She rounded the spiral stairs of Canterlot Castle, gasping and desperate, until she reached her library workshop. Her chest heaved and hurt from the nonstop running, but she pushed it aside to concentrate on the task at hand.

They'd called her mad. They'd said she was depraved. They'd said she was messing with powers beyond her reach.

Wasting no time, she willed several books off of the massive shelves. They opened and spun around her. Twilight's eyes were lightning, moving across several turning pages in mere seconds. Her mind moved almost as frantically.

It should have worked, it should should have worked, it should have worked! None of this should have happened! I checked everything! I dotted my Is, crossed all the Ts, carried all the ones, seriously what happened here-

She spun around to see four ponies with very stern faces looking back at her--and blocking the entrance.

"Twilight! There you are! Honestly, so many dreadful staircases, just to find you!"

"R-Rarity! Rainbow, Fluttershy, A-A-Applejack!" Twilight backed away, then stopped. "Wait. Where's Pinkie Pie?"

Rarity's expression turned from grim to solemn. "When things got serious, so did she."

"Yes. Yet in the end, it was all in vain!" Rarity's teeth gritted for a split second. "Twilight, what made you think you could control those things?"

"I wasn't trying to control them!" Twilight huffed, and opened one of her workbooks to a page for them to see. "Well, not completely. But look! My research shows that the duplication properties of parasprites could be an excellent way to convert and recycle energy! All that was needed was to have them take up less space, and my new nanosprites should have been able to-"

"Twilight?" Applejack tapped her hoof. "Now, I admit I ain't exactly a fancy-schmancy magi-scientist, but do y'all know what 'nano' means?"

"Nano? Yeah. Y'know. Little. Tiny. Mini." Twilight broughht her hooves close together.

Applejack waked onto the terrace. "Uh-huh. Thought so. Learned the word in Manehatten myself so anyways how in the ever-lovin' tarnation do y'all explain THAT?"

The gathered ponies looked outside. A giant blue fuzzball flew above ground, knocking over trees, causing thunderous crashes, all without even noticing. It flew until it hovered over downtown Canterlot, kicking up high-speed winds with its wings.

---
"Polaris"
A My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fanfiction
Part 4: "Mad World"
by Bookish Delight, 2012-2013
All characters and referred properties belong to Hasbro.
---

The impact could be felt even in the castle tower. Unicorns below screamed as their homes were destroyed in an instant. The royal guard sprang into action, both to help the populace and fight the threat. However, those who attempted the latter were ironically swatted without a second thought.

"Yeah, we learned that real quick back in Ponyville." Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed as she glared daggers at Twilight. "Back when there was a Ponyville."

She was off in a flash--and in seconds, the remaining ponies were able to see Rainbow Dash flying circles around the giant parasprite, while a newly arrived Shining Armor, on the ground, put up a shield to contain both it and the heroic pegasus.

It worked for all of two seconds. With a turn of its body and a single flap of a wing, the giant parasprite burst through the shield, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. Pegasus and unicorn were knocked back several city blocks.

"Shining Armor! Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled out the window, then turned around, snapping back to action. She went back to her pile of books, and speed-read through several hundred more pages in seconds. "Come on, come on... there! I've got it!"

"Berate me later! Especially if this doesn't work!" From the terrace's perch, she fired a spiraling beam from her horn which hit the parasprite square in its gaping mouth. Twilight kept her beam constant as the parasprite resisted, and pushed her backwards. "Brace me, guys! It's fighting me!"

Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack took hold of Twilight's sides and rear, and pushed. With their help, Twilight's forced retreat stopped, and they all kept pushing until that force gave, and the resistance ended, with a pop. The parasprite glowed violet all over, shrank to normal size, then popped out of existence.

At that moment, Rainbow Dash landed back on the terrace and in front of Twilight. She was littered with bruises, out of breath, and sported a coat that was as frazzled as her current disposition.

Sarcasm dripped from her voice. "Oh, so you finally managed to stop it. Great job." She sneered. "Jinx."

Applejack held up a hoof. "Now, Rainbow, let's not go a-usin' the J-word again-"

"No!" Rainbow Dash shook her head furiously. "No, no, no! Do you know what it's like to have hundreds of ponies counting on you to save them, but not being able to? Of course not. You're the one who originally thought it'd be a laugh to make fun of wanting to be a hero! Don't think I've forgotten."

The blue pegasus continued her tirade, stepping forward, backing Twilight towards the edge. "That giant parasprite made short work of Ponyville in no time flat! If Pinkie hadn't been there, I don't know what... what I... aaaaargh!" With a high-pitched, tear-filled yell, Rainbow tackled Twilight, tumbling the two of of the terrace.

"Rainbow! Twilight!" the other three ponies screamed as the two fell and landed on the courtyard below. Only a cushioning spell at the last second from Twilight saved them both. Rainbow Dash didn't seem to care in the slightest. Instead she picked Twilight up by her sides with both front hooves.

"I don't even have to go to Ponyville to show you how you've messed up! Look at this place! Demolished again! I was here when you made that faulty magic reactor! And again when you put everypony under that slow-motion spell! That last one especially was pure torture."

"I-I apologized publicly for all of those mishaps, though," Twilight said, her voice meek as a kitten.

"Apologies, schmologies. When will you get it? You used to help ponies! Now all you are is Equestria's mad magician! All harm and no good! You're not worth keeping around anymore!"

The words echoed through the courtyard far better than Twilight would have liked. By this time, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy had caught up to them. Twilight looked their way. "You guys feel the same?"

Applejack sighed. "Sugarcube, I..." She stopped herself. "...no. You don't get called that anymore. Because of you, we don't have a Sweet Apple Acres anymore. Worse'n that... we don't even have a Ponyville anymore!"

Fluttershy sniffed. "All my animal friends... gone before I even knew what happened."

"The Wonderbolts saw everything, Twilight. Everything! They tried to help! Now they're gone too!" And again Rainbow Dash tackled Twilight, causing the two to roll across the castle courtyard until they met a gathered crowd of ponies. Twilight recognized some of them as Canterlot citizens--and others as Ponyville residents.

"Twilight Sparkle? She's always been a troublemaker. What'd she do this time?"
"That giant parasprite that just decked us? That was her."
"No way! Seriously?"
"Yeah, a bunch of them just wasted Ponyville, too."
"Just 'cause she's got Celestia on a leash, she thinks she can do whatever she wants!"

Through the crowd stepped a beige bespectacled mare, looking nearly as disheveled as Rainbow Dash. "Twilight... is this true? Are you really the one responsible for the giant parasprite?"

Mayor Mare shivered. "I'd never been so terrified in all my life. Why would you do this to us? Were we nothing but welcoming when you came to live in our town? W-was there something I could have done better? I just don't understand."

"It was an accident!" Twilight cried. "I was just trying to make things better for everypony! For Equestria as a whole! I-"

Sunlight flooded the courtyard. The temperature, however, didn't change. Princess Celestia appeared from the stratosphere, and landed in the midst of the crowd, directly in front of her student.

"P-P-Princess Celestia? Please, d-don't worry. I can fix this like all the others! I promise! Well, it'd probably go faster with your help, but either way, things can be back to normal before you know it! We can restore Canterlot, and Ponyville, and everywhere else! Right?"

Twilight smiled weakly while searching Celestia's eyes for that telltale spark of forgiveness she always saw.

"Right?" She blinked, searched again. Nothing. Celestia remained stoic, and for the first time, Twilight felt the first tinges of fear creeping towards her heart.

The winged unicorn shook her head. "Twilight Sparkle, you've done so much for me, and for Equestria, already. But even those scales can be tipped. I hoped this day would never come, but we have reached an imbalance which I'm afraid I can no longer abide."

"It means that there is such a thing as being too dedicated to your studies. It means that there is such a thing as abuse of power, even with good intentions. It means, Twilight, that I agree with your friends."

Twilight shuddered. "No! They're wrong! They're all wrong! I just need more time! Just once more chance! Equestria will thank me once I get this right! They'll see!"

Twilight froze. The fear now touched the tips of her heart, and crept even further as Celestia continued her denouncement.

"I've turned a blind eye for longer than I care to admit, but today I must face facts." The princess closed her eyes and slowly shook her head in dismay. "You are the greatest mistake I've made in thousands of years--one that I made in my rush to undo another. It appears the cycle will never end until I do so myself, the only way I know how."

Twilight's eyes widened, tears welling up within them. "I'm a mistake?" she whispered.

Six multicolored jewels appeared in front of Celestia, and swirled around her. Twilight felt their magic touch her, but not in their usual, empowering fashion. They were working against her, fighting her, smothering her. No matter how much she tried to fight back, she was completely helpless, even with her considerable power.

"Y-you can't do this!" Twilight cried as she realized the futility of the situation. "I was only trying to help! I've always only been trying to help!"

Twilight felt herself levitating off of the ground. For brief moments, she was eye-level with the Princess, remained silent while looking away.

She struggled in midair. Nothing changed. She tried to cast spells. She rose faster.

Her brother had arrived, and Twilight's heart leapt at her final sign of hope. "Shining Armor! Help! Make Celestia stop!"

Shining Armor looked at his sister, then at Celestia, and quickly put two and two together. "Princess, what are you doing? This is going too far!"

He moved to act, but Celestia placed a hoof on his shoulder, reopened her eyes, and looked into his. He was complacent in an instant.

The entire crowd of ponies was, in fact, simply willing to let it all happen, Twilight realized. Everyone present was perfectly willing to let her be banished.

Nopony on her side. Complete loneliness. A centuries-old legend sprang to mind, and for the first time in her life, Twilight truly and fully understood how both of its protagonists must have felt.

She struggled one last time, and tried every counteractive spell she knew. Unfortunately, fighting ancient relics of untold magical power and a princess of the same was a laughable effort at best. She gave up, curling herself into a ball.

I'm sorry, her mind chanted. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt anypony. But it just kept happening. Every time I tried to stop it, it just kept getting worse, I...

The creeping fear, the terror and sadness, took over her heart completely, and she broke down into silent tears as her mind's voice repeatedly echoed a single sentiment.

Twilight wasn't sure how much time had passed before she opened her eyes again, but when she did, she saw exactly what she expected: a starry void, all around her. She was still floating in a single direction--and wouldn't you know it, the moon wasn't far off.

As she approached the large, gray mass, she trembled. She'd be trapped within its confines for who knew how long, with the opportunity to plead her case long past. She would have started sobbing again, if not for the sight of a blue winged unicorn rushing up to meet her.

Twilight did so, looking straight in her eyes--and the unicorn appeared to recoil in shock. Twilight did as well, once they were close enough for her to see a few pieces of telltale black armor.

"Nightmare Moon? No!" With a shriek, Twilight instinctively attempted to move away. She got absolutely nowhere, merely swimming in space for her troubles. "Y-you're not going to take me!"

Her horn's light pulsated erratically, sending off repeated magical bursts everywhere around herself with no reason or direction--explosive fireworks which lit up the starscape. A few of these stray light shows made it to Nightmare Moon, who protected herself from them with a field which looked to require barely a thought for her to raise.

"Calm thyself, Twilight Sparkle!" Nightmare Moon's voice boomed as she flew closer. "You have done nothing wrong, now or ever. You are in the middle of a delusion! Fight it! Set yourself free!"

"What? No way! You're all the crazy ones!" Twilight cried, the fireworks intensifying and increasing in frequency. The second she saw the dark pony advance, she tried getting away again. After still not getting much of anywhere, she simply re-curled into a ball, all shivers and sniffles.

Why does Princess Celestia hate me? Is it really because of my magic? I've only done my best to please her my whole life! Where did I mess up? What does she want from me? What does Equestria want from me?

Nightmare Moon stopped where she was, shaking her head with a sigh, and a mental reply of her own.

Oh, Twilight. It truly is worse than I thought. How long have you kept all of this bottled inside? And worse... how long has my sister allowed you to?

If Twilight had heard her, she didn't let on that she did. No reply was made outside of further cowering.

Very well, then. I may still be learning myself, but this may at last be the correct time...

This time, instead of booming words, or even soft ones... sweet, dulcet notes escaped instead. A beautiful song, its melody both familiar and foreign, poured forth from Nightmare Moon's lips until Twilight's shivers and shakes slowly ebbed, and she eventually worked up the nerve to peek out from her position.

The second she did so, she saw the dark winged unicorn smile and nod through her performance. Moonlight swirled around the both of them, taking them out of infinite space and into a lush, colorful yard.

Twilight gasped at the scene of tranquility before her. Fireflies were the garden's source of luminance; petals flew about with abandon. The smell of roses, lilies and daisies, lilacs and grass, combined together into a most heavenly of scents she had never experienced even when visiting Fluttershy's grounds in Ponyville.

The mist cleared, and she could finally see Nightmare Moon for who she really was. Her stature was smaller. The armor was gone. Her eyes twinkled benevolently as opposed to sparking with electric menace.

Her fear slowly draining, Twilight shakily rose and explored, with nopony doing anything to stop her. Instead the song continued, syrup in her ears--an ability Twilight had never suspected the Moon Princess of possessing. It served as a background piece as Twilight explored her flora-laden surroundings their entirety.

She returned as the song's final notes were sung, and looked up at the winged unicorn's navy visage. "Princess Luna?"

"It was the closest place I could think of. And the best, considering the n-" Luna stopped herself. "The bad dream you were having."

Twilight held her hoof to her shaking head. "Ugh. One of the worst. I don't even know if I can describe it without going crazy again." She looked back up at Luna again with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry. You should be guarding the night instead of having to check on me."

The smallest of smiles crossed Luna's muzzle. "It is all right. Both are responsibilities I quite enjoy. In fact, I do not mind doing both at once. For instance, your dream? Descriptions are not needed. I know every single detail."

Luna extended a hoof. "I hope that by now, I have proven that I mean no harm. Twilight Sparkle, will you take a tour with me?"

Twilight took a deep breath and gathered her nerves. It was the least she owed Luna for everything that had just happened, she reasoned. "Okay."

A dark blue aura surrounded Twilight as she was gently levitated and placed on Luna's back. With a spread of her wings, and a mighty yet graceful push, Luna took flight, out of the garden, and above the castle.

It wasn't long before the two were slowly coasting over Canterlot skies. At this height and time of night, Twilight noticed, there wasn't much to hear except the sound of the passing breeze. She decided to take advantage of this by keeping their conversation going.

Luna hesitated for a long while before replying. "The lessons you helped me learn during my trip to Ponyville stuck with me. For months I attempted to 'tone myself down,' so to speak. But even with my sister's aid, it wasn't going very well. So I returned to observe you further."

"Disguised, naturally," said Luna with a quick wink. "Eventually I also noticed you and your friends' penchants for breaking out into song every so often. Usually, when you do, it infectiously spreads to others. The pink one especially appears to be able to brighten your entire village with her voice."

Twilight giggled. She'd remembered that day. She'd actually went out and bought reading earmuffs that very afternoon.

"I could never figure out exactly why, but I did happen upon another epiphany observing it. Is song not the ultimate form of voice control? If I could pull it off, then what couldn't I? I began practicing during free and lonesome moments--of which I have few. Still, the result is what you have heard." Luna paused. "I, um, do hope it was satisfactory. I've ever sung in front of another before. Not even my sister."

"Beyond satisfactory, Princess," said Twilight. "And it shows. You already seem in so much more control of your speech. I hope that one day, all of Equestria is able to hear what I heard in that garden."

Luna smiled. "Well, it may be a while yet before I serenade our world, but I thank you all the same. For the compliment... and everything you've done for me. Have I done so lately?"

"On the contrary. I can never do so enough times." Luna sighed, and they rounded the town border from above. "A thousand years, consumed by a force of pure hatred, unable to do anything about it. Believe me when I say that it's a slow pain that eats away at you, and the only time I ever considered my own potential lifespan a curse. For myself, and those who love me."

Twilight stayed silent for some moments before daring to ask, "The story of how you became Nightmare Moon... are the legends true?"

"How I became so consumed with jealousy towards the constant worship given my sister that I was easily corrupted? Sadly, yes. Unfortunately, the legends make me out to be far more majestic than I truly was." She scoffed. "I wish I'd allowed myself to be corrupted because of something as natural as envy. But I'm afraid matters on my part were far more petty."

Luna stopped where she was. Twilight looked down. They were currently hovering over Canterlot's exact center. "Listen right now, Twilight. What do you hear?"

Twilight did the best she could, but in the end came up with, "Nothing. Maybe a couple of ponies enjoying themselves in a local tavern, but at this height... those might just be bugs."

"I can take a lack of worship. I could even take being cursed if need be, or not being purposefully ignored. But silence... abject silence is enough to drive anypony mad if exposed to it for long enough." She closed her eyes, and the night breeze let forth a muted whistle. "So far gone, so lost in myself I eventually became, that I told myself I was willing to become Nightmare Moon simply because hearing the laments of my subjects at least meant I would still be hearing them."

"Do not weep for me, Twilight. It was one of many silly decisions borne of a lack of self-confidence. And the problem didn't go away simply once I was freed of her influence. As I resumed my nightly guardian duties, I was challenged with finding a solution all by myself. After much meditation, I indeed found it."

Luna flapped her wings, soaring moonward. As they both were bathed in alabaster light, her horn shone with a contrasting navy glow which, once bright enough, wrapped itself around a startled Twilight's horn.

Twilight closed her eyes, concentrating on the new magical aura surrounding her own.

"And stay out, y'no-good varmints! But only after y'all apologize for tryin' to make my family look so bad!"
"A show dedicated entirely to my designs? In Manehatten's Central Park? I... I don't know what to say..."
"Thanks, everypony! As Cloudsdale's new mayor, I promise to make sure the rest of Equestria always knows just how awesome we are. And to help with that, my first act is the announcement of a worldwide race!"

Luna smiled with satisfaction. "Indeed. Ponies do not become inactive simply because of their nightly slumber rituals. In fact, upon partaking of them, they simply enter a different world of their own creation. Therefore, as Princess and guardian of the moon and night respectively, I have taken it upon myself to stand watch over their nightly journeys."

"A dream guardian..." Twilight looked at Luna with a feeling of awe she hadn't experienced in quite some time. "...I never would have imagined."

And for once, Twilight could see Luna fluster every so slightly. "T-thank you, Twilight. I..." She snapped back to attention just as quickly. "Hold, Twilight. I sense an emergency."

"An emergency? Where?" Twilight just barely remembered to hang on as the Moon Princess took off at top speed. "Wait. You're going back towards the castle?"

"I think we've both learned by now that dream emergencies can happen anywhere." Luna stopped in front of one of the castle bedrooms, where Twilight could see a white unicorn tossing, turning, and sweating besides.

"And help him you shall. Due to the nature of the dream I'm sensing, I do think it's best that you are the one who intervenes."

"W-wait, me? Intervene?" Her voice crept to a whisper. "You mean, inside of his-"

"Yes," Luna said as sparkles covered them both. "I will provide the magic you need... so that you may provide the hope he needs."

And before Twilight had time to ask questions, her reality was swirling away once more.

Polaris

by Bookish Delight

4: Mad World