//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8:  The Road to Recovery 
// Story: A Wonderful Mind 
// by SuperGrassBros 
//------------------------------//

	With the five friends reunited again and Twilight fighting her problem on her own, it seemed near an end, but things would only get worse before getting better. It was very early in the morning and Twilight was asleep in the medical wing dreaming about events in the castle. She was murming in her sleep about a shadow in the mirror. In her dream, she was standing in the bathroom looking into the mirror, the same black shadow had clouded the mirror and she was in her trance-like state.

"Do you know who I am? This is your last chance to answer this question, Twilight Sparkle. Do you know who I am?"
The shadow asked firmly. This seemed like a barrier to Twilight, she couldn't respond nor answer for she didn't know who the shadow was. At least, she thought she didn't know.
"I...don't...know...But you seem familiar. Who are you? Discord?"
"Hahaha, that's rich. Discord. A flunky like him? His magic is far inferior to mine. Do you remember anything, dear Twilight? Do you know who gave you that spell to experiment with? Think back, and think hard, my dear Twilight Sparkle."
"It was Princess Celestia."
"You'd think that, but she wasn't the first to see the book. You really don't remember do you? You don't know why I asked you to take Cloudsdale for almost two weeks now do you?"
"They were your orders to conquer Equestria were they not?"
"Were they, Twilight? I will ask you one last time to remember who you are, and I better hear an answer or I will take your life."
"But I've never seen you before. How could I possibly know who you are?"
A face appeared in the shadows and a dim red light appeared to show the silhouette of a pony.
"You're me..but that's impossible. I never heard of the spell before I got the book from Celestia."
"That's right, Twilight, I am you. But you don't remember what really happened do you? Do you remember where you got the spell? Was it even in Equestria? Or did you find this in the archives?"
"I got this in the mail.."
"Hahaha, your memory must be so warped by the spell you don't even remember what happened. You stole three scrolls from the Canterlot Castle Archives two weeks before showing it to Celestia. You even mailed the scrolls to yourself."
"No, that's not possible."
"You can deny it all you want, but you know the truth. The real question is, why did you steal the scrolls in the first place. I wonder if you know that answer. Why don't you search your mind for that answer?"
The shadow dissolved the bathroom surrounding her and put her into a maze of thoughts.
"This is your mind Twilight. This is the hallway of thoughts, you know this place very well. But there's a hidden memory in here, see if you can find it, maybe you will solve this puzzle and understand why I asked you to conquer the lands of Equestria in your mind."
"But those were your orders. I don't understand."
"If I'm you and I asked you to do something, why would you do it unquestioningly. Think about it Twilight. Think hard."
And with that the shadow of her vanished and she was left to wander in the maze of her mind. The maze shifted into the Everfree Forest, but Twilight swallowed her fear and ventured forth. She could see herself with Rainbow Dash and her friends, the time Pinkie helped her solve the Parasprite problem in Ponyville, classes she took with Celestia. Her life flashed before her like a video based memory rewinding and replaying these scenes and times in her life. But she could not answer why she listened to the shadow. She felt alone, scared and for once in her life helpless. She had no recollection of the past events leading up to her memory loss. How could her memory have been altered? If what the shadow said was true, there must be a reason she stole the scrolls. She felt like she had been wandering in the maze of her mind for hours before the shadow appeared in a tree branch just ahead.
"Twilight, how do you not know your way around your own mind?" The shadow said, "I thought you wanted to come back to the real world or was that a lie too? How much have you lied, do you even remember?"
"Stop with the riddles. I want answers now. What really happened?"
"But you already know the answer to all the questions you're asking. I don't need to tell you, in fact I'm not even here to guide you. I'm here to open your mind. It's up to you to figure out the solution."
"How did you get inside my head?"
"Let's just say the spell was part of it. I should thank you for releasing me actually. But I'm offering you a choice right now, you can go back to the real world or try to conquer a fictitious world in your mind. Being my puppet was quite fun for me. You were always the obedient one, always the goody-two shoes of Celestia's. But why? I can be anything."
The Shadow shifted into Pinkie Pie, then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash.
"I wonder how well you know your friends, Twilight Sparkle. You weren't the first student of Celestia's and you certainly won't be her last. So why are you trying to so hard to go back to a non-existant life? You can have anything you want in your mind. Your mind can be an entire magical experimentation lab. You can have anything your heart desires here. In the real world, you need bits and you must be productive."
"You want me to die in a bed?"
"Oh, dying is such a harsh way to put it. Let's just say you can sleep forever. Fiction is a great thing, Twilight. When you realize that, it may be too late to come back."
"What good am lying in a death bed to those who need me?"
"Because your friends are already in your mind."
The shadow summoned Twilight's five friends.
"You know these ponies don't you Twilight."
"But they're not real."
"What is reality, Twilight? Is it what you use to describe the life you choose to lead in the real world? How can you tell reality from fiction? I can make these ponies solid and I can even make them talk just like you remember."
"I...don't know. But I want to see my real friends with real emotion and real laughter. My mind is only as good as my knowledge, and I haven't learned enough."
"But you're already an alicorn. Has your knowledge not proven it's worth? Using magic to create wings. Magic, reality, fiction, non-fiction. What is all this amount to you? What is worth and why burden yourself with life. Think about it, Twilight."
The ponies that the shadow summoned vanished and she was left alone in the maze once again.

*            *             *

Hours later, the five friends got together to go to the castle. They knew that all they could do was support her from one end and she'd have to fight this fight herself. 
"So what are we supposed to do? We can't exactly help her on this end and I don't like sitting around waiting while our friend fights some mental illness," said Rainbow Dash as they got off the train and started walking toward the castle.
"We can always talk to the princess. I'm sure she'll know what we can do," said Rarity.
"We'll be by her to support her no matter what. Even if it means we can't do anything for her till she resolves this," said Applejack.
The five of them walked up to Canterlot castle as the princess awaited them and brought them into the castle. As they approached the medical wing, the small chest Rarity was working on was still next to Twilight. And as the five approached Twilight, they noticed she was still sleeping. Rarity grabbed the chest and started fiddling with it again on a nearby bed. The rest of them gathered around Twilight and just waited. Celestia suggested they see Luna and that Rarity should try to figure out that box soon as it might just help them.
"Of course princess, I just have to...ugh, and then...*click* and finally...*snap*...There, it's unlocked."
"How did you figure that out, Rarity?" Asked a curious Applejack.
"Oh, I realized it was like a puzzle, a children's puzzle actually. Back in magic kindergarten, we used to play with these things, but this one's really old, like it was made by beings without magic. How odd..." Rarity said trailing off.
"I'm glad you were able to solve it, now open it up and take a look inside," said Celestia.
"What is this? I don't recognize this at all," Rarity said with a curious look on her face.
"That's a vision orb," said Luna coming into the room, "I was under the impression that all the vision orbs were lost a long time ago, possibly during the time I was on the moon."
"Why were you in possession of this, dear sister?"
"I didn't even realize I had it. The thing I left in my room for you was left untouched so I got curious as what you were up to, Celestia."
"The box wasn't for Rarity?"
"No, I left a note on the desk, didn't you two see it? I had a magical device two stories down in a place that could only be accessed through my room. You remember the secret passage right, Celestia."
Luna gave Celestia a peeved look.
"I...I haven't been down there in eons, dear sister. Of course, I don't remember that chamber being there."
Celestia gave a sheepish laugh.
"I figured...I suppose after 1000 years, one tends to lose knowledge of their surroundings when they stop using them."
"Now's not the time Luna. We have, in our possession, a vision orb, this may give us a look into Twilight's mind."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sister. Wandering into the mind is usually my forte and even then, I'm cautious."
"Why don't you take them into her mind then?"
"Are you mad? We can't just wander into a psychiatric patient's mind. Who knows what horrors await us."
"Then what do you suggest the girls do then?"
"Wait, it's the only thing we can do until she comes to. It's safer dearest sister, unless you're brave enough to face other people's fears."
Luna walked out of the room and the 6 of them were left standing in her leave.
"I agree with Celestia, we should go in," said Rainbow Dash.
Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder and said, "Let it go, Rainbow. You heard what Luna said, I don't think we're ready for what awaits us inside her mind."
"We have to do something," said Rainbow Dash.
"Well, we can see what's in her mind with the vision orb at least," said Celestia.
Celestia put the orb on the table beside Twilight and used magic to activate it. The vision orb light up and glowed bright, then it dimmed and it showed a hologram of Twilight talking to a shadowy figure in what looked like the Everfree Forest. They couldn't hear what they were saying as the vision orb only showed what looked like a silent movie.
"What is that figure saying to Twilight? Why can't we hear anything?" Asked Pinkie Pie, "Is it because the orb is broken?"
"No, Pinkie, this is a very old magical artifact, it doesn't have the properties of magic that we know today," said Celestia.
Twilight looked downtroddened after they talked but she just sat there. The orb shut off signaling the end of the vision.
"I wanna go in, I wanna fight that figure, or whatever it is. I wanna make it pay for messing with my friend, Twilight." Rainbow started, "I wanna know who that is and make it pay."
Applejack tried to calm her down by saying, "Hold your horses, Rainbow, we don't even know what we're up against."
"Guys, I think I have an idea," said Rarity.

*            *             *

Twilight was sitting there, alone in her mind for what seemed like hours. She finally got up and continued moving. She was thinking to herself of the things that the shadow said. A life in her mind wasn't so bad, being able to do anything inside her head like create an unreal war where she could be the commanding officer, seemed like nothing more than a chess game to her at the time. She was a puppet once, but this figure is offering her a choice. A choice to stay or a choice to go home to ponyville and her friends. She thought about what knowledge and her education in magic meant to her, and how any of that meant anything. She was smarter than most of the ponies around her, but did that make her feel better or worse or nothing at all? What was the purpose of knowing so much about magic? She already had the wings of an Alicorn and enough magic knowledge that would make Star Swirl jealous. But for what and what cost? These were questions she couldn't answer. So she walked and walked and walked. And walked until she reached what appeared to be a dead end. She poked a hoof at the wall. It looked and felt solid, but was it real. She took two hooves and banged on the wall, it collapsed into a pile.
"So these must be the barriers, the figure was talking about. I didn't even know I had barriers in my mind."
She continued on, but as she continued, she got this weird feeling about where she was. This wasn't the Everfree anymore, instead it was a narrow hallway with a steel door at the end. The door was nothing more than another barrier. She didn't know how to overcome this one. So she sat there in thought. Along floated the figure to see what Twilight was up to.
"Having trouble with this barrier, Twilight?" Said the figure.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing, I just want to see if you can break your own barriers. I already have control of your mind, so I can unlock or lock anything I want. But I unlocked everything for you. If you can't figure out how to open the door, that's not my fault."
"Do you remember who helped you learn about fun?"
"It was Pinkie...P-pie?"
The steel door opened into a bright sunlit area. A desert lay before her as the door opened.
"This was locked by a password? How do you know my mind so well?"
"You let me in, remember? I didn't even have to knock on the door. Your mind was already open. I'll check back on you in a while."
"Why are you helping me? What do you gain?"
"I gain a lot if you go back to the real world. I won't leave your mind that easily. Only you can get me out, no one else can. Not even your friends."
"So the only way to beat you is to die in bed?"
"Correct. You screwed up the spell and now this is your undoing. And I thought you were the smart one, Twilight Sparkle."
And with that, the figure left. Twilight ventured into the desert. There was no heat, but the sun beat down on the ground as if the desert were real. She felt like she was in a wasteland, but the memories of her past continued to flash around her. She walked and walked until she became tired and just collapsed. She had no idea where she was going, no sense of direction, and after hours of walking she was just too tired to go on.
"I guess I win then, Miss Sparkle. You can die here if you want, I won't blame you. After all, it was fated that you'd meet your demise sooner or later in an accident relating to magic."
"What? This was all fated to happen?"
She got up in suddenly on her hooves.
"You didn't know? Among the scrolls you stole had a list of deaths related to magic. Your name was on there somewhere."
"How do you know this? Even I didn't know this."
"I took snippets of your memory and pieced them together to make a movie of sorts. Then I watched the movie and I saw your name in corner of your eye. You'd be surprised how much you miss. Haha."
"What else do you know that I don't?"
"Many things, Miss Sparkle, many things...Let's see what happens to you now. Will you continue into the heart of the desert or just lay here?"
She walked on, despite what the figure told her. The figure morphed into a pegasus and floated by her, watching her.
"Oh, don't mind me, I know how close you are to what you're looking for."
"You mean the real reason I stole the scrolls?"
"Yes, precisely. You may not remember what you did, but that memory is what will fill in the blanks, at least for you."
"And what happens after I get the memory back?"
"Then, you can choose to go back to the real world or die in the medical wing bed. If you go back to the real world, I'll go with you. I'll always be there in your mind reminding you of what you did that day. Of course, I'm not real, so ponies might still think you're crazy."
The figure laughed at Twilight.
"Laugh all you want, you're getting out of my head when this is over."
"Sure I am, just like you're so sure you didn't steal those scrolls."
Twilight walked onward till she started to see an oasis with trees and water. She walked up to the pool of water and looked at it. The figure floated by her and she saw a shadow of a pegasus and her own face. Except half of her face was herself and the other half was the figure, like she was split between good and bad.
"What did you do to me?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing, I did absolutely nothing. What you see in that pool is you and you alone. We all have a dark side, but you let yours loose."
Twilight jumped into the water and she started to sink, the water became air and she started falling so she spread her wings and glided to the bottom. Back on the ground it seemed like another narrow hallway with another metal door.
"This is getting nowhere. Where are you leading me?"
"This place is different, why can't you sense it? You are so close and yet you can't even see it."
"I...don't know. This looks like the place before. Why not try using your senses Twilight? Look around you. Is this really the same hallway?"
Twilight shook her head and the place that looked like a long hallway became a room. A very large room filled with gold and books. It looked like a very large library.
"Your memory is somewhere in here. See if you can find it."
The shadowy figure floated away and Twilight began her search with the nearest book.