//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Twilights return // Story: human of the everfree // by Aljazig //------------------------------// A minute after Twilight teleported, I could hear her screaming so I ran towards the sound, I had to help Twilight if she was in trouble. It only took me a few minutes of running, but when I arrived I started wishing I got there before she started screaming. Twilight was laying on the floor, holding her head, tears streaming out her eyes as they tried focusing on the only thing missing. Her horn. I just couldn't believe it. Twilight, one of the four alicorns, that was originally a unicorn was now just a stronger pegasus. I just couldn't understand. 'How did this happen?! There aren't even any signs of her horn being cut off, it's like it just disintegrated!' It took me a few minutes, but I got myself together, moved to Twilight and started comforting her. I knew she got a bit crazy with her experiments sometimes, but losing her horn just for that was too much. For her to warrant such a punishment she would have to do something truly bad. So I gently asked her, trying to sound calm even though I wasn't: "Twilight, what did you do to the ghost and the human?" She looked at me through the tears in her eyes and said: "I didn't do anything to them, I was just trying to get them to come with me, but the human turned her back on me, so I shot a tranquilizer shot at her. But the ghost went and blocked it and then the human got angry and did something to my horn!" She then started bawling her eyes out again and it took me at least half an hour to calm her down again. Afterwards I helped her stand and we headed home through the Everfree. But since Twilight couldn't use her magic to keep the Everfree beasts at bay, we decided to first head to Zecora to get something to repel them instead. It took as a good part of an hour to reach Zecora's hut since Twilight was still in pain due to losing her horn and thus couldn't walk particularly fast. Leaving Twilight to lean on the wall I stepped up to the door and knocked. Soon after Zecora opened the door and welcomed us in. We stepped into the living room, that was like always filled with tribal masks on the walls and books on herbalism on the singular table. There was also a cauldron in the corner, but it appeared empty. When Zecora saw Twilight without her horn, I could see her eyes widen, before she bolted to another room in her house, soon returning with a red, borderline violet drink. "It will help, this potion of pink, but the whole thing you will have to drink." Said Zecora with concern in her voice, like she wasn't sure if she should let Twilight drink the potion. "What is so bad about having to drink the whole potion? It looks like there isn't even a deciliter in the bottle." I asked, confusion apparent in my voice. "The potion does not simply taste bad, it is so horrible to the point it drives ponies mad!" She answered with actual worry in her voice now. "What will happen if she doesn't drink the whole potion and what should we expect if she does?" I again asked, this time with drops of anger mixing into my voice. "If the whole potion she will drink not, then her magic circuits too will rot. But if she manages to, her horn grow will back same as it was through and through." Said Zecora with a glint in her eyes. "I'll do it!" Immediately exclaimed Twilight, not even waiting for a response, before she took the potion with her wings and downed the whole thing. "Wait, stop!" Cried out the zebra, but it was too late. Twilight fell to the ground, screaming her head off as her horn slowly started pushing it's way out of her skull. Unable to pass out due to side effects of the potion that Zecora wanted to warn her about, Twilight suffered 5 excruciating hours of unbearable pain, before finally the potion allowed her to pass out. I just couldn't bear to see the pony who hatched my egg looking like that, so I left the room as soon as she passed out. Then I remembered how growing back her horn looked and promptly emptied the contents of my stomach in Zecora's toilet. I never wanted to witness something like that ever again. While Twilight was passed out Zecora made us a soup, since it was way past dinner time and emptying my stomach really didn't help with my hunger. While eating I asked the zebra something that had been bothering me since she told us the potion could regrow Twilight's horn. "Hey, Zecora? How come that you don't use that potion you gave Twilight for all of the unicorns that lost their horns?" It was a valid question, one that I required an answer to, especially since I wanted to help ponies. I had always wanted to become a doctor and for that reason I have read a lot of medical books in my free time. But for some reason there was never a mention of a potion that could give a unicorn their horn back. "Listen Spike, a unicorn and alicorn are nothing alike. If Twilight were a unicorn, her whole magic system would burn. For that reason the potion is for alicorn use only, unless you want to kill a pony." Answered Zecora with a scary calmmnes in her voice. "I see, then what-" I was rudely interrupted while asking my question, by Twilight who apparently had just woken up. "Ugh, what happened? I remember drinking the potion, it tasted horrible by the way, then I blacked out. Did it work?" Said Twilight, only now noticing the pain on her forehead was gone, so neared her hoof to her horn before touching it. Her eyes widened, before she started jumping for joy. Then, just as suddenly as she started she stopped and got a dark look on her face. Then, just barely within my hearing range she murmured: "I am going to get you for what you did and I am going to enjoy every last second of our next confrontation." And then, she laughed.