"TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHTWILIGHTWILIGHT!"
Twilight Sparkle bolted to her hooves, jolting from sleep to awareness in an instant. Her eyes flicked around everywhere as her mind ran through a thousand different scenarios of what could be wrong. Did a changling find them? Was there a cave-in? Had somepony dissapeared?
"That was fast!" a jubilant voice chirped in her ear.
The purple unicorn shot a foot into the air, letting out a squeal of surprise.She landed with a surprisingly delicate click, hooves all bunched together, back arched, teetering at the very edge of balance. Pinkie Pie watched this all with curiosity, letting out a giggle "Oh, Twilight." She bubbled "You're so silly!"
"Pinkie!" Twilight said "What in Celestia's mane was that for?"
"The others asked me to wake you up!" the party pony chirped in reply "so I did!"
Twilight sighed as Pinkie bounced off. She would never understand that mare.
She trotted over to the others, who looked up at her arrival.
"Twilight, darling!" Rarity cooed, styling her mane with her magic "I trust Pinkie woke you up?"
Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Alright mares!" Twilight said, before remembering the doctor was with them ".....and Stallion... Sorry... Here's our game plan: We leave exactly one hour from now, I will teleport us directly into the throne room, and from there we will use the elements on the changeling princess disguised as Celestia. Then we can find Spike, and hopefully from there, the real Princesses. Everypony got that?"
Twilight trotted towards the Doctor, taking her saddlebags and laying them on the ground.
"Oi!" he protested "I was using tho-"
He was silenced with a quick look from Twilight.
The purple unicorn rummaged around in the bags from a minute, then laid out some bags of trial mix, granola bars, and the like. She quickly doled the food out so her friends, and said "We should probably eat before we go...keep up our strength"
"Oh..." Fluttershy said softly "Thank you so much Twilight..."
"That's quite alri-"
"Brilliant!" the Doctor interrupted happily "Such an exciting day really makes you hungry, does it not? I for one, could eat a horse...."
Twilight whipped her head towards the Doctor, the perfect what-the-hay!? expression one her face.
"ssssseradish" the Doctor finished lamely.
Twilight's friends all shared glances.... Horseradish?
"Doctor" Twilight sang through gritted teeth "May I speak to you a moment?"
She all but dragged the Doctor to an adjacent cave, before turning on him and whispering harshly "Cannibalism? Really?"
"Sorry!" The Doctor said, holding his hooves up in a placating gesture "It's an common phrase where I come from, it slipped out!"
Twilight blanched "So you mean...you've eaten....humans...eat..."
"Ohhh, no , no no no! It was a hyperbole!" the Doctor chuckled "I've never eaten a horse. Humans didn't eat horses"
Relief flooding the purple unicorn's features....
"....well....except for the Dutch....."
Before being replaced with an expression of revulsion.
"But anyways Mrs.Sparkle" The Doctor continued cheerily "are you going to eat that granola bar? Like I said, very hungry..."
"You can have it" Twilight said flatly, her face tinged with a delicate shade of green "I've lost my appetite"
"You alright Twilight?" Applejack asked as the unicorn sat back down "Ya' look as pale as Celestia"
"Just nervous" Twilight lied, seeing as she couldn't exactly tell them the actual reason she was looking so green. The unicorn gave a little shudder, whoever the dutch were, she didn't want to meet them.
Then Rarity spoke up "Turner, I noticed that Twilight called you Doctor, is that your profession?"
Twilight cursed her slip up, of course Rarity would notice, she was as quick as a whip when it came to details.
"Yes" Twilight piped up, trying to correct her mistake "he's Doctor-"
"Hooves!" Pinkie chirped cheerfully, glad she could help with this fun name making game.
Twilight gritted her teeth, of course Pinkie had to drop a name on the spot that made absolutely no sense.
"So he's Doctor Time Turner Hooves?" Rainbow Dash said "What kind of name is that?"
"Weeeellll" The Doctor interrupted "My true name is actually Time Hooves, my middle name is Turner, not my last. However, most ponies, both in my childhood and present know me only as Time Turner because honestly Time Hooves sounds a bit silly don't you think? But on cases of legal documentation, my last name is legally Hooves. Therefore, I am Doctor Hooves....Doctor Whooves"
The Doctor giggled his own pun, knowing full well that no one else would understand it.
"Oh how interesting" Rarity cooed "I guess I should call you Doctor now, shouldn't I?"
"Oh no, Turner will do just fine" the doctor smiled, before nudging Twilight, who was still a little shell shocked from how badly the Doctor's on the spot lying outclassed her's.
The purple unicorn recovered with due aplomb, interjecting smoothly "The name name threw me for a loop as well, not often you meet a pony who's title is completely different than the name they first give you" she gave a small smile. At least now she wouldn't have to keep calling the Doctor Time Turner.
"Oh!" Fluttershy said softly "I met someone like that once...of course, he was an alligator, but it was a similar situation"
"Wait a second" Applejack said "Yer' tellin me that these critters have titles!"
"Oh of course they do" Fluttershy replied pleasantly "Take Angel bunny for example....."
Twilight's mind began to wander, and her thoughts drifted to Spike... She was so worried about him. But why wouldn't she be, he was like her little brother... Poor Spike, she hoped he wasn't scared...
"Helloooo! Equestria to Twilight!"
"Oh!" Twilight yelped "Oh, hey Dash?"
"You alright there, egghead?"
"Yeah, just a bit worried"
Rainbow grinned "Come on Twi! You stress too much! We're the Elements of Harmony remember?"
Twilight gave a smile, but only to reassure her friends...though Dash had intended to alleviate her nerves with the brash statement, it had brought some concerns into her mind once more.
Thornwing had been feeding on the immense amount of love that everypony had for Celestia.... She didn't even want to think about what would happen if that power proved stronger than the elements.
"here" Twilight said, opening the chest of the elements and handing them out to her friends, she then got up and began making sure everything was in order, double and triple checking the contents of her saddlebags, even though she could easily memorize the contents of her saddlebags (as well as every item's placement in the bags) with a cursory glance.
It was not for the sake of obsessiveness that Twilight checked preparations over and over again however, but the sake of doing something. Ever since she was a little filly Twilight had always felt a need to keep herself occupied. She could perform tasks that kept her mind spinning with incredible focus and diligence, but as soon as something was rote her focus would slip away and flitter about a million other thoughts and ideas, leaving her staring at a wall, pondering why ponies cry, with nothing done.
But Twilight, being Twilight, had learned to cope. Through years of practice, she had learned to direct all her thoughts to the most boring, uninteresting task with complete focus and concentration, drowning out any possible distractions.
This utter focus to a pointless job was often used as a defense mechanism for Twilight. When Twilight was faced with a concern, or tough decision, her mind would worry on the problem like a dog with a bone, running loops of endless worst case scenarios and possible wrong choices that would lead to disaster. Twilight combated this by focusing her every thought on endless busywork, leaving to room for errant worries, it was a way she could relax without her mind using the break to analyse every single thing that, good or bad, that had ever happened to her. It was one of the reasons she constantly re-shelved the library, re-shelving meant an afternoon of rote, repetitive, peace. The resultant neatness of the library was not the goal, as many thought, but just a byproduct.
Twilight looked up, Rarity had finally finished applying her fake eyelashes, they ready to leave.
The purple unicorn shouldered her saddlebag, and placed the element on her head. She gave one last reassuring smile to her friends, then lit up her horn. The seven ponies blinked out of the cavern with a crack.
They appeared in the throne room with a snap and the faint odor of sulfur and Twilight raised her head. Before her, maybe a foot away, was Spike, bound and muzzled. His eyes were wide and frightened.
Twilight took a step forward, but stopped when she saw the little dragon shake his head vehemently. Green eyes met her's for an instant, before flicking upwards.
There was a surreal moment, where all seven ponies slowly followed his gaze......
"Elements!" Twilight cried, backing up "Now!"
Hanging from the ceiling above them was Thornwing, a cruel leer across her face displaying teeth that were white, slender, and numbered in the hundreds. The fact that the was still in Celestia's from made the vision deeply disturbing.
Twilight could feel the crown on her head heating up, she began to rise into the air, carried by a power that was not her own. Her vision went white.
A spectral steam of magic shot from the Elements, engulfing the changeling.
That was when everything went horribly wrong.
The first thing Twilight heard was the laughing, harsh and cruel.
Not-Celestia walked up to Twilight trailing a hoof along her cheek in a sick mockery of her teacher's motherly tenderness.
There were six thuds as the unicorn and her friends fell to the ground. Instead of feeling strong and refreshed, like she usually felt after using the Elements, Twilight felt empty, drained.
Rainbow Dash was the first to get up, and she stormed up to the changeling princess, with shoulder's bristling and wings flared.
"How?!" She spat angrily, cyan face inches from the not-Celestia's white one.
"Isn't it simple?" the changeling replied "I'm stronger, then your silly friendship magic! Do you have any idea how much love Equestria has for their princess? Or didn't dear Twilight tell you?"
She made a mock face of sympathy, pouting dramatically
"It seems like the poor Elements have bitten off more than they can chew... Isn't that right dear Spikey Wikey"
A white hoof stroked Spike's cheek, and the changeling looked up with a sneer. In response, there was a noise like an angry cat and a purple hoof struck the her straight across the face.
"Don't you dare touch him you monster!"
The little unicorn was instantly batted away with a strike of green magic, flying against a wall, and Thornwing snarled. "You impudent foal!" The changeling hissed, eyes blazing "You dare strike me?"
Then her voice softened, became silky and poisonous, and the princess's face loomed above Twilight's swimming vision.
"Although, I suppose I have to thank you for your gall. it brought you and your friends here didn't it? Funny, how you caused me so much trouble, only to, in your own stupidity, turn yourself in again"
She displayed a mouthful of fangs in a predatory smile that looked oh-so-wrong on Celestia's face.
"Tell me, little Twilight, how does it feel to know your friends are going to be killed because of you? You knew that this was a gamble, that I might be too strong, but you came anyways. Why not try to flee the country? You might have been safe then...But you were to heroic for that, too drunk with the power of harmony. That's what power does to ponies, it makes them arrogant, it makes them fools. That's what happened to you, to Celestia, to Luna, even to my dear stupid mother, they became fools. And now, little Twilight, you are going to die for it"
Then a shape stepped in between Twilight and the princess, blurry, but recognizable
"No." The Doctor said, voice ice cold "You will not hurt Twilight, or her friends"
He looked to the bearers of the elements.
"Help Twilight up and get your elements ready....I have a plan."