That night, inside her cushioned cell while slumped over in a corner. She began dreaming the same cycle of dreams she had from the first day of the war. It was as though some entity wanted this “memory” to replay over and over again in her head so she could find a way to fix the situation. started dreaming. It was night, Twilight and Celestia were meeting in a room in the royal palace. They room was small but elaborate and had file cabinets and a sleek looking table in the center of the room. Celestia was standing near the back of the room listening to Twilight who looked like she was in her late 30s; Much older than her current physical age. She looked wiser and wore a pair of half moon spectacles, a military female uniform, decorated with emblems and medals from previous war efforts.
“So as I was saying, Princess, if we move our troops here and here we’ll be able to achieve a rather swift victory over the Earth ponies. The Pegasi on the other hand, we’ll have to move our magical artilleries here, here, and here. What do you think, Princess?”
“I suppose we could use this strategy Twilight, but can I ask you something?” Celestia said with a smile on her face.
“Of course, Princess, anything.”
“Do you remember why this war came about?”
“I’m sorry, Princess, my mind has been on the battlefield since this whole mess started. I don’t quite remember; Please, refresh my memory again?”
“You have forgotten why you started this war, my dear?” Celestia said with peaking curiosity, “I thought you were the one who wanted to bring peace to this land by uniting all the ponies. And when they wouldn’t listen, you would use force.”
“But, I didn’t want to use force…they, they made me…”
“Did they, Twilight? Have you forgotten what friendship is about, is that why you started this? Or have you simply lost sight of what it means to rule a nation. I’m disappointed in you Twilight. I will continue to support you, but I hope you can find a way to keep your head above the waters. Good night, may your battles be good ones.”
She turned off the lights in the room and left, closing the door behind her. Twilight’s head was fuzzy and couldn’t remember all the details of what had transpired up to this point. All she remembered was a revolution of ideals that clashed with what she and Celestia had in mind. Had she really caused all this out of selfishness and lost sight of everything? She was so confused about everything since they started rolling out their troops against the earth ponies. She started walking out of the room and started mumbling to herself.
“I don’t know what really happened, but I will win this war. I only hope that I’m right about all this. But if the Princess is right and I have truly lost sight of everything. No, it can’t be…it just can’t be. I will continue war plannings tomorrow and meet up with Celestia and the rest of the troops. We’ll take Ponyville and bring it under our control.”
She trotted to her room in the castle and went to sleep without a second though. While she was dreaming, she kept hearing voices shouting her name.
“Twilight, please reconsider. You know what you’re doing is out of your mind.” Said Rarity’s voice.
“This isn’t the Twilight Sparkle I know.” Said an upset Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, I just can’t go along with this plan.” Came Fluttershy’s voice.
“Are you crazy, Twilight? Nopony would have any fun that way.” Said Pinkie’s voice.
“Twilight, I’ve known you for so long, and I know you’re a good friend, but the path you’re going down isn’t going to be good. And if you oppose me, I will not hesitate to take you down. Do I make myself clear?” Applejack said with fierce determination.
Sweat poured over Twilight’s face and she woke up in a jolt. Panting and sweating she went to the bathroom to look at herself. She saw her face but something about the face didn’t seem right. The face in the mirror was smiling back but it was a shadowy form of her self.
“Everything is going as planned, Twilight?” Said a shadowy face.
“Everything is going as planned, your highness. Equestria will be under your control and you can arrive on schedule to greet them.”
“Excellent, we’ll meet again in a week.”
A hand was held up and Twilight’s eyes glowed red and she passed out in the bathroom till morning.
* * *
Back at Rarity’s that night, the two ponies continued talking about their dilemma with Twilight. Rarity had found and located the coordinates on a map of Equestria, and they 2 of them piqued their interest.
“Cloudsdale? But the only way we can reach there is if we use Twilight’s balloon, and even then, we can’t walk on clouds; Neither of us are Pegasi,” said Applejack with a worried expression.
“Indeed, however, we will need to get ahold of Rainbow Dash for this. But dear Applejack, are you sure you want to hunt down these coordinates? Shouldn’t we be focusing our efforts on handling Twilight’s situation?” Rarity said with a matching worried expression on her face as well.
“Why don’t you work on plans to fix Twilight, then and I’ll hunt down Rainbow for these coordinates?” Applejack said, hoping this compromise would fit into Rarity’s schedule.
“I suppose, Applejack, but you have to realize, with my own line of clothing, I don’t exactly have the time to put forth for this. I will try to keep Twilight’s best interests in mind. Don’t you worry about that.” Rarity said, escorting her friend toward the door.
“Thanks again, Rarity,” said Applejack with a smile.
“Don’t mention it.”
And with that Applejack took her leave. As Rarity turned to go back to her room to organize her set for Hoity Toity’s fashion show tomorrow. As she was going through her set. She saw Twilight’s purple dress she wore to the Gala when they were younger. She was reminded of her days when they were younger and things like the Gala seemed liked the biggest and most important things of their lives and now all that mattered was bringing her friend back safely and healthily.
“Get a grip, Rarity. Those days are long over.” She said to herself.
She tossed the dress into a box full of old memories and continued sorting through her things. She kept thinking how to bring Twilight back and started thinking about how this whole mess began. She gathered everyone one day to show them a new spell that would hopefully increase their longevity but the spell seemed to have backfired and hit her instead. She seemed fine for a long time; Weeks even. But then one day, she just broke down and the five of them rushed her to Canterlot’s mental institution. Weeks passed and the 5 friends eventually fell apart; They were never the same after Twilight’s breakdown. Rarity thought it might’ve been the spell she was trying to cast.
“Maybe, that’s it. But I’m no magic doctor and I don’t know the real reason. The doctors did say she suffered some sort of trauma but they can’t find the exact reason for this malady. Hmm, I think a visit to Twilight’s library tomorrow might solve this mystery. That’s that, after the fashion show, I will go to her library and solve this mystery.”
And with that, she quickly finished sorting her line-up and went to bed.