As Celestia's sun waned, Twilight prepared to enter the forest.
Perhaps perpared wasn't the most apt description. She had plenty of supplies, and her two traveling companions stood with her. The three had already discussed the route they would take to the cave where Twilight's friends had found her, with the help of Rainbow Dash's directions. The had reached the edge of the forest, just past Fluttershy's cottage. Ponyville's evening bustle had long since faded into the distance. A few evening birds chirped. Bats awoke and fluttered from their hiding places.
Everything was prepared - except, apparently, for Twilight Sparkle.
She wasn't sure why she hesitated at the threshold. Maybe it was the way the ring around her wings still pressed uncomfortably against her fur, or the way the horn ring made her head feel slightly off-balance. But those were minor inconveniences, at most. No, she decided at last, it wasn't any of that. She gulped, then admitted to herself what she had already known. I'm terrified.
"Twilight?" Spike's reassuring, familiar claws pressed against her side. "Is everything all right?"
Twilight's first instinct was to snap, "No, of course it isn't!" She held that thought firmly in check and sucked in a deep lungful of evening air. "I'm just nervous, I guess," she answered. "The last time I went in there..." She didn't have to finish the sentence.
"Your apprehension is understandable," Luna said. "I imagine you feel very much as I did after I returned from my banishment."
"Afraid you're going to mess things up again." Twilight sighed. "Yeah."
"You won't mess it up," Spike said. "You've got us with you now. We wouldn't let you fail, even if you tried!"
Twilight laughed. "Me, trying to fail? That would be a new one."
"Exactly!" Spike adjusted his backpack. "Come on. Let's find this cave before it gets too dark."
Twilight looked at Spike's smile, then at Luna's reassuring nod, and then took one more steadying breath. "Okay. Let's go."
They followed the forest path as far as they could, reasoning that it was the best strategy to avoid the worst of the forest's dangers. They couldn't follow it forever, though, and they soon had to leave the trodden path behind. Luna lit the way once she'd raised the moon for the night. Comforting blue light emanated from her horn. The three huddled close, alert for any sign of danger.
Though she'd thought about it, Twilight hadn't fully prepared herself to face the forest without magic or wings. She'd visualized countless scenarios in which the creatures of the forest attacked, and how she would rely on Luna to do most of the fighting while she protected Spike. She realized know that she should have known imagining those situations would be very different from experiencing them. Spike clung close to his pony companions, head jerking this way and that at every odd sound or foul scent. Luna, for her part, seemed mostly unbothered by the darkening forest around them. Twilight couldn't be sure how much of that confidence was real, and how much was merely a projection.
To Twilight's surprise, and relief, the trio encountered no significant dangers on the first leg of their journey. In fact, she was startled when Luna's voice said, "We've arrived."
Twilight snapped her attention away from hypothetical threats and focused on what was right in front of her. The opening was barely visible behind the foliage. She wondered how Rainbow Dash had spotted it from the sky. Luna nodded. Twilight trotted forward, slowing as she drew near. This is it, she thought. The first step.
The cave was a small one, stretching back only a few dozen trots. She searched the rough gray stone for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing. She was disappointed, but not surprised. After all, there was no reason to believe her past self had picked this cave for any reason other than convenience. Hesitantly, she called up the memory of the night her friends had found her. She'd been lying there, and the three of them stood in the entrance, Rainbow Dash in front. Then the struggle. If she looked carefully, she could make out a few scuff marks on the cave floor, scars undoubtedly left by her flailing hooves.
"So, this is it, huh?" Spike asked as he looked around. "It's not much."
"I was probably just looking for somewhere to rest," Twilight guessed.
"Perhaps I can help to reveal this cave's secrets," Luna suggested. A pulse of magic rippled out from her horn. She frowned. "There are traces of magic here," she reported, "but they've grown faint. I can't discern what, if anything, they might mean."
The three stood in silence for a moment, pondering what, if anything, the mundanity of this place might mean. Finally, Twilight said, "Maybe I should try a spell."
Spike and Luna looked at each other. "You sure that's a good idea?" Spike asked. "We'll have to take the rings off."
Twilight began to pace. "Let's think about this. The only thing I remember, for certain, is that I was here. Based on what Luna saw in my dreams, we're pretty sure I went on some kind of journey, but the journey doesn't make sense because my brain's been scrambled and I can't remember it properly. It's just... bits and pieces. Fragments."
She stopped pacing and looked at her companions. "There has to be a reason Luna found those pieces in my memory. They must be important. But why?" She started to pace again. "This cave is obvious. I thought I was being attacked. I was terrified. That kind of experience leaves a lasting impression on anypony." She stopped, this time facing away from Luna and Spike. "I think the same might be true of those other places Luna saw. Somewhere, locked in my mind, those memories are there. I think, now that I'm here, I might be able to start tracing those memories backwards." She turned around. "But I'll need to cast a spell to do it. That means these rings have to come off."
Luna stepped forward, horn aglow. "You understand, Twilight Sparkle, that this is a dangerous proposition," she said. "I can sense powerful magic roiling within you. Even with all your skill, I can't say how long you'll be able to maintain control of it."
"If I start to lose control, you can put the rings right back on," Twilight answered. "Unless you have any other ideas?"
It was a sincere question, but Luna didn't have a good answer. "Very well." She wrapped the rings in her magic and carefully removed them. "Spike, please hold on to these. I want to be ready."
Spike held the rings gingerly in his claws as a magical aura began to glow around Twilight's horn. Luna watched carefully as a similar aura began to build around her entire body. Twilight's face twitched with the strain of keeping her own power in check. "I'm getting something," she said through gritted teeth. "It looks like - ahh!"
The glow engulfed her body and shone brightly from her eyes. Luna grabbed the rings in her magic, but before she could do anything else, Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head. The aura faded. Luna waited. "Twilight? Is everything okay?" Spike asked.
Twilight's eyes snapped open. Though they lacked the magical glow they'd held a second ago, they did not seem entirely focused on the present. Her gaze flitted between Luna and Spike, and she took a defensive stance. "It's all right, Twilight," Luna said slowly. "We're here to help."
"No," Twilight said. "No! Not again!" In an instant, a magical blast burst from her horn. Spike and Luna dodged to either side to avoid it. Twilight spread her wings and leapt forward, flying between the two and out into the dusk.
"Twilight!" Spike called. He started to run after her, but was caught in a shimmering blue aura. Luna placed him on her back as she spread her wings and took flight.
"Hold on, and do not drop those rings," she commanded. Spike held tightly to her made with one claw and clutched the rings to his chest with the other. Twilight looked small in the distance, but Luna's strong wingbeats quickly closed the gap. "I'm going to bring her to the ground. Then, we'll put those rings back on." Luna shook her head. "I never should have taken them off."
Spike didn't answer; his mind was too overcome with panic. Luna sounded confident, but Spike wasn't so sure her experience would be enough to overcome Twilight's raw magical power. Twilight must have sensed their approach, because she began to weave and doge through the air, flying through and around clouds in an attempt to shake them off her tail. Luna kept pace with every turn, and even closed the distance.
"Twilight!" Spike shouted. Twilight answered by sending a magical bolt in their direction. Luna dodged it, but lost some distance.
"I think it unwise to try to speak to her in this condition," Luna said between gasps for air. Spike nodded in agreement. A blue aura formed around Luna's horn. "I'm going to aim for her wing," she explained. "It will hurt, but she will recover."
"We can't hurt her," Spike insisted. "That'll only make her more afraid of us."
"We can't let her escape," Luna countered. "Everypony is counting on us to keep her safe. Once she breaks free of whatever is causing her fear, I'm certain she will forgive us."
Spike started to answer, but another bolt from Twilight forced Luna into a sharp dive, and it took all of his concentration to hold on. Luna retaliated with a bolt of her own. Her attack sailed past Twilight, just inches above her right wing, and burst in a concussive cloud. Twilight flared her wings to avoid the burst, and in a moment, Spike and Luna had caught up with her.
Luna turned and winked at her companion. "Always best to have a back-up plan." Then, they collided with Twilight and tumbled below the treeline.
For a moment, everything was cries and grunts and snapping tree limbs. Spike thought he heard a scream in there somewhere, but he maintained his grip on the rings and Luna's mane. When the three finally landed, they found themselves rolling through a clearing. He decided to let go of Luna and roll to a stop on his own. When he got to his feet, he saw Twilight just beginning to shake off her rough landing. Spike rushed forward and clamped the larger ring over her torso. Twilight let out a sound halfway between a cry and a growl and glared at him.
"Take that off. Now," she said, her voice slow and menacing. Spike gulped and backed a few steps away. Twilight's horn flared with magic. "Take it off!"
Spike shook his head. "T-This isn't you, Twilight!" he said. "Snap out of it! It's me, Spike!"
Before Twilight could answer, a bolt of magic struck her from behind, knocking her down. Princess Luna had gotten to her hooves and was panting heavily. Spike noticed one of her wings sticking out at the wrong angle. "Now, Spike!" she yelled.
But Spike was too slow. In a flash, Twilight disappeared, only to reappear an instant later atop a large stone obelisk that stood at the clearing's center. Twilight rounded on Luna and retaliated with a magical blast of her own. Luna blocked it with a protective ward, then began running toward the obelisk. Twilight cast bolt after bolt. Luna dodged each without breaking stride, her horn radiating power. Spike's heart pounded in his chest as he ran toward the obelisk as well. He was so focused on reaching the obelisk in one piece that he almost didn't notice the magic-shrouded boulder throw itself at Twilight from behind, knocking her to the ground once again.
"Enough of this!" Luna shouted, towering over Twilight's prone body. "Twilight Sparkle, you will stand down!"
"Never!" Twilight shouted back. She twisted around and delivered a brutal kick to Luna's broken wing. Luna screamed and collapsed, flailing her hooves in a desperate attempt to keep Twilight away. It didn't matter. Twilight's entire body was surging with magic. "I'll never give in to you," she hissed, preparing to strike the final blow.
Spike shouted and, with a burst of speed and leap, grabbed hold of Twilight's face. The mare screamed. Her shot went wild. With his free hand, Spike reached up and slipped the second ring over her horn. The two hit the ground at the same time and lay there, Twilight unconscious and Spike gasping for breath.