.
Binder Strap lifted a foreleg and pointed over my head. “This is it; the amputation room.”
My mind immediately pulled away, and I drifted away from reality. It felt as if a black abyss called for me. I didn’t just lose control of my body, my mind was playing tricks on me as well.
With lots of struggle, I managed to break back, but everything was still out of my control. I thrashed from one side of the bed to the other, but the bindings held firmly. When I tried to scream, the gag slipped deeper into my mouth. Pushing it out wasn’t an option anymore because the mouth-ball went over the base of my tongue, urging me to throw up. All my muscles tensed. Tears flooded my eyes.
Binder Strap turned to his assistant. “You can tell how insane she is just by looking at her. The more they fight you the more insane they are. It’s usually the repressed memories that make them so obsessed.”
“Ugh!” Twilight intervened. “That’s it, I’m removing the gag!”
“Twi, that’s for her own protection. I’ve seen ponies bite off their own tongues.”
“She won’t be able to do much of anything if she chokes to death!” Twilight reached behind my head and unstrapped the band holding the gag.
Cast Achiever chirped, “Magic usage is a chore, if you give it away, you’ll again be in control.”
As soon as my mouth was freed, it moved on its own. “Sweetie Belle, resist me no more. Relinquish your control!” I heard myself say.
That was odd. Why did I say that? My legs ceased pulling at the bonds.
“She’s even talking to herself. She’s all sorts of crazy!” said Binder Strap.
I’m not crazy! Why are they treating me this way? What did I ever do to them? My muscles relaxed as my head fell back on the bed.
I didn’t want to be there. At the same time, it was physically impossible to escape. I wasn’t strong enough to break through the restraints. The will to struggle any further all but faded. My eyes closed in surrender. It was all out of my control. I—let myself go.
A cold force rushed past my consciousness, breaking out to the surface from deep inside.
“I had Spike write a letter to your parents,” Twilight said.
My limbs went numb. The tingling spread throughout my body. I didn’t feel it just on my skin, but inside as well. The energies rose from within me. They grew stronger by the moment.
A hoof softly caressed my mane. “They’ll be there for you when you wake up, and so will I.”
Binder Strap cheered as the door squeaked open. “Come on in Doctor Stable, we’re ready for you.”
Hoofsteps closed on my bed. “She’s just a filly! I told you brutes, I don’t do fillies.”
I sighed with relief.
“We couldn’t get hold of Doctor Cutter. You are the only one qualified for the procedure at this time.”
“Ugh! Fine… Let’s get this ‘operation’ over with,” sighed Doctor Stable.
I yelped in distress.
He continued, “But this is the last time! If Doctor Cutter doesn’t find a way to make himself available next time, then maybe you savages should find some other butcher pony who is capable of fulfilling his job description. I’m a medical doctor. My job is to fix ponies, not—this…”
“But you are fixing her. This is the first step on the long path to her recovery.”
Doctor Stable suspired. “Yeah… right...
He breathed in deeply. “I don’t know if you can hear me, little filly. If you do, I just want you to know you’re in professional hooves now.” The doctor walked to my bed. “All I’m going to do at the moment is prick you with this small needle here. That’s nothing to be scared of. You’ll hardly even feel the pinch; I promise. Soon after, you’ll fall fast asleep. When you wake up, the procedure will already be behind you, and I’ll be there to congratulate you for being such a brave mare.”
“No horn is better than a bad horn,” blurted Cast Achiever.
“That was really uncalled-for...” Doctor Stable facehoofed and sighed.
“For lack of horn one should not despair, it’s just one less responsibility to bear.”
“Sir, you really need to shut up now or I’ll be forced to put you to sleep as well!” exclaimed Doctor Stable.
Cast Achiever gasped then whimpered, “I’m sorry! I’ll be a good pony. I promise!”
I felt myself being shoved back into my mind, with greater force than ever before. The surrounding sounds distanced themselves. It felt as if I was falling into a dark well. It was like the time I had tried my hoof at meditation. The mysterious inner presence kept pushing me deeper still.
I could no longer sense my physical being. All I felt was the inner flow surge throughout my body. It was all directed toward my horn.
“Oh, no!” Twilight gasped. “It can’t be...”
The tremendous force accumulated beneath my horn-base. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
“What? What’s going on?” Binder Strap stammered.
The flows merged just before pushing through the horn.
“Were her abilities restrained all this time? No way! She wouldn’t be able to perform all those feats through a barrier. And yet, she’s compounding!”
The magic pressure inside of me built up fast. What laid dormant before has awoken.
“I don’t know if I can contain the accumulated magic outburst if the horn’s floodgates break.”
“What are you talking about?” Binder strap regained the authority in his voice. “The patient is completely calmed down. Besides, I’m sure the restraints can hold down a mere filly.”
The flow slammed against my horn. Some streams of energy projected out and were quickly negated by Twilight’s anti-magic aura. The majority of the pressure against the resistance intensified further. It felt as if my horn was about to explode.
Twilight screeched, “Everypony, brace yourselves! She’s breaking the barrier!”
The resistance at the base of my horn gave way to the building pressure. All the energies rushed through my horn, launching charged channels in all directions.
Sounds of clashing furniture, breaking windows and screaming ponies were a clear indication of my endpoints connecting. But I didn’t need to hear the kerfuffle. I could feel the action. No, I didn’t just feel it. The sensation was much more profound. I saw everything through my channels. I was the room itself, observing everything within and without from every perspective at once. Ponies pressed against the walls. Broken furniture on the floor. A torn apart circular machine in the corner. A fly squashed against the ceiling. I was also much more than just the amputation room. The magic spread out through the walls, touching the hospital on the hill from within and without.
My mouth morphed into a grin as my eyes slowly opened. My head gradually rose. I was floating midair, surrounded by a bright aura.
All the lights lay shattered on the floor, yet the room bathed in the bright glow. I was the source of it all. The shiny cocoon around my floating body spread illumination in all directions. My channels flowed unhindered from the horn. There was nothing to keep me back anymore.
“Please stop, great and powerful unicorn!” cried out Binder Strap from up the wall. “I consent. I admit that you can do anything better than me.” He trembled like a leaf. “Please don’t abuse me further with your overpowered magic.”
Cast Achiever tensed up his muscles and raised his voice at me, “Horn abuse is bad, and you should feel bad!”
I sighed. There were more pressing priorities on my mind than those two stallions and their repressed memories. I glanced at the unconscious Doctor Stable at the wall then turned to Twilight on the opposite side of the room. “You!” The light, emanating from my eyes, put her in the spotlight.
Her head rose to face me. She clenched her teeth and pressed a hoof against her charred horn. Our gazes met. She slowly lifted the free hoof. “Take it easy, Sweetie Belle. Don’t do anything rash.”
“You tried to hurt me!” I pressed her harder against the wall.
Her horn twinkled with lavender aura. “I tried to help you by giving you guidance.” I could feel her endpoints attaching to the wall she was pressed against. “They’d do it before if I hadn’t stopped them. They tried tolerating, but they could only do that to an extent. After you proved intolerable with your actions, they were bound to react.” She pushed against the wall, but my channels shoved her in even harder. “Ugh… You hurt ponies, Sweetie Belle. You had to be stopped!”
I levitated up the circular saw machine from the corner of the room. My magic tore away the mechanical parts until only the circular blade was left flying in the air. “You set me up!” The round blade spun faster and faster as it approached Twilight. “You tried to hurt a pony, and that pony happened to be me. Maybe you’re the one that needs to be stopped.” I pressed my eyebrows together while I focused on her. “First, I’m fixing you, and then I’m fixing the whole system that allowed this oppression to occur.”
Twilight looked at the blade and gasped. I felt her channels failing to connect with the metal. It was already spinning too fast. She couldn’t form any focal points on the surface. It wouldn’t help her even if she could. I had so much strength inside of me, she didn’t even know what I could do. Nothing she’d throw my way could keep me back.
“Sweetie Belle, please!”
The blade lingered in the air without slowing its spinning. “Would you stop, if I begged you to?”
“That’s different. You left us no choice!”
“I’m going to give you just as much choice as you gave me!” The blade moved toward her again.
Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she split her magic at the horn’s tip. One part spread out through her body. She looked past me through the window. Her main channel followed her gaze. The endpoints curved and twisted outside the window, mimicking the exact shape of her body.
“That’s futile, Twilight!” I smirked.
The channel in her body charged and reacted with her own body matter. It changed her flesh to pure energy and led through the other channel out the window. In a blink, she appeared outside midair.
Out there, my charged endpoints were already waiting for her. “Get over here!” I floated to the side of the room as I turned to face her. My channels pushed her back inside the building.
Twilight slammed against the wall. “Ugh!” Her head dropped down, and the glow of her horn light faded out.
“I’m one move ahead of you, princess.” As the blade approached her again, my channels slowly lifted her chin, revealing a smirk plastered on her lips.
I grinned in response. “I guess we’ll both enjoy this operation.” The wind from the blade rifled her mane as it approached her horn. “No need to worry about something you can’t affect, right?” I chuckled.
“You’re actually still one move behind me.” She smirked.
I cocked my head. “Hm?”
Twilight half-closed her eyes as she focused on my face.“Do you feel sleepy yet, Sweetie Belle? I bet you do. I can already see the drowsiness on your face” She glanced over my shoulder then back into my eyes. “Didn’t you feel the prick?” A shifty grin crept onto her face.
“Feel what?” I shifted my focus away from touching the room with the channels to feeling my body. The spinning of the blade slowed down as I examined myself. There was a foreign object stuck in my back. I didn’t have to look at it. I clearly felt the intrusion with my endpoints. When did it pierce my skin? My channels launched the needle out and smashed it against the wall.
“I can detect your channels also, Sweetie Belle. You have far too many and far to spread out. Having all that information doesn’t help you if you can’t process it all. When you tracked my teleportation, I managed to telekinetically pick up the needle and inject some of the anesthetic into your withers. You didn’t get the full dose, but you should be well asleep not long from now.” Her gaze met with mine. “Your eyelids are getting heavy. I wonder how long can you keep them open. Your destiny is sealed no matter what your next move will be. You’ll either use the time you have left trying to escape or you’ll waste it in an attempt to cut off my horn. If I were you, I’d go for the third option and utilize every remaining conscious moment apologizing for the bad behavior.”
“I’ll end you!”
“You’ll fail.” Her horn lit up again. “Your available actions are limited.” The magic flowed over her body, encasing it with a dense, kinetic barrier. “You can try to hurt me, Sweetie Belle, but now that not even Tirek managed to break my barrier. Whatever you attempt, know that when you wake up, your horn will be gone. You won’t have the brute magic force at your disposal, but you’ll still have to face the consequences of your actions. I advise you not to make things harder on yourself. Don’t incriminate yourself further.”
My eyelids got ever heavier and my head followed along, drifting ever lower. The effects of the anesthetic in my blood were undeniable. “Damn you, Princess!”
She jerked as the blade shoved itself into the wall just a hoof away from her head. Half embedded inside, its rotation came to a sudden stop. Her gaze pierced me. “So, what’s it gonna be, Sweetie Belle? Ready to give up yet?”
“Never!” I clenched my teeth. The battle was hers, but not the war she had sparked!
All but two of my channels ceased. One forked through my body and one reached out through the walls.
Losing the support of my channels, I drifted down to the broken bed under my hooves. Two ponies crashed on the floor behind me.
“What are you up to, Sweetie Belle?” Her horn glowed brighter and the shield around her thickened.
She was right to fear me, but not at that very moment. I couldn’t afford to linger around for much longer. My safety waned by the moment. Securing my body took priority over my revenge.
The far-reaching channel penetrated through the last wall and hit the pavement. I focused on the spreading energies within me, connecting the endpoints with every part of my body. My whole physical being was presented to me. The flesh, beating heart, bones and every other part of me. I was one with myself.
The endpoints of my longer channel mirrored every connection of my inner channel. A form, made up of endpoints, was taking shape outside. The energies weaved themselves into an exact shape of me.
“You haven’t seen the last of me, Princess! Mark my words. I’ll be back with vengeance!”
I felt a zap all over my body as the room I was in disintegrated. In an instant, it was replaced by a cloudy sky, grass and the road I stood on. There was a sign beside me. It read ‘The Happy Hills Psychiatric Asylum’.
When I shifted my gaze down the hill, I saw familiar rooftops. My flaring channel narrowed and launched forth toward the castle at the edge of Ponyville. It wasn’t the sanctuary I was heading to, but I figured I could make one more stop at the hostile territory since its protector wasn’t home to defend it.
After another zap, I found myself at the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom castle door.
The saddlebag I had hidden in the bush was still there. I levitated up my pre-prepared adventure pack and craned it on my back.
When the last strap was secured, my horn glowed darkly. I extended my main channel toward the door while spreading supportive ones over a large area behind me. The fully charged endpoints impacted at the wood as the burst of energy rushed forth.
Bang! A loud blast ripped the door in half, sliding both pieces in the middle of the castle’s hallway.
“Knock, knock!”
“Twilight, is that you?” Spike’s voice came from afar.
I didn’t bother to answer as I trotted down the hallways to the castle’s library.
Spike’s head picked from the side room just when I entered through the opened door. “Sweetie Belle‽”
“It’s just me, the Swayer of destiny, borrowing some books.” I placed a hoof under my chin then pointed it at Spike. “No! Scrap that, I’m taking all of them. Except for that one.” I hinted at the shielded casing in the corner of the library. “But I shall come for that one, soon enough.”
“Sweetie Belle, how did you… What did you do to Twilight?”
My smaller channels spread out towards the shelves. Some passed to the other rooms feeling for any paper-like texture. I spread my main channel through the window curving it up toward the hill. The connection needed to be far-reaching, so I kept extending it. “Twilight had a fetish for horns being cut off.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I just wanted to oblige her.”
Spike gasped. “No… You didn’t! You couldn’t have...”
A grim smile plastered on my face as I turned to him.
“She was merely trying to help you, foal.” Spike’s claws tensed into fists. “You’re a monster!” He took a deep breath.
My body zapped just before Spike’s fire reached me.
After a flash, the Everfree Forest spread under the hill I stood on. My eyes were already half-closed, and both eyelids got heavier by the moment. I was pushing it too close. The anesthetic rushing through my veins was clearly taking major effect. My body was numb and unresponsive. The detour to Twilight’s library had been a bad idea. I didn’t have much time left...
The channels that weren’t supporting piles of books above my head spread out in into the forest.
“Where the brambles are thickest… big boulder… there!”
I zapped again. I couldn’t see where I was. My eyes were closed, but with my endpoints, I felt a boulder in front of me. The moist earth prevented my escape to the underground, but it couldn’t stop my channels. The piercing energies waved unhindered below, informing me there was, indeed, a cave there. My focus was failing and the channels already lost most of their cohesion. The books I levitated slowly drifted down.
My vision tunneled, but I couldn’t falter at the last stop. “Just… one more!”
I zapped once again and fell on a cold, hard surface. Stashes of books dropped beside me.
I forced my eye open. The white light from it illuminated the solid rock I laid on. I lifted my head and examined my body. Some scratches, but nothing major. Except, there was something on my flank. My vision narrowed, and I slowly drifted away.
The marking I just saw. Could it be—a cutie mark? My head thumped on the ground, and I was gone.