One day not long after becoming an alicorn Twilight grabbed the mail from her mailbox which recently delivered by Derpy Hooves. Twilight grabs the letters from the mailbox with her magic and walks back inside the Golden Oak Library. She sat down at one of her clean desks and fanned the letters on the table. One was a scroll with a blue ribbon tied to it. She lifted the scroll with her magic and saw it was from Canterlot, "Canterlot? Must be from Celestia." Twilight then unraveled the blue ribbon from the paper and opened it.
Twilight then proceeded to read the note aloud,
"Dear Twilight,
I found this scroll my sisters room. The spell contained within it describes the unusual behavior my sister has expressed. Please test out this spell and report back to me your findings so that I can know for sure that this is the culprit.
From, Princess Luna
"Why would Princess Luna send me this? I mean, I suppose i'm good with spells but," Before Twilight could collect her thoughts, there was a knock on the door. "Coming!" Twilight said swiftly before she rolled up the scroll and set ti down on the table. Twilight then trotted over to the door and opened it to find a familiar pony outside.
‘’Well howdy Twilight, whatcha doin.’’ Aj said waving to her as she walked in and shut the door behind her using one of her back hooves.
‘’Oh, hi Applejack, I was just reading this scroll that Luna gave me. She want's me to test out this spell, she thinks that this spell is the cause for some mishaps with Celestia.’’ Twilight said calmly as she levitated the scroll off of the table and towards Aj.
‘’Wow, I can't believe that you are already being sent letters from Celestia, but from Luna now too! Whoowy, no wonder I never see you out and about.’’ Applejack said nearly jumping up to her in a Pinkie Pie manner..
‘’Hey Aj, I was wondering if you could help me with this spell?’’ Twilight said as she opened the scroll and skimmed through it.
‘’Well sure Twilight, Whatcha need?’’ Applejack said tilting her head slightly to make a kind smile.
‘’All I need you to do is stand right there. You see, This spell seems to only effect a bystander and not the caster.’’ Twilight said making some hoof gestures as she held the scroll in front of her muzzle as she continued to study the spell.
Aj rolled her eyes at the classical book worm Twilight as she took off her hat and swung it onto the desk with the remaining letters on it as if it was a Frisbee. Twilight looked at the scroll for what seemed like forever as Aj tapped her hoof on the hardwood flooring. Finally Twilight rolled up the scroll and had set the paper next to Aj's hat. The magic around the scroll dissipated and her horn was for a moment free of magic. But as soon as her magic stopped she started it again, As she started her magic was small and only glowed around her horn, but she kept pushing harder, and her magic became bigger. When this happened Twilight slowly lifted into the air along with Applejack. Aj was frozen as if in a trance but she could still move her eyes and watch as twilight lifted into the air seeming to not know what was happening. Applejack tried to yell at Twilight to stop but she was so concentrated on the spell that she could not hear Applejack.
Aj thought to herself, " If only Spike was here!"
She knew that Spike ran out just s she came in, but it took her a moment to remember the faint detail. Applejack closed her eyes for moment almost crying. But when she opened her eyes she saw that Twilight's wings and horn had a deep purple aura circulating around them.
She was shocked, " What the HAY, is this spell supposed to DO!" She thought as the aura became a dark purple that became hard to see through, unlike normal magical auras.
Aj closed her eyes again thinking that this spell would never stop Twilight opened her eyes, she saw Applejack on the other side of the room closing her eyes with a tear or two streaking down her fur. But, she then saw that both her and Aj were floating with a very dark nontransparent purple aura around her.But she became even more perplexed when she saw that the aura was the darkest around Applejack's sides and forehead. Seeing this nightmarish spell active she tried to deactivate her horn, but to no avail. She now found herself as still as Applejack only being able to move her eyes.
She shut her eyes and said in her mind, "this was a dream, no, a nightmare."
As she shut her eyes the auras grew darker and larger, the magic seemed almost black as both Applejack and Twilight opened their eyes in tears as they felt agonizing pain. It was as if the black aura was a bunch of knives stabbing into in their sides, wings, and horn. And just as they opened their eyes they closed, as if the two faded away. The two came tumbling to the ground as they fell through the reminisce of the dark magic. Twilight woke up in a hospital bed seeing Spike on a stool with a claw on her shoulder. Her vision was still blurred but she could see the tears in his eyes.
"Sp...ike." Twilight said weakly as she slowly blinked.
She heard a sigh of relief from Spike as she closed her eyes once more. a few more hours past, it was now the next morning when she woke up to the light of the sun peering through the slit in the closed curtains across from her bed. She then slowly turned her body to face the other way when she was greeted with agonizing pain. She sat up in her bed with a jolt and small wince. She curled her hooves around her stomach to try and stop the pain. She sat their for a minuet or two painting slightly as she was bent like a willow. She placed her left fore hoof on the bed as she regained her breath. She then slowly sat up strait and turned her head to see that her wings were completely covered in bandages and had ice bags intertwined with the gauze. She turned her head around and sighed, she opened her eyes and looked up to learn her knew surroundings. Se first looked to the front where she saw closed door off to the left of her bed. She then turned to the right to see the curtains once again with the line of light from the closed window behind. She then turned to the right to find another bed, she knew that was likely to find at least to beds in one room so she didn't think much of it. She laid back down gently, and she was sure to not hit her wings in any way. Laying on her right side now she say the bedside table, it had a glass of water and a few things from her friends no doubt.She attempted to lift up the cop with her magic, but when she did, she instantly regretted the decision. She held her hooves up to her head like she trying to cover it and curled up in the sheets instantly as the cup fell and broke on impact with the tile floor. As she layed their in the bed, she was unaware that the pony laying in the other bed woke to the sound of the glass shattering.
"What the HAY just happened!" A very slurred and rather sleepy country voice said.
Twilight uncoiled her body slightly still feeling the pounding in her head like a heart beat, she looked up slightly in between her fore hooves to see a pony with a somewhat long almost beach blond mane.
"Applejack?" Twilight said quietly as her head began to pound like a marching band.
"Who wan'ts to know..." Applejack said sleepily as she turned her head to face the other bed. Becoming slightly wide eyed she said, "Twilight... is that you?" Applejack said with a now much clearer voice.
Twilight was still in tight ball but she was able to say a muffled, "yes," before she tried to let the head ache subside.
There was a few minuets of silence and Twilight's throbbing pain subsided in her horn. But, as she looked up to see who was coming in the door she winced again because of the wings and how they were practically sat on during that whole horn ache debacle.
"Oh my, I'll clean this up right away miss Sparkle. Do you need any pain killers or water miss Twilight?" The kind earth pony mare said.
Twilight teared a little from the agonizing pain for a moment, she tried to get the strength to seak but her chocked voice could make a peep.
"Yes.." Applejack said with a nod.
"But I need confirmation from the patient miss Apple." The nurse said turning her head to face Aj.
"I know Twilight miss, She would like some pain killers and a glass of water. And if you don't mind after everything is cleaned up could you get me a glass of water as well." Applejack said with a small smile.
"Well....Ok then miss Apple." The mare said walking out of the room.
Twilight's small whimpers and sobs ceased, it took her a moment but after a few breaths she was able to sit up straight. She turned her head to meet her earth pony friend's gaze, "Thanks Aj." Twilight said kindly.
"Ah, no problem, anythin for a friend." Aj said smiling.
Twilight rubbed her head once more before she gently laid back down on the bed. She turned on her side as Aj did the same, Twilight spoke first after laying their heads on the pillows. "So, what are you doing in here?" Twilight asked gesturing with her right hoof.
"Welp, I host some sort of injury on both of sides of my stomach, and I also have a bad headache. And for some reason I have this bandage on my head. So yea, But what about you?" Aj said laying their rubbing the left side of her stomach.
"Well, for starters my wings seemed to be bruised or sprained probably, and the same thing goes for my horn." She said as Twilight did her best to point at her wings and horn.
Then the nurse came back in with a tray of two glasses of water, with a small cup holding a few pills, and a belt of tools. She set the tray on Twilight's bedside table and took out a brush and dust pan from her tool belt. As she cleaned up the glass she said, "I'm so sorry for taking so long, it's been so busy today that it's difficult to get everything organized." The nurse said quietly.
"It's quite alright, I understand." Twilight said softly before taking a pill from the cup and put it onto the closest glass of water.
"Yea, it's no problem." Aj said with a smile.
The nurse said thanks and quietly finished her job and left the two to rest.
For the next few days things were just normal and dull. Their friends and family came to see the two every couple days to check up on them. A week past and the two were released from the hospital.