"Twilight, did you go into Church's head? How did you do it? And why are your eyes like that?" Spike asked as Twilight continued staring at the mirror. She didn't answer, so Spike turned to Tex and raised a brow. "What's wrong with her?"
"They were in there, weren't they?" Tex asked quietly, keeping her eyes glued to Twilight's reflection.
"What? Who are you talking about?"
"Eta and Iota." Tex replied hesitantly, and Twilight felt as if a small needle poked her brain, causing her to grunt. "This isn't good."
"What isn't go-"
"Eta and Iota are two other fragments. They were originally given to Carolina together, even though she was told how dangerous it was." Tex shook her head slowly.
"How dangerous was it?" Twilight asked, but her words came out as a painful croak.
"They ended up driving her crazy."
"That's not good." Twilight grunted. "What am I going to do?"
"I don't know. I think we should-" Tex started, but was interrupted when there was a knock on the door.
"Are you guys alright in there?" Rainbow Dash called from outside.
"No, we're not." Twilight called back. "What are you doing here?"
"Why, can't I drop by on my favorite egghead to see how she's doing?" Rainbow Dash chuckled loudly.
"Should we let her in?" Spike asked quietly.
"I-I'm not sure." Twilight replied honestly, eyes flicking towards Tex. "Do you think they can jump out of my head and into hers?"
"No, I don't think so." Tex shook her head. "If they could then they would have earlier."
"You guys still there?" Rainbow Dash yelled.
Twilight nodded at Spike and he darted down the stairs to get Rainbow Dash, while Twilight turned her attention back to the mirror, wondering if she was going to suffer the same fate as Carolina. Tex walked next to her, not sure what to say to her to make her more at ease. She glanced over at Church, whose eyelids were now fluttering open. Tex looked back at Twilight and tapped on her back.
"You're awake!" Twilight said happily, trotting up to his side.
"Am I?" Church asked breathlessly, staring at the ceiling. "How do I know I'm still not dreaming?"
"I could hit you if you want." Tex suggested.
"Yup, that sounded like the real Tex, and not the completely docile, non-psychotic person in my dreams."
"In your dreams I'm nice?" Tex asked abrasively.
"You're right, even there you're pretty bad." Church sighed, then saw Twilight's eyes and raised his brow. "What's with your eyes?"
"You... don't remember?" Twilight asked.
"What do I look like? The living embodiment of memory?" Church asked sarcastically. "But no, I don't remember anything for... wait, how long was I out for?"
"I'm not too sure, I wasn't keeping track. Couldn't have been more than an hour though."
The door swung open and a pair of ponies walked in with Spike. Church let out an annoyed groan.
"I missed you too, buddy." Tucker smirked.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Church asked sadly, feeling another headache already coming on.
"Tucker heard some screaming and he was getting some pretty bad ideas about you guys, so I had to prove him wrong by making sure you guys weren't... well, you know." Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, staring at the ground. She then glanced up and made eye contact with Twilight. "Uh, Twi? Your eyes-"
"Yes, I know." Twilight sighed, looking at Church.
"Did Church give you that multicolored eye thing?" Tucker asked.
"Heterochromia iridum, and no, he didn't." Twilight said, then thought for a moment. "Actually, in a way I guess he did."
"I did?" Church inquired with surprise. "Pretty sure I'd remember doing something like that."
"You may have been screaming and in intense pain when you did so."
"Man, always knew Church was a screamer. Bow-chicka-bow-wowwwwwhy did I go there?" Tucker asked in a depressed tone. "Now i can't get that image out of my head."
"Good, bet you like hearing me scream, don't you Tuck-"
"Shut up!" Tucker yelled. "I'm not gay! You're the gay robot, not me!"
"Both of you, shut up." Tex snapped angrily at the pair. "This is serious."
"Right." Church rolled his eyes. "Come on, two different colored eyes is nothing to be-"
"Eta and Iota are in Twilight's head!" Tex snarled.
"Come again?" Church asked, staring suspiciously at Twilight.
"Twilight tried to take some of the pain out of your head again, but this time she got dragged into your head."
"Twilight went into my head?" Church inquired, eyes growing more curious. "How did she do it? And please, don't just say magic."
"By... I don't know, I assume them." Tex shrugged. "Or maybe even you."
"What the hell are we even talking about?" Tucker grunted.
"Tucker, shut up." Church said, eyes still on Twilight. "What happened next?"
Twilight looked away from Church and coughed, knowing that if she told him what happened he would most likely get angry. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, expecting to see him glaring at her, but his eyes were glossy, scared over Twilight's well being.
"When I went into your head, I found myself surrounded by pictures. Not just pictures, but memories that I could watch by simply focusing on them. At first I tried to not look away, but I figured that I had to follow memories that were playing to find you.
"You watched my memories?" Church asked, again, still more worried than angry.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. How many and which memories did you see?"
"Only a few." Twilight promised, frowning at Tex. "I saw Tex die. Twice. Once by the Meta, and again by you "forgetting" her."
"I see." Church said, seeing Tex's eyes go soft. "Then?"
"Then I found you. Surrounded by memories, screaming at you to remember them. I ran up to you to help you, but you couldn't hear me. That was when Eta and Iota came by. They tried becoming one with you, but couldn't, so they held out their hands to me..."
"What did you do next?" Church asked, though he already knew the answer.
Twilight shook her head and sat on the ground, ignoring his queries.
"Twilight. What. Did. You. Do?" Church asked firmly.
"I thought they were just going to use my magic to help you. I didn't know they were going to go inside me, I promise!"
A green flash filled the room, making all but Church and Twilight shield their eyes. All of Church's attention was focused on his friend, while Twilight's attention was on keeping the two fragments out of the nerve center of her brain, frantically using magic to prevent them from getting any deeper. After a few seconds, all five ponies and a small dragon glanced at Delta, whom was standing next to Twilight, examining her eyes thoroughly.
"Is it Eta and Iota?" Delta asked and Tex nodded. "It is as I thought then. You all remember what happened in the catacombs, correct? The other fragments and I inhabited the statues that surrounded Epsilon when he used the revival spell on Caboose. The reason we did was because we were stronger fragments. You see, every time a fragment got created, they became weaker and weaker, thus could not make it to the statues before us. Instead, they had to return to their inactive state in Epsilon's mind."
"Wait, if it brought back the strongest ones, then why didn't the Alpha or whatever get brought back?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Because Epsilon already is the Alpha's memory, therefore couldn't have been brought back since Epsilon already is in an active state, while we were dormant memories."
"Dormant memories?" Tucker asked. "You mean like repressed memories?"
"Not quite, Tucker." Delta continued. "There are three types of memories that Epsilon has; the first being active memories, ones that he can recollect at any given time. The next one being dormant memories. These memories aren't forced deep into his mind to forget them like repressed one. They are simply ones that he cannot recall when he chooses, but have to be triggered to relive. Ones that give him immense pain when he remembers. The other fragments and I were dormant memories before we were revived by the Necronomicon's evil magic. Then there are inactive memories, ones that are in limbo between being active and dormant, much like repressed memories, which is what I assume Eta and Iota were."
"The book uses dark magic." Tucker corrected him jokingly. "Totally not evil."
"Of course not." Church muttered. "You know, I've been wondering about it for a while now; do you know why Gary and O'Malley are not the colors they originally were supposed to be? Did you guys just become the colors of the ponies that the statues represented?"
"No, we became the colors that we were most comfortable in. The majority of us were fine, but since Omega has a fondness for blood and violence, he became the color of that which he constantly threatens to spill rather than his technically natural darker tone. Gamma, on the other hand, settled on a different color overall, subconsciously willing to be unrecognizable to us."
"Don't waste time talking about our damn color schemes, get your head straight and focus on the actual damn problem so we can find a solution!" Tex growled. "I'm tired of everyone I know going crazy!"
"I already know the only ways this can end, but none of them are happy endings." Delta said reluctantly.
"Just tell us." Twilight said softly. "I need to know what we can do."
"Very well. The first option is you allow Eta and Iota to stay in you, though I do not recommend that since you will most likely lose your sanity."
"What's the next option?" Church asked when Delta fell silent.
"The next two are giving them to someone else, or trying to use the Necronomicon to give them a new body." Delta said quietly, lightly shaking his head. "Again, I highly discourage those actions. Aside from those three options, I am afraid there is only one left."
The room fell silent for a minute, nobody daring to ask what it is, fearing they all already knew. Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash and Tucker, who stared at each other with sad curiosity. She then glanced at Spike, who didn't know what to make of his words. Then at Tex, who was staring at Church.
"And what would that be?" Twilight asked when she finally looked at Church, whose face was filled with remorse.
"Death." Delta said glumly.