Twilight Sparkle stomped into the library loft with a scowl on her face, and her coat just as gray as all her friends' had been. "Pack your things, Spike. We're leaving."
Spike looked up wordlessly from where he'd been sweeping and trying to get his mind off of how strangely everypony was acting lately.
"... and don't ask me where we're going, 'cause... I don't know yet. Just not here."
The prompt:
I won't rely on anyone.
Spike dropped his broom as he saw Twilight toss her Element of Harmony into the trash bin. "But what about Discord? We can't just leave! Princess Celestia--"
Twilight's voice fell, and she blinked back tears as she randomly pulled a few odds and ends from the room into a disorganized mess in her suitcase. "I can't use the Elements of Harmony without my friends, Spike, and they've all gone crazy. I can't rely on any of them, they're all terrible now. I think... I think I finally failed Celestia when it mattered most."
Spike started to protest, but then just hopped up onto the bed to try to sort out the mess Twilight was making of her packing. She'd be back to herself soon, he was sure of it.
Twilight Sparkle poked her head around the building to look across what... wasn't this where Ponyville used to be?
Things seemed relatively calm today. Gravity was mostly behaving, mostly, and the sun had been steady at mid-morning for about three days now. But she could see a few apple core stalks in the old town square, so that would be good food for now. At least the ground here was still the solid checker pattern and not the mushy sponges around Canterlot.
The apple cores were a strange food that you had to eat in reverse, but a pony could get used to it in time. At least it hadn't been raining lately, that chocolate milk was getting less and less tasty as time went on. She still had some cola from being under Cloudsdale's ruins a few days ago, so she didn't need any chocolate milk anyway.
Suddenly Twilight's ears perked up at the crackle of magic. Magic was never a good thing, and doubly so if she couldn't quite tell who was casting it. Twilight hopped back away from the glowing shine that appeared in the middle of the square, and hid herself behind one of the cotton candy bushes nearby. Even after everything, she couldn't quite stop herself from watching as the magic unfolded. This was different from what she was used to: this was some kind of unicorn magic. She had seen plenty of chaos magic in the past few years, but this was something she recognized. In fact, she was pretty certain that this was an effect she'd read about in one of Starswirl's old magical theory books.
The air crackled with magic, everything glowed brighter, and then with a crack of thunder, a pony appeared.
A pony with a unicorn horn, and pegasus wings.
A pony with a purple coat, just like Twilight's had been once, and with a bright, magical star for a cutie mark. Just like hers.
The alicorn's brief excited expression faded as she looked around the abandoned town square. Twilight watched as the other pony's eyes flitted across the checkered ground, flying houses, purple sky, and strange vegetation. The alicorn's eyebrows furrowed, and she lit her horn to pull a small notepad out of one of her saddlebags, as well as a quill. She began speaking as she scratched down some notes. "The magic worked! At least, I hope it did. I think something's wrong here though, it's all... Discord-y. It reminds me of when he controlled Ponyville, when we still had the Elements."
She stared at the page a few moments, and then her eyes looked back and forth as though she was reading. She smiled, and wrote another short note without speaking, and then put the book away. The alicorn gave a quick look around again, and then called out with a tentative, almost nervous tone. "... Hello? Is anypony here? Discord? Pinkie? Anypony?"
"Who are you?" Twilight couldn't help herself any longer, and she stepped around the bush. Her horn sparked and glowed, attack spell at the ready. This had to be a changeling, or one of Discord's tricks.
The alicorn looked at her with wide eyes, and a slowly dawning look of recognition. "Oh wow, what a coincidence! You're me! I mean, I'm you, or..." She took a deep breath, and let it out. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. I know that's your name too, or, without the title. Anyway, I'm here because of a new spell I've been working on! It lets a pony travel to other--"
"--other timelines, or other worlds. But who are you really? Nopony can cast those spells, not anymore! Besides, no unicorn has ever become an alicorn before."
The princess looked a bit taken aback at Twilight's tone, but then shook her head and smiled. "I know it's strange, but look at me. Besides, who else would even know how to fake those spells? But... well, what happened here? Why are you so... gray?"
Twilight Sparkle looked back at her flank. She'd almost forgotten how much her color had dulled since Discord arrived. It was rare to see anypony now with any color to them. "It's been like that ever since Discord took over. All of Discordia is like this."
"Discordia? Wait, you mean you never stopped him? What about our friends?! What about The Elements of Harmony?!"
Twilight frowned, glancing in the direction that the Golden Oak Library used to be. The tree was still there, just upside down and floating a few dozen feet from the ground. Twilight made a dismissive noise and shook her head. "Pfft. Friends? Who needs friends? They just get in the way, and nopony ever stays for long."
The princess had a look in her eyes that was something like pity mixed with memory. "Oh, right, I remember that... But then Princess Celestia sent my reports back, and... wait, where's Spike?"
Twilight flinched as if she'd been struck. She looked to the ground, and then turned her head to look aside. "... I don't have any friends, Princess."
Princess Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and then forced a smile. "Well... you do now."
As Twilight looked up at her in annoyance, the princess' horn lit and a flash of magic radiated out from her. As the circle expanded, the ground changed from the checkered pattern it had been for years, into green grass that looked almost alien to Twilight's eyes. The circle only spread a hundred feet or so, but the point was made. The alicorn spoke with slightly faltering tones. "With the right friends, you can-- I, well, I don't know if a pony can be friends with themselves, but..."
Something was there again, inside Twilight. Some little kindling of determination that had long been snuffed out. A tiny flickering of hope. Twilight Sparkle stood up straight for what felt like the first time in ages, and a shudder ran through her as her coat brightened slightly. "Okay. It's been a while since I had a friend. Let's go find my Element, and see what a Princess can do."