//------------------------------//
// The Shaman 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle the Dragon 
// by PlutoMilo 
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//self-destructive coping mechanisms and a small amount of self-harm
Don’t be like Twilight folks. If you’re struggling, go ask for help. Asking for help is always the hardest part, after that is when everything gets better.



Twilight found herself back in Someplace. It wasn’t any different than when she’d left. The feeling of complete neutrality was offputting. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was cold or warm. The place simply just… was.
“Hello?” Twilight called out uncertainty, “Anyone there?”
Her voice echoed and bounced around like she was in a cave. Silence answered her question. She wasn’t sure, but the glowing lights seemed to flash brighter. Stars. Twilight decided. The lights were stars. They were stars, yet they didn’t trace any familiar constellations.
A shiver wracked her body, though, from what, Twilight had no clue. Her wings came around her body to preserve what heat she had left. So, she sat and waited. There was an expectancy this time. It felt like hours passed as she sat under those strange stars. They winked lazily, flaring with no strict pattern. 
Then, there was a frustrated huff.
The dragon only had time to spin around before she was knocked out. Irritation bubbled within her as her consciousness faded. Was there any better way to get and remove her from here without getting bonked over the head?



Twilight blinked away vertigo and since she knew what to expect now, she stayed on the ground despite her crawling scales as Rarity bent down to inspect her.
“Could you… not look down at me like that?” Twilight mumbled, dragging a paw over her face, “It’s uncomfortable for me to get looked down on,”
“Oh- I- Of course, darling,” Rarity backed up uncertainly, “Is everything… alright, Twilight?”
“Fine, fine,” Twilight waved her off, heaving her tired body to her feet, “It just means it worked,”
A long-drawn-out whoop interrupted Rarity’s follow-up question. Rainbow Dash landed and did a few stretches before doing a small dance. Twilight wasn’t sure if the hysteria was catching up to her or not but she had to choke down a laugh when Fluttershy landed next to her friend with decidedly less enthusiasm.
Fluttershy’s long mane was floofed up and crackling with electricity. Her wings hung limply at her sides, trailing in the dirt and a small exasperated frown was plastered to her face. Her longer tail was drenched and leaving a wet trail behind the pegasus like a snail as she trotted over. She caught Twilight’s eyes, which were dancing with mirth and she sighed, answering Twilight’s question.
“She wouldn’t do anything until I took the first cloud,”
Twilight tried to tamp down her laughter. She really did. But it escaped through her nose and once it was out, she couldn’t force it back down. In response, Fluttershy zapped the dragon with the residual sparks from her mane, successfully shutting her up.
“Would somepony please tell me what is happening?” Rarity demanded, “Have you all gone mad?”
Twilight was still wheezing for air so it was once again up to Fluttershy to soothe the irate unicorn. As the pegasus spoke, she expertly smoothed down her electrified mane and preened her feathers.
“Twilight hasn’t been sleeping well so we’re trying to tire her out. We’re going around to see if everyone wants to join in,” Despite the soft delivery, the pegasus’ eyes almost bored through her scales.
The protest Twilight’d been ready to deliver died unsaid in her throat. She meekly nodded in agreement and Fluttershy’s expression shifted into something like smugness. She continued to preen herself all the while.
Rarity’s expression shuttered close, “And she is not going to slap more metal on unsuspecting ponies?”
Quickly sobering, Twilight floundered for something to say. The emotional whiplash stole all the air from her lungs. A pathetic choked noise issued from her throat before she finally found the words she was looking for.
“You were hurting ponies, Rarity!” Twilight snapped as her guilt flashed through her, “What did you want me to do?”
“You took my magic away, Twilight!” Rarity sniped right back, “I did not think you were capable of such cruelty,”
Her frustration exploded with the force of a volcano as she all but shoved her face into Rarity’s space, “You sent a child to the hospital,” she growled, “One of your clouds zapped them within an inch of their life and you wanted me to do nothing about it? I didn’t know you were capable of such stupidity,” it was a wonder that the venom in her voice didn’t corrode everything around her.
Twilight backed up before her anger simmered further. She could tell from the way her friends shrunk back that her eyes had gone slit. Forcibly, she flattened her spines and plates. She didn’t want to turn around and see the fear lurking in Spike’s eyes.
“Excuse me. I need to go cool off before I do something I regret,” Twilight fled.
She didn’t bother flying. She wanted, no she needed to feel her muscles burn. As she ran, her weight shattered the cobblestone underfoot. She’d repair all the broken roadwork later. If she didn’t run, she would stay in one place and vent her anger in another way.
Shredded books, broken quills, and a flipped desk taunted her. Fire burned bright around her as bone and muscle gave way under her claws. Owlicious hooted fearfully as broken glass rained down. No, she would not go there. Not this time. Faster. She needed to run faster. Why couldn’t she feel anything?
Twilight was tired. She didn’t want to do this anymore. Her roar shook the treetops and sent birds scattering through the air. She continued to run, her scales taking the brunt of her headlong charge into the Everfree. Nothing stopped the dragon, not brambles, not small trees, not even small boulders. Twilight smashed straight through everything in her path, willing herself to feel something other than frustration.
She bounced off a tree, skidding slightly as her momentum was thrown off, but she shook her head and kept running aimlessly. She wanted to be done. She wanted nothing more than to sleep and wake up to everything back to normal.
At some point, tears began to drip down the dragon’s snout as she ran. Twilight ran until her paws gave out and she slipped down a small hill. She tripped and rolled until the bottom. Her only movement was the great shuddering gasps she took after each sob.
Rocks were pressed uncomfortably into her back and branches jabbed into her shoulders. The silence became deafening as Twilight lay in the bushes. Everything in her body burned. So, she sat up. Something to the side of her wiggled unnaturally and a hooded figure stepped out of the trees. Twilight could hardly find the need to care.
“Oh my. I have found something, haven’t I?” Zecora lifted her hood away and studied the dragon, “What seems to be the trouble, Twilight Sparkle? Such a large debacle,” The zebra’s voice sounded vaguely impressed by the path of destruction Twilight left behind.
“Nothing, Shaman. Just a bout of disassociation,” Twilight muttered after a beat.
Zecora chuckled, “How admirable to continue to speak in terrible rhyme. Even after all this time?”
“Just to you since it’s respectful, Shaman. After all, it’s your way of communication,”
Zecora chuckled again, “Come and walk. As we do, we can talk,”
Somehow, Twilight managed to limp along with the zebra all the way until they reached her little treehouse. Somehow the zebra coaxed the entire story out of Twilight in the time it took to get to her dwelling.
“Some tea I shall make. You rest for your sake,”
Twilight said nothing, her throat still hoarse from their conversation before. Her claws clicked together as she let herself collapse onto the dirt floor of the house. As the tea seeped, Twilight spoke, voice wavering and scratchy.
“I tire of being a pawn. It’s looking like there’s not going to be dawn,”
“Your destiny is your own, Dragon. You need not follow a bandwagon,” Zecora intoned as she poured the tea, “The Princess is old. She expects all to do as they are told,”
“She acts like life is a game. I want a simple life, isn’t that plain?” Twilight asked imploringly, stuttering only a little to find words that rhymed in time.
“Ponies see what they wish to. Even if it’s not the way the wind blew,” the zebra settled next to Twilight with none of the hesitance that even her friends had, “So, what will you do? Continue on, or put your claw down as you wish to?”
“I don’t know, for I have a son. Every choice I make needs to be with him in mind or else the consequences won’t be fun,”
“What will be the choice that lets him thrive? Perhaps your friends you should ask as there are five,” Zecora pointed out.
“Thank you. I know what I need to do,” Twilight smiled for the first time in the last few hours, “I bid you farewell, until next time. Perhaps I’ll do better with my rhyme,”
Twilight heaved her exhausted body up and staggered to the door. As she was about to leave, Zecora spoke one last time.
“Do not worry so. Life does not follow the status quo. Your rhyme is not bad. I should hope it is not a fad,”
Twilight smiled and shook her head. As she threw open her wings to fly home, all of the bruises, aches and pains from her mad dash through the forest reminded her of the job she still needed to complete.