Silver walked into her room and closed the door, locking it behind her. This was a familiar routine to ensure she had privacy from Mother. An exciting night was planned for the crusaders. They were finally going to earn their cutie marks in witchcraft.
After setting down her saddlebags she went over to her victorian dollhouse. It was larger than the filly and sat on the ground. it split in two diagonally, revealing the many rooms inside the intricately detailed house. There were tiny plates, flowers, rugs, and even power outlets. Only the rich ponies, such as Silver’s family, could afford electricity.
Silver spoon pulled the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of her bag and set them next to her other dolls. Silver returned a moment later with a shoe box.
“Crusaders, meet the remaining members of my dollhouse: Krissy, Annie, and Janice.” She gestured a hoof to each one of them.
Krissy was a porcelain pegasus. Her coat had turned grey and scratched. Both ceramic wings had snapped off, leaving only small stubs. One of her legs was missing, an obvious sign that this doll was old and had seen better days. Annie was a small yellow and black filly. She was plastic and had what looked like scorch marks. Janice was an ordinary earth pony that had been sliced in two and glued back together.
“And this one is me, the princess!” Silver pointed at the snowy white earth pony with brown hair. “Her name was Scarlet, but that didn’t make much sense, since she is all white. I renamed her to Princess Silver, daughter of King Sterling and Queen Ware.”
The filly began to move the dolls around. It was too bad they couldn’t move, for their game tonight it would have been more fun if they struggled.
“Okay guys, I’m the Princess and these three are my royal knights. Annie is a dwarf, that’s why she is so short, but she’s super good at stealing diamonds and stabbing her best friend in the back. The other two got hurt fighting a troll. You three are the wicked witches, and you’re trying to kidnap me. The beautiful knights of the amazon will defend me, and whisk me away to my Prince. Got it?”
Silver moved the knights to the side and began to play. “Halt, Princess! It is I,” Scootaloo flourished an imaginary cape. “Scootaloo, the witch who was so evil her parents orphaned her at birth. I am so shallow and petty that I blame other ponies and am super mean!”
“And I am Sweetie. My sister is fancy and that makes me think I am as good as rich ponies, when really I’m a talentless egghead who can’t even sing in key!”
“And ah’m Apple Bloom, an inbred mud pony who gets fancy stuff filthy. We’re gonna steal ya and make ya squeal like a piggy!”
“No,” Silver replied. “You’ll never get away with this, my knights will rescue me!”
“This isn’t some fairy tale. Now, get into our evil mansion,” Scootaloo ordered.
“I won’t do it.”
“Then I cast a sleeping spell on you! Poof!” Sweetie walked up to the princess and knocked her over. “It is done, put her in that broom closet.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom escorted her into the dollhouse broom closet. No sooner had they done so then the knights had showed up.
“Unhand the princess, vile witches!” Janice and Krissy burst out of the bushes.
“Sure! . . . ah mean no!” Apple Bloom yelled. “Ah gots ta have her teach me sum mannerisms.”
“Manners,” Sweetie said.
“Yeah, them,” Apple Bloom said.
“Attack!”
The ponies closed in on each other. Krissy was hit by a magical lightning bolt, shattering her to pieces. Silver took out a hammer from the shoe box and smashed her least favorite doll in half a few times. The porcelain doll crumbled, and Silver smiled. Her mother would finally have to buy her a new one, and this time it’d be an alicorn.
“You killed her,” Janice stated. “For that, you will pay!”
Annie had snuck up to the broom closet, knocking on the door. She unlocked it and walked in.
“Aren’t you a little short for a witch—hmm I have the strangest feeling of deja vu—why should I trust you?” Princess Silver asked.
“It’s me, Annie Skye, I’m here to rescue you.”
Princess Silver shook her head to get the odd feeling out of it. “I think they’ve cursed me, we’ll have to capture them and find out. Lend me a sword!”
The pair rushed out to find Janice fighting a losing battle. The three witches had cornered her. Luckily, Annie and the Princess snuck up behind them and hit them with their swords, knocking them unconscious.
Silver took the hammer and bashed each of them a few times with it, flattening out their plastic bodies slightly. By the fourth hit on Sweetie she heard a shrill screaming from the doll.
“That’s odd. . .” Silver mused.
“Honey, Are you all right?” Mother asked.
“Yeah mom, I’m fine. Just playing with my dolls.”
“Alright honey, let me know if I need to send the butler to get you any new toys.”
“No thanks, I have plenty, bye!” Silver shouted.
Raising the hammer again, she slammed Sweetie with it. The filly was laying on her side and the hammer didn’t compress her tough plastic body much, yet there was that shriek again. A few tears appeared on her face, but she definitely hadn’t moved.
“Hmm, I’ll just tell Twilight you’re broken. Anyway. . . Aha! We’ve captured the witches. Let’s get them tied up and interrogate them,” Princess commanded.
Silver rummaged around in the box until finding the piece of piano wire. It had two sticks tied on the ends, turning it into a garrote. She fastened the wire around Sweetie’s neck, and had the two knights pull it taught.
“Wake up,” Princess said.
“Ugh, I. . . what happened?” Sweetie asked.
“You’ve been captured, now tell me what you did with my Prince Charming.”
“Never!”
“Not even if I do this?” Princess pulled out a pair of nail clippers. She positioned them over Sweetie’s plastic horn.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Sweetie spat.
Silver pushed the clippers closed, chopping off her horn. There was another mysterious squeal.
“You can’t escape. We have a rope around your neck, tell me where he is!” Princess said.
“No, We’ve put a curse on you. You’ll die alone with nopony to love you, hahaha!”
“My Princess, what is your judgement?” Janice asked.
“Off with her head!” Princess Silver ordered.
The two knights pulled the garrote tight, slowly slicing into the plastic neck of the doll. Silver pulled it tighter and tighter, slowly forcing the thin wire to decapitate Sweetie. The deeper the wire cut, the louder the screaming from the doll became. Finally she had to yank the garrote taught to stop the noise before her mother heard.
Sweetie’s severed hit bounced off the floor and rolled to a stop next to her plastic torso. It was silent but still leaking some kind of magical tears.
“Bring me the pegasus witch,” Princess said.
“At once, your majesty.”
They positioned Scootaloo in front of her and fastened the garrote to keep her from running.
“Now, tell me the location of the hidden witch’s base!”
“It’s on the left nipple of your mother!” Scootaloo retorted.
“Foul blasphemer! Bring the torches so we can burn this witch alive.”
“Wait, it’s on fourth street near Gavon’s shop. Please, have mercy!”
“Hmm. . . that may be true but what about my Prince?” Princess Silver asked.
She positioned the guards closer, readying a large bonfire beneath Scootaloo. The pegasus struggled in vain against her captors.
“No, please don't! I’d tell you but the lead witch, Diamond, would kill me,” Scootaloo begged.
“I plan to kill her first, what say ye, vile creature?”
“I. . . the Prince is in another dollhouse. I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said.
“Very well. Light the bonfire!”
“No! What about my mercy?” Scootaloo asked.
“Celestia has mercy. I do not.”
Silver pulled out a small match book and moved some paper, cardboard, tree bark, and Scootaloo onto a small tea saucer. She built up a small pile and lit it with a match. Using a pair of pliers, she maneuvered the witch into the fire.
“It is written in the Solar texts that ye shall know a witch for the fire will not kill her, nor will water drown her. It is time to send this witch to Tartarus!” the Princess commanded.
The flames were licking at Scootaloo’s legs and tail. Bits of plastic were melting off and an oily residue was building up on the skin. Other bits of the doll’s exterior had turned black and shriveled. Chunks of plastic began to slough off.
A wet, gurgling scream filled the room. This one was much louder than Sweetie’s scream. Silver cocked her head to the side and watched Scootaloo’s mouth. It wasn’t moving, yet the screaming was intensifying. It sounded like a filly in intense pain, yet it was just a doll. She would have to compliment Twilight on the realism of her dolls later.
“Honey?” Knocking sounded on the door.
Silver realized the screaming had stopped and looked at Scootaloo. Everything below her shoulder blades where the pliers were at had already melted off, solidifying on the ashes of the paper on the plate.
“Crap,” Silver said. She blew on the remains of Scootaloo. If the doll was ruined Twilight would never let her play dollhouse again. Hopefully there was enough doll left to make a new one, Silver really didn’t want to have to find new friends.
“Are you okay, honey?” Mother asked.
“Yeah! I just got a paper cut, I’m fine.”
“Alright, I have to go meet Twilight for a quick cup of tea. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever!”
Silver looked at the cooled puddle of Scootaloo that had mixed in with the ashes. She sighed and set the doll head next to it and placed them in her saddlebag. She tossed the pieces of Sweetie in there next to her.
“Please, Silver, have mercy!” Apple Bloom begged.
“That’s Princess to you, vile witch. I already have the location of the witches and my Prince, why would I spare you now?” Silver asked.
“Uh. . . ah know how ta break the curse! Y’all gonna turn inta a pig if’n ah don’t fix it!”
“Fix it, and I’ll set you free.”
“But ah . . . wait, what?”
“Fix it, and you can be free.”
“Oh, okay, all better,” Apple Bloom said. She began to walk away when the knights stepped in front of her.
“I’m afraid I said I’d set you free. You’ll be free from your life of wickedness, foul witch! To the witch killer 4000!”
“No, ya liar—”
Janice hit Apple Bloom over the back of the head, silencing her. She placed the passed out witch onto the torture device. It was a design based off an egg slicer. Dozens of thin, razor sharp threads would turn a hard boiled egg into dozens of thinly sliced pieces for salad. Silver had snuck this particular one out of the kitchen two weeks ago. Before that, she had over twenty dolls. Ever since the jerk Diamond up and left her, that population decreased rapidly.
Apple Bloom looked up in horror at the razor wire, tears streaming from her face. A faint sound of whimpering was heard, which was so soft Silver thought she was imagining it.
“Now, burn the heretic! Kill the witch! Purge the unclean!”
Silver pushed down on the egg slicer. The wires made contact with the doll but didn’t have enough force to slice through. She pulled it back up and repositioned Apple Bloom. With her head now to the side and out of the way, it would prove easier.
With both hooves she pushed down hard, making steady progress through the doll. The familiar, but still haunting screams of agony began to fill the room. It came from everywhere and nowhere, as if a filly were being eaten alive by ravenous rats from the inside outward.
With a loud pop, the wires passed through the last bit of plastic. The sliced Apple Bloom fell over, and Silver began to toss all her pieces into her saddlebag.
“That was most satisfying, good knights. There is just one problem,” Princess Silver said.
“What’s that?” the knights asked.
“One of you has been sleeping with my Prince. Don’t deny it, you. . . what was the word mommy used? Oh yeah—you whores!”
“I’d never slee—”
“Silence knight! Now, for your punishment, Janice!”
Silver pulled out a small serrated knife from the shoebox, and sawed through the stomach of Janice. Then she chopped off her head, and superglued it to the inside wall of the dollhouse next to seventeen similarly preserved heads.
“That just leaves you, Annie.”
“Please, I didn’t do anything wrong!” Annie shouted.
“You’re right, however you’re a loose end now.”
Silver pulled an empty can out of the shoebox and set it down. Next out was a jar of dirt, which she emptied into the can.
“No, please. . .” The Princess tossed Annie into the jar, and began to pour the dirt back in, burying her alive.
Seconds later the last doll was dealt with. Silver Spoon cleaned up her mess, made sure the crusaders were safe, and got in bed. Her last waking thoughts were about Twilight. What did a real princess dream about?
Twilight woke up and was about to get out of bed when she found herself standing in the library. Sunlight poured through an open window as a swirl of bluish-white smoke snaked through the window.
The smoke resolved itself into a letter in front of Twilight. She knew instantly who had sent it and what it said. She focused a spell to incinerate the letter. Instead, it unrolled itself and stubbornly floated in front of her eyes.
Dear sis,
I’m headed off to the Allied Species of Equestria conference. It’s being held in Gryphonia this year. Since Cadance is pregnant and can’t go, we thought you’d make a great replacement. I’d love to have ya with me, Twily.
I’ll be running security for the ambassadors, and the representative for Celestia needs an assistant. This is your chance to represent our whole country as a princess, and I know you can do it.
BBBFF,
Shiny
“Not again, please it'll be different this time! Spike! I’m leaving, now!” Twilight shouted. She focused all of the alicorn magic the new princess could muster and teleported to Canterlot.
The blinding flash of purple energies enveloped her. She felt one hoof on the ground in Canterlot and her other hooves back in the library. She slowly stretched out along the leylines, rubber-banding herself through the ether to accomplish long distance teleportation.
She opened her eyes to see Spike writing down her dictation. “. . . am too busy with my duties in Ponyville, I can’t handle this right now. I would just mess up negotiations and Celestia would take my wings away. Yours truly, Princess Twilight.”
“No, Spike! Don’t send it!” Twilight yelled. She had to stop this while she still could. It had happened this way, but maybe this time would be different.
Spike exhaled emerald flame over the missive, sending it on it’s way to Canterlot. Twilight wasted no time. She sprinted to the door and flung it open, and stepped through.
On the other side of the door was the atrium of the Royal Hall in Canterlot. She turned to run away from the ebony box in the middle of the room. As she made a complete u-turn and ran, she collided with something heavy.
Looking down in front of her, she had knocked the ebony casket over. Shining rolled out, the mortician had only been able to do so much for his appearance. It was a closed casket funeral for a reason.
Shining’s neck rotated until his head landed horizontal over his spine, forming a sickening shape. “Why did you abandon me, Twily? I thought you loved me.”
“No! I couldn’t have known, I would have gone if I did!”
“Ya abandoned him, Sugarcube. Ya coulda saved him, but ya were too busy worryin’ ya could only think about yourself!” Applejack taunted.
“No! It’s not possible, to have known it would have happened! I would have had to know the exact position and speed of every atom in the universe. That’s the only way to predict the future!”
“Sounds like a bunch of egghead bullshit. You sold him out. You aren’t loyal, you’re a coward,” Dash added.
Twilight sat on the floor, averting her gaze from one friend to the next. No matter which way she looked, her friends and Shining’s corpse were always there.
“You killed him,” Pinkie said with a flat humorless tone. “You killed him, then you killed his wife, and you watched his baby die. You did nothing.”
“You didn’t show honesty, loyalty, or laughter. If you had a shred of kindness you would have killed yourself to spare Equestria your miserable existence,” Fluttershy said.
“But. . . I. . .” Twilight looked up at Rarity, who was opening her mouth to pour more salt on the wounds. With as much courage and strength as she could muster, she screamed and fired up her magic. She wanted out of this dream, now.
The blinding flash of purple light resolved itself. Twilight curled up in a ball on the bed and began to weep. It was hard to keep her body and mind in check. Every time a dream such as this happened, it took her to the darkest places. She went places where death would have been a mercy.
After calming down, she began to uncurl.
“Thou could not have known.”
“It’s not my fau—Luna?” Twilight asked. She looked around and found herself in Cadance’s room.
“No! Not here, not now!” Twilight began charging her horn, but fear had immobilized her body and dulled her mind. A few sparks fell from it and nothing else. “Please, it didn’t happen like this! I ran and hid!”
Time slowed down as she stared at the bathroom door. She was powerless to stop as the dead alicorn appeared. Two pegasi carried out a litter with Cadance on it. A unicorn was listening to her stomach for the heartbeat Twilight knew wasn’t there. When they reached the door and opened it Twilight saw the worst thing possible. Her mentor Celestia was in crying, and turned her back on Twilight.
For a brief moment, she was back in her fillyhood bedroom covered in blood. Luna was trying, and failing, to comfort her.
Twilight awoke in tears, the bed sheets tangled up around her. She clutched Big Mac against her side in a death grip. Her weeping into his mane left a damp spot. Normally the farm pony felt warm and full of life. Tonight he brought Twilight little comfort.
“It’s all my fault, Mac,” she said.
“How’d ya figure that?” he asked.
“I. . . I told him no. I made him go alone.”
“Shinin’? With what ah heard, ah doubt ya’d have made a difference, what do ya expect me to do anyway?”
“I want yo—tell me you love me. Tell me I’m not a bad pony. I. . . I didn’t kill my family. . .” Twilight began sobbing and repeating the word please over and over.
Big Mac said nothing and Twilight wondered if he had decided to ignore her. He thought about the current situation. It was true Twilight was insane, both with grief and some form of mental illness he couldn’t begin to understand. If he told her the truth, how he hated her and she should kill herself, one of two things would happen. Twilight would either rip him to shreds and he’d never see Applejack again, or she’d kill herself and he’d be stuck as a stuffed animal for eternity.
The stallion finally shifted and hugged her, causing her to start sobbing again. He would comfort her, it was the only thing he could do. Mac was as much a slave to her as she was to her crippling fears of abandonment.
“It’s not your fault. Ah’ll love ya as long as ya stick to our agreement, and maybe some day you can end my life for me. Promise ah won’t have to stay this way forever,” Mac said.
“I . . . promise.”
“Ya wanna talk about the dream?”
“No. Can you just talk for awhile?” Twilight asked.
“What would ah talk about? Ah’m a toy that’s dead on the inside. Only thing that keeps me goin’ is the thought of seein’ my sisters again someday. Whether that’s after ah die, or if ya turn me back to a pony. . . Ah ain’t got nothin’ to live for ‘cept for my sisters, and keepin’ ya happy so ya don’t hurt ‘em.”
“I miss my big brother,” Twilight admitted.
“Ah bet AJ misses hers too.”
Twilight tightened her grip and tried to hide her sobbing in Mac’s fake mane. Mac mentally kicked himself for taking such a cheap shot at her. She hadn’t vaporized him though, so that was always a plus.
“It’s . . .” Mac searched his mind for something to convince her that he actually cared about her. “Ever since ah saw ya, ah thought ya were such a cute egghead, always studyin’ and makin’ my sis happy. Y’all are a good mare, the best mare, ok? Y’all feel better?”
“Mmhmm.”
The two snuggled under the blanket. Mac was able to rub her side with one hoof which seemed to calm her. She lay there clutching the plushy and softly whimpering until she fell back asleep.
Mac lay there that night thinking about his sisters. He’d give anything to know they were safe, and preferably far away from Twilight.
“Good evening Applejack,” Officer Locke said.
“Evenin’ officer. Ah’d like to file a missin’ pony report and get word to Celestia. We have a foalnapper in our midst,” Applejack explained.
“Oh no, did something happen to your sister?”
“Yes, she didn’t come home last night.”
“Hmm.” The officer shuffled through some paperwork on his desk. “Normally we have to wait at least twenty-four hours, sometimes forty-eight. On account of all the families moving, if you're right she could be long gone by then. Where’d you last see her?”
“At lunch yesterday. She was playin’ on the farm and ah told her not to wander far. Ah know where she’s at though, ah think Twilight took her.”
Locke looked up from the desk. “Wait, Twilight? Why would she take Apple Bloom?”
“Because she is up to some experiment or something. Before that, ah told Dash ah was suspicious and she vanished, ah told her to make sure and tell me if she was leavin’!”
“Dash, that mare is almost as impulsive as Pinkie Pie.”
“And Big Mac? Ain’t no war, how’d he get drafted? How’d all these ponies up and decide to move all at once? She’s involved, so ah’d like to get Celestia and the police to investigate her.”
“Look, the best I can do is go talk to her with you.” Locke smiled widely.
“Ain’t good enough, if ah’m right, and ah hope ah’m not, she’d just lie or capture us both.”
Locke took his hat off and rubbed his temples. “AJ. . . I’m sorry about Apple Bloom. We’ll do all we can to find her. However, I can’t just circle the wagons around Twilight’s house and barge in. We have laws, protocols to follow. . . “
“Ah’m only gonna say this once. Ah’m the element of honesty, and Twilight’s kidnapped my sister. Either you knock her door down,” Applejack reared up and slammed her hooves on his desk, sending several pens and and a coffee cup flying. “Or I will.”
“And I’m only going to say this once. Another outburst like that and I’ll throw you in a jail cell. Understood?”
The two ponies stared at each other for a second, before Applejack gingerly stepped down.
“Thank you. Now, why don’t you just go straight to Celestia if you’re so sure? She could at least bend the laws a little.”
“There ain’t time, whole town could be gone by then. . . Ya just promise me, if ah go missin’ after my little talk with Twilight tonight, y’all come lookin’ for me.”
Locke laughed loudly. “Yeah, like that’ll happen. Ponies don’t get killed and rarely get kidnapped. They call this the Golden era of Equestria for a reason. I like you though, so if you go missing for more than twenty-four hours, I promise to come look for you.” He chuckled a couple more times.
Applejack was barely containing her rage. She turned and stormed out of the police station, the veins on her neck distended from her rage. Each beat of her heart caused her head to ache. The door to the station shut behind her. “Ah ain’t never seen such fuckin’ incompetence. Ah’m taken matters into my own hands.”
At a quick pace with her hooves stomping deeply into the ground, she made her way to Sugarcube corner. Each step she imagined her rage flowing out of her, yet it wasn’t helping her calm down. Had the earth pony looked behind her, she’d have realized her earth pony magic was strengthening her angry steps, forming small fissures in the ground.
When she arrived at Pinkie’s home she didn’t bother to knock. She nearly knocked the door clear off it’s hinges. Luckily, the Cake’s had paid to have it reinforced given Pinkie’s propensity for blasting doors open with a high-powered confetti cannon.
Applejack found the cakes at breakfast and smiled weakly. “Ah uh... Pinkie can ah have a word? Sorry ‘bout that, Mr. Cake.”
“Okay!” Pinkie vanished from her chair in the kitchen and jumped out next to Applejack. “What’s up?”
“Ah need a favor. Somethin’ is wrong with Twilight. Ah think she’s been behind all the ponies disappearing.”
“That’s silly, if she was making them disappear she’d know where they are, and if she knows where they are, then they didn’t disappear. That’s circular logic!”
Applejack’s mouth hung wide open. “Ah’m gonna ignore that and ask ya just one favor, and ya got ta Pinkie Promise. If ah’m not back in an hour, y’all go straight ta Celestia and tell her Twilight abducted me.”
“I don’t understand. . .”
“Pinkie,” Applejack said, raising chin so she could stare into her eyes. “If ah’m right, I may not come back, if that happens then ah’ll need ya to save me, can ya handle that?”
“I. . .” Pinkie’s mouth opened and closed a few times as she lost herself in thought. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. . .”
“Thanks.” Applejack turned to leave.
“Wait. . . is Twilight gonna be okay?”
Applejack turned back to look at her. She suddenly looked sad and frightened, like a filly who knows their parents are lying to protect them from something bad.
“Yes, she is going to be okay. Just remember what ya promised, just in case.”
“Okay.” Pinkie turned and went back to breakfast, leaving Applejack alone to confront Twilight.
All of the ponies had gathered in the central square of New Ponyville. Word had been passed about their plans for rebellion. Twilight had decided to experiment with an energy source in the artificial sun in the basement. It sent a periodic pulse to animate frozen ponies, and strengthen the barrier around the town. That was the perfect opportunity to take the next step in their plans.
“Alright is everyone here?” Vinyl asked.
“Looks like it,” Dash said. She hovered above town square keeping lookout.
“Okay, with Dash’s help we’ve tunneled beneath the magical barrier. In a day we should be beyond the outer wall of the basement, then we just have to burrow past the foundation and straight up to the surface,” Vinyl explained.
“What good will that do?” Snips asked.
“It’ll let us escape while Twilight sleeps. In the meantime, Dash has another plan in mind,” Vinyl said.
“Yeah, so basically this magic field thingy of Twilight is like a thunderstorm. You know how you can smell them coming? Well that goes double for a Pegasus. I can sense the field and Sprocket says we can use that to our advantage,” Dash said.
The assorted ponies mumbled amongst themselves. Sprocket spoke up to explain. “When Dash went scouting the other day, she nearly broke the sound barrier. It shouldn’t be physically possible, but I’ve given up on understanding physics when a ponies innate magic gets involved. Based on my observations, I think she can bring the barrier down.”
A strawberry blonde earth pony stepped forward. “What good does that do us?”
“I have a plan, I’m going to break the barrier and escape. In order to make it out the basement door when Twilight walks in, I’ll need a distraction. That’s where you come in.” Dash smiled and flew into town hall. She flew back out with some crude torches that Sprocket had made from adhesives and other scrounged chemicals.
“We’re going to burn the town down.” Dash had just begun to smile when everypony heard the door to the basement open. She quickly flew back into town hall and hid the torches.
All of the ponies scattered into the nearest houses. Vinyl, Octavia, and Rarity made it into a house with a tunnel to their underground network. Dash had been flying and could tell Twilight had spotted the distinctive pegasus. It was her turn to talk to their captor.
After a brief moment, Twilight landed next to Dash, who hovered at her eye level. “I can see why you like flying, isn’t it wonderful?”
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve been stuck in your damn basement ever since I joined the Wonderbolts. You know it’s just a matter of time until Spitfire and Soarin come looking for me, right?” Dash asked.
“Oh, I expect them too. First, I expect them to have a cup of tea.” Twilight grinned.
“Pfft, good luck. They’re twice the pony you’ll ever be. How can you just keep us all locked up in this prison?”
Twilight frowned and waved her arm out over the town. “Dash, I spent a lot of time trying to make it just perfect for you. I even found a way to enchant your house to float.”
Dash crossed her forehooves and snorted at her. “Yeah? How about some windows to see the real sun? Or maybe turn us back to normal? A gilded cage is still a cage.”
Twilight sighed. “What do I have to do to make you happy? I gave everypony toys and supplies to practice their special talents.”
“My special talent is in racing and weather control. I can’t do that here. Then you come in and I don’t know if you want to have tea or torture ponies. Next thing I know, you send off Scootaloo and her friends with that psycho Silver. If the Twilight I knew was still in there, she’d be acting with a least a shred of loyalty to her friends,” Dash spat.
“Oh! Speaking of that, I brought you back Berry Punch. I can fix her and show everypony I’m not so mean.”
Twilight levitated the burnt doll out of her saddlebag. Berry had been mailed to Celestia by Spike to warn her of the Dollhouse. Unfortunately, the dragon’s breath froze her solid and scorched her. All Celestia received was one of Spike’s toys. He had a habit of of drinking the bubble bath water and sending her all manner of rubber ducks and “action figures.”
After a purple aura encased Berry, her skin began to return to it’s normal sheen and she slowly began to move.
“The hell did I drink last night?” Berry muttered.
“Welcome back, Berry!” Twilight exclaimed.
“I, wait. . . it wasn’t a dream?”
“Nope. Now, my calculations suggest you were frozen on arrival to Canterlot. That, and the fact Celestia didn’t burst the door down with a beam of solar energy. Is this true?”
“Last thing I remember was looking Spike in the eye and white hot agony, so let’s say yes. Now, put me down and I’ll consider being a little nicer to you. Deal?” Berry asked.
“Okay.”
Twilight sat her down, and she immediately bolted into the nearest house. Twilight watched her run in, and caught a glimpse of Spike in the window.
“Spike?” Twilight asked.
She kneeled down and peered through the window, seeing him, Berry, Snips, and Snails in the living room of Mayor Mare’s house.
“Hey, Spike, you still mad at me?”
“Yes,” he said. His voice was muffled by the dollhouse he was hiding inside.
“Can I make it better?”
“I doubt it, I can’t eat gems, can’t breath fire. . . you’re not even my sister anymore.”
Twilight gasped. “Don’t say that! You’ll always be my little brother!”
“Then turn me back! Until you do, my sister died with Cadance.”
Twilight took a step back and turned away so Spike couldn’t see the tears rolling down her cheeks. Dash got a perfect view of the vulnerable alicorn.
“Not so fun now, is it? You’ve got an immortal dollhouse full of ponies that resent you. Let us go, Twilight, we can still work this out,” Dash said.
“I could burn this place to the ground,” Twilight replied.
Dash cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”
“Nothing. . . I don’t want to start over, I don’t want new friends. I want you. . .”
“You’ve got nothing we want except our lives back. I’ll be your friend when I’m alive again, until then, get the hell out of my sight. You disgust me.”
“I. . . but. . .” Twilight looked around and couldn’t see any of the other ponies. She wanted to throw Dash in jail or drive a few pins through her. A voice at the back of her head nagged her. Perhaps a smidgen of mercy might win some good faith.
Twilight decided instead of torturing every pony that was mean, she would stick to her plans. Already she had set up a way for them to stay animated constantly, and safely. She had been providing their basic needs. Just a little longer of being nice, and certainly they’d all love her. They wouldn’t betray her if she was a good pony.
Without another word, she turned and left a surprised Dash hovering in town square. She looked around before flying down to town hall. Her eyes were still wide in disbelief that she might have actually gotten through to Twilight.
The door to the basement clicked closed as the alicorn left. She had a very busy day to get started.
Colgate walked into work and headed towards her office. There were only a couple appointments today. She hadn’t had her dental clinic open in about a week, ever since she took time off to mourn Bon Bon and Lyra. Her only other confident, Berry Punch, had moved out of town suddenly. It left her with nopony but her receptionist Crest to talk to.
“Crest?” Colgate looked around the reception room. Crest was rarely late, though she might have forgotten that the office was opening back up today for patient visits.
“Oh well, not like we have patients anyway.” Colgate chuckled and walked back towards her office.
“Colgate! I was worried you were still closed.” Twilight got up from a chair in the waiting room and smiled.
“Twilight?!” Colgate tilted her head and then remember to smile. “Well look at that, my first patient today is a princess.”
She grinned, revealing teeth in no apparent need of any dental work. “Yeah, I realized I haven’t had my teeth checked since I was coronated. Do alicorn teeth still decay?”
The light blue dentist chuckled. “Yeah, they’re still normal teeth. Now that you mention it, I don’t recall examining your teeth in a long time. Why don’t we start there, see if they need any cleaning or dental work?”
“That’d be wonderful! I have a busy day at Town Hall today, so I won’t take much of your time.”
“Well, follow me.” Colgate went to the wall and turned the rest of the lights in the room on. She lead Twilight back towards her exam room. A small doll of Crest was laying on the floor behind the reception desk.
“So, take a seat and rinse your mouth with some of the mouthwash, please.” Colgate opened up the sterile packaging of an exam kit and began setting up her tools.
“I’ve always been so grateful you take walk-ins, the elements of harmony don’t work normal hours.” Twilight laughed and made herself comfortable, sporting a smug grin.
Colgate smiled back and took her seat to the upper right side of the mare. She handed her the suction catheter to spit out the mouth wash. Crest is late and Twilight pops up for a cleaning? No. . . she was right, I need to stop finding the conspiracy in everything. She must have just remembered she needed her teeth examined when I ran into her.
Twilight noticed the dentist staring down at her tray. “I know you must have a lot on your mind. Would you like to tell me more about Bon Bon? I figure, the least I can do is help you find some closure, maybe put your mind at ease?”
Colgate took the periodontal probe and began to check the pockets along Twilight’s gumline. “Sure, I think that’d make me feel better. I got so worked up over the thought somepony would kill my friend. . . I think the Lieutenant was right, I’ve never seen a pony die in a fire before, so how would I know why the teeth were cracked.”
The dentist hovered the probe around while taking a couple notes. “Remember to get behind those third molars when you brush. Anyway, it was the strangest thing. I’ve extracted plenty of teeth, there’s a trick to it. You have to gently rock it, break the ligaments—they’re not as strong as you’d think. If you don’t loosen it up first, and you just rip it out, it leaves visible signs.”
Twilight waited until the probe was withdrawn. “I can see why that could bother you. Why would any of that matter if a pony did die in a fire? Wouldn’t all that stuff just get burned up?”
Colgate picked out a periodontal scaler, sharp and angled to help her scrape some plaque out from between Twilight’s molars. “Now, of course the fire would turn the root and dangling vessels to ash. . . but the type three fractures are indicative of a hasty extraction. If done wrong, it’ll easily split the tooth in half into a type four fracture. That’s exactly what happened to Bon Bon’s teeth, like someone took pliers to them. Each tooth had a Type III or IV fracture.”
Twilight winced as she felt bits of plaque being scraped out from between her teeth. She hoped this would be over before Colgate helped her flossed. She always hated when the dentist helped her flossed, then reminded her to do it daily. Who has time to floss daily anyway?
“I think I get it now. The teeth were cracked when they were pulled out, and left at the house before the fire?”
Colgate sighed. “That’s what I figured, but I don’t know who would even want to go that far. I saved a few of the teeth—wait, I’m sorry don’t tell the police! I was supposed to turn them into evidence.”
Twilight chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’re on the same side here.”
Colgate levitated the mirror in and continued to hunt down plaque, occasionally using a jet of water to rinse some of it out. “Anyway, I can prove they were extracted before the fire, but that doesn’t prove much else. The cops wouldn’t even acknowledge that had Bon Bon died in the fire, bits of her mandible would have remained. The fire wasn’t hot enough to incinerate all of the bone, if it was it probably would have caused the dentin in the teeth to crack further and pop. . .”
Twilight gestured at the dentist until she pulled the tools out. “So, who else have you told your theory too?”
Colgate smiled and swapped out instruments. She sure is curious, yesterday she barely wanted to hear about it. Something is fishy. “Just you and the police. You recall the third molars, the police said you saw my report.”
"They were fractured into small pieces and charred to bits."
Colgate slid another tool into Twilight’s mouth while she wasn’t looking. “Yeah. The third molars were omitted from my report. Only the killer and I would have known that.”
Twilight began laughing until she felt a metal blade against the back of her throat.
“I don’t know how you're involved, but I could puncture your carotid artery before you could levitate a feather. I may not be a powerful unicorn, but I could disrupt your magic long enough for you to bleed out. Carefully, now, tell me what the hell is going on.” Colgate stared at Twilight who was grinning around the metal tool. She tapped Colgate’s leg to get her to look towards the ground.
The dentist looked down, seeing a familiar cantrip glowing on the ground. It was a spell used by the solar guard to trap dangerous unicorns. Once a unicorn entered the trap, they could not leave the circle or use advanced magic until they were released.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding, you really did do it!” Colgate kept the scalpel in place but eased up enough to let Twilight talk.
“No doubt you recognize the base spell, but let me explain. If this trap triggers, it will collapse your chest and shatter your ribs. Brutal, but effective. Once you’re dead, I could easily stop the bleeding from a severed carotid. You lose, Colgate.”
“You’re bluffing, you’d bleed out in under ten seconds.” Colgate reached a foreleg up to wipe the sweat from her forehead, keeping a steady gaze on the hovering scalpel.
“How long will you last with no chest cavity?” Twilight smiled and chuckled softly. “Now that I know you haven’t told anypony else, I’ll give you a choice. Do you want to be my friend?”
There was a glint in Twilight’s eye as the scalpel was slowly removed from her mouth. Colgate slumped down, feeling the invisible walls of the trap closing around her.
Silver had hurried over to the library in the morning to get her new dolls repaired. She hadn’t thought Twilight would mind, yet she seemed disturbed this morning. “This is what’s left, Twilight,” Silver said. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Silver. I didn’t expect you to be so rough on them, we have to keep them in good condition! They have to be happy, they’re our friends, not our toys! Let’s go fix them real quick.”
“I guess you’re right, just like Mom. I need to treat my toys with more respect.”
Twilight led the filly downstairs and to a small workbench near the notes on her wall. She quickly levitated the contents of Silver’s bag out onto the table. Her horn glowed briefly and she closed her eyes. Pulsing green and purple magic flower out from her eyes and horn, onto the crusaders.
The dolls slowly reassembled themselves, retaking their plastic shape. Once in the correct shape, a surge of magic restored them to mint condition.
“Just like I told you, it’s easy. You just have to make sure not to ruin their head. Now, I’m going to put the crusaders over in their clubhouse and reset their spell. You might want to uh. . . give them a break so they can recharge, ok?”
“Sure, can I play with the other dolls then?” Silver asked.
“Yeah, just remember if you get in trouble walk through the barrier and they can’t follow you. I’m expecting a guest, so have fun until I come back to get you, ok?”
“Ok!”
Twilight sent out a pulse of magic, animating all the ponies in the room. She checked the barrier, put the crusaders away. Twilight then pulled Colgate out of her mane and put her in the replica dentist office. She had turned her into a porcelain doll, it was only fitting for a dentist. She had turned out to be one of the most beautiful dolls yet, and Twilight had nearly needed to kill her.
Twilight hurried upstairs to make sure things were ready for her next guest.
Upon reaching the table she applied a powdery substance to the stool near the table. She went to check on the tea and her poisonous herbs. Apple Bloom had been missing overnight, which meant Applejack would be here any minute. Worst case scenario, she suckered some other ponies into helping her come accuse Twilight. In that case, she had extra tea prepared. Best case, she had convinced herself it was something she had to do herself. She always had too much integrity to risk falsely accusing somepony in front of witnesses.
A knock on the door brought her to her senses. She hadn’t spiked the tea yet, though she couldn’t keep Applejack waiting and arouse suspicion. Twilight would do it when she came back to get the tea.
She glanced to the basement door to make sure Silver was still down their playing, or torturing, the dolls. As long as Silver loved her, Twilight would cut the confused filly some slack.
Rushing to the door she quickly opened it. “Applejack, what are you doing here?”
“Ah came by the library to find out where Apple Bloom is,” she replied.
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you,” she lied. “Luckily I have my morning tea brewing, want some? Twilight asked.
“Sure.”
As soon as she returned to the kitchen she threw open the secret drawer and sprinkled the first one she could find into Applejack’s cup. Rushing back out she set down the tea in front of both of them.
“Here you go. So, Apple Bloom is missing, are you sure?”
“Yep, ah know how busy you are Princess, but ah know ponies have been dissappearin’ and now Apple Bloom is gone. Isn’t that fishy?”
“Whatever do you mean? We haven’t had much excitement since we stopped adventuring, do you miss that? Spending time with me?”
“Sure, we’ll spend the whole day together if ya tell me where Apple Bloom is.”
“Won’t you try your tea? It’s really good.”
“No, ah’m gonna sit here until you answer the damn question.”
Twilight gasped. She took her tea with her magic and sipped at it cautiously. “I. . . I just thought you’d want some tea. . .” Twilight made her lip quiver slightly.
“Ugh, no thank you, Twilight, ah do not like tea.” Applejack forced a smile. “Now, where’s Apple Bloom?”
Twilight began to sweat slightly as her heart raced. The backup plan should have kicked in by now. Had she not put enough on her stool? It was a contact poison, it should work. She found herself struggling to keep her fast heartbeat and breathing hidden from Applejack. That stare. . . it was as if she could read Twilight like an open book.
“I . . . haven’t seen her. I think maybe Silver did, I mean they’re some of the only fillies left. I bet Cheerilee knows. . .”
Twilight felt a pit forming in her stomach. Her mouth had gone dry and she nearly drank some more tea to calm her frazzled nerves. After bringing the cup to her mouth, she paused. Applejack still hadn’t drank her tea. . . Twilight eyes her cup suspiciously.
Oh Celestia no. . . Please tell me this isn’t happening.
Twilight set the tea cup down slowly, feeling her sweating increased further. So fucking stupid. She began to panic, breathing faster and faster.
“Ah knew you were lyin’, look at ya! Sweatin’ like a bull at a rodeo. Where’s Apple Bloom?”
“No. . . AJ it’s not what you think. . .” Twilight gulped, her dry throat scratching against the one bead of saliva trailing down it.
Applejack was convinced. She stood up and slammed her hooves on the table, knocking her tea over.
“Big Mac, Apple Bloom, the towns ponies, where’d ya send them? Did ya make them leave? Where’s the real Twilight you changeling!”
“It’s not that. . . It’s. . .” Twilight’s pupils had dilated, her arms were going numb as her body prepared all of it’s energy for one last fight. If only I could focus my magic. . . that’s it! She took one deep breath, using all her willpower to focus on making it count. She closed her eyes and held the breath for four seconds, calling up the doll spell. It’ll work. It has to work.
“Twilight?” Applejack asked.
She opened her eyes, wisps of black magic danced through green and purple flames as her body radiated malice. Just as all her magic poured out of her horn, Applejack threw the table into the air with all her force.
The spell hit the table with a loud shockwave, deafening both ponies temporarily. The table was quickly turning into rubber in mid-air, before it’s trajectory nearly caused it to land on Twilight. She dove to the side to avoid being crushed and dolled by a table.
Her mind was clear and her body returning to normal. Whether she had seconds or centuries to live, she would not let Applejack ruin all her hard work. The replica, and Silver, had to be protected.
Rising to her hooves, the purple and green aura began to surround her again. Twilight could feel the magic in the air, coursing out of her. Time felt as if it were going a hundredfold slower. The broken teacups began to levitate off the floor. Twilight could feel the windows vibrating and the wooden floorboards ripple with energy. Books through the library began to hover in mid air.
During that split second that felt like minutes to Twilight, Applejack had closed the distance between them. She spun in place, bringing her apple-bucking legs to bear. Both hooves flew into the magical aura surrounding Twilight.
Twilight released the focus of her magic, sensing the incoming threat. Something hit her in the shoulder, followed by her throat. The magic spiked and spewed out wildly as her head was whipped back from the blow. By the time her eyes opened to assess the situation, she felt something hit her spine like an anvil.
Applejack watched Twilight crumple to the floor. She knew something was up, but the second the alicorn attacked her, Applejack had begun to run off instinct. She’d been in bar fights with a unicorn before and knew what to do. Applejack had not expected to hit her so hard.
Twilight could feel her trachea swelling shut and her shoulder shattered into pieces. She focused as much magic as she could to passively heal the wounds. The fatigue of the healing magic was instantly noticeable to her.
Rushing to her side she stood over her friend. “Twilight? Are you okay?” Applejack reached down to check her shoulder. It crunched slightly where she had kicked it. Her hoof brushed past her bruised trachea and felt the rapid pulse.
Both eyes on the alicorn flew open and a red energy seeped from her eyes, blinding Applejack. She fell to her knees, being sure to slide her hoof across her neck and keep the horn pointed away from her. Not a second later Twilight released a shockwave intended to knock Applejack off her. The farm pony had already braced herself and deflected most of the energy by keeping the horn pointed away.
In all her life she never imagined having to do this to a friend. Using an old trick she learned at a self-defense class, she slammed a hoof into the base of Twilight’s horn.
“I trusted you Twilight, why?!” She brought her hoof down again.
Twilight could feel Applejack’s body pinning her down. Waves of pain were washing straight through her brain, as if each blow was impacting it directly. She knew exactly what Applejack was doing. The pain would prevent her focus, and the swelling that would follow within minutes would compress the nerves, disabling her magic.
Twilight only had a minute or two to end this, or it was all over. . . her dream of happiness, ruined by one stubborn farm pony.
She desperately wanted to lie, to get her to lower her guard for just one second. Her body was fragile and she lacked stamina. She couldn’t force AJ off. If she teleported, then Applejack would be pulled along with her. So long as they were physically touching, she had very limited options.
She took mental stock of her options. Her throat ached horribly rendering her unable to speak. She was lucky her trachea hadn’t collapsed and asphyxiated her. The shockwave hadn’t worked and teleportation was out. Every other spell that came to mind required the horn be aimed in Applejack’s general direction.
Twilight opened her mouth, gasping. She pretended to choke to try and make Applejack loosen her grip. WIth no other choice, she continued to poor healing magic into herself, draining her reserves to stave off the sharp pains of ribs that were likely broken by now.
“Ain’t fallin’ for that, ah feel ya breathin. Now tell me what ya did to my sister!”
Twilight struggled and finished double-checking her mental list of over seventy-two spells that could be adapted for close quarter combat. Just as she was about to give in to despair, she remembered her wings.
She thrust off the ground with her wings, trying to get Applejack off balance. The farm pony barely budged, thought Twilight had already charged another shockwave in case it had work. Applejack held her ground as the shockwave sent out a wall of air harmlessly. Twilight began to sob.
Applejack landed on top of Twilight again, harder than she intended. A few more ribs snapped, and Applejack began to cry. “Ah’m sorry, Twilight, ah got ta knock ya out and get the cops. Ah. . . didn’t mean ta hurt ya so bad.”
Applejack raised her hoof in the air, preparing to hit her best friend hard enough to ensure she was knocked out cold. Twilight went limp and did her best to raise her magical defenses in the hope of weathering the blow. Already her horn felt warm and numb, the blunt trauma and exhaustion limiting her magic.
There was a sickening sound and warm fluid splashed over Twilight’s chest. Applejack must have stabbed her. She opened her eyes in confusion, looking for the blow that hadn’t come.
Applejack collapsed on top of her. Twilight tilted her head in confusion, fighting off a terrible migraine. Each breath was more painful, until she managed to roll Applejack off of her.
Stuck into her side was the handle of a large knife. Twilight glanced to the right and saw Silver Spoon slumped on the ground, blood covering her forelegs.
“No!” Twilight cried weakly. “It’s okay Applejack, I can still use the spell and save you!”
Twilight charged up her horn. An immense searing pain shot through her mind like an electric current. Her energy had been steadily drained, and the throbbing, swollen nerves around the horn had ceased their proper functioning. She cried out in agony, and tried again.
A few sparks fell from her horn, hitting Applejack and turning small patches to plastic.
“Twilight. . .” Silver whimpered.
“It’s okay Silver, we’ll save—”
“Why?” Applejack interrupted. She gurgled slightly from the collapsed lung.
“No, it’s the only way Applejack! I can’t make you all alicorns, but I can make you all immortal! Flesh is weak, but if I transform you in time you won’t die!”
Twilight began casting the spell again, channeling too much power to her horn. She heard a loud cracking sound and felt a splitting pain in her horn. She was literally tearing the keratin apart, frying the nerves in her desperate attempts to save her friends life. If she continued to try, she could fry her horn for good.
“I’m. . .so sorry, Applejack. I don’t think. . .I can save you.” Twilight immediately hugged the farm pony and began weeping into her mane.
“My. . . family?”
“They’re. . . okay, AJ. I promise, they’re happy, they’re dolls and they have a whole farm with apples and everything.” Twilight inhaled and wiped the tears from her face. “You can go to sleep now, Applejack. I. . . it’s my fault, just like Cadance. . . I understand if you hate me.”
Applejack managed to get a hoof up to her chin and get Twilight’s attention. She smiled. “Twilight, everypony dies. . . Everypony. . . What ya are doing here, it’s wrong, and that’s the truth. Ya take care. . . of my family.
The tears were blurring Twilight’s vision as she tried to commit Applejack’s face to memory. “I’m . . . not ready to say goodbye.”
Applejack chuckled, nearly choking on the friendly gesture. “We never are. . . get better, Twi. . I . . . forgive ya.”
There was a hollow gasp as the pony took her last breath. Twilight clutched her as hard as she could, firing up her horn again and again in a futile effort to save her friend. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. . .”
Twilight stayed there until all of her tears had been used up and the blood had begun to dry, seeping into the floorboards. She had forgotten Silver was even there.
“Twilight?” Silver asked.
She remembered her pupil. Twilight was grateful she saved her life, angry she took Applejacks, and proud she had figured out the truth and chosen to save her mentor.
“It’s. . .going to be alright. Close the shutters. . . lock the door.”
Twilight picked herself up and slowly followed the earth filly around, making sure the library was secure. Once that was done, Twilight slumped down next to Silver. The filly began comforting her by cuddling against her side. After a few moments she had regained enough focus to begin channeling healing magic on herself and ponder what to do with Silver. The healing magic stung, and in under a minute the futile gesture had ended. She would need old fashioned sleep to fix these injuries.
“How. . .how long?” Twilight asked.
Silver gripped her side a little tighter in her hug. “I. . . I saw my mother downstairs. That’s when I knew for sure. . .”
Twilight berated herself for missing something so obvious. She had gone asleep last night, forgetting that she asked Silver’s mother to stop by late in the evening. Twilight planned it that way to ensure Silver would never know. Then, she had fallen asleep and nearly botched the plan. Worse yet, Twilight had left Silver and her mother in the basement unsupervised. . .
Twilight decided she would have to be more diligent to stop from getting caught. Her best friend had nearly killed her in a blind rage over one stupid younger sister. Next thing she knew, her apprentice had killed Twilight’s best friend to protect her mentor. She felt so helpless every time things escalated out of her control.
“Applejack?” Twilight looked at the filly who clutched her sore side harder.
“Sorry, I couldn’t let her hurt you! You’re my only friend. . .”
Twilight wrapped a wing around Silver. It was her only limb that wasn’t aching in pain. “I. . . understand. I just. . . wasn’t ready to sacrifice so much, but we’ll save the rest, Silver. We’ll all be immortal and happy together. Why did you hurt the crusaders? did you know they’re real?”
“I don’t feel bad, if that’s what you mean. They. . . screamed while we were playing. At first I felt bad, then I remember how Diamond and they treated me and. . . well it felt kind of good. I never got to be in control, I was always being told what to do by everypony.”
Silver let go and looked up into Twilight’s eyes. “I. . . I want to keep helping you. I like being in control with nopony bossing me around. Can I still be your student and. . . your friend?”
Twilight smiled warmly. “Of course you can, you’ve proven your loyalty tonight and I couldn’t be prouder than to have you as a student. You can move in with me now that your mother is gone. I’ll be stopping by her mansion later to pick up your butler, maid, and any other servants I find there.”
Silver stood up and looked around. “Can I stay here?”
“Yes, let’s get cleaned up and go to bed. I need to curl up with Big Mac. . . take Spike’s bed, we’ll deal with this catastrophe in the morning.”
The two ponies headed to clean up and go to sleep in silence. The shock had only just begun to set in and all Twilight cared about was her warm bed, and hiding the truth from Big Mac. She never wanted it to end like this, and yet she had just lost one of the five most important ponies in her life to achieve her goals.