//------------------------------// // Purity // Story: Prevention // by Mind Matter //------------------------------// Twilight couldn’t hear what Celestia was saying. She knew that she was speaking – she could see the alicorn’s mouth move, and she could feel the pressure waves impact her eardrums and send neural signals to her auditory cortex. On some level she was aware that she should have been able to comprehend what the Princess was (presumably) telling her. But she couldn’t. The thousand voices in her head were making it hard to hear very much of anything. move without magic why can possible it shouldn’t work lied to us need shut up to hear not letting us can we do how long Luna too never see who else Cadance know when did lied to us forgive her reveal this can she shut up stop her moon too every day leave it kill us gryphons dragons how many kill her lied to us ponies shut up letting her planned it get away check again make her why would lied to us shut up ponies will will they unified in does Shining know lied to us shut up when start Broken doesn’t lied to us shut up if she lied to us shut up lied to us shut up LIED TO US “SHUT UP!” Twilight’s chest was heaving, her eyes screwed shut and legs stiff as she fought herself away from a complete mental collapse. Ever so slowly she managed to quiet the cacophony of voices inside her mind, culling the weaker ones and forcing the stronger down back beneath the surface of wherever they’d emerged from. Eventually, when all but one of her errant thoughts had been squared away, she regained awareness of the world beyond herself; she opened her eyes as she noticed that Celestia had moved away from her, feeling them settle into a narrow glare at the guarded concern on the face of the supposed Princess of the Sun. “How long?” Twilight asked, her voice tight. Celestia had the gall to look confused. “How long has the sun moved on its own?” The Princess watched her student for a few moments before taking a breath. “To the best of my understanding, and with what the elder dragons have told me… forever.” “Forever.” Forever, Twilight’s other voice echoed, it’s always’s been, we’ve never needed her- “So we’ve never needed you, then? You’ve been lying to us for over a thousand years?” “I have never lied to you about this, Twilight-“ “The fuck you haven’t!” The unicorn cut Celestia off, standing and stalking over to the alicorn. “The first damned thing any Equestrian learns about our world is that you, you, raise and lower the sun every day, that you are the only reason why the sun moves! If you weren’t there to lower it, it would turn our lands to ash, and if you weren’t there to raise it, we’d freeze just as we would have if Nightmare Moon had won! There have been countless treaties, agreements, nonaggression pacts with other nations based on the fact that they could never defeat us because your death would spell theirs! The only reason that you came to the throne at all is because you took the sun from the unicorns, because you held it in the sky against all of our attempts to pull it down, and the other tribes feared you for it!” She was nose-to-nose with her mentor now, small flecks of spittle hitting Celestia’s lips as Twilight castigated her. The latter mare swung her hoof to the setting sun, not taking her eyes from the Princess’. “So how the fuck weren’t you lying?!” Once more, Celestia’s response was delayed. Twilight jumped back as the Princess lifted her hoof, the unicorn’s horn glowing in preparation to defend herself from an attack; Celestia’s eyes gained a pained look as her hoof wiped the spittle from her face. She set her hoof back down, staying still and waiting for Twilight’s magic to fade before she spoke. “I have never claimed that I am needed for the sun to rise and fall. Any treaty with reference to it is hundreds of years old, and soon to be replaced; if I make mention of it in a modern negotiation, it is only because all other options have been exhausted. And I could not take from the unicorns what they themselves never held.” Lies lies lies all of it lies Twilight bared her teeth. “And what, exactly, does that mean?” “I told you, Twilight. The sun has always moved on its own. I have never been needed for it to rise and fall… and neither have the unicorns.” Twilight felt a spike of ice impale her at that particular claim. Gritting her teeth, she shoved it away and immolated the panicked voices that had risen up around it. “Th-that doesn’t change what you’ve lied about. And don’t you dare say that you’ve never claimed to raise the sun! The first time that I ever saw you was when you rai- supposedly raised it at the Summer Sun Celebration! You inspired me to pursue magic with that, and now you’re telling me it was faked! That the event that set my whole life in motion was a fucking-“ The sky turned blue. Twilight jolted as the corner of her eye was hit with a sudden flash of light; she quickly turned away, blinking until the afterimage at her vision’s edge disappeared. She slowly turned back, squinting at the light until she managed to see past it, then feeling her eyes widen as she saw the sun fully above the horizon. Her gaze went to Celestia, and she blinked again at the glow on the alicorn’s horn. “I said that I do not need to move the sun, Twilight Sparkle.” The Princess spoke, her voice mildly strained and her eyes closed. “I never said that I cannot.” Her horn’s glow lessened, and the sky rapidly reddened again; a quick flick of her eye told Twilight that the sun was rapidly returning to its previous position. Celestia’s horn ceased its glow, and her eyes opened to fix Twilight with a cool gaze. “Do not mistake me for having no power over the sun, Twilight. I do raise and lower it, every morning and every evening, holding it on a regular path and destroying the flares it sends towards our world. Luna does much the same with the moon, keeping it from too greatly disturbing the tides.” The Princess closed her eyes again and took a breath; when she returned her gaze to Twilight it had regained a concerned warmth. “The path you chose was not based in falsehood, Twilight. That is something I can promise you.” “I-I… that…” Twilight took a shuddering breath. The other voice had gone oddly silent, but rage and relief still warred in her mind, the runoff from their battle seeming to clog her throat and flood her eyes. Eventually she managed to choke out a few words, allowing the most pressing of her questions to escape. “…why didn’t you tell me?” Celestia sighed. “You were not the first student that I’ve taken under my wing, Twilight. I-“ “No.” Twilight surprised herself as she spoke, her throat clearing and eyes drying somehow instantly. She stood and stepped towards Celestia again, feeling oddly disconnected from herself. “I was the one who saved your sister. I was the one that stopped Discord. Chrysalis and Sombra would have won without my efforts. And Tirek…” She trailed off, allowing her wingless back to speak for what she’d sacrificed to enable that monster’s destruction. “You may have had countless students before me, but none of them have done the things I have. None of them have been a Princess. None of them have borne the Element of Magic. So don’t you dare try to say that you didn’t tell me because I was just another student.” Celestia’s eyes were wide, an edge of panic clearly visible. Twilight kept pressing. “Now. Why. Didn’t. You. Tell. Me?” To Celestia’s credit, she didn’t give a hint of discomfort beyond her eyes, and she quickly hid those behind their lids. After a few moments, she sighed, and her eyes were calm when she opened them again. She gave a soft smile, and her voice was warm and clear, so very close to how she’d spoken to Twilight countless times before. “Because I knew what you were capable of.” Twilight blinked. What I’m capable of? Does she think I’m a threat? No, no, that was her encouraging voice, she wouldn’t have spoken to me like that… Did she mean that I could have figured it out on my own? Does she really think I’m that smart? Twilight tried to open her mouth, to ask for an explanation of what exactly Celestia meant. Instead, she suddenly raised her hoof and slapped Celestia across the face. Twilight stared at her traitorous limb in shock for a few moments before flicking her eyes to her mentor; the alicorn blinked several times, a small trickle of blood starting to flow from the corner of her mouth. She lifted her hoof and dabbed at the blood, staring at the stain it left for a few moments before putting her eyes on her student’s wide-eyed, shaking form. “Twilight…?” Her voice wasn’t angry, or hurt, or disappointed. Only concerned. Twilight felt like she’d been stabbed. “That… I didn’t…” Twilight couldn’t speak. She felt herself start to hyperventilate, her legs already quivering, horrified tears coursing down her face; she saw Celestia’s wing reach forward, as it had done countless times before when Twilight was upset, always to draw the mare into a safe, secure embrace. Twilight’s horn glowed, and she heard Celestia shout her name before she teleported away. Her landing wasn’t clean. She hit the floor hard, her legs entirely useless to break her fall, and she felt her stomach contents rise as the impact dislodged the plug in her throat. Her horn was burning, her head throbbing, her ears ringing, her eyes stinging. Everything hurt. She curled in on herself as best she could, turning away from her sick, holding herself tightly, staying as still and quiet as possible until most of her body had finished screaming in agony. She heard a door creak open, and then she was being gently lifted, one large hoof moving around her back while the other cupped her cheek and held her head still. “Miss Twilight? Miss Twilight, can you hear me? Are you alright?” Pip’s voice, audibly concerned. “Miss Twilight?” Twilight tried to speak, but only managed an odd croak before swallowing painfully; her throat had somehow become incredibly dry. She did her best to nod anyways, lifting a hoof to her face to wipe the remnants of her tears away. His grip on her shifted, his head turning to the doorway before he shouted loud enough to rattle the windows. “SPIKE!” There were several seconds of silence before a scrabble of claws on hardwood became audible. Pipsqueak lifted her slightly, letting her get her hooves under her, before slowly letting her back down, now holding her in a sitting position rather than laying on her side. She gave him a smile in thanks as Spike rounded the corner of the doorway. “Twilight!” The dragon’s voice was a mix of panicked and relieved, and the mare barely had enough time to open her hooves before he barreled into her. They hugged each other tightly, holding onto one another and letting the familiar contact work away at the tension in their systems. She felt Pip slowly ease away from her as she became more definitely able to support herself; by the time she felt Spike’s grip started to loosen he was sitting a short distance away, allowing them their space while remaining close enough to catch her if she fell. The vomit that he should have been partially sitting in had mysteriously disappeared, and the stallion had a glass of water beside him, which he pushed over to her. She lifted and drank it, giving him a quick nod and another smile, both of which he returned after a short delay. As she drank, Twilight found herself finally looking around the room they were in. Its resemblance to her own room, and the presence of Spike and Pipsqueak, gave her a quick, unbelievable answer as to where she’d teleported to. “Is this the library?” She asked, her voice slightly creaking but finally returned to her. Spike leaned back, his eyes a mix of concern and confusion. “Uh, yeah. Celestia sent a letter saying that something had happened and you’d teleported away, but that only arrived a few minutes ago. How’d you get back down here so fast?” Twilight blinked, her brow furrowing. Pip spoke up before she could work her throat into speech again. “I believe that you have answered your own question, Sir Spike.” At the simultaneous looks of the dragon and the unicorn, he continued. “Miss Twilight teleported away from Celestia a very short time ago, assuming that one of the first actions that Celestia took after Miss Twilight’s teleportation was to compose the letter she sent you. She has arrived here, in an incredibly short timeframe and without having travelled through the rest of the library, and exhibits a number of signs indicating both an unorthodox teleportation and extreme magical exhaustion.” The stallion exhaled. “As such, it is rather obvious that she teleported from Canterlot to here.” As if his mentioning them had caused them to appear, Twilight finally noticed the small scorch marks dotting her legs and the singed edges of her mane. Those, alongside her irritated eyes and ears, would be from the ‘unorthodox teleportation’; the headache, pain in her bones and dryness of her throat would be the magical exhaustion. The vomiting and burning horn were likely a mix of both. Twilight couldn’t help but feel slightly mollified at the explanation for her condition, even if that explanation was impossible. “That’s not possible, though.” Spike said, giving the stallion a sidelong glance and voicing Twilight’s thought. “Even Princess Celestia can’t teleport that far. Twilight’s tried dozens of times and she’s never been able to work up enough magic.” “A unicorn’s root always holds out some magic for cases of emergency, Sir Spike. Miss Twilight may not have been able to teleport between here and Canterlot because her mind did not consider her sufficiently endangered to allow her access to the reserved magic.” His eye shifted to Twilight. “Though this begs the question of what exactly occurred between you and Celestia to cause your mind to feel so threatened, Miss Twilight.” Twilight winced as Pip brought that particular topic back to the forefront of her mind. She brought her hoof up and rubbed between her eyes, blinking and taking a few breaths before lowering it and answering the stallion’s pseudo-question. “Celestia told me some things that I found… disconcerting. Like how she killed pretty much everypony who criticized her for two hundred years after Nightmare Moon.” Spike’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Pip flicked an ear. “That was a secret, Miss Twilight?” The unicorn sighed. “In this timeline, yes. She was open about it in yours?” “Yes, Miss Twilight. And it lasted several decades longer there.” Pip blinked. “Was there anything else, or was such a revelation so terrible as to incite this? I can understand you feeling endangered from being in such close proximity to a pony that you had only recently learned was a mass murderer, Miss Twilight, but your mention of it sounded like there were other things that Celestia revealed to you.” Twilight was silent for several seconds, considering what had occurred, before shaking her head. “I… There is something else, but… it probably wouldn’t be good for me to tell you. Either of you, or anypony else for that matter.” She added the last point when Spike had looked ready to ask her himself. She felt a twitch in the back of her head, but the other voice remained silent. Belatedly, she realized that she hadn’t heard it since shortly before her little selfcentered rant at Celestia. A rant that she’d never thought about saying, after which she struck Celestia without any desire to. Twilight very suddenly felt like she’d been stabbed again. “Spike.” The mare spoke softly. “Please send a letter to Celestia. Tell her I’m okay, everything’s fine, I just need some time to think things over. Okay?” Spike furrowed his brow at the shift in Twilight’s tone, but slowly nodded. She sent him off with another hug before putting her attention to the other pony in the room. “I need to be alone for a while, Pip. Just to talk some things over with myself.” The stallion flicked an ear, but nodded; within the second Twilight was alone, the slight breeze and door creaking shut being the only indication that Pip hadn’t simply vanished from existence. Twilight let out a breath, then took in another one. Her eyes were closed, her face was blank, her form appearing entirely calm. I know you’re in here. You’re as much a part of me as my horn. Now stop hiding. Just because I’m silent doesn’t mean I’m hiding. The other voice responded. Great. So you’ll be fine with telling me just what the BUCK you did up there? What makes you think I had anything to do with it? You’ve lost control before. Given what that lying harridelle just showed us- the voice cut off as Twilight felt a flare of anger. ... what Princess Celestia showed us, then. It’s not surprising that you acted without thinking. Did I, though? When I ‘lost control’ at Broken, you were the one who defended what happened – Faust, now that I’m thinking about it, you even gave me at least the first few words of it. You were screaming in my ear over Celestia until she showed us that she could still move the sun, and then I couldn’t hear anything from you, not even making little ‘suggestions’ to add to that rant like you’d been doing before. I was in as much shock as you over that, given that, you know, we’re the same pony. Maybe I couldn’t think of anything to add? The voice gave a snort. And what do you mean ‘did I’? I started the one with Broken, sure, but Celestia’s just happened- But it didn’t ‘just happen’ either, did it? Twilight cut the voice off. You’re a part of my mind, but you’re obviously independent enough to argue with me like this. You see and hear the same things I do, but I’m the one who chooses how to act, so you’re left sitting there, with your own ideas on what should happen, forced to watch as I do things without any of your input. If I were in your position, I’d be doing everything I could to take control, to do things right even if only for a few moments or one key action. Right, because obviously I want to act in the same way that you would. Get over yourself; I’ve been here for our whole life without trying to take over. I’m just one of the many voices in your head, one of the many ways that you see things, telling you one of many ways that you could act. Just because I’m more active than the others- But you are more active than the ‘others’. You’re the only one that I ever actually hear. Sure, I get odd urges and thoughts and ideas, but never another actual voice telling me ‘hey, you should go steal that candy from that foal’ or ‘go climb to the top of the clock tower and jump off’. You aren’t just something that suggests a possibility, you actively fight to try to convince me of it. And every time we’ve ‘talked’, you’ve always been arguing from the opposite side. I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Everypony has an antagonist, a part of their mind they have to argue against in order to convince themselves that what they’re doing is right. How do you know that nopony else has one like me? Because you aren’t my ‘antagonist’. I’ve had to convince myself of things plenty of times without having to argue with you about it. You never even showed up until- Twilight physically gasped, her eyes shooting open. –until a few days after Broken and Pip. Before the other voice could give a retort, a memory echoed through Twilight’s mind. “You’ve been watching me? How? For how long?” “With my eyes. And since three days after Broken and Pip’s arrival.” Twilight heard nothing for several seconds. …no. No, no, no no no! What the- what is wrong with you?! What kind of deranged disconnect from reality do you have to have to make that leap in logic?! ‘Oh, this voice in my head disagrees with me, it must be some mass-murdering psychopath from another dimension.’ WHAT THE FUCK?! Twilight didn’t respond. She quickly stood and walked to the door, opening it and leaning out; she found Pipsqueak leaning on the edge of the doorway, his ears perking up with her arrival. “Miss Twilight?” “Pip, I need you to go get the others. Rainbow, AJ, everypony. Tell them to bring their Elements.” The stallion blinked, but nodded. “Is there something wrong, Miss Twilight?” What in Faust’s name are you doing Twilight winced, one hoof rising to press at her temple. Pip immediately moved to catch her against a possible fall, but she waved him away, gritting her teeth and drawing a hard breath. “I’ll tell you later, Pip! Just go!” The stallion nodded again, vanishing, and Twilight pulled herself back into her room, slamming the door shut and leaning against it. Twilight, Faust-dammit, you need to stop and think. Remember back in the Everfree? You were getting all critical of Broken’s rebels, and I was the one who defended them? Why the buck would I defend the ponies who were trying to overthrow me? I wasn’t being critical of the rebels, I was worried that what I’d said to Pip would make him think even worse of them. You were arguing that making him cry was a good thing. The other voice – the Dawn voice – growled. That wasn’t my point, you pinheaded idiot! And that still doesn’t mean that I’m Dawn! I can’t be Dawn! How could I respond to your thoughts if I wasn’t literally in your head? It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that you developed a mind-reading spell during your ‘experiments’. You’ve already shown that you have a spell to render you incorporeal, and to allow instant teleportation, and to completely hide all traces of your magic. Oh come on, do you really think that that’s possible? You know that absolutely hiding magic is impossible! Otherwise Celestia could have just done that so that she didn’t have to explain away her lie when somepony inevitably found out about it! Twilight frowned at that actually-reasonable point. And it’s not like this even matters because I’m. Not. Dawn! Dawn’s voice paused for a moment. Do you want to know why I made us punch Celestia? Twilight’s ears perked, her eyes cracking open. So you admit- Yes, fine! I did it! Whoop-de-bucking-doo! Now listen to me, you ingrown foal! There was another pause, and then a memory came forth. “Because I knew what you were capable of.” Twilight blinked. So wha- SO SHE KNEW ABOUT DAWN! The other voice thundered. Twilight winced again as its ‘volume’ pounded at the inside of her head. That bitch knew that Dawn was coming, she knew that we could become her, she knew what we might do if we knew that the sun didn’t need her! She knew, she fucking knew and she lied to our face about it! The only reason I didn’t do worse to her was because of how scared that little slap made you! H-hold on a minute, how could she know about Dawn? Star Swirl didn’t invent timeline magic- Who told you he didn’t? Celestia? The tutors she payed for? The textbooks she edited? She’s lied about killing hundreds of ponies, she’s lied about moving the sun, who’s to say she didn’t lie about gaining the ability to see into other worlds? Who’s to say she didn’t kill him to stop him from telling anypony else about his discovery? Who’s to say that she did? We can’t assume that she’s lying about everything just because we know that she’s lied about some things! Look, I’m not happy with Celestia either right now, but- That’s the problem! You aren’t happy with her right now! Soon enough you’ll have shunted this to the back of your mind, just like you did after Chrysalis and every other time she’s bucked up, and you’ll be back to smiling and bowing and sucking at her teat and refusing to accept that your precious Princess isn’t perfect! Don’t you remember what Dawn said would happen if you did that here? Twilight’s jaw set. Yes, in fact, I do remember what Dawn said about that. “…these ones, they don’t just get subsumed into that morass of worship you call your relationship with her. They get stuck in the back of your mind, festering…” Good. Then you should know- And I also remember what she said after. “…and one of those little voices in the back of your head that you’re never, ever supposed to listen to picks up on them.” So which are you? Dawn? Or one of the voices that turns me into her? The little voice in the back of her head was silent. Twilight was willing to wait, taking the reprieve to let herself calm down. A minute passed, easily, then two, then five, then- I’m only trying to protect us. Before Twilight could respond, there was a knock on the door. She quickly stood up away from it, moving to the centre of the room before magicking it open. Her friends entered, alongside Spike and Pip, the latter bringing up the rear. “Alright, what’s goin’ on that we need the Elements for?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, the only weird thing I know about was what Celestia did with the sun a little while ago.” Twilight cringed as Rainbow shrugged. “Unless there’s something wrong with the Elements themselves. Is that it? They aren’t leaking anything, are they?” The prismatic pegasus lifted her Element up, apparently eyeing the necklace for any ‘leakage’. Twilight shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that…” She pulled her Element from its spot and held it in front of her. She stared at it for a few moments before fixing her eyes on the only stallion in the room. “Pip, do you remember a few days ago, when I asked if anypony had been in the kitchen with me before you came in? How I said that I’d thought that there had been?” Pipsqueak nodded, his brow furrowing a very small amount. “Yes, Miss Twilight. As I said then, I can assure you that nopony had been in that room, aside from you, for at least an hour beforehoof.” “I know, Pip, and I appreciate that. But I did see somepony in the room with me. I, I’m fairly certain about that, now.” “Who was it?” Spike asked, glancing between Twilight and Pip. The former took a few breaths before she answered. “Rising Dawn.” That got a reaction out of her audience. Everypony went wide-eyed and slack-jawed, a few making small utterances or noises of shock. Rainbow dropped to the floor, glancing all around as if Dawn was hiding in some corner somewhere. Pip went completely stiff, his eye wide and pupil pinpricked, breath caught in his throat. Twilight brought her hoof to her head, rubbing it between her eyes. “…and to make matters worse, I’m not even sure if she was really there.” “Wh...what’d’ya mean, y’don’t know if she was there?” Applejack’s brow was furrowed, her eyes holding clear concern. “Well, she, I couldn’t feel any magic from her, she was able to just disappear and reappear without teleporting, I wasn’t able to touch her with my magic or my hoof, and she quite literally walked through the kitchen table. And as Pip’s mentioned, she didn’t leave a trace of her presence.” “Only within the hour, Miss Twilight-“ “But I wasn’t in there for an hour, was I?” Twilight asked, glancing at a fraught-with-worry Fluttershy. The mare took a moment before shaking her head. Twilight sighed. “Right. So she probably wasn’t there. Meaning that I was hallucinating her.” She paused for a moment, working her jaw as the others glanced between themselves. “Which brings me to my second point. “For the last… little while, I’ve been hearing another voice in my head. My voice, just… separate from my own thoughts. I didn’t think very much about it at first, I just thought that it was just another one of those things that everyone gets in their own heads, something that their subconscious invents for one reason or another, but then, it started… pushing. It got louder, started talking more, started arguing more forcefully. And then, one day – that day that I told you about Dawn raping Pip – Broken made a comment about Pip, and I just snapped, I took him to task for how he’d been treating Pip, how Pip had been hurt by Dawn just like he had… except it wasn’t me talking.” Twilight took a few breaths. Applejack spoke up before she could continue. “So this… this ‘other voice’ a’yers… it’s a strong enough part’a’ya t’take over yer speech? An’ y’didn’t think t’tell anypony?” “I didn’t even know that it had done it at the time! Or that it was ever going to be able to! I still thought that the voice was just something in my head, that I had just lost control of my anger for a minute! And it hadn’t done anything else like that since then, until today!” “So what’d it do-“ “Weren’t you meeting with Celestia today, Twilight?” Rarity asked, her voice in a very controlled calm. Very suddenly, every eye in the room was on Twilight again. “…Princess Celestia told me some things. Things that I’m not very comfortable even thinking about, let alone telling anypony else.” Twilight could feel one of her eyes twitch. “B-but what she told me isn’t important, not right now. After all of this, I might tell you, or Spike can send a letter and ask or… something. But not right now.” She glanced between everyone, waiting for at least a few nods before letting out her breath. “Okay, okay. So I found something out, and then Celestia told me something else, and those things made me very, very angry with her. But she explained herself, and I was calming down, and then that other voice took over again. I didn’t notice, I thought I was just… talking without thinking, or something, but when Celestia responded to what the voice had said, and I tried to ask her what she meant, i-instead of talking, I …” Twilight’s throat was starting to swell, her vision blurring as her eyes wetted. “…I hit her.” Applejack blinked, which was more movement than anyone else in the room. Her mouth fell open, but it took a few seconds for her to speak. “…you hit her? W-what’d’ya mean, y’hit her?” In response, Twilight raised her hoof, then swung it in front of her as fast and as hard as she could. The motion nearly made her fall over, the same hoof that had replicated the strike having to plant itself awkwardly to the floor in order to keep her upright. “I-I wasn’t trying to!” she said, her voice cracking as a few silent cries worked their way up her throat. “I was in control again less than a second later, and Celestia was more worried about me than anything, but I just panicked and teleported back here and-“ her voice caught on a sob, and she had to clear her throat before she could speak again “-and as soon as I realized what had happened, I confronted the voice, and it admitted to it, it said it would have done worse if it’d been able to, a-and that’s when I knew something was wrong.” Everypony was silent as Twilight recovered; Spike looked like he wanted to move to her, but something was keeping him tied to his spot. Twilight shot him a smile anyway, rubbing the tears out of her eyes and taking a deep breath. “But it’s okay! Now, now that I know that this voice isn’t really me, that it’s some kind of thing that’s not supposed to be here, I know how to get rid of it!” She raised the Element of Magic from where she’d dropped it, placing it atop her head. “Wait, so you want us to use the Elements on you?!” Rainbow asked incredulously. “I mean, yeah, you gotta get rid of that voice-thingy somehow, but-“ “I didn’t just come up with this off the top of my head, Rainbow.” Twilight cut the pegasus off. “The way I see it, this voice is something like the Nightmare – an entity that induces behavioural shifts and attempts to take control of the pony it’s inhabiting. So, we should be able to deal with it the same way.” The unicorn looked between her friends, her face falling slightly at their visible apprehension. “Come on, girls! This isn’t me! I don’t hate Celestia, I don’t think she’s a monster, I don’t want to hurt her, but this thing does and I’m terrified that it might get strong enough to start taking control of me whenever it wants! I don’t want to turn into Rising Dawn, but I’m fairly certain that a voice like this is what she started as!” The mention of Dawn seemed to stiffen everyone’s backs; Twilight glanced around again, meeting each of her friends’ eyes. “Please, please, trust me on this. Please.” “…Ah trust ya.” Applejack was the first to speak, giving a nod and a solid stare at Twilight. The others quickly followed, each speaking and nodding. She gave them all a great, relieved smile before putting her eyes on the two non-Bearers in the room. “Spike, Pip, you’re going to have to step outside for this. We’ve never used the Elements with anypony else around, and I’m not sure what might happen if you were in here.” “I don’t think you’ve ever used the Elements on yourself, either…” Spike said, before moving forward and giving Twilight a tight hug. “Just be careful, alright?” Twilight hugged her assistant back, holding him tight to her. “I promise. I’ll still be me afterwards, don’t you worry.” She felt Spike nod against her neck, and then he let her go, turning and quickly walking out the door. Pip followed him, giving Twilight a sharp nod and a worried eye before stepping out and shutting the door behind him. Twilight turned back to her friends, giving them a final nod before working her magic. The Elements activated normally, the lights of Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, and Kindness each sparking and bathing their owners in their power. Twilight could see the glow of Magic around herself, and as she felt its power peak the other Elements shot out, drawn towards their kin like a moth to flame. It didn’t hurt as they hit her; it was a warm, soft, safe feeling, purely comfortable even as the light grew too bright for her to see and the roaring too loud for her to hear. The harmonic power washed through her, rejuvenating her, leaving her feeling cleaner, healthier, happier than she had ever been before. She felt her mouth open, but if she screamed it was something of ecstasy rather than pain. As the power filled her more and more, she felt something pulling at her, pulling her away from herself, and she could not find it in herself to resist. When she returned to awareness she found herself lying on the floor. She could feel five others around her, from the heat of their bodies and the little sounds they likely weren’t even aware they were making. She raised her hooves and stretched, feeling something odd in her back, making sure they knew she was awake before she opened her eyes. “Hey there, Twi. Y’kinda collapsed when th’Elements went back t’normal. Y’feelin’ alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. Twilight stood in one fluid motion, some of her other friends stepping back away from her as she did so, before fixing the farmmare with a smile. “I feel stupendous! I don’t think sex with Faust would be that satisfying!” She giggled at the funny look that Applejack suddenly got, glancing around to find similar looks on the rest of her friends. “Thank you all so much, everyone!” They all looked at each other, their smiles weirdly wobbly. “Um, sure, Twilight. Always happy t’help.” Applejack gave an odd-toned laugh, rubbing the back of her head. “Er, yeah. Those nasty voices all gone?” Rainbow asked. Twilight paused for a moment before nodding, wiggling her back to try to figure out whatever was bugging her back there. “Yep! All gone! Can’t hear a thing up here!” Applejack grinned at her again, though the edges were saggy for some reason. “Well, so long as yer okay, Ah think the rest’a us’d better head back-“ Twilight’s eyes widened as she heard the mare’s words. “Oh, wait wait wait! You can’t leave!” Twilight’s horn glowed, forming a barrier around the door and windows. Her friends stopped smiling. “There’s still things we need to do and plan and prepare! Since we’re all already here, we might as well get it done now, right?” “Twilight?” Pinkie asked in a worried tone. “What are you talking about?” Twilight fixed her eyes on the pink mare, causing the latter to shrink back from her for some reason. “Why, killing Celestia, of course!” Twilight rolled her shoulders as everypony else froze, giving a small gasp as she finally figured out what was troubling her. Her horn glowed again, pouring magic on the two empty sockets in her back, buried beneath coat and skin and muscle and just sitting there. Flesh and bone quickly reformed under her direction, and within seconds she heard herself moaning in satisfaction as two new wings sprouted from her back. “Oooh, that feels better. Don’t know how I didn’t notice that for so long.” She glanced back at her friends as her wings settled, her brow furrowing at their stiff forms and horror-stricken stares. She thought for a moment, her recent words and actions replaying in her mind, before she came upon the answer. “Oh! Don’t worry, girls!” The newly-winged unicorn said with a grin. She glanced between each of her friends, to reassure them of her sincerity. “I’m not Rising Dawn!”