Twilight Sparkle was not enjoying herself in spite of the ideal weather. She was too concerned with Pinkie Pie. It had now been four days since she had been found lying in the middle of the street, bleeding from her ears.
“What could possibly have done something like this to Pinkie of all ponies?” Twilight thought to herself as she trotted to the hospital, unwilling to believe that it was Vinyl’s booming bass alone that incapacitated her friend.
“I mean, certainly Vinyl’s sonic boom was powerful, but not enough to internally damage a pony like that...right?” The unicorn fought the conclusions that her mind was reaching. After all, just four days ago, she was standing up for that DJ. She couldn’t just turn her back on her, not just because of Vinyl, but because of the lavender unicorn’s pride.
Regardless, Pinkie was in grave condition, and was confined to her hospital bed. Twilight had received a letter telling her that Pinkie had awoken from her comatose state earlier in the day.
As soon as Twilight got inside the hospital she anxiously trotted to her pink companion’s room on the third floor. Not being mindful of her surroundings, Twilight, in her nervous sprinting, brushed, bumped, and crashed into enough ponies and objects to make Ditzy Doo shake her head in bemusement.
Twilight finally arrived and opened the door gently and gingerly tip-hooved inside with her eyes closed, hesitant to actually see the condition her friend was in.
She was probably right to feel this way.
This was not Pinkie Pie. This was a twisted inversion of the party pony everyone knew and loved. Her mane had lost all of its curliness or bounciness, now draped over the pink mare’s head straightly in the style befitting Pinkie in her “crazy” state. Her pink coat had lightened from hot to a very pale shade that was practically white. Twilight was eerily reminded of Pinkie’s grey complexion from her possession by Discord upon viewing her. The party pony was currently incapacitated and breathing heavily into her oxygen gas. As it turned out, Pinkie’s condition was far beyond simple internal bleeding. Aside from the need for oxygen therapy, Pinkie, in her comatose state was connected to several IVs as well as a couple of large machines that upon close inspection appeared to be some sort of life support system.
“Pinkie....” was all that Twilight could say. It took all the strength she had to approach Pinkie’s bedside in the state she was in. Twilight hesitantly moved her hoof to Pinkie’s head before eventually running her hoof gently across the party pony’s face. The lavender unicorn wanted to recoil. Pinkie was also suffering a terrible fever. “How could this happen” was the running line in Twilight’s bothered mind.
“All I can hope for is that you’re having pleasant dreams.” Twilight muttered to herself, trying to fight back the tears.
Twilight turned around, barely handling to see Pinkie in such a miserable state, when she heard a faint sound from the sickbed.
“Is...that...you? Twi-...” Pinkie whispered weakly. Twilight slowly turned around, she was, for some reason, expecting a sharp object to be pointed at her throat. She was aware of Pinkie’s "crazy" state, and it was something she was not prepared to encounter. So now, to look into those ice blue eyes and seeing nothing but pure sadism and a complete lack of empathy for other living creatures would cause her senses to freeze. However, it was a different feeling that Twilight felt radiating from Pinkie’s eyes in this moment. Her pupils were twitching and and the iris was fluctuating in size. The eyebrows were drooping with tiny beads of sweat dripping from the forehead. Twilight sensed Pinkie’s fear, but there was also a more complex feeling beneath the fear, a feeling that Twilight could not identify despite all she had read about pony psychology.
‘Is there anything Pinkie would be afraid of?’ Twilight thought for herself when she stared at Pinkie.
“I know you care for your friend Ms. Sparkle, but that is not an excuse for running around and crash into other ponies at this hospital.” The voice made Twilight jump from surprise, she turned to the door and saw that Doctor Stable was standing in the opening with an unamused mien.
“Doctor, be straightforward with me. Will she be alright?” Twilight asked, her voice filled with concern and fear.
“I can guarantee a full physical recovery in roughly nine days. However, I have greater concerns for her psychological state of being, and frankly, I’m not sure how to help her. Either through physical or emotional trauma, I’m afraid that your friend is not all there mentally.”
Twilight was shocked when she heard these words, especially since they came from somepony whom she knew was a professional. She didn't want them to be true, but she knew better than to doubt Stable.
“Are you okay Ms Sparkle? You look like you could need a glass of water.” Stable said, his voice hinted of concern.
“Y-yes, I’m fine. I just need some fresh air.” Twilight said shakingly, walking towards the door, wobbling slightly as she exited the room.
Twilight rushed back to the library the fastest she could. She had some reading to do.
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“Come on Twilight! You have been reading nonstop for, like 8 days now. These aren’t even topics you are interested in. Just look at these:
"Complete Equestrian Encyclopedia of Sonical Creatures" and "Advanced Interrogation and Identification Spells and Techniques". Spike had regrettably learnt that whenever Twilight took interest in a new topic, that meant less time he could spend with Sweetie Belle.
Twilight was just about to give Spike a lecture on why she was reading about these specific topics when she heard a knock on the door.
“Who could that be? Don’t they know the library is closed on Sundays?”
Twilight trotted to the door and opened it wide. Pinkie Pie was standing opposite of her.
“That’s right! Pinkie was signed out of the hospital today! I knew I had forgot something.”
“C-can I come in Twilight? Sorry to disturb you, but I need someone to talk to.” Pinkie said, her voice trembling slightly.
“Of course, Pinkie Pie, please come in.” Twilight said, sweating slightly when she Pinkie’s mane, it wasn't bubbly, but almost plastered to her head. She was not herself, both in looks and in countenance.
Pinkie entered the library and the first thing she did was to collapse on the floor, sobbing loudly.
“Pinkie, Pinkie, it’s ok. Everything’s okay.” Twilight said with a calming voice while wrapping her forelegs around the crying pony in a tight hug.
“You have to tell me Pinkie, what did this to you? Could you tell me what it looked like?” Twilight took up a quill and scroll. She was going to use a spell that would draw a perfect picture of whatever creature Pinkie might describe.
“I... I don't want it to be true, Twilight!” Pinkie cried.
“Could you at least tell me what kind of creature it was Pinkie? You are the only one who knows what it looks like.” Twilight said, doing her best to convince Pinkie to overcome her seemingly crippling trepidation.
“It... It was a... pony.” Pinkie whispered through her sobs.
Twilight was shocked when she heard this.
“What pony would ever hurt Pinkie?” However she had to keep it professional, and not let her feelings get the upper hoof during this "interrogation".
“Could you continue your description of this pony?” All traces of feeling was gone from Twilight’s voice, she was doing this professionally.
“Well, it was a pegasus, it had the same size and hairstyle as Fluttershy, and when I think about it... what if it WAS Fluttershy!?” Pinkie said, almost screaming the last part.
“Pinkie! How can you even think of such a ridiculous thing!” Twilight replied, fearing however that there was perhaps a grain of truth in Pinkie’s accusation.
“Anyway, the pegasus was pale. It had red hair and.... its eyes, I will never forget those eyes! They had very small pupils, and the really weird thing was that the left eye was blue and the right eye was red, the right eye also had what looked like traces of red eye shadow around it.”
Pinkie had never sounded this serious in all the time Twilight had known her. Pinkie was, however, visibly fighting back tears as she described the pony that had almost killed her.
“Was the pony wearing any clothes, any at all?: Twilight was going to get as much information from Pinkie as she possibly could.
Pinkie now had visible tears rolling down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and continued...
“Well, i-it had a r-red and white striped top hat.” Pinkie was stammering, that had never happened before.
Twilight looked at the picture that her spell had drawn. It sure looked a lot like Fluttershy, but that was impossible! Fluttershy would never hurt anypony! Besides, there were several key aesthetic differences. Of course, Twilight didn’t count out the possibility of Fluttershy physically altering herself.
The mane could be colored, but changing from butter yellow to pale white was incredibly risky, not to mention expensive. Then the eyes, while colored lenses were something that had grown in popularity recently, the pupils could probably change size, thus removing the possibilities of lenses, but an operation to change the colors of both the pupils into different colors? The thought was ridiculous, yet not impossible.
“No! It is impossible for this to be Fluttershy! However, to be sure I need to know what the cutie mark looks like, now that I have this spell that can identify the talent connected to the cutie mark.”
Twilight was in "the zone" and nothing was going to stop her from finding out the truth about this strange pegasus.
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Twilight had spent the entire day copying the picture of the pegasus and distributing them all around Ponyville. She had just placed the last one when a mint green unicorn rammed her straight on and almost knocked them both out.
“Darn It, Lyra! Watch where you’re running!” Twilight shouted, while rubbing her head.
“Sorry Twilight, I just wanted you to know that i have seen the pegasus you are looking for!” Lyra’s obsession of finding mythical creatures (Humans, Bigfoot, etc) had at least rewarded her with the ability to pay attention to everything.
“Where?! Where did you see it?!” Twilight replied, elated that the news had reached her so fast.
“I saw it over at Fluttershy's cottage.” This caused Twilight’s pupils to instantly narrow.
“What if the pony is going to hurt Fluttershy like it hurt Pinkie!”
Twilight ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the small cottage at the edge of the everfree forest. She noticed how all the windows and the door had been sealed with planks.
“Oh please be alright, Fluttershy.” Twilight whispered to herself.
She carefully bent a plank away and peeked in through the window. In the middle of the room. Lying on the floor was the strange pegasus, Pinkie had been correct on the looks, even the top hat was there balancing on its head.
“Okay Twilight, you can do this, just look at the cutie mark and use the photograph spell.”
Twilight swallowed and moved her eyes to the cutie mark. It was really weird looking, it was a butterfly with speaker shaped patterns on the wings, it also had a red stain on it.
Twilight quickly took a picture of it with her spell, the photo materializing in her hooves as she made her way back to the library.
“Let's see if the pegasus talent can shed some light over its mysterious behaviour.” Twilight was determined to stop the weird pegasus before anypony else was hurt.
Twilight opened the cellar door and entered. She had prepared a special area where he could perform all sorts of advanced magic. It was a table with a hexagram painted on the ground beneath it, and each point of the star had a magical artifact placed on it. Three of the points had drop shaped artifacts: the so-called “tears of of the goddess”. They could store magical energy, and would thus make sure she had enough for the spell. The other three points had a crystal with the mark for infinity chipped out on them, these were called “catalyst, the protector”. They would hinder any stray magic from exiting the hexagram as well as restore Twilight’s energy whenever the spell reached a higher arcane level. Twilight entered the hexagram and placed some papers and a quill on the table. She then started the spell that would identify the talent of the cutie mark. She concentrated and felt the arcane energy bend and twist like snakes around the bonds she created. The spell quickly drained her own energy and she could feel the tears supplying her with more. Suddenly, one of the bonds crackled and loose magic started to swirl out, but it was quickly consumed by the catalysts.
After channeling for about 10 minutes, she could feel the energy drain lessen as the spell neared completion. A small purple smoke cloud appeared out of nowhere and lifted the quill, slowly being absorbed by the feather. Twilight strained her magic to make sure the spell was finished correctly. The quill landed on the table again, now bearing a strange aura. It was not dark, it was more “lacking light” (some kind of anti-photons if you want to get theoretical).
Twilight lifted the quill and put it towards her forehead. She felt the picture of the cutie mark disappear from her mind as the aura from the quill turned crimson red. The quill hovered over the paper onto the table as it started to write and draw.
When the quill stopped Twilight looked at the paper.
“What? This doesn’t even make any sense!” The text on the paper looked like it had been written by a dyslectic chipmunk, it was just a mess of symbols.
“Wait a second, this isn’t a random symbol, this is a H and a I written on top of each other.” It seemed like the quill had written two different things on the same area.
Twilight redid the spell, this time she instructed it to use half of all the information on one paper and the rest on the other. The results were both confusing and terrifying.
Paper 1:
Cutie Mark: Butterflies
Special Talent: Communication and caretaking ability in regard to animals
Known Bearer(s): Fluttershy/Element Of Kindness
Paper 2:
Cutie Mark: Bloodstained Speakers
Special Talent: Generation of sounds booming enough to injure large creatures
Known Bearer(s): None
Twilight must have read those documents half a dozen times. All of this was insane! This was absurd! This was ludicrous!
This was too much for Twilight to handle, who collapsed in mental exhaustion.