Chapter 4
Twilight stirred out of slumber for what must have been the 15th time since she tried falling asleep. This time the sun radiated through the top window as Twilight came to the realization she must get up for another day. Unlike any other day, she looked towards this one with a sense of fear. The last thing she wanted to do was bring harm to another pony and wasn't sure how her magic would react. From what she gathered, it seemed that her magic was reacting to stress but that could all just be coincidental.
She heard Owlowiscious' whoos downstairs reminding Spike that it was time to get up and started doing a quick brainstorm before dragging herself downstairs. There must be something I can do. Something in my power to counteract what is happening to me. But to do that, I have to figure out what caused this. Twilight's pacing was starting to cause a rhythmic beat as her hooves began to tread on the wooden floor. But nothing out of the ordinary has happened recen- ZECORA'S!
Her quick burst of adrenaline was suddenly met with another realization. No way. There is no way that Zecora would do something like this to her, atleast on purpose. She came to the decision that she should atleast go talk to Zecora and see if perhaps there was a complication with the potion or if this is one of the known side effects. She found this to be the most logical solution and found solace in the fact she was able to calmly make this decision. She put on her best happy face and hopped downstairs into the library main room where Spike was walking around in a wake-up haze.
"Hey Twiliiiiiiiiiiiiight," Spike yawned.
"Hello Spike!" Twilight said. She thought about what she would tell Spike about her activities today. She decided that lying to her assistant and to her friends were definitely not doing anypony any good. She would simply leave out some sensitive details. "I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I think I'm going to head to Zecora's to get a second diagnosis at this." She had been preparing for a counter argument but instead was met with a simple nod and yawn from Spike.
Well that went smoothly, Twilight thought to herself as she walked out of the library. She made a point to get to the Everfree Forest as quickly as possible to avoid any awkward encounters with any of her friends, especially Rainbow Dash. She still can't believe that she destroyed Rainbow's letter and was feeling particularly ashamed at how flagrant it looked. Try as she might, she was not able to convince Rainbow that it had been a complete accident before Rainbow sent her away. She had no choice but to comply lest she dig herself even further into this unknown maw that threatened to separate herself from her friends. She was so deep in thought that once again she failed to notice any potential pony trying to get her attention. She would have felt bad, but instead she just felt like breaking out into a sprint to make it to Zecora's hut.
She made it to Zecora's hut in near record time. Twilight was surprised to find herself not fatigued even the slightest. She was quick to conclude that it must be the adrenaline pumping through her veins. She couldn't help but analyze everything that popped into her mind and nothing brought a wave of relief quicker than testing her hypothesis and finding it correct. She found herself rambling even up to the front door of Zecora's tree-hut. She knocked gently at first. Then she brought the hoof down and said "Zecora! I need your help! It's Twilight, please answer the door!" Twilight was discouraged to find the door standing still. Maybe she is in meditation. I suppose I could just let myself in and wait for her to finish, Twilight thought. As she opened the door she found herself facing an all-to-familiar sight, nothing. She groaned out loud at the vacancy. Twilight bursted out, "Of course you're never here when I need you!" And after a stomp of her hoof, all was silent. Well, almost silent.
Twilight closed her eyes and focused and heard a ghastly yet familiar sound. Knocking. She had heard this before! Last time she was left alone in Zecora's she heard a faint knocking between the gusts of wind slamming into the tree. This time, there was no wind. Although weak, she was able to clearly hear knocking this time. She looked towards the door and went to open it, nothing outside. Twilight was now perplexed, perhaps it had been an animal thumping at the base of the tree. That thought was dismissed as the knocking continued and Twilight began to realize it was coming from inside the tree! Wait, not inside. Beneath. She followed the knocking sound to a large stand with an orb on top of it. She noticed that the stand had been recently moved and that the rug under the stand looked completely out of place. She levitated the incredibly heavy stand out the way (with ease Twilight noted) and began to curl the rug away from it's resting position. There she saw something that certainly didn't belong. A hatch that appeared to open a hole inside the floor. She leaned her head close to the hatch and heard the knock again and decided it was time to act. Twilight inhaled deeply and then focused on the hatch and with one swift action ripped the hatch from the floor as the earth moaned in protest. Twilight could see that the hole was quite deep, about 15 feet it seemed. It would take an extraneous amount of physical effort to dig a hole like that, or powerful magic. The perfect square shape of the hole lead Twilight to think it was the latter. She brought a light to the tip of her horn and peered down. What she saw made her sick to her stomach and knocked all of the wind out of her lungs.
There. At the bottom of the pit. Was Zecora.
Twilight gasped in horror as she stared down at Zecora. She had been bound and gagged with only one foreleg able to escape her binds. She peered down and noticed that the leg that had broke free had been causing the knocking sound. Wooden beams supported the sides of the hole leading all the way to the bottom to prevent the hole from collapsing in on itself. Zecora's foreleg had been knocking at the wood. Zecora was extremely weakened. Goddess knows how long she has been down there, her fatigue no doubt led to the quiet nature of the knocks. Twilight halted all this pointless analyzing and quickly levitated her friend out of the hole. Zecora looked incredibly frail and her injuries extended beyond what Twilight could observe in the hole. Not only did her friend look malnourished, she was also wearing a nasty gash across her forehead. Dried blood marked the side of her face in a line down past her mouth with an even fresher pool of blood that seemed to exit her mouth in large quantities at one point. She most likely hadn't eaten in days and her limbs looked shattered. Twilight looked into Zecora's eyes and Zecora stared back at hers. Zecora then glanced up at one of her shelves. Twilight followed her eyes to a potion on the top shelf that had light fumes pouring out of it. Zecora looked to be in no state to speak, nevertheless start conduct rhymes for Twilight so she only assumed that Zecora meant for her to go get the potion. Perhaps it was a healing potion, Twilight thought to herself. Or perhaps a revival potion to get her strength back! Twilight quickly brought the vial back to Zecora and was shocked at what she observed. Zecora brought her mouth back and quickly ripped out a tuft of hair from her mane with what looked to be the last of her strength. Zecora deposited her hair into the vial and the fumes became thicker and turned to the colors of black and white. Twilight looked on as Zecora glanced her eyes to Twilight, and then the vial, then back to Twilight before she finally got the message. She was supposed to drink it, not Zecora. But Twilight pieced something else together. No rhymes, fresh pool of blood around mouth, inability to talk. Oh Goddess! Twilight thought as she came to the realization that her zebra friend was now without a tongue.
"Wait a minute Zecora! This isn't for you!? I don't see how me drinking this will help you right now! I want to help you Zecora, tell me what I must do!" Twilight exclaimed.
Zecora simply darted her eyes back and forth again until Twilight conceded.
"Fine Zecora but after I drink this we are getting you immediate help."
Twilight levitated the bottle close to her mouth to begin drinking but before she was able to press her lips against the glass, the fumes from the bottle darted towards Twilight's nose and mouth and forced their way inside her. Twilight gasped as the bottle in her hooves seemed to melt away. She looked towards Zecora and it seemed that she was disfigured as well, melting into the background of the hut. She looked around and it was as the entire world was mutating. As the walls around her melted, she observed the clock on the wall. As primitive as it seemed, it had always been in working condition, until now. It seemed to be accelerating... backwards, and fast. Twilight's brain lit up as she recognized this shaman magic, Time reversal! She watched as the clock zipped counter clockwise and tried to keep track of the hours wizzing by. 36 hours went by and she observed as she zipped in and around the hut. This must be the actions of the other night when I came here searching for help. However, time kept on marching on. If this isn't what Zecora wanted me to see, then what is? After what appeared to be 3 days, the clock slowed down and she was able to focus once again on her surroundings.
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She saw Zecora looking clean and strong as ever in her hut. It seemed she was also sporting a rather festive feathered headdress, certainly of Zebra culture she noted. She was able to see, but when she opened her mouth to speak, nothing but her breath escaped. She wouldn't have even noticed her breath if she hadn't taken note of it, there was no sound whatsoever, an eerie silenced blanketed over her and she began to panic. The panic only furthered when she realized she didn't have a physical body, atleast not one she could see. She appeared to be ethereal. The creeping panic was quickly subdued when she noticed past-Zecora glance upwards from her table and set down the massive book she had been reading. She approached the door to let it open. The door was flung open and Twilight let out an inaudible gasp.
It was her! Twilight was struck with confusion. There was no doubt that was her. This potion didn't create hallucinations did it? She pushed aside her curiosity and simply observed. New-Twilight was mouthing something to Zecora, who in response, simply tilted her head seemingly out of bewilderment. Zecora eventually extended a hoof to let New-Twilight into her hut. New-Twilight was quick to hop into the hut. She embraced Zecora in an extremely awkward hug. Zecora was not very fond of sudden contact and Twilight knew that. She certainly wouldn't have done something like that. New-Twilight was smiling and finally seemed to remember why she, I?, was here. She extended a hoof and pointed it towards one of the small books on the top shelf of Zecora's hut. Zecora gave a smile and started walking towards the shelf when a movement out of Twilight's eye caught her attention. She stared on as the massive book that Zecora was reading suddenly was wrapped in magic. She saw New-Twilight's horn start to glow. This wasn't her magic though, she quickly figured out. The glow given off was light green in nature and seemed so, familiar. She didn't have time to think on it though as she gazed on in horror. She watched as the massive book was lifting toward the roof of the hut and Twilight could only picture what was coming next. Just before Zecora reached the shelving, the book started to plummet downwards. Twilight cringed and closed her eyes just before the inevitable happened. She could almost imagine the crunch of the book landing across Zecora's head and tears started to well in her eyes. She couldn't bare to watch but she also couldn't afford to miss anything happening. She thought she only closed her eyes for a brief few seconds, but when she opened her eyes what she observed quickly fought those thoughts. She observed the hatch on the floor closing firmly and looked upon the pony standing in front of her. No, not a pony. A zebra. Zecora?! Wait, what just happened? She observed the floor and noticed a fresh pool of blood expanding near the hatch. Is this where she lost her tongue? Wait, but how? She tried to go back in time but she had no control over time here. She watched as the New-New-Zecora's ??? face lit up in a grim. And just like that, Twilight understood.
She understood why Zecora had sent her back here. She understood everything. Anger rose up through her. Just as Twilight had completed the thought, the hut was slowly melting again. This time it was a much faster transformation forward through time.
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Twilight panted in anger, she was beyond infuriated. How could she not notice! Suddenly, Twilight was back in the present time. She looked down on her Zebra friend and saw only a body. No life stirred within the corpse and Zecora's body held only an empty stare. She was gone.
"ZECORA! NO!"
Twilight felt rage brewing inside of her. With this rage came a tidal surge of magic. She was stronger than ever but felt anger and despair taking hold. She let out a scream loud enough to be heard as far as Ponyville. All around her, trinkets and vials started falling off the shelves and the scream carried on. The ground itself seemed to be tearing itself asunder as Twilight Sparkle continued to let out wails of despair. The tree threatened to collapse on itself when Twilight came to. She knew what needed to happen. She knew who was responsible. And with that she ran from Zecora's hut faster than she ever felt her hooves could carry her, towards Ponyville. Somehow she just knew she would find "Zecora" there. The town square of Ponyville was her destination and she reached there in unbelievable speed, drawing the attention of many of the townsfolk. She saw a familiar zebra chatting with an energetic pink mare bouncing in circles around her. NO! Twilight's mind screamed out.
She charged with all of her might. Applejack would be envious of the speed Twilight Sparkle now gained as she raced towards Zecora. Zecora didn't even have a second to realize what was happening before Twilight Sparkle slammed into her with a blinding speed. Ponies everywhere gasped as Zecora's body was sent flying through the air. Everypony was speechless. Pinkie Pie's mouth was left agape as she saw Zecora's body fly through the air seemingly through the actions of one of her other best friends.
A unicorn mare with a mint green mare wearing a grey hooded sweater was the first to say anything, "Twilight Sparkle! What are you doing to that zebra?! Isn't she your friend?!?"
"NO!" Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. Her voice carried with more strength than anypony anticipated as some were thrown on their flanks from the raw power.
Zecora hit the ground rolling and was unbelievably quick to recover from the hit, she opened her mouth to protest, "Twilight Sparkle why do you-"
"YOU DO NOT SPEAK MY NAME UNDER THAT GUISE! YOUR CHARADE IS UP YOUR MAJESTY!"
Everypony looked on in a mix between curiosity and horror. Your majesty?
"YOU WILL HARM MY FRIENDS NO LONGER, CHRYSALIS!"